Gary and I have just come back from a holiday in Norfolk, where we stayed at a friend’s farm. Now we’re back home, I’m trying to get myself motivated to DO SOME WORK. Really, any work would do. But no, I’m struggling with wasting my day collaging…basically cutting and sticking! Gary comes home to me looking like some insane artist who has finally lost it completely, surrounded by piles of torn and cut paper of all different shapes and sizes, glue everywhere but where it should be, belting out my playlist in my normal tuneless way. True to the insanity handbook, I am in my own little world, completely ignorant to the fact I have missed both breakfast and lunch and hours upon hours have flown by…Anyway, in a last ditch effort to gain some sort of normalcy, here is my July reading list.
My goal for this year is to read 150 books. To do this, each month I need to read at least ten books as well as dipping into the five books at the end of this post. This means by the end of the year, these five can be added onto my yearly total. I am determined to read 150 books this year. I had this goal last year, but because of my master’s degree I only managed 39 which is pitiful (although I did read lots and lots of journal articles). These are the eight books I read during July.
A Note About Colour Codes
Throughout this July reading list, you’ll notice that I have coloured the list of books. Firstly, the pink books denote fiction books. I am not keen on fiction books as a rule. In 2023 I read 100 books and over 60 of them were non-fiction. I had to work really hard at getting in the fiction I did read and I tended to find an author I liked and then read a few of their books. This year, I want to throw my net wider, so to speak. The goal is to try out lots of different authors and genres. So, I want at least half of my books to be fiction books. And I shall try to read books from different authors…. In this, I have catastrophically failed this month. Not even one fiction book did I read!
Next, I have used a beige colour to denote the non-fiction. I literally never struggle to find non-fiction books I want to read! This is because there are so many things I am interested in and so little time!
And lastly, I have used a violet colour for the books I shall be dipping into each month. These are non-fiction. In fact, they are mostly nature themed books created to be read over each month or season, rather than being read all at once.
July Reading List: Non-Fiction Books
Age Less by Sandra Parsons ***
For me, this was so so. I didn’t not enjoy it as it was well written and on point. If I had a criticism I think it might be that it was a little boring. To be honest, this is likely a me problem rather than a book problem. Having read many books about health in general, this one re-covered old ground for me.
Home for Good: Homemaking Simplicity and Contentment by Linda C Shields *****
This was a lovely cosy read. I’m not sure it taught me anything ground breaking but it came at a really good time and was thoroughly enjoyable.
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer *****
So much better than I could possibly have imagined. Comer was a worn-out over-worked pastor of a church. He pitches his book with just the right conversational tone to make it an incredibly easy read. Using stories from his own life, he shares ways in which he has turned around his life and the life of his family. This is a gem which I will definitely be reading a second if not third time!
Deep Work by Cal Newport *****
I have been wanting to read this book for a while as I am trying to encourage myself to create a time each day for deep work. You know the adage 80% of work is done by 20% effort? (otherwise known as the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule). It suggests that roughly 80% of outcomes or results come from 20% of inputs or efforts. In other words, a small portion of actions often produces the majority of the effects. It seems to me that deep work is the perfect way to utilise this principle most effectively for the least amount of time input. A good read, although I would have liked to have seen more real life practical suggestions on how to achieve it.
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman *****
I enjoyed this very much indeed. The four thousand weeks that Burkeman refers to here are the number of weeks in around 77 years, the average age we can expect to live to. You might be thinking that this is another productivity book. You’d be wrong. It is written not so much as a book which encourages you to do a higher quantity of things but a book which asks you to consider the very short amount of time you have in one lifetime and to make sure you choose wisely how you use that time. Whereas Comer’s book (above) is the antithesis of productivity, Burkeman espouses the wisdom of quality over quantity. If you’re fed up with the productivity rhetoric, this might be the book for you (along with Comer’s, of course!)
Don’t Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nguyen ***
This is a lovely, easy to read book full of insights that I am sure each and every one of us know. But just like a toddler needs to be reminded to put the toilet seat down, it seems we, as adults, need to be reminded of perspective over circumstance. My most said phrase (I am certain, irritatingly for my children) is that ‘happiness is not getting what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got’. It’s a matter of perspective and attitude, both of which we are in control. Not groundbreaking but well worth the read.
What We Value by Dr Emily Falk ***
A fun look into how we make choices based on values we place on things within particular settings, using pop psychology. Oh, and it also offers hints on how to break into a bank, should you be up for it!
Metabolical by Dr Robert Lustig *****
Such a good book. Metabolical is high on education, backed up by the latest research and fairly heavy on the science of everything, which I loved. He proves his mantra of ‘protect the liver, feed the gut’ and is the first time I have ever heard about obesity being the symptom of ill health rather than the cause. And he taught me something about correlation verses causation when reading scientific papers that seem to link one thing to another. For example, heart disease and high cholesterol levels. There may be a correlation but research does not definitively show causation. A very very good read.
July Reading List: Fiction…
…of which there are zero.
Books I’ll Be Reading Every Month
That’s the totality of my July reading list. However, there are also books that I’m going to be dipping into each month. These are books I have either read multiple times over the course of my life and I just love rereading them, or they are part of an ongoing set which brings out a new volume each year. By the end of the year they will be completed but as they track the months and seasons of the year, I’ll not be reading ahead, as it were. However, I’ll be adding them to each of my posts, just in case anyone else is interested in reading them.
Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden
The Cottage Book by Sir Edward Grey
The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to 2025 by Lia Leendertz
The Cottage Fairy Companion by Paola Merrill
Daemon Voices: Essays on Storytelling By: Philip Pullman
I hope you have enjoyed my July reading list. If you’d like to take a look at the books I read in 2023 and 2024, please do visit my Books Read Over the Years Page. I shall endeavour to share one of these posts each month.
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