This year, instead of coming up with an entirely-too-ambitious list of books I want to read (like I did last year!), I decided to only pick 24 books I want to aim to read in 2011. I’ve broken my list down into a month-by-month basis to help keep me on better track.
Business and Financial Books I Plan to Read and Review This Year:
January — 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think
February — Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living
March — Becoming a Person of Influence
April — Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
May — Life on the Wire: Avoid Burnout and Succeed in Work and Life
July — Have a New You by Friday: How to Accept Yourself, Boost Your Confidence & Change Your Life in 5 Days
August — Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t
September — America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money
October — Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
November — Shift Your Habit: Easy Ways to Save Money, Simplify Your Life, and Save the Planet
December —
Personal Investing: The Missing Manual
Other Books I Plan to Read This Year:
January — Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Contentment
February — Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time
March — The Possibilities of Prayer
April — The Blessing of Boundaries
May — Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
June — Honey for a Child’s Heart
July — One With Christ
August — A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
September — Womanly Dominion: More Than A Gentle and Quiet Spirit
October — The Rose Conspiracy
November — Disciplines of a Godly Woman
December —
Benjamin Rush: Signer of the Declaration of Independence
I plan to review the Business or Financial book of the month on my blog on the third Friday of each month and I’ll also give a little update in that post on the other book(s) I’ve read in the past month.
If you want to read more this month and could use some accountability, Jessica from LifeAsMom is hosting a Booking It In 2011 Challenge.
You have a lot of great ones on there. If you want to boost it to 25 🙂 One that could fall into both categories is Business for the Glory of God by Wayne Grudem. I think you’ll really like it. It’s also VERY short, so you could potentially slip it in…Or you could save it for 2012 🙂
Just came back to your list to peruse, and realized that Have a New You by Friday is by Dr. Kevin Leaman ~ I love him! Popped over to our library’s site, put it on hold, and I can’t wait to read it. Thanks, Crystal! 🙂
I’d suggest making room in your list for one more, the sequel to Three Cups of Tea which is on your list–Stones Into Schools. I highly recommend both books!
Good to Great is an excellent book to listen too. Jim Collins recorded it himself and has a dynamic voice, making it easy to listen to. I would recommend this one in audio version if you are interested.
You have some great choices! I just read “Shift Your Habit” and really enjoyed it. “Honey for a Child’s Heart” is truly a classic for readers and their children. It’s probably time for me to reread this one.
Calm My Anxious Heart is a tome I come back to time and time again. I can’t say how beautiful the message is, or how it completely speaks to the female heart. It is a blessing of a book 🙂
Charlotte Mason=win. My husband and I don’t have children yet, but plan to not only homeschool, but to implement Mason’s philosophy of education.
Good luck with your year’s reading list! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these books.
God bless!
I really enjoyed Calm My Anxious Heart. There were so many helpful things I found for myself that I’m working through the 12 week bible study right now and loving every minute of it.
I just saw “Have a New You” on sale in the Family Christian Bookstore flyer so I may have to look into that one as well. I notice your theme this year seems to be finance but I was curious if you had any recommendations on parenting books.
After going through your list I got online and place a hold on three of the books listed. I have a Nook and have read many of the FREE books and have bought some. This year I have devoted to saving as much money as I can so I am using my local library to get books instead of pruchasing the Ebooks. I did download the copy of the Financial book you had on here the other day. I read about 8 books a month ontop of everything else in life. haha I wanted to say thanks for so many things that you share with everyone.
I loved Disciplines of a Godly Woman! A friend of mine and I studied a chapter a week by phone in college and it was a huge blessing to us both; I hope you enjoy it! 😀
Crystal- I wanted to recommend 2 books by Paul Miller for your future list:
Love Walked Among Us (about Christ; based on the gospel accounts)
A Praying Life (written so beautifully grace-centered)
Two of my favorite books of all time. Since you love to read, I think you might really be encouraged and challenged by them. I am enjoying your website and recommend it highly to women I interact with…
What a great list – I think I will try to read them as well. Looking to book swap with someone(s) who might be interested – any takers?
Thanks!
Great list of books! I have read a few of these:
168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think – great book! Definitely helped me restructure my time and enjoy each day more!
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t – This book is really great. Definitely applicable for anyone whether you’re in the corporate world or not.
Can’t wait to read your reviews!
Good to Great is one of my husband’s favorite books. Definitely applies to more than just business models.
