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hey everyone it's a girl Jen and I am
back with some book recommendations I
read quite a number of them last year
and I wanted to share 10 books that
really shook up my life perspective and
make me look at life more positively so
if you are a person that decided to read
more as one of your new year's
resolutions this is the video to watch
so let's get started so the first book I
have for you is called the untethered
soul by Michael singer I think this is a
book that everybody on the planet should
read especially if you're an
over-thinker like me I know I'm not the
only one that has that annoying voice in
your head that is constantly making
commentary about life
I mean sometimes the voice is pretty
funny and helpful but the majority of
the time it's just noise and Michael
singer does a really great job
explaining that that voice in your head
is not you he refers to it as your
roommate it's your roommate that you
basically have to live for for the rest
of your life and he explains that you
are the person that is just listening to
it I like to reread this book especially
when I'm feeling anxious about my life
or if I tend to overthink a situation
I'll just bust open a chapter and it
really helps ground me and makes my
foundation a lot more strong so
recommendation number two is called The
Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz this
is a book that I really wish was
assigned in school because I feel like
it would have made me a lot more
centered and confident but this book
explains four rules that we should all
live our lives by The Four Agreements
are number one be impeccable with your
word number two is to not take anything
personally rule number three is to never
make assumptions and the last rule is to
always try your best I can't find any
life problem and it couldn't be
redirected to the floor agreements so
let's say Ben and I get into an argument
and he uses a tone with me that just
really unsettles me I would go back to
rule number two which is to never take
anything personally because chances are
he has a tone because he's got another
separate problem that is his and I am
unrelated to it let's say I have a
creative block with work and I feel soup
uninspired I can go to rule number four
which is to always try your best so I
love that all my life problems can be
solved within one of these four
agreements so highly recommend that you
guys go read it so my third
recommendation is called the power of
habit and I swear this is the last
self-help book on this list I just have
to throw it out there because you know
if you're the type of person who wants
to finish their goals become more
disciplined and become more more of an
efficient person this book is great I
learned from this book that over 65% of
the things that you do on your day to
day life is run on autopilot aka the
habits that you create in your life so
if all the habits in your life are
positive ones then you can just like
days into life and be like productive
without even trying
and so that thought really excited me so
the author does a really thorough job
explaining how habits are created it's a
chain reaction of three events it is the
cue the routine and the reward and if
you are wanting to change a habit it's
all about changing the routine whether
it's a habit on smoking or drinking too
much or binge eating they all can be
reformed by just changing the routine
and so this book really helped me
re-examine my life and made me want to
change all my habits for the better I
was obsessed with Brewers last year I
read so many of them and I think the
queen of suspense is Gillian Flynn I
read all her novels last year but my
favorite was dark places so this is a
story of a girl named Libby day and her
devil-worshiping brother allegedly
killed her entire family when she was a
child she was only like pink 5 so the
memory is really fuzzy for her but
basically her brothers in jail and there
is this cult following that is obsessed
with the case a lot of people think that
her brother is innocent and as Libby
lives her life she realizes that she has
to really figure out what went down on
that night this book is super juicy very
suspenseful and if you like murder
mysteries you're gonna love this book so
next up I have the last mrs. Parrish by
Liv Constantine this is my gateway book
that got me sucked in to thrillers but
basically this story is about a woman
named Anne
who really wants to marry rich like
filthy rich so she has her eye on this
wealthy hotshot named Jackson Parish but
unfortunately he's already married so
this is when amber installs her
home-wrecking plan she befriends Daphne
she like incorporates her and her life
more and eventually you will see how she
steals her man it's like raunchy it's
got sex it's got mean girl thoughts and
it's just very satisfying to read this
will absolutely keep you up late at
night and I think this is great if you
have like a period of time you want to
kill very fast so whether it's a long
flight or if it's just like I don't know
a commute that you have I think this is
a book that you should read so my next
book favorite I've spoken about pretty
recently but I had to call it out again
because it's fresh on my mind and I
really stand behind what I said about it
it is called room by Emma Donoghue and
