My monthly reading list.
January 29, 2012 at 1:10 pm Leave a comment
Of all my 2012 goals, the goal that’s probably going to be easiest for me to accomplish is my goal to read 24 books this year. That’s an average of 2 each month. I think I may need to up my goal, because I’ve already finished 5. Don’t want to make the goal too easy or anything.
Here’s what’s been on the reading list this month:
Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
Brian Tracy
I am a procrastinator. I will push stuff right up to the deadline and then scramble to get it done. Tasks with no due date may never get done. I’ve had an item on my project list (“Finish Alissa’s baby book”) for nearly a year now. It’ll get done. Someday.
Problem is, all this pushing stuff back stresses me out. Projects loom over my head, take up too much real estate in my brain. Tracy’s book is for all of us who want to take charge of our task lists, make them work for us instead of against us.
The premise of Eat That Frog is simple: do the one thing you dread most or hate most first. In short, eat the frog. Have more than one frog on your daily list? Then eat the ugliest frog first. After that, everything else will seem like a breeze.
There’s nothing groundbreaking in this book; no incredibly new insights that I haven’t heard before. However, Tracy presents his information in a motivating way. The main things I take out of this book? That I can’t do everything and be everything to everyone. I have to hone my strengths and not focus on my weaknesses. And forward motion – even slow forward motion – is progress.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who’s wanting to achieve goals, even if you’re not a procrastinator.
Hate Mail From Cheerleaders and Other Adventures from the Life of Reilly
Rick Reilly
Regular Sports Illustrated readers will recognize Rick Reilly, the popular columnist who wrote for the magazine for 22 years. This book is a collection of some of his columns from 2001 – 2006.
I don’t usually read “sports books.” But Reilly isn’t your average sports writer. Instead, he writes about people – people who just happen to be connected to sports somehow. He finds the funny, the ironic, the poignant. He skewers big-name athletes – including the baseball ‘roid heads – for their lack of morals and their “I Am On a Pedestal” attitude. He tells us about people you wouldn’t normally hear about, including a father-son combo that’s part of a college marching band. That would be an interesting story with just those details; we learn from Reilly that the son is in a wheelchair, and the father pushes him in the marching band formation at all the games.
Great book. It made laugh and cry. That takes a lot in a book.
The Hunger Games Trilogy
Suzanne Collins
Okay, so technically I’ve already read these three books: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. In fact, I did a recommendation of them last year on the blog.
But The Hunger Games movie is coming out soon. The trailer looks AMAZING so I went back and read the whole series. Cover to cover. In five days. Seriously, they’re that good. If you haven’t read them, get them. Get them NOW.
Entry filed under: Book review. Tags: Brian Tracy, Catching Fire, Eat That Frog, Hate Mail From Cheerleaders, Mockingjay, Rick Reilly, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games.
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