January Books

If you've been around my neck of the InterWebs for any part of the last year, hopefully you noticed that I picked up a new hobby... READING! Truth be told, I was never much of a reader when I was younger (Cliffs Notes were my best friend when it came to books), but recently I fell in love. In fact, last year I had a goal to read 17 books (for 2017) and I ended up capping off the year reading EIGHTY-EIGHT! Although I may not be reading them at the same speed as I did last year, I still wanted to make sure I kept the hobby going (and what better form of accountability than to post a list of the books I finished at the end of the month?!). So, without further ado, let's jump into everything I read in January!

• First Ladies of Running by Amby Burfoot - I had seen this on a few "must read running books" lists so added it to my Christmas wish list (since it wasn't available at our local library). Ambry writes about 22 women who helped change the world of female running forever. The book is broken down into profiles on each of the rebels/ rule breakers/ visionaries/ pioneers (each about 10-15 pages long). I think this is an AWESOME read for women runners (and for runners in general). It gives a brief history of the women's lives, as well as their accomplishments and the roles they played in the sport. It was pretty eye opening, especially for someone who is fairly new into the running world (meaning I didn't grow up in it, but found it haphazardly in my mid-twenties). The stories are inspiring and remind us to appreciate all of the freedoms and opportunities we are able to take advantage of today! I would give it an 8 out of 10.

• Lassoing the Sun by Mark Woods - A friend of mine recommended this book so when I saw it on Amazon for a couple bucks I grabbed it. The only thing I knew about this one was it was supposed to be about the author's adventure of spending a year in America's National Parks. Let me start off by saying it was a great read, but I went in with some expectations it didn't quite live up to. I figured that the book would be more about the parks (what he recommends you should see, what to avoid, etc), but in actuality it is a story about him coming to terms with his mom's passing. Again, it was a good read, but because I went in thinking that it would be more about the parks themselves I was left wanting more. I love the idea of visiting a National Park every month and hopefully the hubby and I will be able to cross off some more in the coming months, especially since we recently bought an annual pass. I would give it a 7 out of 10 (but had I known a little more fully about what the book was about and I had adjusted my expectations I'm thinking I probably would have rated it a bit higher).

• Make It Till You Make It by Brendan Leonard - The hubby asked for this book for Christmas (#DearSanta) but hasn't had the time to pick it up to give it a read yet. He loves Brendan and his SemiRad blog, and is always talking about him so I thought I'd read it while waiting for my next library book to become available. It is a super short book and although I am not much of a "creative" (the hubby is a graphic designer by trade) I still really enjoyed it. The book has 40 myths/ truths about creating and I think I was shaking my head yes to almost all of them. The book reminds you to get out of your own way and create for the sake of creating (and because the world needs to see your passion). I would give it an 8 out of 10.

• Van Life by Foster Huntington - The hubby and I have three Amazon wish lists: one for him, one for me and one for our AdventureMobile. This book was on our AdventureMobile list and we got it for Christmas. If you are new around here you may not know that I'd LOVE to move out of our condo (rent it out for a little extra income) and live out of our van. It may not be a reality today, but hopefully someday in the future it will be. With that said, this was a quick read. I would say the majority of the book is a collection of pictures of different adventure-rigs, but there are some awesome interviews with folks who have made the jump to van life (one of Ryan's friends is actually interviewed in the book too - pretty sweet!). Although I would have loved to read more about van life as a lifestyle I knew when we got this book that this wasn't the book for that. But let's just say all the pictures got my wheels turning on how we could build out a new van! I would give it an 8 out of 10.

With that January comes to a close. My reading may have slowed, but I definitely hope it never completely stops. If you have any suggestions on books, please send them my way! I'm always willing to add them to my queue at the library!

What are you currently reading?