How to Use this Page:

Below, there are two sections. The first, a tracking of the current year’s content consumption (Books, Videos, Other Media – articles). This is mainly for my own tracking and your curious browsing. Denoted with “TBD” are books I’m currently reading. (Yes, I sometimes have several!) I don’t know if this is common practice, but it works for me! Over the years, I hope to curate different compilations of books for different reasons – life perspectives, mental health, financial literacy/personal development, fun fictional storytelling, etc. 

For every year preceding the current year (since 2012), there is a link to a page filled with complete book notes and commentary (if there are any I decided to note), as well as links to other resources I have collected across the web. It’s really a compilation of materials I have been consuming that year and wanted to capture. Often, I share these with friends, so they are not exhaustive of what I’ve been consuming but highlight some of the best (i.e. most valuable insights to me). For simplicity sake of this Reading Summary “Table of Contents”, I have outlined the books I have read each year – whether by audiobook or a physical/digital copy – and the month I read them. In Purple, are notable books!

Reminder: Your local library is a fantastic resource for reading material, so apply for a library card and start reading! I don’t like to buy books often, but if it seems like a book I’ll re-read in the future (which is more often than I thought), I’ll actually order it and swap over! Feel free to leave some great recommendations below for me and your thoughts on any of the books listed. Cheers!

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Podcast Library – Vist tyw_Learning_Library playlist for a full outline of continually updated podcast episodes that I really like! A lot of inspiring conversations that have been stretching my understanding and perspectives across a variety of genres and topics. Go take a peek & follow along!

2026 Reading List (In Progress)

*I became ill at the start of the year and realized that my innate desire to be “productive” even while sick did not bode well for getting healthy faster; audiobooks played in the background did not always lend to higher sleep quality, but did offer a soothing lullaby for me to drift off. / Spotify offers 15hrs of free audiobook time. It’s nice to be able to have access vs. waiting for my turn for books at the library.

*This is the year I started using AI to summarize books for me when determining whether or not a book was worth picking up to read cover to cover. Sometimes I really just wanted the summary and applicable takeaways and AI offered that. It did a good job scanning content across the internet of others’ summaries and their opinions of the book, which led to me to being able to ask questions and get some interesting application perspectives with some of the takeaways. That said, I am aware it does not replace my own experiences of reading the book and how I might personally process the information myself within the context of my own experiences for a more personalized application perspective. AI, is nevertheless, helpful is starting a discussion.

*I also watched some summary videos on YouTube as well on books to determine if they were worth reading. 

