Books of July 2021
Wow. I predicted July was going to be a busy month and I really had no idea. Luckily, August will start off a little slower with a 2-week vacation, before cramming pretty much a whole month's worth of work into the last 2 weeks.
Oh well, that sounds like summer.
I did manage to get some good reading done this month. Actually, some great reading. My recent penchant for crime literature was pretty evident this month, but I did read other things as well. In July I read 10 books, starting with 2 from my set categories for the year:
Classic: The Glass Menagerie - 3 Stars. Although I was somewhat familiar with this story, I had yet to read the actual book - or rather, script. It was nice to read something a bit different - a script as opposed to just a regular book, particularly since I haven’t done that for quite a while. Although I didn’t really love any of the characters, I appreciated the way that they were written. I also feel like there is an inherent additional level of depth to literature that is meant to be acted out, and this story definitely had it. While not particularly compelling, the story is interesting and it is clear why it has endured as a classic.
Re-Read: You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth - I read this book several years ago and I definitely think that my money mindset has come a long way since then. Over the years, this book has come up frequently in conversation and it is one that many people I know credit with completely altering their financial future. Jen Sincero does a great job of sharing her own story in a relatable (and often hilarious) manner, while also pointing the way towards a perspective on money that is still extremely rare. Reading this book again reminded me of all the ways that I can continue to improve my mindset and helped to chart a way forward - while simultaneously showing me how far I have come. And most importantly, it was a great reminder of the importance of doing this work in the first place.
Both of the books I read for my categories this month were pretty short - which was nice since many of the classics I’ve tackled in the last couple of months have felt endless. It also allowed me more time to read other books that I was more excited about, which I appreciated too. So in addition to the books from my 2 categories, I also read:
How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self - 3 Stars. There is so much good information packed into this book. And I mean packed. Although there were certainly some stories woven throughout, and the author definitely shared her own, there were times that I thought I was reading a textbook because of the depth of the information shared (and to some extent the banality). I think that the practicality of much of the application was impressive, and many of the tools and techniques are ones that I am very familiar with as a coach. Based on the information shared, there are some I plan to incorporate and utilize more - both in my own life and with my clients. Although it wasn’t my favorite book to read, I definitely think I will return to it in the future. I would probably need to read it a dozen times to really absorb all that it has to share, and although I probably won’t do that, I do intend to continue to deepen my knowledge on the subjects it covers, and this book is a starting place to help me do that.
Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery - 3 Stars. As evidenced by my books posts from the last several months, I have been reading a lot of crime books lately (and watching a lot of shows) - so I was excited to get started on this book. I was just a kid when the crimes depicted in this book occurred (just like I was for pretty much all of the others I’ve read about), so I was pretty unfamiliar with the particulars of the case. Since I have been pretty entrenched in the genre, I found myself comparing it with a lot of the other books I’ve read recently. I felt like this one dove into the background of the victims much too quickly without helping me to fully understand what it was leading towards or why it was significant. And sharing the most intricate details from the lives of 5 victims definitely slowed the momentum of the narrative, especially since I couldn’t tell where it was headed. Several of the other books I have read lately also helped you form an attachment to the investigator writing the book - or at least helped you to form some connection with someone involved in the case. This book was sadly missing that level of engagement. But the narrative as a whole was still fascinating, and I was captivated (and heartbroken) as I considered how the victims were considered lost to society long before they went missing.
The Artist’s Way - 3 Stars. This is one of those books that I have been hearing about for years and finally got around to reading. I can see why it has transformed the creative habits of so many individuals in the business world, and all other realms of life. Each chapter has many tips, tools, prompts, and practices you can use to awaken and maximize your creativity. And I thought that the advice to utilize the tactics that interested you the most and also the ones that you had the most resistance around, was very powerful. I think the potential pitfall when it comes to the realm of creativity is feeling like there is one right way to do it, or that by having so many different tools to use you might feel like you aren’t doing enough or doing things correctly. However, having so much variety also opens the door for you to experiment and find whatever will work best for you. The “way” of the artist may be broad and varied, but I think most people would agree, anything that leads you to deeper creativity is taking you in the right direction.
Nobody's Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness - 3 Stars. Similar to How to Do the Work, there were times as I worked my way through this book that I almost thought I was reading a textbook. There is a lot of great information here about many of the mental illnesses that we are likely to come across over the course of our lives (and sometimes within our own life). And it discusses how these illnesses have been treated, diagnosed, and stigmatized over the years. It is through this detailed history that the culture-created perceptions are portrayed. I would have liked to hear more about how the author (or other experts) thinks that the stigma around mental illness can best be broken down - both individually and by society at large, and what role that would play in culture in the future. But I guess that greater knowledge is one of the best ways to get past that barrier, and this book certainly does that very well.
Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit - 4 Stars. It is probably not a surprise that a book with this title or about this subject matter is quite dark and disturbing in parts - and it is. If that is something you try to avoid, then this book is probably not for you. But if not, if you’re intrigued by the topic (as I was), then you will likely be fascinated (as I was), and unable to put the book down (as I was). Reading about some of the ins and outs of psychological profiling, especially as it was an emerging discipline over the last several decades, is captivating. I don’t find too many areas of research, science, or study to be jaw-dropping, but this area definitely is. The book is a great behind-the-scenes look into some of the darkest mind’s this country has hunted down, and the methods by which they were. While so much of the book is incredibly saddening, it is also incredibly powerful to see the lengths to which so many individuals are willing to go to protect their community, country, and just the next potential victim.
The Comfort Book - 3 Stars. In general, I enjoy Matt Haig’s writing style. He easily imbues his personal experience and vulnerability into everything he writes - both fiction and nonfiction. This book is an interesting combination of quotes, stories, lists, aphorisms, reflections, and pretty much everything in between. It was hard to get truly entrenched, largely because of the constantly shifting writing styles, but I can see how that was part of the point. When you are in a season of life where you need the peace and hope that a “comfort book” could provide, your thoughts and feelings are likely disjointed. The various sections (and even just paragraphs) of this book mirror that. The book helps you feel like you’re not alone in your pain and gives you glimpses of light until you are ready to emerge fully into it. If you are looking for more depth or education surrounding mental illness, you probably don’t need the kind of comfort this book can provide. But if you are looking for empathy in book form, look no further.
Rebecca - 3 Stars. I grew up abiding by the principle that before you watch a movie, you first have to read the book it was based on (if there was one). And that is something I still largely follow to this day. However, when I was intrigued by the trailer for Rebecca on Netflix, I didn’t know that it was based on a book. I watched the movie a few months ago, but when I found out about the book, I knew I needed to read it. In this case, the book and the movie are pretty similar for the most part - in fact, the movie seemed to add more than the book, if just for a little bit more suspense. The book ends quite abruptly, but that isn’t something I normally mind. And since most of the book is a flashback from the first couple of chapters which are told in “present” tense, the book still has a sense of finality. I might have been disappointed by knowing so much of the conclusion of the story at the beginning if I hadn’t seen the movie first, but since I had, I wasn’t too upset by it. The narrator of the book is contrasted beautifully against Rebecca throughout the story, and for most of it, I appreciated and empathized with her. However, by the end, she had begun to feel more than a little pathetic. Regardless, I am captivated by the concept of a nameless narrator. We never hear the narrator’s name - she is merely referred to as Mrs. de Winter - at least, once she is married. The lack of acknowledgment of her humanity outside of her marriage brought me again and again to considering Rebecca as the true main character of the story. She is its namesake, after all. And approaching her character, and the story as a whole, with Rebecca as the heroine (or anti-heroine) helped me feel an added level of depth and appreciation for the story. And of course, the writing as a whole is exquisite and very in keeping with the era it depicts.
Where the Grass Is Green and the Girls Are Pretty - 4 Stars. This was definitely a fun summer read. Although I wasn’t exactly resting and relaxing as I read, the story was exciting and energizing enough to make me feel like I was. I’ve always loved Lauren Weisberger’s books, and this one contained a few allusions to some of her other stories - which I thoroughly enjoyed. I just hope I caught all of them. Although the upper echelons of society that Lauren Weisberger tends to write about aren’t particularly relatable to most people, I think that is largely what makes her stories so engaging and interesting. And even if we face a lot of different issues (or sometimes the same issues, just on a different scale), the more fundamental problems with work, in our relationships, and as we try to chart a path towards the future, are the same. I did find the characters to be a little inconsistent, which was distracting at times, but on the whole, I enjoyed this story and being transported to a world of green grass and pretty girls.
In July I bought You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth and Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. This is the first time I bought a book in the same month that I re-read it, but in this case, it felt right. Both of these are ones that I really l love and have been wanting to add to my library for quite a while. I will definitely be re-reading Daily Rituals again soon too because I have been thinking a lot about it lately and it is one that I casually bring up in conversation all the time. I’ve already loaned it to a friend, however - probably because I mentioned it so often to her and she was dying to read it. So my re-read of that one will have to wait until I get it back.
Although I’m a little apprehensive about all that lies ahead in August, I’m excited for my vacation and the books I’m planning to read - so at least it will get off to a solid start.
Until next time,