Books I'm Loving Lately

This year I’ve managed to steal away an hour each morning to wake up and read something inspiring. In the past I haven’t considered myself an avid reader, but lately I’ve been motivated to change that narrative and instead find books and topics that make me excited to dig into each day. It’s helped to have read some really great stuff too, thanks mostly to consistently updating my Goodreads “Want to Read” section each time I come across a title that piques my interest. Here are a few of the books I’ve been loving lately. If you see something interesting, consider bookmarking this page or adding the title to your own Goodreads so you never have to wonder what to read next.

Not Being: The Art of Self-Transformation

by Steven D’Souza & Khuyen Bui

I randomly picked this up during a layover at London Heathrow on my way back from Cape Town and oh my goodness, am I glad I did! Chapter one opens with a mention of the “rocky shorelines of the Western Cape,” and had been published exactly 9 days earlier, which was a good indication that this book came into my life at the perfect time. In my mind, this is a book dealing in spiritual topics, wrapped in biography and musings on psychology. This was a welcome change of pace from the spirituality genre that I had been immersed in for most of last year, and yet it touched on many of the same topics, although in a more grounded, humanistic way. If you’re looking for an inspiring read on self-actualization in the context of a global pandemic, then I cannot recommend this enough. Later I’d like to get into D’Souza’s first book of this 3-part series: Not Knowing: The Art of Turning Uncertainty into Opportunity.

The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety

by Alan W. Watts

This is the book I’m currently reading for the second time. I first read it back when I was about 19 or 20 years old and it feels equally fitting in the context of my life now as it did back then, although I do feel I have a slightly better grasp on the concepts. Its relevance in today’s fast-paced and uncertain world, despite being written in 1951 speaks to this book’s appeal, and yet it’s one I don’t see mentioned quite as much in the self-help/new age genre. This read is helping me reframe the uncertainties in my life at the moment and use that as creative fuel to move forward with purpose and intention.

The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship

by Miguel Ruiz

This was the first book I read in 2022 and I just loved every moment of it. While searching around for a copy, I actually read The Four Agreements and The Fifth Agreement first, and I’m so glad I did because Ruiz quickly became one of my favorite authors. As much as I love reading about the self, one of my favorite topics is the self in relation to others, a.k.a all the relationships we have in our lives, romantic, platonic, family, friendships, or otherwise. This book examines all of these relationships, the way they weave themselves into our being and influence our lives. I found myself barreling through this short read and wanting to restart it almost immediately. I’m going to wait a while on that, as there are other titles that I should really get through first but I can’t wait to return to this beautiful book at the right time.

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

by Eckhart Tolle

If you’re at all interested in the self help/ spirituality/ new age genre, then there’s no doubt you’ve likely heard about this book. It’s one that my parents listened to on audio repeatedly when I was growing up. As someone mentioned to me in a cafe one day, “my mom told me to read that,” so maybe it’s more of a book that lots of people hear about and dismiss until it finds its way into their hands one day. And I’m going to say what so many others say when that day comes around: this book changed my life. Perhaps it was the fact that I read it while solo traveling in a foreign country (and self-quarantining for part of that time) but this book broke me. At times, it devastated me, and burned off so many illusions and limiting beliefs that I’d been holding onto for a long time. It was the heaviest, most poignant and potent thing I’ve read to date and I both love it and fear it for that reason. I will definitely be revisiting this book when I finally recover from the initial shock of my encounter. I should also mention that I initially started this book in August and set it aside until December when I really had the bandwidth to delve into the topics because it’s quite dense and full on from the start. I also read A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, Tolle’s second book, before this one, which is an easier introduction to this author. So yeah, maybe just listen to whoever it is in your life that keeps telling you to read this but make sure it’s at a time when you can really give it the attention it deserves.