Here are the four books that I’ve been reading for the past week:
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing – John C. Bogle
Happiness, a history – Darrin M. McMahon
The Feminine Mistake – Leslie Bennetts
Madame Chiang Kai-Shek – Laura Tyson Li
I haven’t planned it that way, but I realized that each of my book selection says quite a bit about me, or at least where I am at this stage in my life.
According to my reading materials, I want to:
- invest appropriately for my future by capturing my “fair share” of market returns (The Little Book of Common Sense Investing)
- examine the issues surrounding work, motherhood, and economic independence (The Feminine Mistake)
- ponder the concept of happiness and how it relates to my particular circumstances in this particular time period (Happiness, a history), and
- be fascinated by fascinating women (Madame Chiang Kai-Shek)!
Quick, pick four books that you’ve purchased/borrowed – if you are what you read, what do they say about you?
You May Also Want To Read :
Today I bought 2 books for about a dime over $25 (thereby getting me FREE shipping on Amazon). ; ...
Dinner with a dear old friend whom I haven't seen in a YEAR. Then, settle in with CB and this ...
It's nice to have some goals to work towards, no? So here they are - my end-of-2007 goals: 1. ...
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Mine would be -
The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark by Sera J. Beak (I consider myself more spiritual than religious and I am trying to find out more about my spirituality & how to express it)
The Truth About You: Your Secret to Success by Marcus Buckingham ( I am looking for what is going to make me happy especially in my career. I am stuck in a career which I don’t enjoy and looking for answers)
20-Something, 20-Everything: A Quarter-life Woman’s Guide to Balance and Direction by Christine Hassler (The reason for the book above applies to this one too)
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Alan R. Clarke (this one I am not because it has been recommended so I borrowed it from my sister)
So far, The WallStrip Edge has been a challenge to get through because I’m concentrating on a whole lot of other things.
I read “How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else” by Michael Gates Gill over the weekend. It was a quick read as I like inspiring stories (of people pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps and who are just lucky) and I do like Starbucks drinks, but I don’t think the book says anything else about me necessarily.
I also finished reading “The Duggars: 20 and Counting!: Raising One of America’s Largest Families–How they Do It” by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and “Multiple Bles8ings: Surviving to Thriving with Twins and Sextuplets” by Kate and Jon Gosselin. My mom comes from a big family and we always celebrate birthdays and the holidays together, so I am fascinated by other large families.
Hmmm…I’m currently reading The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue. Has NOTHING to do with my life, thankfully, outside of the fact that I love music, but it’s a good read.
The book that I read before that definitely relates to my current life, or at least where I want my life to go in the future: My So-Called Freelance Life.
I’m going to have to read the Feminine Mistake, I need some good ammo for all the haters out there. What I’ve read lately
Your Money or Your Life – too new agey for me but it does make you question the live/work balance
Left for Dead – true story of a sailor left behind when his crewmates abandoned ship (we’re sailors and have a macabre fascination with horror stories)
Okay well currently, I’m reading two books: Early From the Dance (fiction) and Shoot the Damn Dog (non-fiction memoir by the founder of Elle about her battle with depression). Before that, I read Spend til the End (PF) and started but have not yet finished Tame your Money Monster (also PF).
So I guess those would say that I’m a (mostly) functioning depressive who is wondering how to deal with her finances long-term and some of her knee-jerk reactions toward money. And that I’m a person who likes a non PF book every so often.
Hmmm that makes me sound kind of boring.
But I cannot recommend Shoot the Damn Dog highly enough. It is beautiful in its recounting. I find myself crying quietly at times while I read — I remember this, or god it’s so true, or I didn’t know other people did that — but I keep turning the pages. It’s a frank look at the stigma surrounding depression, gives tips for those who have depressives in their life, and details the painful abyss that is this disease. I think I have never read a better account, and it’s all written wonderfully.
The last books I read were:
1. My Horizontal Life (by Chelsea Handler)
2. Vanity Fair
3. Animal Dreams
So…I guess 1- I’m adventurous and open minded, 2 – but also romantic and I do value tradition, and 3 – I’m also kind of an animal-loving hippie. ??
PS The Feminine Mistake changed my views on the issue. Great thought provoking read.
The last book that I read, cover-to-cover, was Twilight, and what it says about me is that I work far too hard and need much more mindless (and possibly really bad) entertainment in my life. At least, that is what I want people to get out of it, and not that I have the intellectual capacity of a 13 year old girl. Because that’s what I might think if it weren’t me.
I check out about 6 books on average on Personal Finance from the library every week- too many to remember
The last four books I bought were young adult novels about baseball (Mudville, The Girl Who Threw Butterflies, Top of the Order, and Keeping Score).
I was really impatient for baseball season to start, and I’m still a kid at heart? (To give me some sense of credibility, I know the author of Mudville, which by recommendation led me from one book to another in the genre.)
Hmmm, currently reading Belize: A Historical Guide by Alan Twigg, Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man’s Attempt to Understand the World’s Most Mystifying Nation, or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live Squid. by J. Maarten Troost, and I’m also eating the 3rd book in the Twilight series.
What do these say about me? I’m going to Belize in a few weeks, I’m obsessed with travel writing, and particularly anything on China, and I am enjoying an escapist tale about vampires.
Fun post topic, btw!
Nice post! Since I started a personal finance blog, a lot of my posts thus far have been book reviews.
There's a quote by a late motivational speaker named Jim Rohn which I absolutely agree with:
"The difference between where you are today and where you'll be five years from now will be found in the quality of books you've read."
The last four that I've reviewed on my blog are:
1) The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko – This says that I want to become a millionaire the way that most people do. They do it by living frugally and investing wisely!
2) Work Less, Live More by Bob Clyatt – I guess I'd like to semi-retire early, and escape the rate race!
3) Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki – I heard some controversial things about this book, but it says that I'd like to learn how the rich behave and think.
4) Negotiating Your Salary: How To Make $1000 A Minute by Jack Chapman – This says that I'd like to make more money now, which will help me semi-retire faster!
I also have 20-Something, 20-Everything and the Alchemist!
I never got into Twilight, but I LOVE children’s novels / young adult series. So – you’re definitely not alone! Every couple of years, I just have to reread all the books in the Little House series.