Recently Loved Books

I’ve been filling my evenings with books lately, there’s the occasional evening where I binge on some Gilmore Girls {as I’m massively late to that party and only just got to season three!}, but for the most part I’ve been reading. When the kiddos are all in bed, the house is so quiet and I need something to fill the empty space. I’m not such a TV kinda gal, prefering to use my precious free time to get stuck into a book. The psat few months I’ve not had the concnetration to read a novel, I loose track of the threads of the story and end up re-reading the same bit over and over.

Instead I’ve found myself reading more self-help, empowerment, memoir type books. Some I’ve read before, some new to me. I’ve ordered the ones that called out to me, finding nuggets of wisdom inside their pages,  in those quiet hours late at night and early in the morning when I can’t sleep, they keep me company, filling my mind with hope and the knowledge that this too shall pass. The pages are filled with notes and highlighted passages, circled words that call out to me.

Here’s the ones I’ve read in the last  two or three weeks;

Present over Perfect

I had this on my wishlist for a while, then it kept popping up in places – on my IG feed, mentioned by a friend on facebook, so I took the hint and ordered a copy. Quite honestly, it’s probably the best thing I’ve read in a long time. I’ve talked before about busyiness and letting go of perfect, and this book really gave me the kick I needed to put my thoughts into action. Reminded me to slow down, to savour each and every moment and to stop trying to compete with myself to be perfect all of the time. The pages of this are littered with comments, it really spoke to my heart and I think it’ll be one I re-read many times.

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

I saw this recommended on a sobriety blog I was reading last week, ordered it and read it in two days flat. It’s simply stunning – a laugh-out-loud account of Anne Lamot’s own spiritual journey. While I’m not religious, I’m definitly feeling a pull of something, a feeling that there is something bigger than me that’s holding me togehter even whilst I’ve been falling apart. I ordered it not knowing she was a recovering alcoholic and bulemic, seems the universe is sending me hidden messages that I’m on the right path and if others can battle these dmeons and win, then maybe so can I.

Unfurl

“Ask yourself which fear is stronger. What are you more afraid of: changing, or staying how you are now?” The one novel I have read, this one gripped me. It’s a journey of lessons, incredibly thought-provoking and helpful.  A self-help book written as a novel, I had lots of aha moments whilst reading it.

Thrashing about God

I read this a couple of years ago, but picked it up again when I was feeling a bit disjointed the other week. Again, a Christian book, but in all honsety, it applies tany one who is burnt-out, weary of being good, the doubter, the poet and artist, the lost one. It is for those who are in the midst of the storm and don’t know how to get out.

Stillness Speaks

I’ve read a little Eckart Tolle before, but ordered this after an accuaninance sent me a passage from it that really resonated. I’ve been picking it up here and there, reading a passage and leaving myself time to think it over and let it sink in – “When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose touch with the world”.

What have you been reading – would love some good book recommendations!