My Instagram-Curated Reading List

A little less than two years ago, I could be found sitting in my bedroom frantically trying to figure out what to write about before midnight. No, I wasn’t experiencing a bizarre Cinderella in the cornfields of Ohio scenario; I just had to get something posted so I could keep my goal to “Publish a blog post once a week.” Ultimately, I wrote about books, and while it was nothing earth-shattering, it ranks as one of my favorite posts because it kept my goal going, which ended up producing some of my most cherished blog articles.

I am in a similar place tonight after spending the past week in New York for a family emergency. In fact, I considered skipping this week’s post and acknowledging I wouldn’t be able to keep this year’s goal to publish something weekly. But since this year is all about getting back into goal-setting and following through on the challenges I’ve created for myself, I am going to take a page out of an old book (pun intended) and write about the twenty-five I plan on reading this year.

Since the goal is to “Read the first twenty-five books recommended in an Instagram poll,” I dutifully created a poll and willed appealing book titles to flood my inbox. While I did get many compelling suggestions, I noticed there were a few that I would skip over if given the choice. I could go into more detail about which books excite me and which ones seem off-putting, but I would hate to judge these books by their covers. So I’ll instead cement this year’s list by showing you the twenty-five books suggested by my followers:

Ishmael | Daniel Quinn
Thank God for Evolution | Michael Dowd
The Great Work | Thomas Berry
The Universal Christ | Richard Rohr
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone | Lori Gottlieb
Intuitive Eating | Evelyn Tribole
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck | Mark Manson
Can’t Hurt Me | David Goggins
The Overstory | Richard Powers
Missing Molly | Natalie Barelli
Get Out of Your Own Way | Dave Hollis
Educated | Tara Westover
The Only Plane in the Sky | Garrett M. Graff
Winter Garden | Kristin Hannah
Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens
The Gifted School | Bruce Holsinger
Ricky, the Rock that Couldn’t Roll | Jay Miletsky
Silence | Shusaku Endo
A Gentleman in Moscow | Amor Towles
Garden City | John Mark Comer
Stiff | Mary Roach
Daisy Jones & the Six | Taylor Jenkins Reid
An American Marriage | Tayari Jones
Pachinko | Min Jin Lee
Hey Ladies | Michelle Markowitz & Caroline Moss

As intended when setting the goal, I’m going to be challenged by new ideas and read books by authors I don’t necessarily agree with. But one of this year’s focuses is growth, so I figure, why not embrace the challenge on a literary level?

I look forward to sharing my thoughts once I’ve finished the list, and I feel grateful knowing I’ll be encouraged to complete it since the followers of this blog are incredibly skilled when it comes to keeping me accountable.