Happy Read a Book Day
Books are a way to educate yourself, make you laugh, feel inspired, and keep you waiting for your Hogwarts acceptance letter to arrive- ours has to come soon, right?
From autobiographies to study books, from crime thrillers to graphic novels, there is a book for everyone. To celebrate National Read a Book Day, we have asked some of the 23 Code Street fam to recommend their favourite books and why they love them so much, in their own words.
Serena, Marketing Manager at 23 Code Street
And Still I Rise, Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou is one of my literary idols- she just writes so ridiculously well, plus is just a phenomenal woman. ‘And Still I Rise’ is a collection of her poems which always leaves me in awe and feeling inspired after I read it.
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
To me, this book represents just how resilient and strong women are and the power of the sisterhood. It’s definitely an emotional read, but well worth reading!
Anisah, Founder and CEO 23 Code Street
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J. K. Rowling
This book has been my favourite since the age of 8. It’s a tale of friendship, of morals, of priorities. But it also changed how I thought about adults and their role, and my power.
A girl is a half-formed thing, Eimear McBride
It’s written in an odd, broken, non-flowing prose and I have never read a book like it. It’s totally uncomfortable, but seeing the world through the protagonist's eyes is destructive and beautiful. I think about the book loads.
A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara
OK, I didn’t stop crying reading this book. It follows the lives of 4 men from college over decades and the relationships between them. I couldn’t put this book down and even missed work one day so I could finish it!
Gut The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ, Giulia Enders
I learned so much about my gut from this book. It’s well written and humorous at times. It made me pay way more attention to what I consume.
Luiza Pinto, Graduate of 23 Code Street
Beauty and Misogyny, Sheila Jeffreys
Beauty and Misogyny talks about western beauty practices that are directly related to misogyny and is extremely eye-opening- we’re used to judging other cultures and putting ours on the higher spot. It’s a good way to see how women are oppressed regardless of their cultural background.
Pansy, Andrea Gibson
Pansy is full of heavy, beautiful and meaningful poems written by Andrea Gibson, a lesbian woman, her poems hit a spot so deep you didn’t know it existed, she recently was trending online after a video of her poem called “To the Men Catcalling My Girlfriend While I’m Walking Beside Her’ was released.
Luka Alexander, Teacher at 23 Code Street
Tomboy Survival Guide, Ivan E. Coyote
Tomboy survival guide because it is an honest and vulnerable piece about growing up outside the gender binary, and provides some quite powerful perspectives and good advice for young transmasculine or non-binary people.
So you want to talk about race, Ijeoma Oluo
So you want to talk about race because it’s an extremely well-executed discussion on race. It explains very well injustices for the privileged individual. I could read each page over and over again.
Mel Igbin, Graduate of 23 Code Street
I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
Natalja Dembek, Graduate and Assistant at 23 Code Street
The Bees, Laline Paull
Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
I love these two because I’m a big fan of magical realism and can get completely engrossed in these adventure stories. They both reflect on real life in interesting and sometimes problematic ways that gave me a new perspective of looking at things. What I also love is that every time I read these novels, I relate to them differently. Especially how different parts of the story resonated with me and disturbed me when reading Murakami as a teenager and again as an adult, was something to reflect on.
Andy Davis
Venture Deals, Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson
The bible of raising VC. Very explicit detail on an important part of business, covering all sides.
The Facebook Effect, David Kirkpatrick
Good insights on decisions the FB team made in the first few years covering the details of: product, hiring, negotiations and terms. A lot less Hollywood than the movie. A lot of good operational stories.
DisneyWar, James B. Stewart
Very good insight into the top level at Disney for 20 years in the modern day. Very high-level focused. A lot on the executive team, board structure and governance.
Happy Reading!
If you’ve got a book you would like to recommend, tweet us!
