Summer Reading Recap

 

I don’t know about you, but summertime is such an amazing opportunity for me to dive into a bunch of new books.  Is there anything better than lying on a lounge chair under an umbrella on a warm day and getting lost in good novel?  I don’t think so.  

 

Now I will admit that this summer I went on a bit of a Harlan Coben binge. He had me hooked with Tell No One and I’ve been pouring through his books ever since.  This summer I read one after another, after another.  I read  The Innocent, Just One Look, The Stranger, Missing You, and Stay Close – all Coben books and I loved each and every one of them. 

 

 

Then I decided that I needed to take a breather from my mystery novel binge and so I read a book that many of my FaceBook friends had recommended.  And they did not steer me wrong, it turned out to be a wonderfully thought-provoking book called When Breath Becomes Air.   It's a breathtakingly insightful memoir written by a brilliant neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi, who is diagnosed with a virulent lung cancer at age 36. While seeking the true meaning of happiness, he discovers that you can't enjoy life if you focus on death. His everlasting message becomes clear; as long as you are alive, you must keep your focus on living a life worth living! I highly recommend it!

 

Then I decided to take another recommendation from a FaceBook friend who said that she had just finished  Before the Fall by Noah Hawley and had loved it.  I did my usual research – I  went to Amazon/books and started reading reviews.  While they were mostly good, they were a little mixed, but I went for it anyway and I’m so glad that I did.  Again, a great tip from FaceBook, you gotta love that!  I can pass on this recommendation as well.

 

I got one more recommendation at the end of the summer, this one came from my Had I Known co-author and long-time friend Laura Morton who said that I must read Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by Dr. David Hawkins. She knows that I have loved other books in this genre like Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water by Brian Luke Seward and Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn.  Laura knows her customer so I’m excited to dive into Letting Go. I wouldn’t let myself start it because I had twelve speeches to finish for my Fall Speaking Tour but  I’ve already downloaded it to my Kindle so I’m all set for my upcoming flights – I will be all set with reading material for my crazy busy speaking schedule all over the country.  Some people would hate my travel schedule but I don’t mind it at all because it just means lots of hours in the air to read!