Books I Read in 2019 & 2020
If you’re looking for previous end-of-year reviews, please refer to my book lists from 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
For anyone who had been following previously and was curious as to why I didn’t get around to my book list in 2019 — the long and the short answer of it was simply that it was a year of reckoning (and a heck of a year to come before 2020). This is also an arduous process, typically taking me several days to capture all of the quotes and thoughts into something that I’ll be happy with.
My sibling went missing at the start of 2019, and the not knowing what happened or how to effectively help shadowed the next 6 months until they returned. It was a complicated and messy situation with no right choices. I had to decide between sitting in the limbo of waiting and not knowing with my estranged family or choosing to work, and work won out. I traveled more miles, managed (and won) more projects than ever, launched some side projects, truly excelled in my role — while flying ever closer to the sun of burnout.
“You will learn most things by looking, but reading gives understanding. Reading will make you free.”
— Paul Rand
Reading has always served two roles for me: a place of understanding and a place of escape. In the past couple of years, I have sought more understanding than escape — in part because of trying to better understand myself, my family, and the dynamics within. Writing these lists comes from a principle of openness and reflection — and the vulnerability of some of these reads took a while to become comfortable writing about. But in that continued commitment, away we go.
The top picks:
1. Non-Fiction
Educated by Tara Westover — As someone who constantly questions where they come from and how it shaped them, I loved the eye-opening experience of an author who was home schooled by a rural survivalist family that fought to seek out an education.
Honorable Mention: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
2. Fiction
The Wayfarers Series (#1–3) by Becky Chambers — I am always enthralled by richly painted characters and this sci-fi series has it in spades. One of the easy things to love about Star Wars and Star Trek is the concept of dealing with alien species, this dives into the complexities that intra-species cooperation would have on a ship with your standard dose of adventure.
Honorable Mention: The Interdependency Series (#1–2) by John Scalzi
3. Graphic Novel
Sheets by Brenna Thummler — One of those graphic novels that has a child’s eye. Beautifully illustrated story of a boy who is now a ghost, and the girl who is haunted by him. It confronts ideas from being a kid: the burden of responsibility, what to do when adults think that you’re lying when you’re not, and confronting death and loneliness.
Honorable Mention: Upgrade Soul by Ezra Clayton Daniels
The Full List, in chronological order:
- The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden — A series I’d seen on many a book list. Picked up because I’d never delved into Russian fairy tales, while the book does a good job of exploring these through vignettes of Moscow, the village, and beyond — it just didn’t capture my imagination.
“Men will forget about all this in time, and what you call cages is the lot of women.”
— Vasilia, The Bear and the Nightingale
- The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton — A rare historical fiction novel I initially picked up at the recommendation of the NYPL. Set in 17th century Amsterdam it follows the drama, relationships, and secrets contained within a household that 18 year-old Nella Oortman marries into. While not generally something I would read, I’d definitely recommend it if this is your genre of choice as it is a page-turner to get to the bottom of all those secrets.
“Growing older does not seem to make you more certain. It simply presents you with more reasons for doubt.”
— Nella Oortman, The Miniaturist
- The Founders Trilogy (#1–2) by Robert Jackson Bennett — I am a sucker for a female lead that also happens to do heists. This one starts off mid-heist and maintains a high-octane speed throughout. Part of what I particularly like is some of the originality in the concept that feels grounded in today. Merchant Houses maintain all of the power in Tevanne because they control scriving. Scriving is a scribed magic that can be written onto objects that challenge their existing perceptions (think: physics). The characters are rich, the plot high-stakes, and the magic system sound. What is there not to like?
It was surprising, how fragile your idea of yourself was.
— Sancia, Foundryside
- The Wayfarers Series (#1–3) by Becky Chambers — A story of a human trying to escape her family by getting a gig on a long-haul ship. What I always love about these books is the ability to try to see and understand humanity through different lenses: whether an AI or an alien race. The series unfolds by following different crew members on their own journey of awakening. I was skeptical but so glad I picked up this book on a recommendation and appreciate seeing more LGBTQ+ characters in the genre.
“Life is terrifying. None of us have a rule book. None of us know what we’re doing here. So, the easiest way to stare reality in the face and not utterly lose your shit is to believe that you have control over it.”