1. Restaurant Kid: A Memoir of Family and Belonging (Rachel Phan) – Jan 2026 (Audiobook) – Canada Reads 2025. An interesting perspective of the life of the youngest child of 3 from Chinese-born-Vietnamese Parents and restaurant owners living in small town Ontario.
2. The Art of Spending Money (Morgan Housel) – Jan 2026 (Audiobook) – re-read chapters on Kids and Money, Tips for a Miserable Life (do the opposite, ponder them), and conclusion.
3. Being Mortal (Atul Gawande) – March 2025 – Jan 2026 (Physical/Audiobook) – a lot of fascinating tales about senior care living and the possibilities and evolution of what it can look like. Top 3 concerns to address for seniors: loneliness, boredom, and helpless. Also, that they keep their dignity via a sense of independence and privacy too. Just because they are old doesn’t mean they don’t need that. Gawande brings up the importance of having the hard conversations today, and how doctors can to patient – either with knowledge/data or as a counsellor/guide; taking a page from palliative care professionals: what do you care about most? How much are you willing to sacrifice to get it? Etc. 
4. Make Your Bed (Admiral William McRaven) – Jan 2026 (Audiobook) – related to his Commencement Address to the graduating class at the University of Texas. 1.⁠ ⁠Make your bed – The little things matter. If you can do the little tasks, you can do the big tasks. Start your day with your first accomplishment.
   2.⁠ ⁠⁠Find someone to help you, you can’t go at it alone. — If you want to change the world, measure the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers. You need to work as a team with others; it is inevitable. Respect everyone. To succeed, grit and determination matter more than anything else.
   3.⁠ ⁠⁠Life’s not fair (and you will fail often) – if you want to change the world, get over being a sugar cookie.
   4.⁠ ⁠⁠Life is filled with circuses – moments that will challenge you and push you to your limits. If you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of circuses. Failure can make you stronger.
   5.⁠ ⁠⁠If you want to change the world, sometimes you have to slide down head first. (Aka. Take some risks and trust your ability to do so at that point.)
   6.⁠ ⁠⁠If you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the sharks (bullies). Stand up to them.
   7.⁠ ⁠⁠If you want to change the world, you must be at your best in the darkest moments.
   8.⁠ ⁠⁠One person can change the world if you can bring someone hope. If you want to change the world, start signing when you are in the mud.
   9.⁠ ⁠⁠If you want to change the world, never ring the bell. Never ever give up.
5. Recovering from Narcissistic Mothers: A Daughter’s Guide (Brenda Stephens, LPCC) – Feb 2026 – For daughters, specifically, who have sacrificed themselves for a parent to recognize when they have neglected themselves for too long. On being specific when communicating how one feels and why, setting boundaries and why they exists and the consequence of having boundaries crossed, and to follow through consistently on the outlined consequences when boundaries are crossed.
6. Pick a Colour (Souvankham Thammavongsa) – TBD – 2025 Scotiabank Giller Prize Winner (Canadian) – Fiction – Stopped reading it after 50% of the book. It’s a short book.
7. The Other Side of Change: Who We Become When Life Makes Other Plans (Maya Shankar) – March 2026 (Audiobook) – Highly Recommend! Lots of great storytelling on the lives of different individuals who have experienced adversity and how they navigated their emotional states and reshaped their perspectives. The author hosts a great podcast called “A Slight Change of Plans”. Lots of great content and good questioning/interviewing by Maya!!
8. Yellowface (R. F. Kuang) – March 2026 (Audiobook) – Fiction. Lots of great content on the publishing industry. Great narration and voice acting.
9. Katabasis (R. F. Kuang) – April 2026 (Audiobook) – Fiction. A fantasy novel in which hell and the use of magic are investigated. Also, the life of PhD students in the world of Academia at Cambridge. An insightful sharing of motivations, intentions, and purpose of academic students. I continue to have an admiration for R. F. Kuang whose research into different avenues of life are explored further and shared inside the world of her fantasy books. Amazon MGM studios is creating a TV series inspired by this novel – launch TBD. Here’s an Elle Magazine interview with R. F. Kuang, which makes reference to a Sally Rooney essay about debate/competition.
10. Why Didn’t You Tell me: A Memoir (Carmen Rita Wong) – April 2026 (Audiobook) – What an honest storytelling of a Latino-Chinese-Italian woman’s life growing up in both NYC and New Hampshire. Carmen’s life weaves threads of her Catholic upbringing, her “eldest daughter” role, and a myriad of tales juggling her identity with snippets of her relationship with her mother, father(s), and romantic partners. With tales most people would rather leave kept hidden and swept under the rug, Carmen is forthright and unashamed by stories of her parents’ infidelities, not-so-distant ties to the hidden economy of immigrant black markets, and other tales — working at Christie’s, her travels, her role as aunty, mom, genetic testing, thesis on narcissistic people, and beyond. Thank you for sharing your story.
11. What Happened To You? Conversations on Trauma, Healing, and Resilience (Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey) – May 2026 (Audiobook) – A book that emphasizes the shift in questioning/thinking when we face traumas and challenges in our lives — rather than asking “What’s wrong with me?”, ask “What happened to me?” The book provides a good physiological aspect on what happens in the brain. Dr. Bruce Perry is both a child psychiatrist and neuroscientist, so he does a good job of explaining what is actually happening to our minds and body and the interconnectedness of both. You may have heard of intergenerational trauma and genetic make up that may predispose someone to respond in certain ways under specific conditions or to be more susceptible to different exposures. We are now also aware of neuroplasticity and the brain’s ability and capacity to rewrite connections, creating new synapses between our environment and situational behaviours and how the body/mind can change how we may have been predisposed. We may not be responsible for what happened to us, but how we respond to our circumstances the is greatest power we have. And most important of all, there is hope — so, so much hope. That whatever challenges you may be going through, small miniscule decisions and choices you make each day will compound over time as you rewrite the script that may be coded within you even before birth. (I believe.) A note for the book: There may be situations on abuse and harm described in the book that may be triggering to some readers. Please take care and caution as you flip through or listen to the book. Step away, pause, skip sections, or connect with a friend to discuss as you need to. It’s also ok to not finish the book. There are other books and resources that touch on this topic too. / “Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could be any different. We can’t move forward if we are still holding onto the pain of the past and can’t get past it. [Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Understand the pain was necessary in order to know the truth you have; the wisdom you gain from the trauma.” / “What was happening to you was also happening FOR you.”
12. What You Are Looking For is in the Library (Michiko Aoyama) – May? 2026 (WIP) – Fiction – An interconnected Anthology if the lives of different people and their perspectives and life stories who all live in the same neighbourhood and visit the same library/librarian who introduces each of them to a book that helps them gain some perspective on their own life.  / A young female store clerk who learns to see the value of every day life gains a new perspective/motivation on taking action to embrace the skills, opportunities, and others’ advice in each new day; a man in his mid-30s looking to pursue two jobs in parallel, a driven career women who enters motherhood and is faced with phase of a re-balancing of priorities, 
13. Solitude (Michael Harris) – TBD (Audiobook)
14. The Story of You: An Enneagram Journey to Becoming Your True Self (Ian Morgan Cron) – WIP
15. Books I want to Read Next:
    1. Fiction:
       1. It’s Different This Time (Joss Richard) – Canada Reads 2026
    2. Value(s): Build a Better World for All – Mark Carney
    3. You are the one you have been waiting for – Richard Schwartz
    4. The Obstacle is the Way – Ryan Holiday
    5. The Book of Hope – Jane Goodall
    6. South – Ernest Henry Shackleton