I listened to Three Cups of Tea on audio book, the reader is great and then all the pronunciations of names and places are done correct!! I was driving a lot for my job at the time so it worked out great for me. Just a thought.
I listened to the audio version of 168 Hours on audible; I signed up for a month free and that was my free book. I really enjoyed this book! It made me feel empowered about my time. I also have read Good to Great in a work book club and America’s Cheapest Family at home.
I tried listening to Getting Things Done, but found that I like The Now Habit much better for my personal procrastination issues.
I added all of the books on your list to my hold list or to my reading list at the library if they are available; so I have 8 new books on my list. Thanks for sharing; I look forward to hearing what people think of them.
I’m really excited about the contentment book! I think it’s just what I need right now in my life. I’m the opposite of you though, I LOVE fiction. I can’t get enough of it. I’ve read about every Karen Kingsbury and Lori Wick book. Amazing! 😉
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day has been on my list for a while – great choice. It has fantastic reviews, from what I have read…
i read three cups of tea a few months ago. picked up some information i didn’t know from it.
We think alike! I’ve either read many of those or already want to. The Bread in 5 book is the bread that I make 85% of the time–and everyone requests it. I got the recipe online. Have fun!! If you need good fiction I would try Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry. He’s my FAVE author.
I loved Three Cups of Tea and I have the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day on request at my library. I may have to check out some of the other books on your list as well. Thanks for sharing!
Getting Things Done was an eye-opener in how my head works and how easily I get overwhelmed. It really helped me! I’ll have to check out these other ideas- great list!
LOVE Womanly Dominion! It has been the most encouraging “pink” book I’ve read.
Honey for a Child’s Heart is outstanding!!! Make sure to have a pen and paper handy, or a highliter!!!! GREAT book!!!!
“Debt Free U” is a must read for those who have kids in junior high or high school. It’s the only thing that finally got my husband to get his head out of the clouds when it came to where our kids would go to college.
I started Pour Your Heart Into It a little while ago, it is VERY good… you may think about grabbing a few more vivannos when you read it because you’ll be thinking about them!
Loved Good to Great, and Built to Last (the follow up)
Great list! Thanks!
I’ve read the Economides’ books. I’ve enjoyed each one I’ve read.
I L-O-V-E-D Three Cups of Tea. I shared it with 2 of my coworkers, and they enjoyed it as much as I did. Then I read Stones Into Schools, and found it to be even better than TCT, which surprised me since I liked TCT so much.
This is my 2011 book list, so far! lol
Slight Bad Girls of the Bible ~Liz Curtis Higgs
I Sold My Soul on eBay ~Hemant Mehta
The Power of a Praying Parent ~Stormie Omartian
What Every Child Needs ~Elisa Morgan & Carol Kuykendall
Generation Next Parenting ~Tricia Goyer
The Bathtub is Overflowing but I Feel Drained ~Lysa TerKeurst
And I plan on reading the following books with my 3 older girls:
The Tale of Despereaux ~Kate DiCamillo
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 ~Beverly Cleary
Ramona Forever ~Beverly Cleary
Beezus and Ramona ~Beverly Cleary
Getting Things Done (GTD as its cult-like following calls it, lol) was life-changing for me. If you get one tenth as much out of it as I did, you will be glad you read it!
@Wendi S, Agreed! That book helped me change so many habits. The Tickler File is what I’ve implemented the most, and I feel that learning that habit alone makes the book completely worthwhile.
That is a great list!!! I am curious….growing up did you read more than that? I counted how many books I read last year and only made it to August writing them down. I found the time to read them, but not the time to finish writing them all down. I read about 30-50 a month though. I do alot of reviews and thankfully am a speed reader. I do prefer a huge mixture of fiction and non-fiction. I really like the Artesian bread book, and just checked it out again so I can try the recipes.
I probably averaged 40-50 books/year growing up — somewhat similar to what I average now (though some years it’s only around 30 now).
Seriously, you never cease to amaze me. You must read very fast, but still, when do you read? Do you have a daily reading time slot or is your nose always in a book as you go about your day? They say readers are leaders…maybe that’s my problem-I need to get reading, but when?
I think Good to Great is the only one of the books on your list that I have read. I did put a reservation in for Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking though.
Another Charlotte Mason homeschooler here too! I have that book, but haven’t read it yet. I second the rec for Ambleside Online.