— Pepper, A Closed and Common Orbit
- Lake Silence by Anne Bishop — There comes a moment in every very long series where I’m fairly certain that I’ve lost the track. While I loved the initial tension between a modernizing society and the original forces of nature, it is not clear where the end will be nor am I sure I need side stories. Much like fellow modern fantasy authors Patricia Briggs and Kate Daniels, sometimes I can really enjoy a book, but I do desperately want some kind of conclusion.
“There is comfort in confirmation. It’s easier to believe something if someone else thinks the same thing.”
— Vicki DeVine, Lake Silence
- Kid Gloves by Lucy Knisley — I have loved this author and artist since her debut work. There’s something comforting about the fact that she’s just a little bit ahead of me on the life curve, so she writes about her personal experiences just in time for me to read them. While we’re not there just yet, it is helpful to see her share her always honest experiences from miscarriage, to a near-death experience with her birth, to trouble breastfeeding.
- The Economics of Star Trek by Rick Webb — An expanded essay by a good friend covering concepts from AI, to a Post-Scarcity Economy, to Universal Basic Income, to Bitcoin — all through the lens of a Star Trek fan. I find economics fascinating because it endeavors to be a system for organizing the human world, and this book endeavors to take a peek into what a future human world can look like.
“If you don’t believe that nothing is forever, if you don’t believe that society and humans can change, then you do not believe in the future (and, incidentally, you do not believe in the past either).”
“More and more I find myself thinking we are, as a race, constrained by the economic models we have.”
— Rick Webb, The Economics of Star Trek
- Sustainable Data by Jan Chipchase —A longtime fan of Studio D, I tend to pick up any publication they put out. They are a leading expert in qualitative research methods, and I was hoping this would be their complement and approach to quantitative needs. However, this mostly emphasizes the ethics of mass data collection which I think we are well beyond.
“All data, no matter how it is collected has a cost. In practical terms, this means data takes time and effort to collect, manage, store, and maintain. There is also the weight of expectation, of having collected data and falling short of realising organization, data abundance leads to short-term decision-making over a longer-term strategy.”
— Jan Chipchase, Sustainable Data
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb — A runaway favorite read, if only because you get the ultimate fly-on-the-wall experience of learning about what others speak about in therapy. In this, she shares her experience treating a high-profile TV producer, a terminally ill newlywed, and a deeply depressed older woman who is estranged from her children and family. A quick, easy, and delightful read that is an ideal introduction to therapy for those that aren’t in it, and an extra dose of reflection for those that are.
“People often mistake numbness for nothingness, but numbness isn’t the absence of feelings; it’s a response to being overwhelmed by too many feelings.”
— Lori Gottlieb, Maybe You Should Talk To Someone
- The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker — Drawn in by the description as a female-centric retelling of the story of Trojan War, and disappointed in the execution. It condemns the women to continue as powerless secondary characters when the intent is to celebrate their story.
“I wondered whether facing the future was harder if you were responsible for other lives.”
— Briseis, The Silence of the Girls
- Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero O’Connell —I am always first in line for anything the Tamakis make. I was particularly in love with the art of this and appreciate that there is so much more available media to not only help teens see more queer relationships, but to also understand the ingredients of a toxic relationship when most YA books are stuffed with tropes and romanticized ideals which are often (in and of themselves) toxic.
- I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara — Weirdly picked this up because my partner and I are both Patton Oswalt fans (for rationale see: this essay on otaku and also Big Fan). He helped finish this book and get it published after his wife unexpectedly passed away. No real spoiler here, but the work that she did ultimately led to the discovery of the Golden State Killer and what is so enjoyable about this book is that you get to go on the journey of discovery and sleuthing alongside her, trawling internet forums, performing interviews with beat cops and FBI agents, and excavating old city plans.
“But the truth is memories fade. Paper decays. But technology improves.”
— Michelle McNamara, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark
- Master Keaton №2 by Naoki Urasawa — I don’t read a lot of manga, and I still catch myself reading the wrong flow across the page. But I love the premise of this Half-Japanese, Half-British Indiana Jones-type helping to solve mysteries for an insurance company using his extensive military and archaeological knowledge.
- The Emissary by Yōko Tawada — An environmental catastrophe has left Japan with immortal elders and weak youths, and prompted the nation to sequester itself from the rest of the world. The author captures the changes in the country’s customs since the time of ecological ruin. I loved this as a metaphor for the mind, starting out weak but growing stronger with time, guidance, and cultivation.
