Four Short Book Reviews for January 2022
This year started in a buzz of momentum with a few extra hours for reading. So naturally (because I’m over 30), I made it one of my New Year Resolutions to read more this year; one book a week to be specific. I got a little bit of a head start and completed my first book right before New Year, but I’ve included it in this list because it was such a good read, and because it really set the tone for my resolutions. So with no further delay, here are my first four quick reviews for 2022:
Atomic habits
By James Clear
This book just blew my mind. It might have been that I haven’t read a practical self-help book for a decent while, so this was really refreshing. My key takeaways included:
1. Building a new habit can start with just 2 minutes a day.
2. Habit stacking can be an efficient way to build a habit. Habit stacking is when you build the habit on top of an already existing habit.
3. Take time to reevaluate and reestablish newly developing habits.
Genre: Self-Help
Overall Rating: 4/5
September
by Rosamunde Pilcher
Rosamund Pilcher is one of my guilty pleasures. She is a writer from the 20th century and as such, her world is similar to mine, but with a few notable differences. She also writes in a Scottish context with the beautiful landscape serving as the backdrop to most of her stories. One of the luxurious parts about this novel is that it’s connected to some of Pilcher’s other novels, but it’s taken me reading through four of her books to figure this out! I feel spoilt when I get to read about characters that I already know, after having said goodbye to them at the end of a previous book.
If you’re looking for some light reading that still discusses significant choices, before quickly retreating back to the beautiful landscape, this could be a book for you.
Genre: Novel
Overall Rating: 3/5
the other hand
by Chris Cleave
I honestly cannot say a bad thing about this read. It was a hard read, and for this reason, I can’t write much about the actual story, but it discusses themes around the convergence of middle-class suburbia and illegal immigrants.
Cleave had the unnerving ability to write from the point of view of someone who was obviously so different from him, and it took me a while to move past that, but he won me over in the end. When a book can provoke empathy while weaving a masterful story, in my opinion it’s a good book.
Note: It contains some r-rated content, but it didn’t feel frivolous.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Overall Rating: 4/5
12 Rules for life
by Jordan B. Peterson
First a disclaimer: I hadn’t made the connection between this book and the drama that went down in New Zealand a couple of years back. In 2019, Jordan Peterson was forced to withdraw from completing his tour of New Zealand because of a rather big backlash to his conservative viewpoints, specifically on gender identities. Fast forward to now, after a Kindle recommendation, I started reading the book and got about halfway before making the connection between that event and this book. However, it became apparent quite early on in the book that his philosophies would definitely put him on the conservative side of things. However, I do understand that you can’t deal with philosophy without it becoming a political statement these days.
What I do like about the book is the common sense nature of most of his advice. His upbringing combined with his comprehensive study of historic texts, of many religions, means that he places a lot of emphasis on our place in a larger story. As I am a professing Christian, I feel he comes very close to what I hold to be true but he differs on a few key beliefs. However, it is a special thing to read something from a man whose brain works on a completely different plane from mine. He can connect things and align things in a way that I never have, and I value the new insight.
Genre: Self-help
Overall rating: 4/5
So there you go! My first four books of 2022! If you have any recommendations or some more thoughts about any of these books, comment below.
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