Do you use Goodreads? I do; I use it as a book log to keep track of what I read. I don’t choose my books for the pleasure of putting them on the list – it’s much more of a passive list than something active, to find out my trends in reading and how much and what I read.

Here’s some recent highlights*:

Austin Kleon‘s work: Steal Like an Artist & Show Your Work

• I read Show Your Work in book form but read Steal Like An Artist in digital form. Ironically enough, there wasn’t much difference between those experiences, but each book is absolutely worth reading for creative types. If I had to pick my favorite, it would be Show Your Work, as I think that thinking about your influences is a really valuable lesson to take away from any book. (Do I smell a blog post series coming? Maybe!)

Matt Richtel:  A Deadly Wandering: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention

• Such an amazing book. Most of us have looked at our phone or texted while driving – and if you haven’t, stop lying. Have you ever realized that you don’t remember what happened during the period while you were doing the two things simultaneously? This book is all about that – and the consequences of texting while driving, seen through one case in Utah. If you’re at all interested in how the brain works – and how your phone might literally be working against you – this is a must read. This book easily made my top 10 books of the last year; in fact, I spent lots of my anniversary celebration reading it!

Marie Kondo:  The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

• Everybody probably knows about this one, as it’s so popular. I wanted to read it to see if all the fuss was deserved – and it was. I think that the really interesting thing about this book is the idea of ridding yourself of possessions that bring you no joy. It’s an interesting idea; I know that there’s several things in my house that I brought in that bring me no joy and they shouldn’t be in my life. Kondo is really onto something here; absolutely recommended.

Mary S. Parker: Sashiko: Easy, Elegant Japanese Designs for Decorative Machine Embroidery

•  I don’t remember how I got into sashiko, but I LOVE the concept. (Naturally, I have yet to do anything in sashiko, but the intent is there.) It’s a traditional Japanese geometric embroidery that the lower classes practiced when mending clothes; each stitch pattern has a different meaning, so the meaning behind the stitch was literally sewn into the fabric. (Gives a new meaning to thinking of someone, wouldn’t you say?) Parker’s genius idea is that these are patterns that are makeable by machine, as they tend to be made up of connected lines. (Traditionally, they were hand-stitched.) This book also has a dictionary of patterns in the back and for that alone, I will be purchasing the physical copy rather than borrowing it from the library.

Those are some of the great reads I’ve found recently, but I would LOVE recommendations. What have you been reading lately?

*Links are affiliate.