“It’s a sort of menopausal disorder.” “What’s a men-oh-paw-zal-dis-order?” “It’s when your body changes keys. You know, the way music sometimes changes from a major to a minor key.”
— Yoshiro to Mumei, The Emissary
- Skyward (№1–2) by Brandon Sanderson — I have loved Brandon Sanderson’s books since being introduced to the Mistborn series. The main character, Spensa lives in future version of our galaxy, on a planet named Detritus where most of humanity lives underground. She has a dream of joining the elite flight school and being a pilot like her father. I always love a lead woman with grit, wit, and a chip on her shoulder. She finds an AI-powered ship and goes on a journey to discover its pilot that feels very similar to How to Train Your Dragon. If you loved Armada or Ender’s Game, this a book for you.
“Humans don’t have programming.” “Yes you do. You have too much of it. Conflicting programs, none of it interfacing properly, all calling different functions at the same time — or the same function for contradictory reasons. Yet you ignore it sometimes. That is not a flaw. It is what makes you you.”
— M-Bot, Skyward
- The Interdependency (№1–2) by John Scalzi — For anyone who is also a fan of The Expanse. This Hugo-award winning space-opera series covers the wormholes that control humanity’s access to outer worlds (dubbed “The Flow”) and the rising geopolitical tensions that result in determining their control. I especially love the intricate world building and the society here, and of course the strong female leads.
“One does not need visions when one has data. In both cases, however, one does need to be willing to see.”
— Emperox Grayland II, The Consuming Fire
- Wildlife of Southern Africa (№1–2) by Martin B. Withers — We had the privilege of being able to go on a safari that summer in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. We had always joked about “five big trips before kids” and this was one of them, a dream for both of us. While many folks are out to see the “Big Five”, I wanted to get a sense of all of the animals (birds especially) that we could potentially see on the trip. This was the right amount of information and photos for me.
- Educated by Tara Westover — I think this was on every booklist. What I love about the prose is that it is so rich with details and introspection that the synopsis doesn’t really give anything away at all. You know where she starts (survivalist family with no primary education) and where she ends (PhD in History from Cambridge), but knowing the outline only heightened my curiosity in reading about her life and struggles. As someone who struggled with their family growing up (though to a very different and not nearly so protected extent), this was an affirming read.
“The skill I was learning was a crucial one, the patience to read things I could not yet understand.”
— Tara Westover, Educated
- Spinning Silver by Naomi Novick—Compared to The Bear and the Nightingale, this is the type of Slavic high fantasy I think I was looking for. I particularly like liked the deeply Jewish themes in this book and the fact that the main character was also clearly Jewish. There’s a continuing theme throughout the story about whether money buys safety, and a constant planning for escape and monitoring for signs of its necessity. I‘m a believer in Brandon Sanderson’s approach to magic being based on a system and love that magic in this world is essentially arithmetic.
But I had not known that I was strong enough to do any of those things until they were over and I had done them. I had to do the work first, not knowing.
— Miryem, Spinning Silver
- Just So Happens by Fumio Obata — A book that I’d avoided because it felt too close to home. It follows Yumiko, a woman who has made her home in London but returns to Tokyo for the funeral of her father and finds herself immersed in the rituals of Japanese life and death. The artist has an elegance and simplicity in her style that I loved on every page. My grandmother is Chinese and, post-stroke, at that age where she could leave this plane at anytime. This left me yearning for more conversations about where she grew up (fleeing China to Taiwan during Tse-Tung’s rule) and being more connected in that culture.
- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant —Picked up because it has been on every book list for as long as I can remember. As someone who grew up in a religious household, I used to enjoy some re-explorations of Biblical lore in things like Madeline L’Engle’s Many Waters and The Canaan Trilogy. My head and heart simply couldn’t get into this read.
“On the day that the intelligence and talents of women are fully honored and employed, the human community and the planet itself will benefit in ways we can only begin to imagine.”
— Anita Diamant, The Red Tent
- The Age of Empire Series (№4–6) by Michael J. Sullivan — I’d fallen in love with this merry band of characters I couldn’t help but see this series all the way through. Persephone — the hardworn Keenig of the humans. Suri — raised in the woods and who has a deep connection and understanding of nature and ‘The Art’. Brin — who seeks to record history as it is happening. And many more. The first half of the series sets the stage for the prospect of Elves, Humans and Dwarves to all peacefully coexist. These three books are the closing quest required to get there and make it happen.