This would be a hugely ambitious list for me. I’m trying to work on my daily reading though! Calm My Anxious Heart sounds like one I should check out. 🙂
I think you’ll love “America’s Cheapest Family Gets you Right on the Money”. I took a lot of great tips from that book. Last year, I got a couple of titles from your 2010 list. Of course, I haven’t read any yet……someday I’ll get there. I think I read about maybe 4 books/year.
@Emily, I read “America’s Cheapest Family” as a result of it being on your list last year. I have to say that I didn’t find many useful tips in there. I wouldn’t say I didn’t get anything out of it, but I have a feeling you’re aware of most of the tips they’ve put in their book.
I have a question… Do you read any fiction books for pleasure?
All your books look great, but I was just wondering if you ever read anything for pleasure, not learning how to better yourself. You seem pretty good they way you are!
What I consider “pleasure” reading is a good business book or biography. Most fiction is incredibly boring and fluff to me. Yes, I’m weird like that. 🙂
I do have one fiction book on my list and have another one or two I might get to this year. But by and large, I usually read non-fiction.
I read Three Cups of Tea a couple of years ago and can honestly say it was one of my favorite books. I would like to read the second one and also am trying to encourage my 15 y o dtr to also. I think we really take for granted our educational opportunities and freedoms that we have.
Are you not a fiction fan? I go through books so fast. I honestly probably read 40 or so a year. A lot of that is fiction though.
Most any fiction I’ve tried to read is very boring to me. There are exceptions to that rule, but I mostly stick with non-fiction as I just find it more enjoyable and inspiring to read about real-life stuff and real people. 🙂
I loved, loved, loved the “America’s Cheapest Family” book. I told everyone about it when I was finished reading it. Enjoy!
@Jen, I also liked “America’s Cheapest Family”. Not too much new information, it was just fun to read their story. The monthly menu planning was new to me, however, and I would like to try it.
Womanly Dominion is an excellent book. I got it last spring at a conference and have read it twice already. Great encouragement and advice.
Be sure to read Stones into Schools (the sequel to Three Cups of Tea). I enjoyed it even more than TCT.
I am reading Calm My Anxious Heart and it is wonderful. Any Christian woman who struggles with any kind of anxiety or insecurities MUST read this book (not just women, men too…I may make my hubby read it:) Love, love, love it!
I’m glad you’re going to read Artisan Bread. I read both that and the “Healthy Bread in 5…” Like you, I mill our wheat. Sadly, even with adding gluten flour, I never had good results with their method. I hope it works for you and you share the secret!!
I read Three Cups of Tea and thought it was a great story of patience and perseverance even if I don’t necessarily agree with the worldview/philosophy.
My goal this year is simply to log each book that I read so I started a Word file to do it.
You are going to love Artisian Bread in 5 minutes a day. It is so much fun! I definately see a blog on that one.
24 books in a year seems insanely ambitious to me!
Just my .02…
The sequel to “Three Cups of Tea” is “Stones into Schools” and I and many others who have read both think the second book is much better and also easier to read. You don’t have to read the “3 Cups” first as “Stones” reviews much of it (and it made more sense!).
As someone else pointed out, it’s probably more liberal than what you usually read, but imho it’s good to read about how very differently other parts of the world live. A children’s companion book is “Listen to the Wind” by Susan Roth. Susan Roth’s webpage has a great lesson plan on making collage children like the artwork in her book.
I read “Calm my anxious heart” with a group of Law Wives last year during our 3rd year of law school. It’s such a great book to really keep the focus on praise and not worry. I would highly recommend it. {it’s not a law book…just happened to read it then.} Thanks for the list!
I love that Artisan bread book. I hope you do too!
I’ve read Good to Great and it’s a really good book! I think you’ll enjoy it!
I just finished reading Organized Simplicity. I really enjoyed the book. I skimmed some of the parts since I won’t be doing the work for another few weeks. If anyone is looking for a great starting place for life organization this is really the best book for it. She touches on finances, a homemakers binder and many other things. It doesn’t just focus on organization or simple living, it is a very well rounded book without getting technical.
I recently finished “Shift your habit” it was a very very good book!
Wow – these sounds great. Can I just borrow your list?? Where do you get your books? I have to think you are not at Barnes and Noble paying full price! I did paper back swap for a while, but just not good with keeping up the mailing. I hate dealing with mail. Not good. 🙂
@Lisa,
Always check your local library first. If you give them a whopper of a list ahead of a time they will do interlibrary transfers from all over the US to get them to you! At least ours does and I’d assume if they do down here in the middle of nowhere, they probably do everywhere.
