In 2017, I Rekindled an Old Flame: Reading

When I was a child (who are we kidding, I am still a child…but anyways. I digress), I used to have a big love for reading. Though I was required to turn off the TV at 9pm every night, I was granted permission to stay up and read quietly in bed for as long as my heart desired. As someone who was mildly afraid of the dark and petrified of ghosts that I was sure lived in my closet, I often slept with the light on. And with the light on, it made sense to me to read, read, read until my eyes simply closed.

My love of reading started with elementary books like Junie B. Jones, eventually progressing into The Baby Sitter’s Little Sister, then The Babysitters Club, then the Dear America series with a touch of history, then the Clique books (Cringe.) and then to Harry Potter, which I fell in love with a little late in the game, but which will always occupy a large percentage of my heart.

When I got into high school, however, there was more “required reading” for my classes. Maybe the books or lessons I had thrust upon me were uninspiring, or maybe I was a lazy piece of garbage, but most of my reading in high school consisted of skimming through SparkNotes the night before an essay was due. I think the saddest part of that is not that I managed to still do fine in all of my classes, but that I had fallen out of love with reading. It had become a chore.

This progressed somewhat into college, although the books that I was required to read for some classes were admittedly more gripping than some of the ones I had to read in high school. Still, even if I enjoyed those books I had to read for class, I didn’t read much outside of class at all.

Until this year. I decided that the only thing I was going to ask for for Christmas in 2016 (because, let’s be honest, I really didn’t need anything else unless Santa could pay my rent) was a Kindle. When I opened the Kindle on Christmas morning (thanks Santa/Mom), I decided it was my duty to make good use of it.

So far, I have read 51 books in the year 2017 (click to check out the list). I am admittedly proud of myself, but also kind of dumbfounded, considering the lack of books in my life in recent years. To celebrate this feat, I want to share a bit about the positive force that reading has become in my life, and some of the books that have really spoken to me this year.

First, I want to say that it has not been easy to motivate myself to read. It is a lot like getting myself to go to the gym. That being said, I found that the more I do it, the more I want to do it. Getting over that initial hump is the hardest part. Here’s what helped me:

1. Getting a Kindle. As much as I was a bit of a snob about this before, claiming I just couldn’t really get with the whole “book on a screen” thing and didn’t want to give up the feeling of a book in my hand or the smell of the pages, having a Kindle has really changed the reading game for me. I read it every day on my commute. When I travel, I can take dozens of books with me in a device that takes up almost no space. And I can get library books INSTANTLY delivered to my Kindle, fo’ free. If you’re not sold on that yet, I don’t know what else to tell you.
2. Join Goodreads. I signed up for this website a few years back to get book recommendations, but now it is one of my favorite websites. You can connect with your friends and see what they are reading. You can rate the books you’ve read, and Goodreads will give you personalized recommendations. And you can view endless topical lists of books.
3. Set a challenge for yourself. Whether it is 5 books, 10 books, 50 books (like me) or 1,000 books (good luck), I recommend setting a yearly goal for how many books you’d like to try to read. The point is not to impress others with the number, but merely to give yourself a benchmark to work with. Competing with yourself can actually be quite fun (or maybe I just really hate competing with others and would rather just try to beat my own records. If making a bet with your friend over who could read more would motivate you, go for it!) By the way, Goodreads has a function that makes it super easy for you to set and keep track of your reading challenge!

Those are my tips. Now on to some of my favorite books.

