There are less than two weeks left in August and you can feel the shift in the air and the calendar. It’s almost time for back to school and classes and the fall routine will begin again, but in the meantime, there’s still lots of time to squeeze in some last-minute summer fun. For me, that also means time to sit and relax and work on my end of summer reading list.

I don’t read as much as I would like, but in the summer, I love having books on the go that I can enjoy while sitting on the dock, or in the evening while out on my porch. I generally pick up books at our local libraries or by visiting our local bookstores, like A Novel Idea Bookstore in Mahone Bay or Lexicon Books in Lunenburg, and if they don’t have what I am looking for, then I will order off of Amazon and have them arrive at my door.

The book that has me purging and working with all my nesting feelings as September approaches, is The Minimalist Home, A Room-by-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life, by Joshua Becker. I’ve been following Joshua Becker for years through his Becoming Minimalist blog and really love his approach.

Minimalism isn’t about taking something away from you. It’s about giving you something more.

I’ve only read a few chapters, but it has definitely spurred me on and I have already decluttered a cupboard or two. It’s less structured than Marie Kondo’s approach and feels more fitted to someone like me. This book has practical guidelines for simplifying our homes and addresses underlying issues that contribute to over-accumulation in the first place.

A book I’ve really been enjoying lately is Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult. I’m a fan of Jodi Picoult’s with many of her books leaving lasting impressions on me. Some of her books can be so intense, that I cannot immediately jump into another one of hers. She is a gifted storyteller and I have many of her books in my own personal library.

13-year-old Jenna Metcalf is on a quest, searching for her mother, Alice, an elephant researcher, who disappeared 10 years earlier after a tragic accident at their sanctuary for former circus/zoo elephants in New England. Leaving Time explores the mother-daughter relationship, be it elephant or human, and the idea that those we can’t forget are never truly gone

Also on my summer reading list this year is Good to Great by Jim Collins. This was recommended to me by one of my business coaches. It’s a detailed study, with lots of data that looks at different types of leaders, and what purpose, actions and style goes into making companies succeed.

Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. 
But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?

Good to Great, is not as light, as my typical summer reads, but one I am enjoying. 😉

You guys read cookbooks like novels right? Oh good…I knew I wasn’t alone. 😉 I picked up Well-Preserved, Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Food by Eugenia Bone, at the library on my last visit and I’m not gonna lie….that cover just drew me in. What’s more beautiful than jars of homemade preserves and jam? Nothing…that’s what! 😉

Several recipes are speaking to me. Pear, Port and Thyme Conserve, Spiced Apples and Marinated Red Bell Peppers to name a few. I’ll let you know how I make out if I try any. Right now I am just at the reading and dreaming stage. 😉

That’s it for my end of summer reading list. I’m taking a little time off next week and hope to finish off everything on this list and maybe add a few more. 

Do you make more time time to read in the summer? I’d love to know what you’re reading right now? What’s still left on your summer reading list?

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