hey everyone welcome back to my YouTube channel for everyone who's new here my
name is Lucie Fink I'm a video producer and lifestyle host in
New York City and in today's video I'm going to be sharing 16 of my all-time favorite books
I decided not to pick a specific book genre for this video so I'm not just sharing my favorite
health books or my favorite fiction books I just pulled together my 16 all-time favorite books
across multiple genres I chose to do this because I know that many of you out there are very much
like me where you really like to read fiction but you also have an interest in self-improvement and
health so I just wanted to combine it all into one perfectly packaged YouTube video that you could
watch create a book list and then start reading you're seeing behind me the beautiful bookshelves
that my husband Michael arranged when we first moved into this apartment as you can see we have
done color coordination so we have a white slash gray shelf a blue shelf and then like an orange
yellow red shelf also up top you can't see but anything that's black or gray goes on the shelf
up there and there's also a shelf on the bottom for all the books that just don't fit into any of
those categories of which there are plenty I know a lot of people have looked at this bookshelf and
have commented to me that it seems impractical I totally get it if you don't have enough books in
specific colors that is totally okay you don't have to color coordinate your shelves but we
actually find it very aesthetically pleasing and it was not that hard to do we sort of just put
all of our books in piles and found that we had mostly black white blue and orange books and no we
don't buy books based on this if there's any book that we want to read that doesn't fit in we just
don't put it on these shelves and we have plenty of other places around the apartment where we
store books too thank you so much to literati for sponsoring this video this is the perfect sponsor
for today's YouTube video so before I dive into my 16 favorite books let me tell you about them and
there's an incredible giveaway that you're going to want to enter literati helps curate the best
books for all types of readers and essentially here's how it works so you sign up and then you
choose one of their luminaries whose book club you want to join and when they use the word luminary
they're talking about top thinkers change makers or world leaders so just to give you some examples
of their luminaries they have people like Malala Steph Curry Cheryl Straight Richard Branson Joseph
Campbell I think they have 13 total luminaries whose book clubs you can choose to join I chose
Kelly McGonigles her book club is called the joy collective and because she's a wellness expert and
a joy promoter she seems to pick books mostly about psychology and science which I find very
interesting so once you join your book club every single month you will be sent a literary box with
a book of that luminary's choice for the month so this month being part of the joy collective I got
this book called Clara and the sun it's written by a Japanese author I'm really excited to read
it and it seems based on the quotes on the back that it's going to be a very good novel plus every
month you get kind of like a custom note from your luminary and a bookmark and some other cool
book accessories so I'm very excited to be part of literati and there's an incredible giveaway
that you could be part of right now so this month they're giving away a free trip to Austin texas
for one of you and a friend and here's all that's included in the giveaway flights for
you and a friend to Austin a two-night stay at a luxury resort a spa package five hundred dollars
in cash that you can stock up on your at-home book nook the three-month literati subscription
for you and three of your friends and there will even be two runners up who will each win
1 000 in cash for your at home book nook plus a three-month literary subscription for them
and three friends each so to enter all you have to do is follow literati on social media i'll
put their handle here and down below and then just leave a comment on this video and you are
entered so I'm very excited to share that with you I hope you all go enter the giveaway right
now and I just knew that was the perfect sponsor for today's video so now let's dive into my 16
favorite books we're gonna start with a fiction genre because I always get questions about my
favorite novels so I have all my books right here so you're not seeing them on the shelves behind me
number one is normal people by Sally Rooney I immediately followed it up with Sally Rooney's
other book conversations with friends and then I was really excited to see that it became a limited
tv series the author Sally Rooney is really young I'm gonna pop up her age here but she is one of
the best writers of our time I'm telling you for anyone who just appreciates really well written
stories that keep you captivated and that you can read through really quickly because it just
sounds so modern and so natural this is a book for you plus the conversations that she writes
just sounds so real it's like you're not reading a book where it sounds scripted it sounds like
you're reading real life words second novel is city of girls by Elizabeth Gilbert this is the
author of eat pray love I hope you've read that book too that's one of my all-time favorites this