“A person needs hardships. Overcoming trials through perseverance, self-reliance, and sacrifice is what you missed out on. Pain, fear, drudgery, boredom — lots of boredom — these are the things that build character.”
— Malcom, The Age of Legend“Language is one of mankind’s greatest virtues, but also one of its biggest tragedies; it almost lets us understand each other.”
— Brin, The Age of Legend
- Upgrade Soul by Ezra Clayton Daniels — Picked up at NYCC 2019. A science fiction series where an older couple decides to go through a rejuvenation exercise for their 45th anniversary. The procedure goes horribly wrong and they are now not only disfigured, but intellectually superior versions of themselves. This was scarier than what I usually read, but a thrill nonetheless, with a beautiful pairing of art and copy. This has been optioned for a film which I will be interested to see the execution of.
- The Test by Sylvain Neuvel — A sci-fi novella that is essentially a Black Mirror episode. The premise is that Idir, an Iranian man and devoted father and husband, is sitting his British citizenship test. It is a sharp commentary on a lot of the nationalistic philosophies that led to Brexit.
“Over the years his ambition has made way for an even stronger desire for comfort, peace, and quiet.”
— Sylvain Neuvel, The Test
- No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work by Liz Fosslein and Mollie West Duffy — Like many things at work, nobody can truly train you and prepare you for all of the ins and outs of managing a team and caring for the individuals within. This was also a year when I was experiencing a lot of my own emotional turmoil. My own management philosophy is that it is my role as a leader to be the calm port to anyone else’s storm, but when one person called me an “emotionless robot,” I felt that I was failing them and myself in not showing what I could and could not take on emotionally — and work is a place, despite all of our desires otherwise, that is filled with emotion. This book was an excellent guide and partner in helping me understand what I could acceptably reveal from myself and support in others.
“Female leaders often feel pressure to avoid appearing either too emotional or too emotionless to lead.”
“Caring too much about a job is unhelpful and unhealthy. It makes small problems seem exceptional and throwaway remarks feel appalling. And it’s not only leaders or women or Virgos who care too much: it’s possible to be overly attached to any job at any level. That’s why we came up with the first new rule of emotion at work: Be less passionate about your job. Caring less offers a solution to a lot of anguish[…] [that]doesn’t mean “stop caring about work.” It means care more about yourself. It means carve out time for the people you love, for exercise, and for a guilt-free vacation.”
— Liz Fosslein and Mollie West Duffy, No Hard Feelings
- Sweep the Blade (Inkeeper Chronicles №4) by Ilona Andrews — Two words: space. vampires. Do you need to know anything else?
“That’s what marriage was, at the core — the exclusive right to spend as much time with someone you loved as they were willing to give.”
— Ilona Andrews, Sweep the Blade
- Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone — As my team grew I had to build my toolkit for having more difficult conversations. I have always been a proponent of Radical Candor and a gardener, not carpenter mindset. But as a boss of mine put it: I needed to learn how to use the carrot as well as the stick. When you have grave performance issues that aren’t improving, these conversations require more and more preparation and structure. This book was good for many things, from my personal life to pricing conversations with clients.
“Arguing inhibits our ability to learn how the other person sees the world.”
— Douglas Stone, Difficult Conversations
- Inheritance by Dani Shapiro — Surprisingly the first book that I’ve read by this famed memoirist. I was attracted to it because I was feeling a similar tectonic shift in my own world with everything happening with my family. A whimsical DNA test unexpectedly shows the author that her father is, in fact, not her biological father. It captures her personal journey of uncovering the secrets within her own family (biological and otherwise).
“The nature of trauma is that you have no recollection of it as a story. The nature of traumatic experience is that the brain doesn’t allow a story to be created.”
— Bessel van Der Kolk, Inheritance
- Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon — I read this in part to better try to understand and empathize with my parents. One of them said to me that “getting [parenting] 50% right is still a failing grade” — and it was easy to feel like a failure as a daughter and as a sister in that time that my sibling was gone. This author explores what it’s like to be a parent of a child who is inherently and deeply different from yourself. This interviews families coping with things as broad as: deafness, dwarfism, Down’s syndrome, autism, and schizophrenia. This is a long, dense, and worthwhile read. A deeper and more reflective Studs Terkel. If you’re not up for 962 pages — the documentary gets to the good stuff.
“Though many of us take pride in how different we are from our parents, we are endlessly sad at how different our children are from us.”