Other Learning

1. Human Design
2. Interior design

2026 Media List

Good Resources / Different Perspectives

1. BBC Video – Interpersonal skills being a necessary “hard skill” with the new world of AI in the job market. Interview with Dermalogica founder.
2. TEDx Talk – I quit social media–here’s what happened | Gabriela Nguyen | TEDxManhattanBeach
3. TEDx Talk – Remote work is effective—why the RTO mandates? | Heejung Chung | TEDxLondonBusinessSchool
   • Convo with CoPilot on Return to Office Mandate in Toronto specifically.
4. Eric Dane’s Final Message To His Daughters and The World | Famous Last Words | Netflix
5. BBC Video – America is running out of teenagers. Universities are worried
6. CBC News – How to check for radon gas in your home – it comes from underground and into our homes via the basement. It can cause lung cancer if levels in your home are high.
7. CNN – Goldman Sachs’ top lawyer resigns over Epstein files
8. ABC News (Australia) – on AI and marketing. OpenAI researcher speaks on why she resigned
9. CBC Gem – Grand Designs UK – Season 23, Ep5 – Richmond Revisited
10. Trevor Noah: Eliza Filby: Hard Work Is a Lie, This Is What Rich People Never Tell You – On Inheritocracy – very good discussion. (tyw, see notes), “you are deep and funny” 🙂 Interesting sharing on life insurance in South Africa as being a way to build/pass on “generational wealth”
11. TED Women 2023 Talk: What does “wealth” mean to you? (Aisha Nyandoro) – “We have a poverty of imagination about what makes us wealthy.”
12. CBC Gem – “Our Ocean Table” – 3 part series on sustainable seafood and Korean culture on the West (coast) Canada. 

Articles

1. CBC – AI must foster ‘maternal instincts’ or we risk extinction, warns Geoffrey Hinton
2. CBC – Toronto man donates $10 million to expand OCD treatment centre that changed his life

TV Shows/Documentaries

1. The Night Manager S2, Palm Royale S3, Ginny & Georgia, Best Medicine, Frasier, Shrinking S3, Small Achievable Goals S1/S2 (CBC Gem. On women going through menopause), Bridgerton S4, Paradise S2, Wonder Man (Marvel)
2. Made in Ethiopia (CBC Doc) – on China’s investment in the African Country; challenges between corporations, the government, and locals… then the pandemic and civil war.
3. Prime Minister (CBC Doc) – on New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Arden, a pregnant mother at 37-years old and her journey in politics. (Note on biases/pov: The film is produced by her husband.)

Movies

1. GREAT (Would Re-watch!): Avatar: Fire and Ash, Is This Thing On?
2. The Life of Chuck, The Chorale, The Man Who Invented Christmas, Learning to Drive

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2025 Reading List + Learning Videos List

