The past month has included blue (August) and purple (September) books. It's been a great reading month of mostly solidly 4-star reads, which I'll take any day.
Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam: Vanderkam provides a wide variety of tips about time use specifically focused on how time feels, using real people's time diaries and surveys about their perception of time to discover what makes the difference between people who feel crunched and people who feel like they have a full life in a satisfying and easeful way. I'd recommend this book to anybody who wants to feel like their days have the expansiveness to make room for the unexpected and their lives are ultimately prioritizing the things that matter most to them.
How to Live a Meaningful Life: Using Design Thinking to Unlock Purpose, Joy, and Flow Every Day by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans: I first learned about these guys from an episode of The Happiness Lab, the first podcast episode I ever saved to listen to again in the future. Their framework of meaning-making struck me as incredibly powerful, and it has been helpful in continuing to remind me how to find meaning in the moments that already make up my life. If you want to get a taste, I recommend checking out the podcast episode. If you want to really dig into thoughtful exercises, the book is worth picking up.
UnWholly by Neal Shusterman: I felt similarly about this as I did about the first book. The unpredictability of the plot kept me reading, but I had trouble connecting with the characters. I think I'll eventually continue with the series, but I'm not breathless to pick up the next book.
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson: I adore this universe and these characters, and I'm glad I have one more book in the series to look forward to. While I agree with the folks who say these books aren't as good as the original trilogy, I'm still greatly enjoying the journey.
The Disasters by M.K. England: This was a fun ride! It's your typical "teenagers save the universe" plot that requires suspension of disbelief, but if you're in the mood for an action-packed sci-fi plot with a diverse cast of misfits and a side of mental health representation, this is a pretty good one.
The Dance of Intimacy: A Woman's Guide to Courageous Acts of Change in Key Relationships by Harriet Lerner: Through a variety of anonymized stories, Lerner shows how staying in connection with others (especially difficult ones) without either trying to change them or fully cutting them off requires a deep knowledge of one's own self and the ability to communicate this without coming from a place of activation. She has a more practical and compassionate approach than many self-help books. I struggled with some of Lerner's underlying philosophies and subsequent conclusions, even if I thought much of her advice was sound.
Full of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession by Austin Channing Brown: This was a beautiful book, even more vulnerable and personal than Brown's first book. I could see myself in so many parts of her story, while also clearly seeing how many parts of her story could not be mine, and that juxtaposition of mirror and window was lovely. I definitely recommend this.
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum: This was an interesting dive into an earlier era, focused primarily on two men who made it not just their careers but their life missions to offer the world a better understanding of how different substances lead to death. I appreciated the history lesson on Prohibition and was even more fascinated by the developing forensic sciences detailed in these pages. If you like a good history or find the topics of medicine or murder interesting, you'd probably enjoying picking this one up.
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi: I really, really appreciate everything that Emezi is doing with this book, and yet when an author is so focused on getting their message across in a crystal-clear way, sometimes they drop the ball on the flow and coherency of the actual plot. There's a lot to love in this story, and so I was disappointed by how often I got pulled out of the story flow by pieces that didn't make sense. The book has generally very high ratings, so if you're less nitpicky of a reader than me, you may find it incredibly impactful.
Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Who Deserves Your Love, Dracula, Master Your Attachment Style, and Mirrored Heavens
Five years ago I was reading: Strange the Dreamer, Somebody's Daughter, Information Dashboard Design, and The Space Mission Adventure
Ten years ago I was reading: The Guns of August, The Lovely Bones, and The Master and Margarita