is one of her newer books it's from 2019. it's a very thick book and has 466 pages but I read this
so quickly I could not put it down the story is about New York City in the 1940s and it really
as someone who lives in New York I can tell you that this really conjures up the imagery of New
York I can't say what it was like in the 40s but I really kind of got it through this book so for all
those people out there who are like city dreamers you have to read this book because it will just
excite you so much for what your life could be like if you move to New York City and if
you just go out on the town every night and have fun as a young girl novel number three is eleanor
oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman this book is about a person who kind of struggles with
social skills there's a little bit of sadness in the book but I just felt like the characters were
so well developed it was one of those books where by the end you feel like you know them
and you really feel for them I also remember specific lines in this book that were just
laugh out loud funny so the writing is just really smart and witty a very good read and a very quick
summer read I would say and there's a quote on the front from Reese Witherspoon whom I love
so you know it's a good one and my fourth novel I don't have in person because I left it at my
parents house but it's where the crawdads sing by Delia Owens this is actually one of the best most
descriptive novels I've ever read the writing is so beautiful it is kind of very naturey and scenic
you can tell that the author either grew up in a place where she's very well versed in the language
of nature and she knows a lot about plants and animals and birds or for the novel she did loads
of research and got every single detail to a t it took me a very short time to read it but because I
was so invested in the characters I actually feel like I read that book for a year like I feel like
I was in the story for way longer than it actually took me to read it now we're moving on to my next
genre which I'm calling health self-improvement as you're about to see the next couple of categories
kind of mix together and you can sort of put the books in either category book number five
is the blue zone solution by Dan Buettner I have another book here on my shelf that's just the blue
zones by Dan Buettner the blue zone solution is more about the dietary and the food side of things
which I just found to be incredibly interesting so that's why I'm listing this book for anyone who
doesn't know I've spoken about this in previous videos but the blue zones are the regions of the
world where people live the longest lives they have the highest population of centenarians or
people that live to 100 or more and these are kind of considered like the healthiest hot spots on the
globe and Dan Buettner has done a lot of research to figure out what about these people's lifestyle
is causing them to live really long lives a lot of it is about community a lot of it is about their
activity that they do all day and then a lot of it is about what they eat and the connections they
have with people so this book really focuses on the foods and I felt like this was super
actionable because you know you can't really as an individual do too much to affect your community
like if you don't have a bike friendly community you can write to your local officials but you
can't really set up the bikes yourself for the community but what you can do is choose how you're
gonna eat and eat like you live in a blue zone so if anyone's interested in health in that sense
this is a great book as well as the other blue zone book book six sleep smarter by Sean Stevenson
I have been obsessed with Sean's podcast the model health show for years now I think he's such
an incredible host he does great research and he's really funny and has a very smooth voice but I got
this book as soon as I learned about it and it's essentially a guide to how to improve the quality
of your sleep and as many of you probably know by now sleep quality affects pretty much everything
about your day and your overall health so this book just dives into the best practices for the
best possible sleep hygiene how to get the best night's sleep tonight and all the practical tips
that you can do to improve your sleep and thus improve your health his books coordinate nicely
with my shelf colors he did that for me but this book is about you know using food to help yourself
be as healthy as possible so these two together will just be actionable practical tips that you
can implement right now I learned so much from this book and right after I read this I went on
to the next book on the list which is called the sleep revolution by Arianna Huffington
sorry to put two books on the list about sleep but I think sleep is probably the most underrated
aspect of health I love this book because Ariana has such an incredible story about being
an immigrant coming here starting the Huffington post completely burning herself out by overworking
and not sleeping she had a moment where she just completely burned out and had to figure out how to
rejigger things in her life to get herself back to good health and sleep was sort of her secret sauce
to that and in the vein of powerful women who I love we are going to move on to Sahara Rose and
the idiot's guide to ayurveda has a little bit more of like a textbook feel than an actual sit
down and read book but I read this textbook cover to cover as if it were a sit down and read a book