1. It’s Not You (Ramani Durvasula) – Jan 2025 (Audiobook)
2. Brave, Not Perfect (Reshma Saujani) – June 2025 (Audiobook)
3. Between Two Kingdoms (Suleika Jaouad) – August 2025 – a memoir
4. Non-Violent Communication (Marshall B. Rosenberg) – September 2025 (Audiobook)
5. Outlive (Peter Attia) – September 2025 (Audiobook) – Chapter 10. 
6. Recovering from Emotionally Immature Parents (Dr. Lindsay C. Gibson) –  October 2025 (Audiobook) 
7. Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma (Gail Parker) – TBD
8. Incomplete: Self Care from Emotionally Immature Parents (Dr. Lindsay C. Gibson)
9. On Pause: Dream Big (Bob Goff), The Best of You (Alison Cook, PhD) – TBD Feb 2025 (Start), Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life (Eric Klinenberg) – anthropology/sociology (Audiobook), Same as Ever (Morgan Housel) – TBD (Audiobook), Leap Year (Helen Russell)

2024 Reading List + TV List + Reflection (sort of!)

1. Finding Me (Viola Davis) – Jan 2024 (Audiobook *Emmy Award-Winning)
2. Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan) – March 2024 (Audiobook)
3. How To Eat (Thich Nhat Hanh) – March 2024 (Audiobook)
4. Kind of Coping (Maureen Marzi Wilson) – June 2024 – Comic
5. Permission to Rest (Ashley Neese) – June 2024
6. Land of Big Numbers (Te-Ping Chen) – August 2024 – Fiction
7. Trash of Society (Jason Wong) – August 2024
8. Forgiveness is Really Strange (Masi Noor & Marina Cantacuzino) – Sept 2024 – Comic
9. Year of Yes (Shonda Rhimes) – October 2024 (Audiobook)
10. You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters (Kate Murphy) – October 2024 (Audiobook)
11. Incomplete: Year of Living Danishly (Helen Russell), Consulting Demons (Lewis Pinault), Notes from a Small Island (Bill Bryson), Kissing Kosher (Jean Meltzer)

2023 Reading List

1. What My Bones Know (Stephanie Foo) – Feb 2023 (Audiobook)
2. We Were Dreamers (Simu Liu) – Feb 2023
3. Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living (Linnea Dunne) – Mar 2023
4. Every Summer After (Carly Fortune) – Mar 2023 – Fiction
5. The Little Book of Big Feelings (Maureen Marzi Wilson) – Mar 2023 – Fiction
6. Permission to Come Home (Jenny T Wang) – April 2023 (Audiobook)
7. Die with Zero (Bill Perkins) – May 2023 (Audiobook)
8. Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro) – Oct 2023 (Audiobook) – Fiction
9. Will I Ever Be Good Enough (Karyl McBride, PhD) – Dec 2023

2022 Reading List + Other Learning Notes

• The year I started including way more content than just books.

1. How Will You Measure Your Life (Clayton Christensen) – January 2022 (Audiobook)
2. Dear Girls (Ali Wong) – Feb 2022
3. To Hell With the Hustle (Jefferson Bethke) – Mar 2022
4. When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalathini) – May 2022
5. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals (Oliver Burkeman) – May 2022 (Audiobook)
6. Dial A for Aunties (Jesse Q Sutanto) – July 2022 – Fiction
7. Four Aunties and A Wedding (Jesse Q. Sutanto) – July 2022 – Fiction
8. 7 Rules of Power (Jeffrey Pfeffer) – September 2022
9. The Psychology of Money (Morgan Housel) – September 2022 (Audiobook)
10. Atomic Habits (James Clear) – October 2022 (Audiobook)
11. Spiritual Mismatch (Lee Strobel & Leslie Strobel) – Sept 2022 – Unfinished. 80% read.
12. The Index Card (Helaine Olen and Harold Pollack) – Nov 2022

2021 Reading List

1. The Wealthy Barber Returns (David Chilton) – Jan 2021
2. The Five Love Languages (Gary Chapman) – Jan 2021
3. More Than Enough (Elaine Welteroth) – Feb 2021 (Audiobook)
4. The Moment of Lift (Melinda Gates) – Feb 2021 (Audiobook)
5. Caste: The Origins of our Discontents (Isabel Wilkerson) – Mar 2021 (Audiobook)
6. Daring Greatly (Brene Brown) – March 2021 (Audiobook)
7. Grit (Angela Duckworth) – March 2021 (Audiobook)
8. Who Moved My Cheese (Spencer Johnson) – April 2021
9. Braving the Wilderness (Brene Brown) – April 2021 (Audiobook)
10. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know (Adam Grant) – May 2021 (Audiobook) –  Discussion Guide.
11. We Should All Be Feminists (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) – June 2021 (Audiobook)
12. My (Not So) Perfect Life (Sophie Kinsella) – November 2021 – Fiction
13. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (Neil Postman) – November 2021 (Audiobook)

2020 Reading List

• The year I started to write book notes/summaries.

