COMPLETED BOOKSHELF
Discover the books that I have discovered during this Summer Sabbatical and how they have shaped me.
COMPLETED BOOKSHELF
By Chip Heath and Dan Heath
So technically I read this book before my "Summer Sabbatical", but I consider anytime when I am not in classes as the summer, and since my classes became virtual before I began reading this book, I have decided to count it. After all, started this whole growth mindset for me which began my summer sabbatical. It inspired me to take challenges in life and turn pits into peaks and to turn my goals into a Mandy-themed video game.
Summary: The Power of Moments discusses how certain experiences are remembered in one's life and how we can create more of those moments to achieve our goals and create a better work environment as a leader or educator.
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Completed on: 3/20/2020
By Ocean Vuong
This book was suggested to me by my friend Jonah. I don't normally read narratives (I am more of a nonfiction gal). While it was not my typical read, it was a very powerful book and gave me a glimpse into a life of Little Dog as he shares his world through a letter to his mother through the author's poetic language. This book has opened my eyes to narrative novels and I hope to read more in the future.
Summary: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is written as letter to Little Dog's (the main character) mother who cannot read. Throughout the novel, Little Dog describes the many shows of love by his family and the struggles they face when they lived in Vietnam and when they became immigrants in the United States as well as focuses on the violence and addiction that Little Dog experiences throughout his life.
Completed on 4/20/2020
Written by Sherman Alexie
Art by Ellen Forney
My father recommended this book when I said that I wanted to gain perspectives on people with different backgrounds than me. And this book certainly does that. Written for teens, this novel was an easy and fun read. I laughed, I cried and I saw how different my own life was from Junior's. I hope to read more of Alexie's work.
Summary: This novel follows the story of Junior, a fourteen year old boy living at the Spokane Reservation in Washington State. A gifted cartoonist and lover of books, he decides to transfer to the all white school 23 miles away. This action deems him a traitor in his reservation and an outsider in his new school, and the book follows as Junior works through these two worlds as well as friendships, family and death.
Completed on 3/30/2020
EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE
By Bill Nye
Sorry Bill, but I could not get through this book. I read to page 97 and realized I could not read another 267 pages of Bill Nye's personal stories with bits of preaching and some facts in between. Originally, I was excited to read this book by a fellow Mechanical Engineer and famous TV Show host, but I found this read to be frustrating as Bill Nye reminded of the typical white male engineer who thinks he knows everything. To be fair, Bill Nye is very smart, but as he discusses his very privileged childhood, I feel like his story was tainted. I am glad that he had the many opportunities to have a nerd mindset, but his story and nerd culture seemed very elitist, and I realized after he discussed his Netflix Show "Bill Nye Saves the World" that I did not want to read another classic story about a privileged nerdy white scientist telling me how to live my life. Quite a disappointment.
Summary: Everything All At Once is a collection of Bill Nye's beliefs into how everyone can save the world if they have a nerdy attitude with personal reflections into when he learned these lessons during his privileged childhood.
Finished on 6/5/2020
By Gillian Flinn
Wow this book had me hooked. I thought that I couldn't surprise me as my friend gave me the plot summary of the movie awhile ago, but even so it left me surprised and spooked. I loved how the book switched each chapter from the perspective to the husband to the perspective of the wife with the timelines slightly off. It was a great summer read!
Summary: Nick and Amy Dunne move from glitzy NYC to the middle of Missouri after losing their jobs and coming to Nick's home to care for his dying mother. Their marriage is unraveling, and on the day of their fifth anniversary, Amy goes missing. Secrets are revealed and nothing is as it seems.
Finished on 6/12/2020
By Ijeoma Oluo
I quickly listened through this audiobook and found it a very powerful read. Especially with the recent riots, I have been looking to read more about the experiences of people different than me, and I learned in this book how little I knew. I think that everyone should read this book, and it has inspired me to confront my privilege as a white woman in America, and how I can help in the fight against systemic racism in society and the racial bias in myself.
