Reading List

Last night, I finished reading What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding by Kristin Newman.  Kristin has written for many popular comedy sitcoms including How I Met Your Mother and That '70s Show, and her memoir shares what she learned while putting off settling down in her 20s and most of her 30s and choosing to travel the world instead.  I loved her insights and stories, and of course all her travels gave me a healthy dose of wanderlust. 

Throughout the book, Kristin grapples with her desire to roam free as a single woman and see the world, while society seems to be pushing her to get married and settle down:

"Life is almost never about choosing between one thing you really want and another thing you don't want at all.  If you're lucky, and healthy, and live in a country where you have enough to eat and no fear that you're going to get shot when you walk out your door, life is an endless series of choosing between two things you want almost equally as much.  And you have to evaluate and determine which awesome thing you want infinitesimally more, and then give up that other awesome thing you want almost exactly as much.  You have to trade awesome for awesome.  Everyone I knew, no matter what they chose, was at least a little in mourning for that other thing," Kristin says.

I loved reading her perspective and found it gave me a lot to think about.  And, of course, I added about 10 new places to my travel list.  

Next on my reading list is Daring Greatly by Brene Brown:

I first discovered Brene Brown through her popular TED talk, "The Power of Vulnerability."  If you have a few minutes, I highly recommend listening to what she shares here:

I then heard about her book, which compiles all her research on vulnerability, while listening to a Mating Grounds podcast.  Truthfully, I am embarrassed to admit this because The Mating Grounds is a website geared towards helping men have better relationships with women.  So why do I love listening to their podcasts?  Who knows.  Probably because I feel it allows me to see dating and relationships through the lens of men, which is pretty interesting!  Recently, they started a series focused on helping a 26 year-old guy Joe, who lives in Austin, have better success with women.  In this particular podcast, they begin to tap in to Joe's vulnerabilities and fears that have resulted from painful experiences in his past and rave about Brene Brown's Daring Greatly. 

To keep up with my New Year's Resolution of reading 1 book a month, I have about 7 days to  finish this book.  I've been a little behind on my reading mainly because work has been crazy, but I've heard the book is so good that I'm sure I'll want to take my time absorbing everything Brene has to say.

You can go here to see what other books I've read this year and also what my other New Year's Resolutions were.

So tell me- do you have any good book recommendations?