“There is no contradiction between loving someone and feeling burdened by that person; indeed, love tends to magnify the burden.”
— Andrew Solomon, Far From the Tree
- Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey — Picked up because I wanted and needed a new sci-fi, and I was intrigued by the rich world-building in three distinct arms of humanity each containing their own beliefs and rituals despite all being human. Earthers (the origin of all humanity), Martians (hyper-industrialized and militaristic) and ‘Belters’ (an oppressed and mistrusted working class who manage everything in-between) have rising tensions throughout this pulp fiction meets sci-fi series. I later discovered that it was a series on Amazon Prime and all hope of continuing this series was thrown out the window. I do have to say, the show has to be in my top ten all-time favorite series now.
“It had been the most complex, difficult feat of mass-scale engineering humanity had ever accomplished until the next thing they did.”
— James S.A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes
- Lemon: How the Advertising Brain Turned Sour by Orlando Wood — In every business you are constantly learning, and this was a solid new publication on effectiveness in advertising. I had some gripes with it: namely around how do the characteristics translate to social and digital, which have shorter timeframes and their own cultural nuance. Regardless, I recommend every agency planning team to have a copy.
- The Deep by Rivers Solomon— Picked up in part because I’d loved the original Hugo award-winning song by clipping. The perspective is that the water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society. I want more Afrofuturism in literally everything I consume.
“Pain is energy. It lights us. This is the most basic premise of our life. Hunger makes us eat. Tiredness causes us to sleep. Pain makes us avenge.”
— Yetu, The Deep
- Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men by Lundy Bancroft — I don’t think this title needs further accompaniment or explanation. Abuse is not exclusive to men despite the gendering in the title. If you are concerned if your parent or partner is abusive and seek to diagnose or understand it, this is a helpful read. And, of course, hotlines are there to help.
“One of the obstacles to recognizing chronic mistreatment […] is that most abusive [people] simply don’t seem like abusers. They have many good qualities, including times of kindness, warmth, and humor, especially in the early period of a relationship.”
— Lundy Bancroft, Why Does He Do That?
- Open Book by Jessica Simpson — This came up in an all-hands meeting and as someone who watched a lot of The Newlyweds but didn’t follow Jessica Simpson’s music this felt like an easy read. I think the most astounding fact I got out of this book is that she has a $1B apparel line, which would make her more financially successful than any other early 2000’s pop diva.
“I didn’t think I was enough, so I overcompensated by making my life a series of experiences for everyone else.”
— Jessica Simpson, Open Book
- The Little House Series (№1–9) by Laura Ingalls Wilder — At the start of the pandemic I craved wide open spaces, and remembered how much I had loved this diaristic account of the homesteading Ingalls family while growing up. The late 1800s is rarely covered in literature that I read, and especially not from a pioneer’s perspective. While I do struggle with the fact that there are books where they are literally stealing Native land, I do give credit to the fact that this continued to be a highly empathetic account of the times. This was a balm to work through in the early months of lockdown.
“Then why doesn’t God tell us?” Laura wanted to know. “Because,” said Pa, “we’re not animals. We’re humans, and, like it says in the Declaration of Independence, God created us free. That means we got to take care of ourselves.” Laura said faintly, “I thought God takes care of us.” “He does,” Pa said, “so far as we do what’s right. And He gives us a conscience and brains to know what’s right. But He leaves it to us to do as we please. That’s the difference between us and everything else in creation.”
— Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter
- Virgin by Design by Nick Carson — I had a moment in looking at my bookshelf where I realized that all of my industry books were approaching 10 years old. I wanted a reason to fall in love with the business again and this was the perfect book to do so because few brands are as distinctive as Virgin and who else can start as a record company and grow into an airline, a hotel chain, and a space-flight provider? It is a gorgeous and something I return to often.
“Normally people start with, ‘What can we afford to spend?’ We start with, ‘What would be the best experience?’ and work backwards.”
— Claire Topping, SVP of Marketing Virgin Atlantic, Virgin By Design
- How To use graphic design to sell things, explain things, make things look better, make people laugh, make people cry, and (every once in awhile) change the world by Michael Beirut — I originally trained as a graphic designer and used to be obsessed with all of the Pentagram partners, but especially Michael Beirut because of his interviews in Helvetica. We had the privilege of overlapping in our work on Verizon, and, well, I wanted to know more.