and I learned so so much so I read this back in my refinery 29 days when I first discovered ayurveda
and if you were to look at this book like pretty much every page has things that I've circled or
texts that I've added I took notes all around the margins as I was reading this book first of all
it breaks down ayurveda or the science of life so clearly and simply it taught me about the doshas
and then it really got into some practical daily tips like lifestyle activities that you can do
to balance your dosha things that I now do every day like tongue scraping abiyanga oil massage
different types of foods that I now incorporate into my diet because I know I'm a vata body type
so I eat a lot of warming grounding foods moving on to the next category which I'm calling mental
health obviously some of this might fall into the self-improvement category as well but this is the
mental health bubble book number nine maybe you should talk to someone by Lori Gottlieb I got this
book from my mother-in-law she read it and then went to see Lori Gottlieb speak and then gave the
book to like 12 of her friends Lori Gottlieb is a therapist herself so each chapter sort of hops
back and forth between different sessions that she's had with different clients of hers but she
at the same time is seeing her own therapist and she's navigating through a breakup and her own
life so it's very interesting to have a therapist have the experience of going to therapy and
reflecting on that at the same time the stories of her clients are just so fascinating some are
really heart-wrenching and sad some are funny some make you really angry and you kind of hate the
people plus she's a really great writer also laugh out loud moments really interestingly put together
and I would just highly recommend this book book 10 icky guy the Japanese secret to a long and
happy life this is a very short small read it's kind of like a coffee table book but it does have
a lot of text like this is like a sit down read it book I also read this one like idiot's guide
to ayurveda with a pen in hand and took notes all throughout the margins just to give you a
little background the word icky guy is a Japanese word that sort of means like your reason for being
almost like your meaning of life but essentially there are four bubbles so if you combine
what you love what you're good at what you can be paid for and what the world needs the intersection
of those four things would be considered your icky guy it's like your life's highest calling
based on what you love what you're good at what can actually sustain you in a career and what is
helping others and actually the Japanese village that is being kind of talked about in this book
is one of the blue zones where people live the longest lives and according to the authors of
this they also live the happiest lives book 11 I should have timed this so that this was book 10
is 10 happier by dan harris this is a number one New York times bestseller there's also now
a podcast called 10 happier hosted by dan harris on abc news and in case you don't know dan harris
is a news anchor similar to Ariana Huffington was just kind of getting burnt out with work and not
giving himself time to rest and it all culminated in one live event on tv where he legitimately had
a panic attack in public after that he decided to take some time off give himself a break and travel
to India to learn about the art of meditation and he dove head first in to the meditation space
learning everything he could seeking out gurus and just overall calming his mind body and spirit as
someone who also works in the entertainment industry I found this to be particularly
interesting because I understand the hustle and grind that goes into that tv and media world
and I just love the podcast that has come out of this he interviews some great experts book 12
and the last in the mental health category is tiny beautiful things by Cheryl Strade she's the author
of wild you might know her from that book but this is another one of those great books for people who
really like voyeurism and like hearing about other people's struggles I find when I learn about other
people's struggles it just sort of reminds me that my life is not so important we can all only
ever live inside of our own heads and kind of know what we are going through personally but when we
expand our consciousness and we let ourselves see what other people are going through we just sort
of remember that we are small and insignificant which might make some people upset but that makes
me really happy to know that I am nothing just a speck of dust floating through the universe and
my problems are not a big deal this is basically a compilation of letters that she received when she
worked as an advice colonist she's now revealed herself as the person behind the advice column and
she called herself sugar so pretty much all the letters start with dear sugar and I also saw this
as a play which was incredible like really really well done and was basically just excerpts from the
book so I would just highly recommend this book for anyone who's interested in advice about life
relationships friends money all that good stuff we're moving on to the next category now and
we're going to call this one the memoir category and I only have one book in here for now and I
don't have it in person it's also at my parents house but this was my favorite book when I was