this is by far the most uniquely written
book I've ever read it's all in the
perspective of a five year old boy named
Jack and to Jack his only world that he
knows is in this 11-foot by eleven foot
room and the story is actually quite
tragic so his mom gets kidnapped seven
years ago by a complete stranger and he
keeps her confined in this garden shed
that is soundproof it's locked proof and
she ends up burying his child and that
ends up being Jack it's a really [ __ ]
up situation but she actually raises
Jack pretty well you get to see their
daily routine and just the bond that
they have is just unreal this is also a
movie that is out you can watch it on
Netflix I think this is a rare occasion
where the book in the movie are just as
good so I recommend you checking them
out so my next recommendation is also
something that I've mentioned pretty
recently
it's called pachinko by minjin Lee I
wanted to talk about this book because
it's one of those reads where after I
read it I just couldn't stop thinking
about it so this book is a historical
fiction about the time when Korea was
under Japanese rule and it was by far
the darkest times in Korean history and
no one ever really talks about it it's
kind of like this weird
forgotten part of history I never
learned it in my history classes or any
I think that a lot of people would be
quite shocked to see what the treatment
was like for Koreans Koreans were
considered lazy disposable third rate
citizens and they were just in these
inhumane conditions and I think this
book does a really good job explaining
what it was like through four
generations a lot of Koreans left Korea
because the conditions were so horrible
that they went to Japan for a
quote-unquote better life but once they
got there they realized that the
discrimination and the racism was just
as strong if not stronger and so a lot
of Koreans weren't able to get jobs so a
lot of them are resorted to crime or
just jobs that were really frowned upon
so one of the industries that they talk
about is called pachinko and pachinko is
basically a form of gambling and that is
how this particular family made their
money if you were ever curious about
Japanese and Korean history at that time
I think that this book can give you a
better reflection on what that was like
because clearly not talked about so my
next book is a memoir it is called what
I know for sure by Oprah Winfrey I
freaking love Oprah I love everything
that she stands for and she is just a
huge role model for me and this book is
all the life lessons that she knows for
sure and I think that this book is just
filled with wisdom whenever I'm feeling
uninspired or unmotivated this is also a
book that I love to keep on standby
because it just reinvigorates my love
for life and it just I just like her
positive outlook on life as well there's
so many parts of this book that I just
want to quote I highly recommend this
book if you love Oprah because it will
not disappoint you so my next book
recommendation is called born a crime by
Trevor Noah I first heard of Trevor Noah
when he took over the daily show and
honestly I didn't think much of him but
my mind completely changed when I heard
his interview on Oprah's podcast I was
like oh my god he is so funny so
charming and he also came out with his
book so that's what kind of pushed me to
read it his story is so interesting
because he was born in South Africa
during the apartheid and an apartheid is
basically a law where people outside of
each other's race cannot have sex or
marry so if you were black you had a
marry
black person if you're white you had a
marry a white person so Trevor Noah
was born a crime because his mom was a
black soso woman and his dad was a white
Swiss man
so his existence was a crime and he
explains a lot of the socio-political
issues in the book and he weaves it in
with a lot of his personal funny stories
about you know like his mom and like his
first crushes I smashed this memoir in a
matter of days and I just found it
really interesting because I never
considered looking at history outside of
America and so learning about South
African history was super eye-opening
and I loved that it was in his voice so
my last book favorite is called the Sun
does shine by Anthony Reddington and
this is the story of resilience and it
highlights how racist and fucked-up the
criminal justice system is in America in
1985 Anthony Rea Hinton was sentenced to
death row for two crimes he did not
commit even though there was an
overwhelming amount of evidence to prove
that he was innocent the all-white jury
in Alabama found him guilty so Hinton
spends 30 years in death row just
fighting for his innocence and he
manages to bring light and kindness in
such a dark and desolate environment and
he eventually gets out but dude it was
not easy I mean thank God for Bryan
Stevenson this memoir is honestly like
the ultimate story of the underdog
rising up and getting justice alright
guys that is a wrap on the ten books
that you should read this year if you
have any book recommendations that you
think I should read please leave them in
the comments down below one of my random
goals for 2019 is to attempt to read 50
books this year so we'll see how I do I
want to thank you guys so much for
watching and I'll see you guys in the
next one bye
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