January 2023 Reading List

This is the second instalment of the Eternity Springs series by Emily March. I listened to the first book as an audiobook and decided to do the same for this one.

This time the focus is on Sage, the local artist in Eternity Springs. But she has a secret, and in book one, it’s revealed that she used to be a paediatric surgeon. We discover what happened in her past that affected her so much. It’s pretty distressing, so be warned.

This story is intertwined with that of Colt who came to Eternity Springs regularly as a kid and has returned as an adult at his father’s request. He finds it so nourishing to his damaged heart. This soon leads to a connection with Sage. This is where the writing gets cringe-worthy and was seen in the first book too. The whole female is not interested but the male keeps pursuing. But if you can get past that there is a wonderful range of other characters that make it a great escape read.

Narrated by Kathe Mazur, it runs for 9 hours and 44 minutes.

This was the second reading of Big Magic, and as expected it wasn’t quite as impactful as the first time I read it. I think it is one of those books to pull out every now and then to re-think your creative practice.

I remember hearing about the Year of Yes when it was released in 2015 but never read it. When I was searching for something to listen to in the Libby app I came across this one.

I had no idea who the author Shonda Rhimes was, thinking it was just another Gretchen Rubin. I was soon to find out that she is a Hollywood writer behind some popular shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. None of which I’ve ever seen. But that doesn’t matter.

It’s the story of how Shondra took an off-hand comment from her sister about how she never says Yes to anything. Shondra decides it’s time to say Yes to more opportunities that come her way. And she gets a lot of them. In doing so leads to a much fuller life, with more experiences and more opportunities.

I recommend listening to the audio version of the book as it’s read by Shondra herself and includes live recordings of the speeches she has given.

Narrated by Shonda Rhimes (author), it runs for 7 hours and 4 minutes.

This is one of those “must-read” books in the self-help game. I have relented reading it until now, some thirty years after it was published. But I’m glad I have read it, I learnt a lot of new perspectives that I can take in my life.

Yes, there is a lot of repetition and the 500 pages could easily be condensed into half of that. But I suppose it wouldn’t look quite so “meaty” on the bookstore shelf. And if I read the word “Remember” again, I’ll scream. But if you take the underlying messages your life can be all the better.

By some coincidence (or Facebook knows what books I’m searching for) the Free Become Unshakeable 2023 Challenge that Tony was running at the end of January was advertised on my Facebook feed soon after I started reading this book. I choose to watch the five days of YouTube videos, each being about 3 hours long. It was meant to be watched live for full participation, but I wasn’t “that” interested. Some of what he talked about in those live videos comes from what is in Awaken the Giant Within. So this is still a foundation book for the Tony Robbins method of living.