When in Doubt… Read!

 

My favorite pastime growing up was reading.  I was the kid that looked forward to the summer reading list.  I usually made my way through the list and read a few more.  Each summer, I would challenge myself to something different… How many books could I read? How fast could I read one book?  How many books could I read at the same time? (I’ve done five, but 2-3 is a more workable number).

Generally, I have always preferred fiction since it allowed me an outlet from my everyday life.  I enjoyed the sense of adventure, the sneak peek into others’ lives and their trials and their triumphs.    If I have to pick a specific genre, historical fiction would be my favorite.  But I’ll read just about anything.  As an adult, I am always reading something, though depending on my work schedule it takes me considerably longer.  During residency, it was not uncommon for it to take me the better part of a year to get through one book. I often had to go back and re-read passages due to the infrequency of my leisure-reading schedule.  (I should be clear; I did plenty of medical reading!)

It should come to no surprise that when I found myself at a transition point, I turned to my old pastime for guidance.  (Though an avid supporter of the public library, it became increasingly difficult to get the books back on time…)  I went into a local bookstore chain and walked through the aisles, looking for a title that jumped out at me.  I found several books, sat on the floor and leafed through them until I settled on 4-5.  In the past two years, my tenacity for reading has been re-energized.  I have not reached to 60 books a year (or whatever the number is that successful leaders are supposed to read), but I’ve enjoyed this part of my journey.  As you can notice from the list below, more non-fiction has crept its way into my life…   I think I lost track of a few and these are in no particular order, but here’s my reading list for the past two years or so.

 

Fiction

The Cutting Season  Attica Locke

River, Cross My Heart Breena Clarke

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie Ayana Mathis

Lazaretto Diane McKinney-Whetstone

Happily Ever After Elizabeth Maxwell

 

Non-Ficton

Blink Malcolm Gladwell

I don’t know what I want to do, But I know it’s not this Julie Jansen

The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell

Drink More Whiskey Daniel Yaffe

The Bogleheads Guide to Investing Lindauer, Larimore & LeBoeuf

The Art of the Bar Hollinger & Schwartz

Lean In Cheryl Sandberg

Outliers Malcolm Gladwell

Real Estate Investing McGraw-Hill

The 4-hour Work-week Timothy Ferriss

The One Minute Millionaire Mark Victor Hansen & Robert G. Allen

1000 Dollars and an Idea Sam Wyly

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times Pema Chodron

 

Currently:

The White Coat Investor James M. Dahle

The Post-Birthday World Lionel Shriver