I just might steal the list too. At least some of them.
@Lisa, We buy most of our books from Barnes & Noble online. Many times they are literally half what they are in store. We also pay $25 for their membership card that saves us tons (we buy text books with it though so more than worth the cost).
I rarely ever pay for books… I usually have a running list of ones I want to add to my collection and I have them on my wishlist on PaperBackSwap. If I can’t find them there (many show up eventually over the course of a year or two!), I’ll either get them with a gift card given to me as a gift (people know I love books!) or through Swagbucks gift cards.
I also usually receive around a dozen books each year from publishers who are hoping I’ll do a review on my blog (I turn down most of these pitches because they aren’t books I’m interested in, but there’s usually one pitch or so each month which I think I actually might want to read/review.)
I’ve found some incredible deals online and try to wait to order anything until Barnes and Nobles, Borders or Amazon is having some rock-bottom sale online, coupon code and/or free shipping. I can maximize the mileage of gift cards quite a bit when pairing them with a sale — and with cashback!
I looked at the list posted here and six of the books were sent to me for possible review over the last few years, three of the books were given to me as gifts, five were from PaperBackSwap, nine I purchased with accumulated gift cards and one I bought from a clearance bin at a homeschool conference. So that gives you a little idea of how we build our library on a dime here. 🙂
I too never buy new books, unless it’s a gift for someone! My favorite site for searching few know about is http://www.fetchbook.info/
You can enter by title, even isbn if you want a particular edition, and it searches ALL used and new books from big sites like amazon but also small lesser known ones, sorts by price with the direct link to each–it’s saved me TONS! And I love books!!
@Lisa, If the library doesn’t have it, check out your library’s used book sales – usually once or twice per year in spring and fall. If the books you want have been out for a few years, there are usually a plethora of them there. Used bookstores are great, too. Booksalefinder.com has a list of used book sales across the country – usually libraries, civic organizations and the like. I am an avid reader and don’t think I have bought a new book in over 5 years.
Wow, seriously?!?! I know you shared all your time budgeting stuff but honestly I can’t see how you do it. I’m lucky these days to get through like 2 books a year! Very impressive.
@val,
Haha, I just looked back at your list…perhaps I need to read that first book you have listed in January! 🙂
I too read Honey for a Child’s Heart and have a tip. Just request a free Sonlight catalog and you can use the grade level guides for book ideas. Each book has a short description (many are available at your library), and they’re organized by level and theme. We actually use the whole program for homeschooling and can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s a Christian program but has a variety of books that I think your children will love!
I used the Sonlight catalog to pick many of our read-alouds for the last few years. Love their suggestions!
Very good plan!
Are you new to Charlotte Mason? That’s my favorite book on the subject. Grab a highlighter 🙂 And something you’ll truly appreciate: Ambleside Online (or Mater Amabilis, for Catholic CM families) are FREE Charlotte Mason curriculum lists!
I’ve read a few other CM books before, but never the “Big Purple Book” as I’ve heard it referred to. So excited to delve into it this year. We do a mixed approach in our homeschooling, but definitely lean CM — at least from what I’ve read of her methodology.
@Crystal, You will LOVE the big purple book! I need to re-read it!
Take notes/highlight!
Also anything by Sonia at Simply Charlotte Mason is very good!
@Crystal, This book has been the biggest blessing of my first homeschool year. It is wise, kind, and just lovely. Grab a cuppa tea and curl up. 🙂
@Katie K,
Thanks for the Ambleside link! I had forgotten about that one!
I homeschool with a strange combo of classical and Charlotte Mason!
@Kimberly, We do that strange combo too! 🙂
I’m reading Three Cups of Tea right now! It’s really good and I hope you enjoy it too.
What a list, Crystal!
“Calm My Anxious Heart” is a great book! I always pray Psalm 139:23-24 daily as a result of that book (and bible study).
On the organizing front, I’ve been reading several of Donna Smallin’s organizing books and they have been soooo helpful! I love that she addresses the behaviors that aid in disorganization.
I read Three Cups of Tea… it is pretty liberal, you might want to keep that in mind!
Really enjoyed Debt Free U. Made me feel a lot better about my daughter starting college in the next 2 1/2 years. I also enjoyed America’s cheapest family—fun read!