What I've Enjoyed Reading Lately

Here's a brief recap of some of the good books I've read in the last couple of months. I'm finally getting back into audio books which has been helpful to get through some books on drives or cleaning around the house. Sometimes a good narrator does it for you.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

If you're like me, this one had a bazillion holds on it so when I got it, I was so excited to it. Basically I binged listened. We had a snow storm around here so Austin had the car and I was stuck in the apartment all day and so I literally had it playing ALL day. I loved it. I only knew a few things about Michelle from little bits here and there while they were in the White House but I did not know anything about her upbringing, going from Princeton to Harvard, getting her law degree there, or early family life where she dealt with infertility and had both of her babies through IVF and even all the work she did with hospitals. She's incredible! Even though she didn't want Barack to run for President, once she committed the idea, she was all in and tried to do her best to create her role as First Lady her own. It's not a title that has a job description or any sort of manual. She didn't have to do anything if she didn't want to but she got busy with initiatives in health and helping military veterans, an area she was very unfamiliar with at first. Her writing is amazing and I loved the she did the audio version. It will be on my top lists at the end of the year for sure. 

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Start up by John Carreyrou

Here's another audio book that I COULD NOT PUT DOWN. I'm not kidding when I was looking for things to clean in my house so I could keep listening. This was about the start up company, Theranos, and all the secrets and lies they were trying to cover up in trying to get this company going. It's a bit unnerving and almost seems surreal. People getting fired left and right, people resigning all over the place, covering up test results to make it look believable. Check out this documentary trailer to get a glimpse of the story. So crazy.

The Unteachables by Gordon Korman

A teacher who is near the end of his teaching career gets stuck with 'the unteachables' as punishment for something that happened 20 years ago that the superintendent still hasn't gotten over. A super funny quick read. It's a great balance of humor and heart-warming-ness that I love in middle grade novels. 

Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce

It’s been a while since I listened to an audio book and this one was delightful to listen to. Great characters and interesting take on WWII period where an aspiring war journalist accidentally gets a job to be a typist for a women’s magazines and ends up secretly replying to ladies in distress because of the war. There were a couple of things left unfinished but overall a great read. Hunted by Meagan Spooner I read more fantasy at the beginning of this year than I normally do and this one was my favorite so far. It's a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast with added characters and a slight twist to it as well. Different than what I was expecting and I was pleasantly surprised! Have you read any of these? What have you've loved reading recently?