by Brianna

The holidays and months of cozy reading are upon us! Whether you're buying books as gifts or treating yourself, you might be wondering, "where can I buy books online that isn't Amazon?"

There are loads of reasons to want to get away from Amazon purchases, though its convenience is undeniable. When it comes to books, those reasons mostly look like:

1. Saving money
2. Supporting local bookstores

So, I'm going to offer some alternatives to Amazon for buying books which are just as convenient, but address those two issues. As with our Amazon links, the links below are affiliate links. This means that Busy Nest News gets a little something if you shop with these links, at no extra cost to you. Thanks.

by Brianna

​“I just prefer the feel of real books. I’m sure you agree they’re just better!”

I can’t tell you how many times patrons have said this to me. They state their preference for print books very proudly and look for validation from library staff like me. I usually oblige them a little. Yes, there is something very special about holding a book in your hands experiencing it as an object. But I’ll always put in a good word for audiobooks, and how since I’ve had kids, they’re the only way I can keep up with my reading. If this thought hadn’t occurred to them and they seem receptive, I’d also add that I know people who are incredibly fast readers, and the only way they’ve avoided being buried in paperbacks is by adopting ebooks. 

I don’t want to get pedantic, but I’m tired of people who prefer print thinking they’re somehow better people for it.

by Brianna

This summer I've had my hands full with a new baby. Literally, my hands are full with a baby that wants to eat and be held all the time! That's made reading new books and taking notes on them pretty hard. And the general sleep deprivation has made it harder than ever to pay attention to a complex plotline or in-depth argument. All of this is to say that I've been even more into podcasts than usual.

​I decided to try My Favorite Murder and wow! I wish I'd found these guys five years ago! I'm almost caught up and wanted to share a list of books I'd recommend to a fellow murderino, if they asked me. To be clear, I'm not associated with the podcast. I'm just another murderino who's also a library pro and can't help but recommend good books!

by Brianna

Brianna and Ariel review and discuss the book Fly Safe: Letters from the Gulf War and Reflections from Back Home, by Vicki Cody. If you order the book through our affiliate links, you're helping to keep Busy Nest News going at no extra cost to you. Thanks.

Ariel and I recently received copies of Fly Safe: Letters from the Gulf War and Reflections from Back Home, by Vicki Cody. We’ve read a lot of books by military spouses, from awesome to cringeworthy, so we were cautiously interested to see what this one would hold. 

Fly Safe is Cody’s memoir from the Gulf War, with details filled in by her journal entries and letters between her and her husband while he was deployed. She describes life on an Army base (post) before, during, and after the conflict. During the deployment, she covers what her husband was doing (the details of which she only learned of afterward) and the challenges he faced, as well as the challenges she dealt with on the homefront.

By Brianna and Ariel

This post contains affiliate links. If you follow them to purchase Fly Safe, you're helping to keep Busy Nest News going at no extra cost to you. Thanks.

In addition to getting advance copies of Fly Safe: Letters from the Gulf War and Reflections from Back Home to read and review, we also had the pleasure of talking to the author, Vicki Cody, about her latest work. Read on to see what we chatted about! Forour full review of Fly Safe, click here.

by Brianna

Did you just marry someone in the military? Congrats! Feeling a little culture shock? You're definitely not alone! There are loads of reading lists out there for military spouses, many of which rattle off the same books over and over. Those picks are ok, but we have a few problems with them.

First, they focus on the negative parts of military life, such as deployments and death. Second, they're getting old and outdated, which admittedly happens pretty fast. When I first got married in 2011, the books were about being a military spouse in the 90's, and that was a little helpful, but not a lot, because so much had changed and many acronyms had become meaningless. Likewise, now, there are a bunch of books about being married to a service member in the early years of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military does not work the same way now as it did 15 years ago. Third, some of these lists are all about understanding your service member spouse's world, but they don't help YOU! We're all for learning about each branch's heroes, histories, and challenges, but a list of books for military spouses should help the spouses. Some of the books on our list will be specific to the military, but several address key pain points about life in general that tend to be exacerbated by the military lifestyle.

One challenge we encountered when we went to make this list is that we would not recommend the same books to new spouses as we would seasoned spouses. This list is for the new (and probably quite young) military spouse. If you're new to the military community, you might be suffering a little culture shock, homesickness, or loneliness. Even if you're adapting well, you might be struggling to explain it to your family or friends. Read on for our list (in no particular order) of great books to help you embrace your new life.

​The links below are affiliate links, so we'll get a small bonus if you use them to order any of these books from Amazon, but we also have a free printable version of this list that you can take to the library!

by Brianna

Big changes to The Commandant’s Professional Reading List Program were recently announced. For anyone not in the know, the United States Marine Corps has a professional reading list, packed full of titles that are meant to educate Marines and inculcate them with the Corps’ values. We explained how it typically works in a previous article, but a good deal of that has now shifted, mostly for the better.

We here at Busy Nest News love a reading list, especially a list meant to develop leadership, creativity, and resilience. We believe any org can benefit from developing a reading list for its members. The Commandant’s Reading List has been updated regularly since it was established in 1989, so it’s always been one of our first stops when we’re looking for the next book in our respective self-development journeys. So what are these changes, and why are they a big deal? Doesn’t the list get updated frequently anyway? Read on for my initial analysis of the changes.

by Brianna

In pursuit of making great book club kits and generally improving ourselves, we read a LOT of books! We believe that you can get at least a little bit better at just about anything, as long as you keep learning about it and practicing proven techniques. We extend this philosophy to our journeys as parents, too. What if all parents took their parenting as seriously as their career or favorite hobby? To progress at work, people read books, take classes, and seek mentorships. We aren't too proud or self-assured to try these techniques to become better parents, as well.

While we're certainly not perfect, we're definitely seeing results from these efforts. One of our biggest lessons has been that we're constantly planting the seeds for future progress; real changes are rarely immediate, but they're lasting and buildable. That and, parenting is hard! Even when you're doing it right, your kid will still get mad at you. Saying "no" in the cereal aisle when your kid is two might result in a tantrum that makes you wish you'd just ordered everything online. But sticking to your "no" and enduring the tw0-year-old's rage will result in a much more subtle, but accepting, form of dissatisfaction to your "no" in the same scenario a year or two later.

All of this is to say, you've got this! And when you feel like you don't, we have books that can help. Read on for our list of our ten favorite parenting books (in no particular order). These are all of our go-to's when friends ask how we handle things. Use the links in the article to order your own copy from Amazon (we'll get a small referral payout if you do, at no additional cost to you). Bonus: we have a printable pamphlet of all ten titles that you can take with you to the bookstore or library!

By Brianna
​Updated 10/22/2020

By Ariel