Books I’m Loving Lately

Sometimes, I read a book that makes a big impact on my life, and I want to tell everyone about it. As of lately, I have three of these books on my mind. They’re all written by bloggers, and I can’t help but share!

Think Like Zuck: The Five Business Secrets of Facebook’s Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerburg by Ekaterina Walter

I was given the opportunity to read this book as a FitFluential Ambassador, and I was so excited when I received my copy in the mail a couple of weeks ago! I have been reading a little bit everyday during my lunch break, and I’m just about done now. The verdict? I love it! As you can see in my photo, this is one of those books that requires a lot of note taking — not the “I’m required to take notes for school” kind of note taking, but the “I want to remember everything that I can!” kind of note taking. A lot of this book is about Zuckerberg and his journey to Facebook, but it also gives the philosophies of several other successful companies, including Zappos, Apple, XPLANE and more. As someone who’s always been interested in entrepreneurship — I took classes in high school and college and I’ve always wanted to start my own business (I’m just not sure how yet ) — I was especially interested in knowing what makes these companies so successful. Of course, a large part of the success is due in part to the entrepreneurs, or intrapreneurs, as Ekaterina explains in the book, but success is also determined by the employees who work for the company, and the environment of the workplace. As someone who used to work for a start-up company (my first “real” job out of college), I can definitely see how the culture of the workplace can affect the success of the company. If your employees aren’t happy, they probably aren’t doing their best work, and in turn, your company is going to suffer.

Another one of my favorite parts of this book? The quotes.

There are so many good ones; I want to cut all of them out and tape them to my wall so I remember them! If you want to learn how to succeed in your field and become even happier in your career, I highly recommend this book! I’m learning so much!

Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond

Ahh… I loved this book. I read it over my winter break in just a few days, but I probably could’ve finished it in one sitting. It is Ree Drummond’s story of her life from the time before she met her husband to after they were married. This book really inspired me. Ree altered her plans in life after she met her husband — she decided that the life she had originally hoped for wasn’t the one that she was supposed to live. This book was sweet and funny, and it gives me hope that my journey in life will work out for itself too, even if it doesn’t happen in the way that I’d planned.

White Jacket Required: A Culinary Coming-of-Age Story by Jenna Weber

I read this book directly after reading Ree’s book, and I read it in one sitting. This might sound strange, but in some ways, it’s similar to Ree’s story — I think that’s why both books made such an impact on me. It’s a coming-of-age story that proves that life doesn’t always go the way that we want it to. I had already read some of the details previously, on Jenna’s blog, but there were also a lot of details in the book that she’s kept off of her blog. I could completely relate to the confused feeling that Jenna felt after college, and the feeling of needing to do something else with her life. She shares her journey after college, her experience in culinary school, her family life, and the story of how she met her fiancé. 

If you’re looking for a new book to read, I highly recommend all of these! In fact, they’re all so good, I will probably read each of them again for a second time, eventually .

What books are you loving lately?

**I received one copy of Think Like Zuck in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**