What We're Reading This Weekend: Self-Improvement for the New Year




01/02/2014 at 06:30 PM EST




What We're Reading This Weekend: Self-Improvement for the New Year


Not Your Mother's Rules, Evolution, Life After Life



Want to find a good man, tighten your abs, choose your own fate? Our staffers have found books to help them be their best selves in 2014.

Let us know what you think – and what you're reading.


What We're Reading This Weekend: Self-Improvement for the New Year| What We're Reading, Ellen Fein, Joe Manganiello, Kate Atkinson, Sherrie Schneider

Clay Davis, Assistant Marketing Manager

Her Pick: Not Your Mother's Rules by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider

We've all been there: staring at our phone waiting for "him" to text, jumping each time it buzzes. We've all felt disappointment when that perfect guy just stops texting or calling. Not Your Mother's Rules explains why women are left hanging and how to stop that from happening again.


The Rules are all about respect: don't give up your life for a man, don't accept a last minute date. Anything you chase in life will run, and most importantly, if a man really likes you, he will move earth and heaven to see you. This book teaches you how to find the good ones! I'm recommending it to all my single friends.


What We're Reading This Weekend: Self-Improvement for the New Year| What We're Reading, Ellen Fein, Joe Manganiello, Kate Atkinson, Sherrie Schneider

Monica Rizzo, Senior Writer

Her Pick: Evolution by Joe Manganiello


I'm a middle-aged soccer mom, he's one of Hollywood's hottest actors. He looks menacing on the book jacket, as if he's asking, "Are you ready to do this?" So why would I read Joe Manganiello's book? I picked it up because I've had the pleasure of interviewing him; once I started it I found myself relating in ways I hadn't imagined.


This isn't a jock talking about building muscles, it's a man encouraging people to free themselves of limits as he did, to value ambition, hustle and a healthy mindset. And yes, if you want to go through the paces, he's outlined his six-week food and exercise plan. On so many levels, I'm inspired.


What We're Reading This Weekend: Self-Improvement for the New Year| What We're Reading, Ellen Fein, Joe Manganiello, Kate Atkinson, Sherrie Schneider

JD Heyman, Executive Editor

His Pick: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson


This New Year is all about reinvention for me. So of course I read a book about being born, again and again and again. Ok, it's not really self-help, but Life After Life is a brilliant novel, about a woman who somehow lives – and dies – multiple times from the the early 20th century into the post-war era. It's a murder mystery, an adventure story, and a wickedly funny comedy of manners all rolled into one.


I would read anything Kate Atkinson writes, but this novel left me thinking deeply about life, and how a single twist of fate can change the future forever. In this book, there is no what-would-happen-if. Read it and contemplate your own roads not taken, then seize the day in 2014.


Check back every Thursday for another round of staff picks, and see more book reviews each week in PEOPLE magazine, on newsstands now. Plus, check out last month's funny memoirs and more great book finds here .






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