Hi Reader

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I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how to carve out time to reflect and to really absorb and know the material I’m learning.

I watched this video by @CharlotteFraza as a reward for showing up on my yoga mat this morning:

​Learning over Content Consuming | Studying like a PhD​

I struggle to make time to narrate for myself.

I take notes while reading most books using the Simplenote app.

I found I needed a dedicated app for this or my reading notes would get jumbled/lost in a sea of other notes.

But I don’t yet take the time to summarize my thoughts about the reading at the end of each session.

That is one of the habits I want to begin for myself in 2025.

Currently, I wait until I write a blog post review, which doesn’t always happen.

So this is my first step, a weekly recap, which I’m sharing with you to help keep me accountable.

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What I'm Reading This Week:

For life & work:

​The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Andrachi

Take away: Get in the habit of asking a focusing question–What’s the ONE thing I can do such that everything else will be easier or unnecessary? I’ve actually started asking myself regularly, especially about things I am dreading or I find hard.

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For work:

​The Non-Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams

I’m loving this book. I was hoping to find a design book that was short, sweet, and practical to recommend to people who want to begin their own designer journey. My favorite thing is all the examples he uses to start to train your designer eye.

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For advent:

​Ishtar’s Odyssey by Arnold Ytreeide

This is our third year reading this series and our third book. I love how these books relate and intertwine with each other. I love how challenging they are, they are not easy stories. This one is unique in that the author included a food journey guide to help you experience all the different foods discussed in the book. This week I love how the main character, Ishtar, the Prince of Egypt, is learning generosity and humility through the experiences on the journey following the prophesied star.

Fun Fact: The author is from Nampa, Idaho.

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For my 13 year-old son:

Side Kicked by John David Anderson

I ask my kids to recommend books they’ve read that they’d like me to. I want to foster a shared experience for us and I want a peek into what they are liking and reading. I used to pre-read everything I assigned to them for homeschool and was reading aloud most other things. I stopped being able to keep up with them when my oldest was about 10 and started reading nearly a book a day.

I honestly didn’t really want to read this one. I read the first chapter and put it on the bottom of the stack for several weeks, multiple promptings by my son and an impending due date. It took about half way through the book for my interest to peak. It is written in a narrative style of the middle school boy main character, so the language is simple and direct, and reminds me why I’d never choose to return to that time in my life. But as the story is unfolding I’m beginning to see why my son enjoyed this one. Andrew Bean is learning to deal with disappointment after disappointment and a friendship/crush/jealousy conundrum of starting to navigate relationships and how quickly they can change.

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Favorite read aloud:

​A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston & Sylvia Long

My youngest, now six, wanted to learn about plants this winter. So this is the first book in his stack. I started with this one because it starts with the beginning of a plant's life. It is so beautifully illustrated and really got him asking about all the different types of seeds and noticing how diverse they start out as well as how much different they become and how different they grow.
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All book links are affiliate booklinks. If you purchase a book at no additional cost to you using our link we earn a small commission to help fund our home library. Additionally a portion of your purchase price supports local bookstores. Thank you!!

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I’d love to know if you’ve ready any of them and your thoughts!

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Cheers,

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Brenda Thorpe​
Founder + Designer
Sisu Site Shop
​sisusiteshop.com​
brenda@sisusiteshop.com

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