Lil Ube Reads is a monthly newsletter, featuring seasonal book recommendations and bookish updates from Jenna. Click the subscribe button below to be notified of future posts!
Happy new year, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a great start to your new year.🎇 And with a new year comes the opportunity to read some more books! Here are my recommendations for your January reading.
My favorite nonfiction book of 2023 was Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. ⌚ This book makes a great argument to strategically underachieve, such as answering less emails and prioritizing what's more critical to you. With a finite life, we can't do everything, a truth I still struggle to accept, and I love how this book challenged my perspective. As we enter into the new year, I hope this book will introduce you to a new framework and approach to productivity!
Get It Done by Ayelet Fishbach is a book that I actually haven't read BUT a friend of mine had picked it up and showed me a few snippets and I liked the tone of it quite a bit. The book is by a behavioral economist and breaks down motivation and goal-setting. The author cites quite a number of studies and goes pretty heavy on the theory. If you're looking to really dive into goal-setting, this would be a great place to start! 🎯
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a book that I've found to be rather divisive. Some people love it and some people hate it. It's a great book if you are here for vibes and aesthetic, but it’s not so great, if you want a comprehensive magic system or a solid plot. It features a magical traveling circus 🎪 and a enemies-to-lovers/insta-love-ish romance. The book was written back in 2011, but still is a fun read! I think it really suits the wintry and dreamy-feel of the holiday season.
For this next year, I've decided to not set a higher reading goal, but instead to read all of the books I own that I have not yet read. There's several books that I've owned for years that I have yet to actually delve into, such as Bloodborne by Tracy Deonn, the latest Brandon Sanderson books, and The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Greene. So for the next year, I hope to complete reading my book collection. And this way, once I finish them all, I can justify getting more books, mwahaha. 😈
Wishing you a year of great books and cozy vibes,
Jenna
"This life, with all of its flaws and inescapable vulnerabilities, its extreme brevity, and our limited influence over how it unfolds is the only one we'll get a shot at."
- Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks
Looking for more recommendations? Check out last month's newsletter: December Recommendations.
This is such a cute newsletter! I'm in love <3
In case it interests you, I have a book newsletter (bookcrumbs) where I write super short book reviews that don't spoil a whole lot. There's also a song and film pairing for each book that fits the flavour profileâ„¢. Just sharing it here to get the word out :)