How is it the end of January already?! While 2020 felt like the longest year on record, it still seems crazy that it is officially over. 2020 taught us all so much – to value time with loved ones, working from home with your children and spouse is HARD, and that life can truly change at any moment. Now that we are a month in to the new year, I really want to focus on creating a great 2021! I want to cultivate joy in all of the little moments, focus on a self-care and continue to appreciate all that I have.

So, in the name of self-care, I wanted to share my reading list for 2021! With children, work, spouses and endless responsibilities, sitting down to read can seem like a far-fetched idea but here is my challenge to you! Even if you only have a time to read a page or two, take that time to transport yourself into a book for just a few moments. Here are a list of the books on my 2021 reading list:

1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

“For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.... The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.”

2. Becoming by Michelle Obama (Of Course!)

"In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address."

3. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet

"The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect?"

4. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

"No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results."

5. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

"In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place."

A reminder: don't feel any pressure to have to read in long increments, or a book a week or even a book a month - read when you can. Make it something fun that you look forward to as part of your "me time". As I start this 2021 reading list, I hope you do as well. Let me know if you enjoy these recommendations or if you have some of your own!