Books I’ve Read During Covid and a “Reading Room” Design

Shop The Reading Room Design:

I always say during trying times there are hidden blessings. There have been MANY blessings for us during this “quarantine”, “stay home”, whatever you want to call the social isolation caused by the COVID-19.

One of the blessings was that I took HEAVILY to reading. Granted, a lot of my “reading” is through audio books, but I’m still digesting a lot more information that I was 6 months ago. Before COVID I was rushing between stores, work calls, appointments to volunteer at school, helping my parents, and seeing friends. When all that changed I quickly ran out of podcasts that interested me and I took to books.

I have mentioned on Instagram stories that I am interested in “retiring” (from being required to work) in about a decade and I love real estate. You will see a lot of the books I’ve read focus on investing and real estate. I never took to non fiction. Even as a kid I remember my Dad trying to pay me to read non fiction books over the summer and I was not interested.

We have a “reading room” in our house. My husband and I read in there every single day. We try to get my 7 year old hooked on the habit, but so far it’s not an everyday thing. I put up a similar room to ours above with shoppable links.

So without further rambling – here’s what I’ve recently read:

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robersons Kiyosaki – in my opinion this is sort of the holy grail book for those looking to build wealth by obtaining assets. It is VERY popular and really encourages you to have the employer, not employee mindset. It’s a great read or listen!

The Book On Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner – this is sort of a mini encyclopedia of topics related to rental property investing. I listened to it on Audible but I would recommend purchasing a hard copy because I feel like that is easier to reference in the future. He also refers to charts and figures in the audio version that would have made more impact on me if I’d had the visual. You can listen to the book and reference charts and such on a separate web page, but I’m not that dedicated.

Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi – I read this book with my kids after hearing the author speak on multiple podcasts about writing the book How To Be an Antiracist. If you want to get your feet wet before reading the book you can listen to Mr. Kendi on Brene Brown’s podcast here.

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss – This is a book about negotiating. It came with rave reviews but I didn’t make it all the way through (yet??). Most of my negotiating is business negotiations and they take place over email so I was having trouble taking his concepts and applying them to my situation. So while it doesn’t top my favorites list, it is well loved by others.

The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller, Dave Jeenks, Jay Papasan – this is a great book if you’re considering getting into real estate investing. It explains the fundamentals of how you can get ahead with this type of investments.

Retire Early With Real Estate by Chad Carson – I am a real estate lover. I could browse Zillow for hours a day if I didn’t have other obligations. This is a GREAT book if you’re considering getting into real estate as an investment strategy. I am not looking to become a full time real estate investor, but I do hope to purchase an investment property in the next year so I’ll share more along our journey.

The One World Schoolhouse By Salman Khan – the closure of schools last spring really had me thinking more about the educational system in our country. With soaring college tuition costs and student loan debt and pretty crowded classrooms I was curious what this author proposed. There were chapters of this book that were slow for me but overall it helped me think beyond our current system which to me seems a bit outdated.

Set For Life by Score Trench – this is a GREAT book. It is written for the person making around $50,000 looking to get out of the rat race. I have already set up the foundation he discusses (the first and best way to have more money is to spend less) and I was encouraged to seek new investment strategies in stocks after reading this book.

The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy – like compound interest – the author speaks to how small changes, both positive and negative, will compound over several years to either make big successes or big fails. Obviously he’s encouraging successes but he relates it to losing weight, gaining wealth, and improving relationships. I thought this book was good but it wasn’t my favorite. I took away more from this book about improving my personal relationships than my business or investing so I was happy about that.

The Success Principles by Jack Canfield – the name sums up the point of the book. It speaks a lot to the mindset of successful people the author has encountered throughout his life. I am about 80% of the way through this book and I really like it. I have a positive mindset, but it really emphasizes dreaming bigger and writing down/sharing the goals to lay out a plan for achievement.

Traction by Gino Wickman – this is a business book I heard about on the Bigger Pockets Business Podcast. I’m only about 1/4 of the way through so I can’t give a detailed review just yet!

Ego Is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday – I just started this so I will report back!

Have you read any books that really spoke to you lately? If you have, please drop a comment below. I am always looking for good recommendations.