Recent reads 12/30/16.

Here are a few of my recent reads. I'm pretty proud of myself that it's been just over a month since my last recent reads post, as opposed to about six, like it's usually been. I do really enjoy reading, but I'm not good at making time for it because I always feel like there's something more pressing I should be doing. I'm not very good at relaxing.

The Antelope in the Living Room: The Real Story of Two People Sharing One Life by Melanie Shankle- This is the second of her books that I have read, and I really enjoyed this one also. She has written three books, about parenting, marriage, and friendship, and this is the one on marriage. She writes in a very honest, real, and hilarious way. She shares a lot of stories, and I always love hearing other people's stories. This isn't like a small group Bible study type book, but it's great for an independent, quick, enjoyable read. I would recommend. (She's also the author of Big Mama blog, which I haven't read, but I bet I would enjoy if I did.)

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan- This book was definitely different than my usual reads, but I enjoyed it. It's a true story about her "month of madness," when she started showing unusual symptoms, such as psychosis and seizures, and the struggle to figure out what was wrong with her. There is a whole month she does not remember at all of her hospital stay. She wrote this story herself, using her own memory (what she did remember before and after), journals written by her while she was sick and journals by her parents, doctors notes, etc. There were times where it was a little too medical, but not too often. She ended up being diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, an autoimmune disease, basically where your body attacks your brain. It wasn't my favorite, but it was definitely interesting and I'm glad I read it once.

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling- This was one of the books on my reading list that our local library actually had! Part of my struggle with reading books lately has been getting ahold of the books I want to read. While our local library is pretty impressive, I think, for a small town, it still doesn't have a lot of the books on my "to read" list. I primarily make up this list from other blog recommendations, so if anyone has any fabulous books, let me know! I also have the OverDrive app, which is really cool, where if your library participates in it you can rent books online, so I can get them on my kindle. The only problem with that is that all the popular titles have about 20 holds, so it takes forever to get them, and then once you get it you only have it for two weeks, and it's hard for me to finish a book in two weeks! Anyway, this book was pretty good- not fabulous but not bad. It was funny and entertaining, and I enjoyed it for that.