Quarter 1 dump (for books)

I always thought dumps were just for pictures and/or videos, because those are what I usually see at the end of each month, quarter or year. But I followed someone on Instagram and realized she does monthly dumps "but for music". That's how I got the idea to do a quarter 1 dump (for books).

Last quarter (Q1 '23), I completed 4 incredibly good books!  And I’m 47% into my 5th book, 14% into my 6th book, and 30% into my 7th book!

Books completed in Q1

1. Malice - Danielle Steel

2. Honey & Spice - Bolu Babalola

3. Before I Let Go - Kennedy Ryan

4. Tomorrow I Become a Woman - Aiwanose Odafen

Books started in Q1 (but in progress)

1. Everybody Writes - Ann Handley

2. The Psychology of Money - Morgan Housel

3. Nearly All the Men in Lagos are Mad - Damilare Kuku

I’ve been reading novels more than the other books I decided to read. So that’s my only worry. But I’m trying to make an effort to read more of the others—Christian, self-help, marketing, literary, and finance. My 5th and 7th books are marketing and finance respectively. The 6th book I’m reading is a compilation of short stories: Nearly All the Men in Lagos are Mad.

I think I’ve been able to read this much because I had a plan. I had categories to read from and I planned to read at least one book each month.

More on 2 books in progress

I want to talk about 2 books today. Surprisingly, they are part of the books I haven’t finished reading but they’re my favorites in their respective categories. I talk about them quite a lot on my Instagram story so let’s have them here too. After all, I have a books category lying on this site with only one blog resting there.

Books I’m currently reading

1. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide for Creating Ridiculously Good Content

Author: Ann Handley my writing queen

Everybody Writes is for everyone who writes.  It’s a book for marketers and writers in the business space. But it covers general writing guidelines and rules so everyone who writes or wants to write can read it.

The key to being a better writer is to write. —Ann Handley

I love how Ann Handley paints a visual picture with her words while giving you the facts and rules. This makes her work interesting and relatable. It also makes complex concepts easy to grasp.

I find myself laughing half of the time when reading Everybody Writes. Ann Handley injected humor in every aspect of the book. She does that on her socials too.

I can say I’m a better writer, and in part, a better editor by reading Everybody Writes. Anytime I’m working on a piece, I remember some of the things Ann Handley said in her book.

I cannot share everything I learnt from the book here because I bookmark and highlight almost everything. But below is one of my favorite parts. And it was at a time when I needed to learn how to make my writing conversational.

By framing your writing as a conversation to someone specific, you become more...well, conversational. —Ann Handley

My comments (unhighlighted)

Everybody Writes will always be número uno on my list for the year because I’ve learnt so much from it and I’m not even halfway through it.

Me on Instagram the moment I realized I’ve been reading the old version of Everybody Writes

2. The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness

Author: Morgan Housel

Financial success is not a hard science. It’s a soft skill, where how you behave is more important than what you know. I call this soft skill the psychology of money. —Morgan Housel

The Psychology of Money is my favorite money book!

When I read the author’s summary I just knew I’d love the book.

Excerpts from The Psychology of Money

This book is an interesting and easy-to-understand book on savings, investments, wealth, etc. I'd say it's so because Morgan Housel tells stories—real life stories. He gives the facts, makes the claims, and supports them with stories so you see how these things work.

One of the stories Housel drew from in Chapter 4 (Confounding Compounding) is Warren Buffet's. Housel talked about how Buffet started investing at age 10 and how his returns and net worth grew over time.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 4 (this comes before Buffet's story):

The big takeaway from ice ages is that you don’t need tremendous force to create tremendous results. If something compounds—if a little growth serves as the fuel for future growth—a small starting base can lead to results so extraordinary they seem to defy logic. It can be so logic-defying that you underestimate what’s possible, where growth comes from, and what it can lead to. And so it is with money. — Morgan Housel

When you read Warren Buffet's full story in the book, you'll get a clearer picture and understanding of the excerpt above.

That’s it for my quarter 1 dump (for books).

What have you read so far?

Tell me about it in the comments.

And if you have any book recommendations, feel free to share them with me.

Cheers to a new quarter🥂