The 2019 Reading List
Read more has been written on my new year's resolution list for what feels like forever but this year I’ve taken it seriously. Reading is something that brings me so much joy and as I’m always trying to cut back on my phone usage picking up a good book is the way to do it. A few days on Instagram I asked for book recommendations and there were so many good ones that I thought I should share my own reading list for the year. I’ve set my Goodreads reading challenge at only 8 books as I don’t want to set myself up for failure and I’m pretty sure I only managed 3 books in 2018 so anything above that is an achievement and here are the books that I plan on reading this year!
the book list
The Muse: Jessie Burton
Elanor & Park: Rainbow Rowell
The Heart Goes Last: Margaret Atwood
The Essex Serpent: Sarah Perry
The Curated Closet: Anuschka Rees
Rebecca: Daphne Du Maurier
Everything I know About Love: Dolly Alderton (READ)
Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race: Reni Eddo-Lodge
HOW I’M MAKING MORE TIME FOR READING THIS YEAR & the new reading rules
The main reason I’ve not read much in the last couple of years is that I’ve always told myself that I’m too busy and I don’t have enough time. And of course, that is a lovely little lie that I’ve kept on telling myself that's true. But in reality, we all know that it isn’t because I do have the time but I’m just not managing my time effectively. If I’ve got time to scroll through Instagram for over an hour a day then I definitely have time to pick up a book and this is how I’m trying to do it this year;
Make time: Whether it be 10 minutes or an hour I don’t think it should matter the amount of time reading as long as I’m making sure I’m doing it. Something that I’m very much guilty of doing is thinking ‘oh I’ve not got loads of time so I won’t bother at all’ but even just 10 minutes is better than nothing.
Not wasting times on books I don’t like: Something that I’ve never been able to do is put down a book even if I don’t like it. I’m not sure why I do it but I feel like I have persevere even though I know I’m not enjoying it but something I’ve promised myself this year is that if I cannot get into a book then off it goes to the charity pile. Life is far too short to spend it reading books I don't like.
Reading a variance of things: I can fall into patterns with what I’m reading and sometimes will consume a lot of fiction or motivational books in a row but I’d really like to try and mix it up more. When I first got back into reading a few years ago I started reading a lot of classics that I’d never read when I was a child and it’s something I definitely want to get back into.
Start using audiobooks: Something that I’ve never managed to quite get into is audiobooks and I think this might the year that I give them a whirl. Although the act of sitting down with a book is something that I absolutely love and look forward to there are times that I don’t always have the time to do that. They'd be really great for when I'm pottering around the house or walking the dogs and I also think they would be something I'd really enjoy listening to in the car.
