Summer Reading Pledge : Book Reviews.

We're down to the home stretch friends! This is our last week for the Summer Reading Pledge. On September first, I'll be offering up a little giveaway to conclude the Pledge and to thank you all for joining in and playing along.

So far this summer I've read (and reviewed):
1. Bossypants
2. Catching Fire
3. EnLIGHTened

To wrap up my reviews, I also read Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck, Get Lucky by Katherine Center, Add More ~Ing to Your Life by Gabrielle Bernstein and half of Life Support: Three Nurses on the Front Lines by Suzanne Gordon. Here are my mini-reviews...

Finding Your Own North Star: I'm one who likes to keep my books in pristine condition, but for this book, I broke out the pens and started underlining. There are so many worthwhile gems of wisdom and insightful exercises that are perfect for anyone who is looking for a more authentic direction in life. Not that that's me. Ahem. Seriously though, I found myself tempted to keep this book on my lap while I was at work to sneak some reading in throughout the day. It will be a great book to return to regularly.

Get Lucky: This is the requisite "chick lit" book for the summer. I was a quite fan of Katherine Center's book, The Bright Side of Disaster, so I picked up her newest book. It was a quick read, but not nearly as good as BSOD. It was a little too predicable, and the final scenes were just too far fetched and unrelateable for my liking. I'd definitely recommend BSOD over this one.

Add More ~Ing to Your Life: So, can you tell that I really like personal development books? (PS- I abhor the term "self help." "Personal development" seems much more positive to me). I had checked this book out from the library in the past, and it hadn't grabbed me, but I gave it a second try recently since I kept seeing Gabrielle pop up online quite often. Honestly, it didn't really stick with me. I felt Gabrielle's concept of the ~Ing equation was a little repetitive when it was applied to every chapter in the book, but I did gain some insights about myself through reading it. I like how she tied physical movement to a positive quality (ex. doing yoga when you are working on stretching your boundaries) and it's made me look at my physical activity a little differently.

Life Support: Three Nurses on the Front Line: For some reason, I really like reading about nurses. Part of me has always been interested in the profession (at least in a curious sense, if not a practical sense), so I have found myself reading profiles of nurses on more than one occasion. This book follows three different nurses and looks at the challenges of their job in the current medical environment and the difficulties in their working relationships with doctors. Although I'm not finished, I've found it very informative and interesting to read.

I hope you all get in some last-minute reading this week! Stay tuned for the Summer Reading Pledge giveaway next week!