Summary: Author Ijeoma Oluo leads the reader through a discussion on race, from affirmative action, instersectionality, police brutality and more. She provides her personal experiences during her schooling, through working in a mostly white workspace, and now as a mother of two sons as well as many statistics in the matter to emphasize that racism is in every part of life.
Finished on 6/ 21/202
*Audiobook Edition
By Amy Poehler
This was a great audiobook to listen to during my runs. Amy is very funny, and for her audiobook, she has some of her funny friends read parts of her book and chat. I loved Amy in Parks and Recreation, and it was fun to hear some of her stories at Parks and Recreation and at Saturday Night Live. That being said, this was not my favorite book so far, as there were so many famous people name drops (although to be fair she is famous so it makes sense that many of her friends are famous), and some of her advice sounded pretty privileged. It was a fun light read, but I probably would not read it again.
Summary: Yes Please dives into many facets of Amy Poehler's life and the lessons she learned from those experiences from Marriage, Motherhood, divorce, improv, acting and more. Amy tells these stories with the comedic flare she is known for, and feels like one long stand up comedy piece that also gives some good advice and a sneak peak into the world of Amy.
Finshed on 6/30/2020
*Audiobook Edition
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by Robin DiAngelo, Michael Eric Dyson (Foreword by)
I think this book should be on the list of high school reading, especially in white neighborhoods. It has really made me look into my own actions and think about the responses that I have in certain situations. This books pairs nicely after So You Want to Talk About Race, and I hope to continue to read books about race even after my summer sabbatical because I think it is so easy to forget the privileges that I have as a white women and the lessons in a white supremacist society, and reading books like these continues to make me confront these.
Summary: This book provides insight into why it can be so difficult to have a dialogue about race, discussing the many mechanisms white people utilize to divert the conversation. DiAngelo explains how white fragility developed in society, and why when white people are racially challenged, they react in anger and tears, and how we can help begin dialogues and become receptive to being racially challenged and acknowledge our assumptions.
Finished on 7/3/2020
By Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling tells it like it is, and it was such a joy listening to her audiobook. She has so many fun stories, and now I want to watch all of her shows. A very fun, relaxing read.
Summary: Mindy lets the reader into her life as she describes her extensive beauty routine, her time visiting the white house, the ups and downs of being a comedy writer and more in her book. Authentic, fun, and very Mindy.
Finished on 7/8/2020
*Audiobook edition
By Yuval Noah Harari
This was a very fascinating audiobook, and I quickly listened to it during my runs, my sewing and crafts.I love books that change my view on the world, and this book did just that. I often retold parts of the book to my family members-- for instance how the average person in the agricultural revolution was more miserable than the average hunter gatherer. It is fascinating and eerie to learn amount the many ecological extinctions that came at the hands of our ancestors (spoiler) and how humans evolved to what we are to today. I look forward to listening to his audiobook soon.
Summary: Yuval describes a brief history of humankind (the title really does say it all) though the cognitive, agricultural and industrial revolution as well as looking to the future of humankind for better or worse.
Finished on 7/13/2020
*Audiobook
By Dave Eggers
I found this book to be very predictable, but nevertheless it was an interesting listen (I had the audiobook). I thought it was a cool read after reading Sapiens because Sapiens began to discuss the future of humankind and this book continued that discussion. It really made me think more about my interactions with my phone, Facebook, etc. and how important it is to get joy from real experiences and relationships than from likes and stranger interactions online.
Summary: Mae Holland begins work at True You, the ultimate Tech company (think of Google, Facebook, Amazon all wrapped up into one). As she begin her career, she becomes wrapped up in the idealistic vision of the company that brings a huge change to how we interact as a society.
