Warning: there will probably never be a TL;DR for anything I write. I love talking and run on sentences and if you ask me a question you’re going to hear about my life history, cake, and a random clickbait headline that recently washed up on the shores of my mind. And then what was the question again? Saying “It’s a fake book club!” is much too efficient, so here’s a bunch of other words first.
I used to be the kid who got in trouble for reading too much. How could anyone do chores or homework when Mary Higgins Clark was always lining up another character for sudden and predictable death? I definitely couldn’t be bothered. As soon as I finished one story I’d pick up another. But towards the end of college the pile of books on my nightstand started to stack up while my time slipped into a jumble of work and babies and a loop of forever trying to catch up — that ever dangling carrot of next week. If I made it through a book or two a year I was ready to take a victory lap.
Then last year Amy (@amypaynedesign) posted her annual reading list — so many books! I couldn’t figure it out — how did she have time to read? We live parallel lives as unusually tall stationery designers with blonde hair and four kids a piece. Except she also does science-y things so is infinitely cooler. Still. How did she Hermione-time-turner her way through so many books? The magic — audiobooks.
I downloaded the Libby app, linked my library card, and queued up the 10 book limit. I hit play last January on Sue Monk Kidd’s Book of Longings and just finished 168 Hours (not the arm cutting off story) before January circled around again. There were a lot of get-your-life-together-please type of books, with a little bit of everything else sprinkled in. I can listen while I work on patterns or prep files or just to drown out Julian when he’s in a really bad mood and yelling at me for some toddler injustice. Win-win.
To celebrate my renewed literacy, I’ve decided to start a book club. Not a real book club though. A fake one. One where we don’t read a book together, don’t meet up, and don’t really talk about it much at all. Think Reading Rainbow without the music, picture books, or Levar… basically Reading Rainbow without the charm. I’ll share a quote surrounded by nature-ish things and maybe write a couple of semi-cohesive sentences. If you read it, or even glance at it, you’re in! Welcome to the Fake Book Club.
The Books of 2022
The Power of Moments Chip & Dan Heath
The Power of Habit Charles Duhigg
The Power of Writing It Down Allison Fallon
Atomic Habits James Clear
Joyful Ingrid Fetell Lee
Organize Tomorrow Today Selk, Bartow, Rudy
The Miracle Morning Hal Elrod
The Last Lecture Randy Pausch
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up Marie Kondo
Spark Joy Marie Kondo
Big Magic Elizabeth Gilbert
Blink Malcolm Gladwell
The Moment of Lift Melinda Gates
Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson
168 Hours Laura Vanderkam
Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe
The Looming Tower Lawrence Wright
Permanent Record Edward Snowden
American Kingpin Nick Bilton
Shoedog Phil Knight
Red Notice Bill Browder
The Book of Longings Sue Monk Kidd
Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng
The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett
A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of
Mist and Fury, A Court of Wings and Ruin,
A Court of Frost and Starlight Sarah J. Maas
Project Hail Mary Andy Weir
Class Mom Laurie Gelman
The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King,
The Queen of Nothing Holly Black
Books I think about all the time: Permanent Record, Say Nothing, Just Mercy
Book that made me wonder what type of criminal I’d be: American Kingpin
Books that changed my every day: Atomic Habits, Tidying Up, The Power of Writing It Down, Organize Tomorrow Today
Book I wanted to hate but loved: Project Hail Mary
Books that made me blush (and roll my eyes): Court of Thorns & Roses series
The Books of 2023 (so far)
Grit Angela Duckworth
The Anthropocene Reviewed John Greene
Turtles All the Way Down John Greene
The Sentence Louise Erdrich
The Psychology of Money Morgan House
Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates
Court of Silver Flames Sarah J. Maas
How to Change Katy Milkman