Behold The Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream — the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy. (Goodreads)

This book was really engrossing. Although it was a work of fiction, I really felt that I had become super invested in all of the characters by the end of the story. What was so amazing about this book was the way it weaved so many complex issues and concepts along with so many complex and true-to-life people together. It painted a portrait of common stereotypes while shattering them at the same time through the lives of the characters. I love reading anything that will give me a glimpse into what life is like for people that are not like me, and this book certainly forced me to get outside of my bubble and think about the challenges that a young couple from Cameroon trying to make it in America might face.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined — one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe. (Goodreads)

This book was incredibly gripping, and thought-provoking, and sort of terrifying in a beautiful way. I am a big fan of dystopian-type science fiction (like Black Mirror) that really makes you think about your current life and how you’re living it-and this book certainly did that. The vibe that it gave me was a mix of La La Land (sounds odd, but if you read it, you may pick up on the parallels), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Mr. Nobody. I could easily see myself rereading this book many times just to aid myself in processing it because, man, it really gets you thinking. I had no idea what to expect when I started this book and though some science fiction becomes overly theoretical to me, making it difficult to become engrossed, that was not the case with this book. I found myself pulled forcefully into this storyline and desperate to find out what was going to happen next and how it was all going to end. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say that there are some thoughts and ideas brought up in this book, especially towards the end, that really spoke to me and made me question and think about my beliefs surrounding life, fate, choice, and possibility.

A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Over the course of minutes, they would kill twelve students and a teacher and wound twenty-four others before taking their own lives.

For the last sixteen years, Sue Klebold, Dylan’s mother, has lived with the indescribable grief and shame of that day… In A Mother’s Reckoning, she chronicles with unflinching honesty her journey as a mother trying to come to terms with the incomprehensible. In the hope that the insights and understanding she has gained may help other families recognize when a child is in distress, she tells her story in full, drawing upon her personal journals, the videos and writings that Dylan left behind, and on countless interviews with mental health experts.(Goodreads)

This book was truly gripping and I am so glad I picked it up. It is hard, from the premise of the book, not to be intrigued. As a society we love to sensationalize violent crime, and so hearing from the mother of a boy who killed his peers in a violent school shooting definitely piques the curiosity. What could she say? How would she explain her sons’s appalling actions?

This book was so much more than that. When I sit and think about it, I truly think that being in Sue’s position must be one of the most emotionally horrifying and painful places to be. Not only did she lose a child, which I imagine is the greatest possible pain one can know, but she is forced to reckon with the reality that her son caused this pain for many others as well.

But Sue never paints herself as a victim or attempts to divert any responsibility from her son. I found her story to be honest and at times very painful- but it was nearly impossible not to sympathize with her. She was eloquent but forthright in her depictions of life with her son and all of the thoughts and regrets that arose retrospectively.

She weaves her personal anecdotes with a growing concern for the reality that her son’s actions were a symptom of a larger societal problem at hand: the failure to view brain health problems as a real health issue. She goes in depth into the intricacies of this problem- the stigma surrounding those with brain health issues, the sensationalistic way the media portrays those who resort to violence, the tendency of the common public to attribute violent behavior to “the crazies” so that they can dispel the terrifying thought that Dylan or people like him could have been their son, too. Nobody is immune to the true epidemic of inadequate focus on brain health issues.

Overall, I found this to be an excellent, compelling, and most importantly, necessary read. I truly think all parents, and all people in general, should experience this book.

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs

Robert Peace was born outside Newark in a ghetto known as “Illtown.” His unwed mother worked long hours in a kitchen. His charismatic father was later convicted of a double murder. Peace’s intellectual brilliance and hard-won determination earned him a full scholarship to Yale University. At college, while majoring in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, he straddled the world of academia and the world of the street, never revealing his full self in either place. Upon graduation from Yale, he went home to teach at the Catholic high school he’d attended, slid into the drug trade, and was brutally murdered at age thirty.

What does the haunting, untimely death of one man mean? Robert Peace’s life doesn’t reduce to easy sociological constructions. Through Hobbs’s relentless research and remarkable writing, we learn the cost of living between the world Peace was born into and the one his potential allowed him to enter. We see him work, love, fail, succeed, give to others, care for his mother, travel, and dream. We witness the decisions he made for himself and the ones that life forced upon him. But most importantly, we come to understand the sheer complexity of his existence and are irrevocably changed by the fascinating, devastating, and unforgettable life of Robert Peace. (Goodreads)

This book was an excellent look into the very complicated life of an exceptional but troubled young man. The issues and complex situations that Rob Peace experienced are things that I have never had to face or even really think about, and Jeff Hobbs, who was Rob’s freshman roommate at Yale and grew to become one of his close friends, did an amazing job of forcing the reader into Rob’s shoes. This book doesn’t try to provide simple explanations for Rob’s life, or his death, but rather casts a light onto who he was as a person, and some insight into why his life may have ended the way it did. It also serves as a testament to the impact that he had on people, and the importance of understanding that there is always more to someone than the person that they appear to be presenting to you.

Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery

After decades of unchecked sprawl, more people than ever are moving back to the city. Dense urban living has been prescribed as a panacea for the environmental and resource crises of our time. But is it better or worse for our happiness? Are subways, sidewalks and condo towers an improvement on the car-dependence of sprawl?

The award-winning journalist Charles Montgomery finds answers to such questions at the intersection between urban design and the emerging science of happiness, during an exhilarating journey through some of the world’s most dynamic cities…Rich with new insights from psychology, neuroscience and Montgomery’s own urban experiments, Happy City reveals how our cities can shape our thoughts as well as our behavior. The message is as surprising as it is hopeful: by retrofitting cities and our own lives for happiness, we can tackle the urgent challenges of our age. The happy city can save the world — and all of us can help build it. (Goodreads)

Wow, this was a fascinating and eye opening read! I had never before really considered just how much the design of cities and towns can intersect with and impact happiness- but this book showed just how much that is the case. Even though it is ripe with facts, research, and case studies, it did not feel stiff at all. I found myself engrossed with every page, and it definitely made me rethink how I feel about cities and my place in them. It opened my eyes to the reality that a rethinking of some of our public spaces and how we engage with them can really make us happier and change society for the better.

As someone who grew up in the suburbs and then moved to the city, I found it very interesting how this book discusses how the way urban sprawl has unfolded has made it easier and easier for us to feel disconnected from one another. Furthermore, it was fascinating to learn about how the way that some cities are designed can make us feel extremely alone in a crowded space, and what can be done to counteract that.

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

At once funny, wistful and unsettling, Sum is a dazzling exploration of unexpected afterlives — each presented as a vignette that offers a stunning lens through which to see ourselves in the here and now. In one afterlife, you may find that God is the size of a microbe and unaware of your existence. In another version, you work as a background character in other people’s dreams. Or you may find that God is a married couple, or that the universe is running backward, or that you are forced to live out your afterlife with annoying versions of who you could have been. With a probing imagination and deep understanding of the human condition, acclaimed neuroscientist David Eagleman offers wonderfully imagined tales that shine a brilliant light on the here and now. (Goodreads)

This book was profoundly excellent, and at times, deeply unsettling. With 40 different concepts of what the afterlife could be, this book provided a lot of fodder for some deep pondering, and at times, uncomfortable realizations. In a way, it was good that this book was served in bursts, because I often found myself needing to put it down after a section and just think for a bit, or even take a break entirely to digest. This is the kind of the book that you will want to, and you should, digest in small bites. But it is so important to read, and I believe it really has the power to make people question how they are living their lives, and whether or not they are on the right path. Whether you believe in an afterlife or not, this book will get you thinking about this life, that’s for sure.

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist…The eighteen personal essays collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

I have been a fan of Trevor Noah for awhile now, but reading this book just made me like him even more. As someone who actually spent a month in South Africa two years before, I still felt that I had learned so much about the country and what it is like through Trevor’s tales of his own experiences growing up as a mixed-race child in South Africa. He has the unique perspective of a South African who has lived in The United States, and was able to weave a story of his life that ties together personal anecdotes from growing up with overarching themes that are relevant to both South Africa and the United States now more than ever.

These are just a few of my favorites from the year, but every single book that I read in 2017 has taught me something and I’m so grateful for that! Here’s to another year of voracious reading and an unending appetite for knowledge and new perspectives. Oh, and I’m now accepting recommendations for books to read in 2018!