Finished on 7/20/2020
*Audiobook
HOMO DEUS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOMORROW
Yuval Noah Harari
I really enjoyed the author's book Sapiens, so I decided to try a sequel. The beginning of the book did not exactly age well (in the beginning he discusses how humankind is no longer trifled with the problems of yesterday -- specifically famine, war, and pandemics which I knew at least one to be false), but it was still an interesting read. Some parts were a bit repetitive from his last book, but I really enjoyed the sections on religion and how certain religions evolved off one another and the religions today such as capitalism and communism. A good read after The Circle as well, for the that book seemed to light one of the author's possibilities for the future.
Summary: Homo Deus looks into human's past to get a glimpse of what our future may hold. He looks into human interactions with animals for inspiration on how the next version of "superior" humans will interact with the humans of today, discusses the breakthrough discoveries that lead us into a new future of algorithms, productivity helmets and more trying to answer the What if?
Finished on 8/9/2020
*Audiobook
Anthony Doerr
I was asked to read this book for my Master's program, and I am so glad I did. this was such a powerful book, and it definitely made me cry and think really how terrible War is. It was so well written and while it had a dark backdrop of World War II, I thought it did a great job of adding in childhood whimsy through Marie lore and Vernon and the loss of Innocence through war.
Summary: All the Light We Cannot See follows two stories in tandem -- Marie Lore, the blind daughter of the lock maker growing up in Paris, and Vernon -- an orphan who aspires to be an engineer in Germany. As the two grow and the war begins to heighten, both of their realities are jolted in ways that will change their lives forever.
Finished on 8/29/2020
*Audiobook
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ENDURANCE
Scott Kelly
This was a great book that really changed my perspective on things. I have never really liked space,, but this book showed me how cool and interesting it can really be. It also confirmed to me that I do not want to be an astronaut, the training alone sounded like torture to me. I really enjoyed hearing Scott Kelly's story from childhood to his time spending a year in space, an it made me curious to hear about all of the projects he discussed in the book and how that stuudy has made us closer to traveling to mars.
Summary: Scott Kelly described his long year in space in this book, as well as the long journey to get to that point. He discusses his time growing up in New Jersey (whoot whoot) and seeing his mother train to be a poilice officer, to deciding he would be an astronaut after opening up one book. A very inspiring story and brings the reader into the day to day glorious and not-so-glorious life of an astronaut.
Completed on 9/30/2020
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By Kiley Reid
I don't normally read realistic fiction, but I enjoyed listening to this audiobook during my run. Nicole Lewis (the reader of the audiobook) does a great job of relaying the comedy, the awkwardness and the personality of each of the characters of the book. It kept me wanting to learn more and it definitely made me think about my own privilege as a white woman in the United States.
Summary: Such a Fun Age follows the story of Emira. a 25 year old trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. She begins to babysit for a white family, and one night while taking the three year old child, Bryer, to the grocery store, she gets stopped by security, asking her if she kidnapped the child, and the rest of the book follows how this changes is Emira's interactions with the family and other people involved in the event.
Completed 9/8/2020
*Audiobook
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THE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVING A F*CK
Mark Manson
This book was a very quick listen, and I enjoyed it more than I thought. The author reminded me of a classic wealthy white boy as he discussed his many trips around the world, his many girlfriends and the parties in his past, but it turned out I could learn a few things from book. As I head into my Master's program, I plan to "try to give less f*cks" and hopefuly this mindset will keep me afloat through the many papers and assignments that lie ahead.
Summary: This is a "not your average self-help book". Mark Manson discusses his best way to live life by not giving a f*ck, and the experiences that lead him to his new life approach.
9/10/2020
*Audiobook
Michelle Obama
I really liked listening to this audiobook! Michelle Obama reads the book, and so I felt like I was having a one on one conversation with Michelle which was very fun. It was very in depth into her life, and it was interesting to hear how her life changed and the hearing the inside scoop about the First Lady's life.
Summary: Becoming tells a whole story of Michelle Obama from her different experiences in elementary school, through her time in college, as a lawyer, as First Lady and now as she returns to "normal" life.
9/16/2020
*Audiobook