My Year (and a bit) in Audiobooks 

Reading had always been so important to my sense of self. The feeling of holding a good book in your hands after you’ve just finished it is one of the most satisfying things in life. So, naturally, I was skeptical about trying audiobooks. 

However, the busy life of a working mom had left me little energy and time to read at the end of the day as I used to. My commute downtown had always been a sense of frustration about the wasted time. So, I decided to fill it with audiobooks. 

I used to stress about being stuck in traffic but now I just listen to an audiobook and let the rain pour down and crawl across town in my car and come home calm. Audiobooks have fed my need to learn and desire to use my time to the max. So after a year, here are the books I’ve consumed and what I thought of them. 

Girl, Stop Apologizing  By Rachel Hollis

This book was great. We are always apologizing, aren’t we? This book was good for helping me recognize this and stop it. Own what I want out of life and set goals to achieve it. The woman has four kids and managed to write this book. She shares her struggles and sacrifices and is very real about how it has not always easy street but it is worth it when you are actually living your best life. 

Girl, Wash Your Face By Rachel Hollis

Read this one first but make sure you follow up with her follow up Girl, Stop Apologizing. Her voice is a bit annoying at first but you get used to it and actually start to feel closer to her stories because it’s so real. I liked this way more than I thought I would. I have heard her podcasts are pretty great too. 

Becoming By Michelle Obama

As if I didn’t love the Obamas enough already. Michelle narrated my drive for a few cold weeks last February and I still feel the warmth it brought me. Beautifully told, this is a story of a woman’s struggle to find her place in the world. Her journey has not been what she thought it would be. But being open, finding out how to be open, to what opportunities were there for her beyond what she had set out for has led to a special and meaningful life. I have heard people say they were disappointed by this book. It is a slow climb. I really liked though and would recommend sticking with it. Her lessons will stick with you. 

You Do You By Sarah Knight 

This is Sarah Knight’s third book after How to Get Your Shit Together, and The Power of Not Giving a Fuck. I am pleased that this book is read by the author, as I always am, but her sardonic humor can get to be a bit much. Despite this, I do like this book and recommend listening. It is great for reinforcing something that I really need practice with – setting boundaries with people and being OK without getting positive reinforcements from others. 

Don’t listen to this while carpooling – profanity is used throughout and she quite obviously does not have kids and does not like them. Overlook that though and listen on your own and giggle. 

First We Make the Beast Beautiful By Sarah Wilson 

This is not a self-help book. It is more of a confessional narrative about her ups and downs of her life with anxiety and finding peace with the fact that it will always be there next to her. It is about learning to be and losing the feeling that you need to be ashamed or find a way to suppress your anxiety. It is there; it probably always will be and will bring with it some limits to what you can or should do. But it doesn’t have to stop you. In fact, it can even be an asset.

Audiobooks I Have Re-Listened To

Braving the Wilderness By Brene Brown

This was my Brene Brown introduction. Loved it so much that I listened to it again – the whole thing – a year later. Still so good. The path to wholehearted living is not the one that everyone else has travelled. It’s about not being small. Being who you are and letting other people see it. 

Dare To Lead By Brene Brown

Every time I consume a Brene Brown book I think it is my favorite. This is no exception. I have listened and re-listened to parts of it to write down the good parts. Which started turning into most of it. Read by Brene as she always does, this book reinforces what you have learned and helps with both personal and work. It is so good. 

Daring Greatly By Brene Brown

I really liked this one while listening but to be honest, couldn’t remember the details from it separate from her other books. I had to re-listen and I’m glad I did. It breaks down shame and the importance of setting boundaries. “If we own the story, we get to control the ending.” It also goes into men and shame and how they experience it differently. This is a game-changer to understand in our relationships. 

Rising Strong By Brene Brown

I think this is my second favorite Brene Brown book but I love them all so tanking them feels more like an exercise in testing the Recency Effect. It is all about being facedown in the arena. I remind myself all the time that daring greatly will always mean you will find yourself facedown in the arena. Those in the cheap seats will always judge, but they don’t matter because they didn’t even try. After you get up and dust yourself off, you will learn to rise strong. You will own your story, even the ugly and messy parts. 

Audiobooks I Didn’t Finish

Take Control of Your Life By Mel Robbins

There are good parts about this book but it’s mostly pre-recorded sessions with her coaching people out of their negative thinking that is keeping them stuck. I didn’t love the format and found her a bit annoying to listen to at times. But the big takeaway is that fear is felt in your body. It gets triggered and puts you on a repeating loop for how that fear has made you behave in the past which is what’s keeping you from moving forward with your life. Overall, overrated IMO. 

Mindset

I believe this could be a life-changing book. However, I could not listen to it. It is not read by the author and sounds like a robot reading. Read this one the old fashioned way. 

The Path Made Clear “By” Oprah Winfrey

This was the most disappointing one on the list. I had such high hopes but it wasn’t really by Oprah at all. It was a compilation of audio clips by other famous people. Yes, she read the intro and conclusion and some bits in-between but it was not enough that I can say this was what I was expecting.

A New Year

I’m currently listening to Love Warrior by Glennon Melton Doyle. I read the actual book a few years ago, but am now consuming the audio version. I hadn’t noticed in the physical book, but as she reads it the words feel like poetry. Not sure if that was intentional but it does make it even more powerful. Highly recommend so far.

Next up is Educated – A Memoir by Tara Westover. I’m thinking I might try mixing things up a bit more and listening to fiction this year as well. Stay tuned for updates!