I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.
We've passed the halfway point of 2018! It's time to take stock of our reading so far this year and share what have been our favorites. Here are my 5-star reads (not counting rereads) of the year, plus a couple of notable 4.5-star reads. These books weren't all published in 2018 (though a few of them were), but I read them all for the first time this year.
1. Ask a Manager by Alison Green
My favorite May read. This is a fantastic compilation of scripts to use in all different kinds of situations at work.
2. Feeling Good by David D. Burns
This book is a classic for a reason and I see why psychologists recommend it. It's a powerful, practical guide to mood regulation through combating faulty thinking patterns.
3. Inspired by Rachel Held Evans
My favorite June read. It puts aside common paradigms of the Bible as a handbook for living or a puzzle to be solved and instead highlights the themes that recur throughout this book of stories, why they're there, and how they're relevant to our daily lives.
4. Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
My favorite April read. It's a funny, sweet, well-crafted sequel to Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.
5. Radical by Michelle Rhee
My favorite March read. It's both a memoir of Rhee's controversial career in education reform and a battle cry for parents, teachers, students, and politicians to use their voices to fight for every student to have a quality education.
6. Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild
This was a difficult but important read about the way Tea Partiers and Trump supporters think about themselves, their country, and the environment. It doesn't provide a clear plan for getting these folks to use the same set of facts as the rest of us, but it does provide a fuller picture that can hopefully prevent progressives from making missteps in trying to reach across the aisle.
7. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
This is like a tour of Australia filled with heartbreakingly real characters who face impossible decisions. It's unpredictable in the best way.
8. The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose
Roose's story of leaving his liberal bubble to spend a semester at Liberty University was at turns fascinating, amusing, enlightening, and confirming of my own thoughts and beliefs. I'm astounded that he wrote this while in college, as the writing ranks up there with some of the best memoirs I've read.
9. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
My favorite February read. It lived up to the hype as an adorable, feel-good romance that was predictable but not as much as I expected.
10. The World According to Mister Rogers by Fred Rogers
My favorite January read. It's a collection of quotations from Fred Rogers, and it prompted me to order the daily calendar that I now have on my desk.
What are your favorite reads of the year so far?
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Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: A Walk in the Woods and Evil Under the Sun
Five years ago I was reading: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Thinking, Fast and Slow
Ten years ago I was reading: The Left Hand of Darkness
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