SHOP MENU

Books

14 Books To Help You Pick

A Hobby You'll Actually
Stick With This Year

JESHOOTS/Pixabay

By E. Ce Miller
Jan. 3, 2018

We’ve all heard the expression “new year, new

you,” right? It’s meant to inspire all sorts of
major life changes, like losing 20 pounds
(again), or keeping up with the latest fashion
trends, or finally getting more organized, or
completely rethinking the entire philosophy by
which you live your life — aka: all those new
year’s resolutions we make, but hardly ever
keep, because they’re vague and also impossible.
But (in case you forgot) you’re already pretty
great, just the way you are. This year, instead of
trying to put together a whole new “you”, why
not start a little smaller, a little simpler (and a
whole lot more fun) with a new hobby? These
books to inspire your new favorite hobby in 2018
are a great place to start.

ADVERTISEMENT

Everything from scientific studies to friendly

advice columns tout the idea that it takes three
weeks to form a new habit — somewhere
between 21 and 22 days. The same (I’m
assuming) can be said for a hobby. Maybe you’ve
always wanted to take up surfing. Or you’ve been
feeling inspired to spend more time with a pen
and paper in your hand but don’t know where to
start. Maybe you’d love to be one of those people
who looks at a wine menu and knows exactly
what everyone at the table will love. Whatever it
is you’re eager to add to your list of favorite skills
and activities this year, the books on this list will
help get you there. And who knows, maybe you
will discover your “new year, new you” one new
favorite hobby at a time.

Check out these 14 books to inspire your new

favorite hobby in 2018.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ad

Accident Car Auction Japan

Huge Inventory - 350 Units Auctioned Every Day - Get Your
Japanese Used/Damaged Car Now.

Hanamaru Auction Sign Up

'Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak

in the Stacks: A Librarian's Love Letters and
Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life' by
Annie Spence

Reading (or, you know, reading even more than

you already do) is always a great hobby to add to
the daily lineup of activities you love — if you
ask me, anyway. Annie Spence’s Dear
Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the
Stacks: A Librarian's Love Letters and Breakup
Notes to the Books in Her Life is a hilarious, on-
point collection of letters written to books, from
a librarian who has spent her life loving and
leaving them. It’s impossible not to fall in love
with you local library all over again, after
checking this one out.

Click here to buy.

'How Cycling Can Save the World' by Peter

Walker

Getting more exercise, spending more time

outdoors (and less time in commuter traffic) and
helping save the environment? Sounds like the
perfect 2018 hobby to me. Travel around the
world with Peter Walker, as he demonstrates
how cycling, rather than driving, can actually
save the world and improve your quality of life at
the same time in How Cycling Can Save the
World.

Click here to buy.

ADVERTISEMENT

'Girl on Girl: Art and Photography in the Age

of the Female Gaze' by Charlotte Jansen

Interested in totally upping your smart phone

photography game this year? Then Charlotte
Jansen’s Girl on Girl: Art and Photography in the
Age of the Female Gaze is definitely the book for
you. She dives headfirst into what it means to be
a photographer in the age of the selfie, and how
women photographers are using social media to
both share their images and make a serious
statement about female image and identity.

Click here to buy.

'The Energy Medicine Yoga Prescription' by

Lauren Walker

Whether the handful of yoga classes you’ve

taken has left you wondering what all the fuss is
about, or you’ve been interested in adding the
practice to your regularly scheduled exercise,
The Energy Medicine Yoga Prescription by
Lauren Walker is a great book for discovering
the mindset behind the practice of yoga, rather
than just throwing yourself into a downward
facing dog and expecting to find enlightenment.
Walker explains the healing nature of yoga and
energy medicine — for your mind, body, and
spirit — while inspiring you to ask yourself how
you want to feel each day, rather than how you
want to look or what you want to accomplish.

Click here to buy.

ADVERTISEMENT

'Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant

and Unfussy New Favorites' by Deb
Perelman

One of my new hobbies for 2017 was to spend

more time in my kitchen (and not just to pour
coffee or spread almond butter on a stack of
Saltines.) From the award-winning blogger and
New York Times best-selling author of The
Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, Deb Perelman,
comes one of last year’s favorite cookbooks,
Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and
Unfussy New Favorites. It’s filled with fun and
easy — but delicious and totally Instagramable
— recipes that will have you actually looking
forward to hitting the kitchen at the end of a
long work day.

Click here to buy.

'Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure

Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big
Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who
Taught Me to Live for Taste' by Bianca
Bosker

Part memoir, part travelogue, part guide to

wines of the world, Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled
Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big
Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who
Taught Me to Live for Taste by Bianca Bosker is
the one book from last year’s must-reads that
will inspire you take on the world of wine
yourself. Funny, relatable, and informative,
Bosker takes the intimidation factor out of your
favorite adult beverage.

Click here to buy.

ADVERTISEMENT

'Astrophysics for People in a Hurry' by Neil

deGrasse Tyson

Sure, “become astrophysicist” hasn’t exactly

made my 2018 to-do list (or, really, any yearly
to-do list for as long as I’ve been writing them)
but if you’re the kind of person who is totally
fascinated by the universe and wants to add a
few cosmic conversation topics to your third date
arsenal, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by
Neil deGrasse Tyson is definitely the book for
you.

Click here to buy.

'Alterknit Stitch Dictionary: 200 Modern

Knitting Motifs' by Andrea Rangel

Is it just me, or has knitting gotten a major

makeover recently — from that thing your
grandmother did in her favorite rocking chair
after Thanksgiving dinner to that thing all my
coolest girlfriends do while they’re watching Sex
in the City reruns? Knitting is a skill I’ve long
wanted to add to my own resume of hobbies, and
Alterknit Stitch Dictionary: 200 Modern
Knitting Motifs by Andrea Rangel — a book
described as breaking all the rules of traditional
knitting — is a great place for the modern
knitter to find inspiration.

Click here to buy.

ADVERTISEMENT

'Why Poetry' by Matthew Zapruder

From the rise of the Instagram poets to the viral

nature of poetry in response to the Trump
administration, and more, verse has made major
headlines and beautified social media this year.
At the same time, poetry can also be super
intimidating — especially if you’re interested in
writing it, but aren’t sure where to start. In
Matthew Zapruder’s Why Poetry, the poet
himself first breaks down the basics for
approaching reading poetry and then makes the
case for why poetry should be accessible to ALL
readers. You’ll find yourself picking up a book of
poems — and probably a pen and pad yourself
— in no time.

Click here to buy.

'The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature's

Great Connectors' by David G. Haskell