1. Everybody, Always (Bob Goff) – February 2020
2. Educated (Tara Westover) – July 2020
3. Boundaries (John Townsend) – August 2020 (Audiobook)
4. Happy Go Money (Melissa Leong) – August 2020
5. The Art of Gathering (Priya Parker) – Sept 2020 (Audiobook)
6. Chop Suey Nation (Ann Hui) – Nov 2020
7. Little Fires Everywhere (Celeste Ng) – Nov 2020 – Fiction
8. Range (David Epstein) – Dec 2020 (Audiobook)
9. Minor Feelings (Cathy Park Hong) – Dec 2020 (Audiobook)

2019 Reading List (since 2012) – Separate Blog Post In Progress

2019 Reading List

1. Simplify Your Life – January 2019
2. It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work (Jason Fried) – February 2019
3. Option B (Sheryl Sandberg) – April 2019
4. Love, Does (Bob Goff) – November 2019
5. Becoming (Michelle Obama) – Dec 2019 (Audiobook)

2018 Reading List

1. Crazy Rich Asians (Kevin Kwan) – Feb 2018
2. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (Amy Chua) – Apr 2018
3. Why Not Me (Mindy Kaling) – July 2018
4. This Cake is for the Party – August 2018
5. The Hate You Give – October 2018
6. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (Mindy Kaling) – December 2018

It’s never too late to start reading again…

2014 Reading List

1. The Circle (Dave Eggers)

2013 Reading List

One of my new year’s resolutions is to read at least 20 leisure books this year. Inspired by a friend who told me she was going to read 100 books this year, I told myself I’d like to read 50, but I thought 20 would be more realistic. To keep myself accountable to this goal, I’m making it a part of my blog. (Nothing beats some transparency to kick in the action!) Why read? Well, have a read!

I do not have any specific books on my list, but below are some lists I found. Feel free to leave a comment with some books you suggest.

I. Top 30 Books Every Influencer Should Read (Salt+Light Blog)
II. Times (coming soon)
III. 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read (Guardian)
IV. 33 Blog Posts to Read Before 2013 (HBR)
V. Top Ten Books Every Leader Should Read (Business Insider)

2013 Reading List

1. The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch
2. Story House – Timothy Taylor (Unfinished)
3. The Reason for God – Timothy Keller (Unfinished)
4. Hamlet’s BlackBerry – William Power (Unfinished)
5. To be updated soon…

2012 Reading List

1. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
2. Heart Matters – Adrienne Clarkson
3. The Space Between Us – Thrity Umrigar
4. (I can’t remember…)

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Note written on May 2020 (amid the COVID-19 pandemic):

It’s been 7 years since I’ve had this page and I thought it was time I included an introduction. Here it is!

My reading journey has often been complex and constantly changing. From reading stacks of books as a child to mainly textbooks in high school and university, my reading habits went out the door by the time I started working in the corporate world. I had a gap year in between graduation and starting work, so I read a few books. (For some life perspective and storytelling.) I didn’t finish those books – cover to cover. You’ll see they are still tagged as “reading”. Sadly, I don’t think I will ever finish those books…  #priorities! The one book I did read was a gift from a friend of mine. Bless her!

In my second year of full time work, I started travelling for 8hours each week by air, so my partner (who can read 2+ books in a week) bought me a book to read. It was a concerted effort getting through that book, but it gave me solace and some peace while being in the air. It was a time to be away from my digital screens. I really enjoyed the book (“The Circle” by Dave Eggers) and from then on, had reading at the back of my mind. I made some unrealistic goals about how much I wanted to read thereafter (and did not meet them. And hence, another pause in my reading journey). In recent years, I was determined to jump back in and started prioritizing my time (and energy). It also helped to set my stubbornness aside – “no, I’m only reading physical books. Audiobooks are cheating.” Seriously…who cares? That was humbling! I realized the point of reading is not saying how many books you read, but gathering the wealth of knowledge shared by authors. (2024 update: There’s also a serendipitous component to it where the author has tidbits of life to share with you during this particular moment in time; wisdom that carries you forward and lifts you along in this particular stage of your life journey. ) I will say, however, I have only listened to non-fiction (at the point of my writing this introduction). Side note: I also love listening to podcasts, so I am deliberate about what I listen to. (It differs by the activity: jogging/public transit = podcasts/music; cooking/car transit/dedicated reading time = audiobooks.) I often taken notes when I read too, but sharing for another time!