It’s a pretty short list of books read for December, which isn’t surprising. Like most people, it was a month of many plans and social commitments. I actually made a conscious effort to accept and extend invitations, so I was out and about seeing people more than normal. And it was great.
I totalled five books read, and they were all pretty great.
Here they are:
- Choose FI by Chris Mamula, Brad Barrett and Jonathan Mendonsa. I listen to the Choose FI podcast, which I discovered in 2019, so I was keen to read the book. You could certainly say I’ve arrived late to the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) movement, since I turned 35 last month and have a pretty iffy relationship with money in my past. But in 2019 something clicked with me and I’ve become pretty passionate about the idea of reaching financial independence. I have no desire to retire, never mind retire early. I’ve found that just listening to information on this topic has made me more conscious about what I spend, what I buy, what I consume. I ended 2019 debt free for the first time since I was 18, and with a nice amount in savings (and for me, anything above zero is a nice amount). This year I’m going to begin investing. My next read on this subject is The Simple Path to Wealth. I’m going to talk pretty openly about this subject because I definitely feel as though there’s a reluctance to talk about money. I consider myself heading off to get that first loan when I was 18 years old, and I had absolutely no idea of the pattern I was beginning or the real meaning of what I was doing. If you’re reading this and feeling like I felt, as if you have number blindness and can’t understand finances, the Choose FI podcast and book are great places to begin making a change.
- Bookbub Ads Expert by David Gaughran. This was a really great book because it’s really granular and easy to follow. It helped me get a much better understanding of the Bookbub ads platform and guided me through a testing process that I actually followed, understood and found valuable.
- Fever by Mary Beth Keane. A fictional account about Typhoid Mary. I loved this novel!
- Holding by Graham Norton. I don’t remember now where I heard about this book, but I was intrigued enough to give it a try. And, yes, it’s by that Graham Norton. It’s pretty much a cozy mystery, with the discovery of human remains in the small town casting suspicion on everyone and forcing the pretty inept police officer to spring into action. A fun, relaxing read.
- The Joy of Missing Out by Tonya Dalton. I really enjoyed this book, but I found the title quite misleading. It was a really valuable book on productivity, but not what I was expecting it to be.
This brings the 2019 books read total to 97, annoyingly close to 100. I know some people set goals for how many books they want to read in a year, but I never have. If anything, I suspect I’d benefit from reading less and giving each book more time to percolate.
I’m considering listening to audiobooks in 2020 as well as reading physical books. I love listening to podcasts, and since my listening time has always been typically short bursts of time, it’s made sense to listen to them. Now we have the puppy, I’m walking her for an hour or more each day so I could probably switch to audiobooks some of the time.
That’s all for 2019!
