“If a book is well written, I always find it too short.” ~Jane Austen~

“I was born with a reading list I will never finish.” ~Maud Casey~

Earlier this month, I got together with 3 great friends of mine in  the heart of Lagos, Nigeria and after many hours of some ‘girl-talk’ about this and that. (‘Girl-talk’ is of course code for a wide range of topics such as the many joys and challenges of relationships, motherhood, the always see-sawing ‘work-life’ balancing act, loving and pesky in-laws, good and not so good bosses, health, weight, stretch marks, must-see movies and TV shows such as Homeland, Scandal, Downton Abbey etc, and of course we talked of ways of getting our sexy back and adding more fire and passion to our marriages….Why see a therapist when you have great, loving, supportive, no B.S friends? Lol).

One of the topics that resonated deeply with us was our love for reading and how we all seemed to be so busy with everyday life and slacked off on indulging our passion for books. So as always, we decided to ‘Take Action! And hold ourselves accountable by promising to read at least one new book every single week. We’ll take it one month at a time and see where it leads…

The Plan

Every week, we’d each take turns to recommend a book to the quartet. Each person would then read the book and share their personal highlights and insights. The notion that ‘perception is projection’ will definitely play out in our reflections. This promises to be so much fun! We do not discriminate when it comes to books, so all genres are welcomed. We hope to kick off with a special focus on books geared towards leadership, personal transformation, growth & development, faith and spirituality. (And of course, we included romantic and erotic titles as well! )

The Consequence

Anyone who fails to read a book each week would have to shell out $500! Yes, we really do mean business. Seventy-five percent (75%) of this money goes to a fund which would be donated to 2 different charities/projects of our choice. While twenty-five percent (25%) would be spent on a girls’ night-out to include-shopping, belly dancing, dinner and a movie (depending on how much is available).

On the positive and flip side, in addition to the consequence outlined above, if we all kept to our reading commitments, we would celebrate our achievement by donating $250 each to a women-themed charity.  In honour of October being  Breast Cancer awareness month, we decided to narrow our choice to foundations or organizations focused on cancer education, research and treatment. Talk about commitment! You know the universal rule: ‘True commitment means using all your resources in one shape or form-Time, Money, Energy, Relationships…

The Outcome

Hopefully, at the end of our interesting reading journey, we’d have had fun, been enriched, inspired, bonded more, learned a little bit more about ourselves and one another and of course, have contributed to a worthwhile cause.

We’ll be sharing key quotes and nuggets from our reading fest on this blog, however with some of our more interesting and risque titles (Think Beth Kery et al), we may do that sharing in private..lol. For October, here’s our list of 4 books:

1. Paulo Coelho: Manuscript Found in Accra

2. Malcom Gladwell: David and Goliath

3. Brene Brown: The Gifts of Imperfection

4. Bruce and Stan: God is in the small stuff

(There was an extra book thrown in, that’s strictly for married women because you’ll need someone to practice the learnings with! If you’re a WWN member, and you’re interested in the title, please send us an email at info@wholewomannetwork.com.

Are there any books you love and would highly recommend to us because it gave you many A-HA! moments? Gather a few friends and read a book for a cause. We invite you to re-discover the fun, joy and magic of reading. Join the conversation on Facebook: www.facebook.com/wholewomannetwork

“One day, I hope you’ll be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” ~C.S. Lewis~

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The preceding is a guest post from Juliet Ume, MBA –Strategic Interventionist, Wealth Management Consultant & Leadership-Coach at Whole Woman Network. Juliet is an avid Life Connoisseur and a passionate advocate of WomEntrepreneurship, Leadership Training, Investment & Financial Literacy for women. Her mission is simply to engage, educate and empower women, regardless of their levels of income or background, to return to ‘wholeness’ and live Healthier, Sexier, Wealthier Lives using Faith-Based, Scientific and Universal (Common-Sense) principles! Follow her on Twitter: @wholewomaninc, @julietumeinc