growing up I read it a number of times when I was younger I haven't read it recently but I always
recommend it to people and it's called running with scissors by Augustine Burrows but this author
just had such a bizarre childhood his mom sent him to go live with her psychiatrist and he has
some crazy stories from his childhood this book at the time when it came out spent eight weeks on the
bestseller list so you know it's a really really good book I actually think it's a movie too but
I've surprisingly never seen the movie and I will always remember that Augustine Burroughs came to
my college to speak I went to go see him and I made a point to go up to him after to tell him
how much I loved his books and to also ask him if he had any life advice for me and his advice was
as a writer you know because I was in the creative writing program he told me that in life I should
put myself in uncomfortable situations as often as possible basically like situations that I normally
wouldn't find myself in or I wouldn't put myself in intentionally as long as it's not a dangerous
situation to try to always push yourself outside of your comfort zone and those words of advice
have stuck with me for years all right and for my last category we are going to call it
lifestyle I know that's not like a genre of book but you will see when I mention the books why I'm
calling them lifestyle books so book 14 I don't have this one with me but it's called the creative
curve by Alan Gannon I read this book last summer and it's basically Alan's research pooled together
of what makes the world's most creative people creative like what is a common thread in their
lives that makes them excel at their craft whether they're a musician a songwriter you know whether
they're a filmmaker fashion designer he covers some really famous well-known successful people
and he's had the chance to interview them and he sort of finds these common threads that go
through their lives that make them the best at their craft and make them really creative people
I found that it had some very interesting insights coming from someone who is a content creator who's
always trying to push the bounds of creativity and make new things there were some really great
takeaways from the book book 15 everyday ubuntu living better together the African way I got this
book from a friend of mine one of my bridesmaids and it was actually written by Archbishop Desmond
Tutu's granddaughter this book sort of reminds me of the Japanese book ikigai but ubuntu has a
bit of a different meaning collectively it sort of means the phrase I am only because
you are and it's basically a concept that is found in like almost all African languages and it just
sort of underscores the importance of people and community sharing collective consciousness with
others around you it's just a very nice philosophy and I feel like if everyone lived their life with
the principles of ubuntu the world would be a much better place the book is also very beautiful it
has a lot of beautiful colors and artwork in it and the pages are glossy so it's kind of a fun
physical thing to hold and read and moving on to the last of the lifestyle genre and also the last
book of the video book number 16 the miracle morning by Hal Elrod Hal Elrod has one of the
most fascinating stories I've ever heard he was essentially in a life-threatening car accident
almost died I think it's actually possible that he did die and then came back to life was told
he would never walk again and through the power of meditation and manifestation he was able to
walk again his story is really fascinating I did not do it justice in those five seconds but he
realized that he could completely transform his life by sticking to a regimented morning
routine every morning that included six very important elements so the six elements are
silence like meditation or just silence reading affirmations visualization journaling and exercise
the book does encourage you to wake up at around 5am or earlier but don't freak out for people that
don't want to wake up early you can honestly still read this book and still incorporate the practices
even if you wake up at eight or nine and you can break up the routine however you want so you can
do you know a full hour-long morning routine where you're doing 10 minutes each of these six
things or you can do like a six minute morning routine where you're doing one minute each of
each of these six things and that's it 16 of my all-time favorite reads things that have changed
my life or just made me really happy to sit and curl up by the fire or under the sun in the summer
I am always looking for a good new book so please please please in the comments drop your favorite
books down below I would love to know across any genre what has been your favorite book of all time
what's the go-to book that you always recommend to friends and family give this video a thumbs up
and hit that red subscribe button down below to join my YouTube family we are so so close
to 300 000 subscribers I'm really excited to hit that marker I know nothing magical is gonna
happen but it just feels really great to have this family growing so quickly and don't forget
to go enter that literati giveaway that I spoke about earlier I am so excited to see who wins the
trip to Austin thank you so much for coming back to my channel I hope you like this video can't
wait to see you again I have a really fun video coming for you next week and I will see you soon
bye