A Goal Setting Guide to Help You Read More (+ What I Read in 2017)

published on: December 12, 2017 

back to blog
Reading Time: 4 minutes

I really, really (like REALLY) love to read, but it hasn’t always been this way. When I was in middle school, I was that girl who said reading was boring, and I had zero interest in it. I still remember my experience learning to love to read. It was in 9th grade Bible class. Every Friday, we were required to bring a book to read the entire class time. It couldn’t be a book for school, it couldn’t be a magazine. It had to be a novel. The first book I read in that class was the classic “Go Ask Alice” by Beatrice Sparks. I quickly fell in love and started reading book after book after book. The rest is history.

As you’ll be able to tell from this list, fiction is still my favorite genre (by a lot) and I specifically love suspenseful mysteries! My husband jokes that I only read books with the words “girl” or “lies” in the title. And ironically, out of the 12  fiction books on this list, 5 titles contain those words...

accessimage_ReadingGuide

Get the Reading Goal Setting Guide!

Are you interested in being more intentional about reading? I've got the PERFECT workbook for you. This 8-page guide will lead you through choosing what books to read in the new year AND making time in your schedule to read them. Add your email to access it below!

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

Keep scrolling to see the books I read in 2017, and my favorites from the bunch! Plus, the books that have already made my 2018 list!

171017DP_SpeakSocialSession2-32

What I Read in 2017

Faith:

The Dawning of Indestructible Joy (advent book) by John Piper

Redefined Study by Gretchen Saffles (Well Watered Women)

Captivating by Stasi Eldredge

 

Personal Development:

Food Freedom Forever by Melissa Hartwig

Do More Better by Tim Challies

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

 

Business:

Small Time Operator  by Bernard Kamoroff

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dan Carnegie

She Means Business by Carrie Green

High-Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard

 

Fiction:

(The stared titles are ones I would recommend.)

The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh *

The Dinner by Herman Koch *

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware *

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena *

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

Dangerous Girls  by Abigail Haas *

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart*

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins *

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn *

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty *

The Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena *

 

Still Reading:

The Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena *

The Dawning of Indestructible Joy (advent book) by John Piper

High-Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard

 

 

 
Screen Shot 2017-12-12 at 11.31.08 AM

My Favorite Reads from Each Category

Favorite of Faith: Captivating by Stasi Eldredge

My goal for 2018 is to read more books about Jesus, but at the same time, I’m happy that I tend to just read the Bible more than I do books about the Bible. Captivating was a life-changing read for me.

 

Favorite of Personal Development: Food Freedom Forever by Melissa Hartwig

Y’all if I could hug one person I’ve never met, I think it would be Melissa Hartwig. Although, I’m not a 100% paleo/Whole30 eater whatsoever (I love cheese too much), Whole30 and it’s message have truly changed my relationship to food. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who’s interested in healthy living, even if you think you don’t need it. I’ll be doing my second Whole30 this January, and I’m excited to have Melissa’s new books to accompany me on that journey!

 

Favorite of Business: Purple Cow by Seth Godin

This book will change the way you think about marketing your business! I wrote an entire post reviewing this book and sharing my top takeaways, so read that post here if you’re interested!

 

Favorites in Fiction:  Dark Places by Gillian Flynn and The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh

Since obviously, I read A LOT of fiction (and I totally think I’m forgetting some on this list), it’s hard to pick just one! So, I’m picking two. Both of these titles were crazy fast reads (even though they are larger books) because I simply could not put them down! Dark Places is a novel by Gillian Flynn, the author of Gone Girl. And, even though Gone Girl is much more widely known, I enjoyed this book EVEN MORE than I did Gone Girl!

On my Reading List (so far) for 2018:

GraceLaced by Ruth Chou Simons

Savor by Shauna Niequist

A Simplified Life by Emily Ley

Whole30 Day by Day by Melissa Hartwig

Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google by Scott Galloway

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty (and all of her other books as well!)

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

 

What’s on your reading list for 2018? Do you have any favorite reads to recommend?

Goal Setting Guide for reading more books!

Share this post:

Affiliate Disclaimer: Some of the links used on this blog are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission when you purchase after clicking my link or using my coupon code. This does not cost you anything extra, in fact, it usually saves you money! I only recommend brands that I have used myself and believe in. 

Become an email insider!

Get weekly tips and inspiration for building a business that aligns with your life.

Thanks for reading!

Time for an intro...

I’m Elizabeth – web designer, business educator, podcast host, boy mom, and devoted Jesus-follower.

My superpower? Helping you shine online and build a brand that turns heads. How do I do it?

With drop-dead gorgeous, strategy-packed website templates, the ultimate (seriously, ask our students) business course for designers and podcasters, and a podcast that’s equal parts insightful and relatable.

Oh, and a treasure trove of biz resources you’ll wish you’d found sooner. I’m living my dream job—one I built from scratch—and I’m here to help you build yours too!

Learn more

Get more when you subscribe to

Your relatable, always helpful and to the point podcast for women business owners 

Subscribe on Apple

Subscribe on Spotify
https://elizabethmccravy.com/reading-guide/
elizabethmccravy.com
CC-MAIN-2024-38
316250
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:M6DYKM3IS6A3RVDFQIEGAJT63VTSSQWR
<urn:uuid:25f2a620-e624-4710-9edc-aa73a87792fa>
2024-09-20T17:44:55Z
104.154.116.193
text/html
sha1:7Z6NXCR2SJH5GXRAVQVXNBJRXMPJJ22M
<urn:uuid:ddde4d25-cdc8-4834-a063-dc7cb1cadcb4>
https://elizabethmccravy.com/reading-guide/
response
<urn:uuid:feee1f1c-c759-4340-90d0-f97a651fd71e>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2024-38
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for September 2024
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-5
software: Apache Nutch 1.20 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.5-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/