I love reading and one of my goals this year has been to spend more time doing so. With the long days of summer ahead, I’m planning on getting through a few titles throughout the upcoming months. The following have all piqued my interest for various reasons; most are nonfiction, but a few are supposed to be pretty entertaining fiction.
As I was creating this list, I discovered Oyster, which people are calling “the Netflix of books” because you can get unlimited ebooks for $10 a month. I just signed up for a free 30-day trial and am excited to test it out. When I signed up, it gave me an offer code for $15 worth of unlimited books. I guess this will be a challenge to see how many titles I can finish within the next 30.
The Underwriting – Michelle Miller
Fiction – “The Underwriting” sounds like a fun one. It’s a “Silicon Valley meets Wall Street” thriller, depicting the founder of a popular dating app and the events leading to its IPO.
When To Rob A Bank – Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
Nonfiction – The latest title from the authors of “Freakonomics” is a curation of their most interesting research over the past 10 years. I’m a big fan of their work: it’s brilliant and witty and gives you an entirely different perspective on concepts you would never have thought to even question. Their last book, “Think Like A Freak”, is one of my all-time favorites, so I’m really looking forward to reading about the concepts they’ve compiled here.
Beautiful Ruins – Jess Walters
Fiction – I’ve been hearing about this one for awhile and it sounds like the perfect summer read. It’s about an almost-romance that starts in 1962 on the Italian coast and comes back into fruition in Hollywood 50 years later.
All The Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr
Fiction – I have heard so many great things about “All The Light We Cannot See”; it seems like everyone is reading it. The story follows a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths cross while trying to survive WWII. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the following review depicts it as a brilliant tale:
“Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).”
Quiet- The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking – Susan Cain
Nonfiction – Now this is an interesting concept: Cain argues how society’s reverence for extroverts – and the Extrovert Ideal – has become so engrained in our culture that we undervalue the introvert and in doing so, significantly lose. I’m excited to read this one particularly because I want to gain more insight into exactly which qualities define “introvert” and “extrovert”. I don’t think it’s as black and white as it may seem.
Nonfiction – I saw Dr. Brené Brown speak at an event and have been meaning to read this book ever since. Her presentation was one of the most energizing and compelling that I’ve ever watched, and this book is based on the topics she discussed. On the surface, the concept this book presents sounds more like a paradox: We become more courageous when we become more vulnerable. But she teaches that vulnerability is the key to transforming the way we live and lead.
The Road to Character – David Brooks
Nonfiction – I’ve read Brooks’ writing in the NY Times and love the ideas he presents. In this book, he urges the reader to rethink the concept of external success that society presents and to instead shift the focus to internal success, as marked by moral depth, rather than by amassing wealth and “resume virtues”.
The Power Of Habit – Charles Duhigg
Nonfiction – This is another book I’ve been wanting to read for awhile. Duhigg studies the science behind habits – particularity why they exist and how they can be changed – and how understanding this can transform our behaviors and lives.
