Alright guys, I’m going to change things up a little bit in moving forward with book reviews. As opposed to providing a 2-minute book review of each book I have read in a period of time, I’m going to provide a 2-minute overview on video of the books I read. If any of them strike your fancy, then you can go to blog posts, like this one, where I’ll provide a more thorough review in text. Sound good? Let me know what you think in the comments!

Books up this time around: Becoming, The Perfect Nanny, A Clash of Kings and Manage Your Day-to-Day. I hope you enjoy.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more. It was a glimpse into the presidency, a unique view into the relationship of two people who I admire and the memoir of a powerful female force in the world. I hope she goes on to write more books, because I would consume them all. I appreciated her vignettes that drove her points home. (Barack Obama was also very good at this in his speeches.) I split time between reading the book on my Kindle and listening to it on Audible, which Michelle Obama narrates herself. It made for pleasant listening and reading! (You can read all about this toggle back and forth on this post.) I highly recommend it, especially to women.

The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani and Sam Taylor

This book freaked. me. out. I had nightmares of slashers in my apartment shortly as I was reading it. OK, back to the basics, this book is a dark thriller that takes you into the home of a couple who live in Paris and have two children. The mother would like to go back to work and so she brings in help in the form of a nanny who came highly recommended. You find out in the first chapter, however, that things don’t exactly go according to a plan of perfection. This is one of the books on the New York Times top 10 from 2018. (This was covered in a newsletter; check it out here.)

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

I have to admit that Jon Snow is one of my favorite characters of Game of Thrones. He and Aria. So I was pretty excited to be reading more about Jon’s story in this book. I enjoy how the books provide much more detail than one can find in the series. I like the intimate look into each characters brains that you don’t get when a story crosses over from book to film. I don’t need to tell you about the rich detail and delicious prose that George R. R. Martin weaves into each volume, there’s a reason why readers continue to demand the next volume. I hope to read the rest of the series, that is published anyway, before the last season comes out in April.

Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind by Jocelyn K. Glei

This book is a series of tips from ambitious, hard-working and, in some cases, already successful individuals who want to share some of those actionable steps with readers! A read this probably over six months, taking it in in bits and pieces, taking action where the steps made sense for me. For example, I purchased an alarm clock that introduces light into my room instead of the traditional sound ways of waking up. In doing so, I’m able to wake up more progressively and to wake up earlier! Setting up a good morning routine has been really great for my productivity as well as my overall mental health. And this is from a self-declared night owl! To this day I would still rather stay up late and be out and about in the evening, but waking up for a 6 a.m. yoga class — or better yet, writing session — is now pretty doable. Download it/buy it, consume it as you can and re-read it when you feel stagnant is my recommendation, and my plan!