[Flash] My Fiction Filter (and Book Recommendations for your Holiday Weekend) - MentorLead

[Flash] My Fiction Filter (and Book Recommendations for your Holiday Weekend)

My favorite part of long holiday weekends is the freedom to relish a good book.

According to research, even short sessions of reading fiction improve our understanding of other human beings (which makes us better leaders!)

But I find weeding through the massive selection of books available to be a daunting exercise.

So I established my Fiction Filter – my own set of rules to identify fiction books that are worth my time and attention:

  • 4.5-5 stars on Amazon rated by thousands of readers (I trust the tribe that reads before me)
  • No books where animals are hurt or killed (enough said)
  • No WWII books (I’ve reached my lifetime capacity for reading about that war)
  • No lazy editing (no meandering, verbosity, predictability, or inconsistencies)
  • Feel-good, uplifting, soul-filling (I get great satisfaction from a happy ending!)
  • Perspective-shifting, introducing different cultures or eras (one reason I read)
  • Strong recommendations from other voracious readers (like my mom!)

I actually find great success in using filters to weed through many of life’s overwhelming choices: movies, TV shows, activities, food, websites, and even conversations. Not everything deserves our limited time and attention!

So if you want to sink your teeth into delicious fiction this holiday, I offer you my list of recent favorites:

  1. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (by Gail Honeyman)
  2. Where’d You Go Bernadette? (by Maria Semple)
  3. The Storyteller’s Secret (by Sejal Banani)
  4. Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell (by Robert Dugoni)
  5. This is How it Always Is (by Laurie Frankel)
  6. The Last Mrs. Parrish (by Liz Constantine)
  7. The Alice Network (by Kate Quinn)
  8. The Sense of an Ending (by Julian Barnes)
  9. The Silent Patient (by Alex Michaelides)
  10. The Invention of Wings (by Sue Monk Kidd)

Happy Reading and Happy 4th of July!

ps. I’m always looking for entertaining fiction, thought-provoking non-fiction, or inspirational memoirs, so send me your recommendations!

 

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