“In design, as in life, the antidote to stereotype is experience.”
— Michael Beirut, How To
- The Fire Never Goes Out by Noelle Stevenson —I’d been following Noelle’s meteoric rise since her early days on Tumblr. As with many things on Tumblr, you find people who share the same passions as you and we shared art, interests, and a penchant for overwork. She’s now a showrunner for Netflix’s She-Ra but this memoir records her journey to Hollywood, her understanding of her identity, and the burnout that came on the way.
- Pictorial Webster’s: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities by John Carerra — Late this year, I found myself in a rare moment where we were choosing the name of our company. Part of this exercise required endless lists of potential names. So I read a dictionary to see if I could get some sparks. This was a helpful start. I have a good friend who also reads dictionaries for fun and we talked about this extensively during the process. So if you ever want to hear about the difference between the Collins Dictionary, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, and the Dictionary of the English Language 1828, I’m your gal.
- The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene — This has been on my to-read list since I found out it was one of the most requested books in American prisons. Whether I like it or not, every office and workplace has politics. And while I prefer to move and operate apolitically, as I become responsible for more people and their success depends on my successful negotiation on their behalf, this became increasingly critical to understand. How can I get a person transferred between offices? How can I secure (and protect) budget for my team? How can I get teams the support they need? This is a dense 492 page read which took a long time to finish, but it is worth at a minimum skimming.
“If the world is like a giant scheming court and we are trapped inside it, there is no use in trying to opt out of the game. That will only render you powerless, and powerlessness will make you miserable. Instead of struggling against the inevitable, instead of arguing and whining and feeling guilty, it is far better to excel at power.”
— Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power
- Shutter by Joe Keatinge and Leila del Duca — This was one of the last Pullist books that we’d ever done, yet I’d never gotten around to reading it. Picked it up on a whim because it was described as a “futuristic Lara Croft meets Indiana Jones” and wasn’t disappointed. While, like Saga, it can take a moment to understand the exact nature of the world — it draws you in with the lush illustrations by Leila del Duca.
- Field Guide to the Neighborhood Birds of New York City by Leslie Day — We have been ultra-cautious since the start of the pandemic, and so one of the few safe escapes were regular jaunts to Riverside or Central Park. Birding is a funny thing. We can classify the group (“trees”, “birds”, “plants”) but there is so much nuance within that group. Richard Feynman talks about the difference between knowing the name of something and the nature of it, and we used this to seek to understand both.
“See that bird? It’s a brown-throated thrush, but in Germany it’s called a Halzenfugel, and in Chinese they call it a Chung Ling and even if you know all those names for it, you still know nothing about the bird. You only know something about people; what they call the bird. Now that thrush sings, and teaches its young to fly, and flies so many miles away during the summer across the country, and nobody knows how it finds its way.”
— Richard Feynman on birds in Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman
- Okay, Universe: Chronicles of a Woman in Politics by Valérie Plante — The past few years have radicalized me, and an ongoing joke/discussion/joke between my partner and I is that I will, post-corporate life, eventually get involved in local politics. This was a great, small primer that was gifted to me for Christmas, written by the first woman elected Mayor of Montreal. Canada could not be more different than here, but it gives me some hope.
- Witches, Midwives, & Nurses: A History of Women Healers by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English — I’ve been battling my body and my health for the past five years and one of the few blessings of the pandemic is that I’ve had the physical and mental space to pay more attention to my body, and the time to dedicate to getting to the bottom of things. It took 10+ different doctors visits to get a diagnosis (which came only yesterday), but it is such a relief to be able to finally put a name to a thing and understand it. This was a rage-read, driven by the fact that (mostly male) doctors were quick to dismiss or genericize symptoms or family history. This helped contextualize some of the stigmas around anything from midwifery to herbal healing.
“The real issue was control: male upper-class healing under the auspices of the Church was acceptable, female healing as part of a peasant subculture was not.”
“The witch-healer’s methods were as great a threat (to the Catholic Church, if not the Protestant) as her results, for the witch was an empiricist: she relied on her senses rather than on faith or doctrine, she believed in trial and error, cause and effect. Her attitude was not religiously passive, but actively inquiring. She trusted her ability to find ways to deal with disease, pregnancy, and childbirth — whether through medications or charms. In short, her magic was the science of her time.”
— Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English, Witches, Midwives & Nurses
Thank you for reading this far. If you also love reading books, have some fresh recommendations, or just ever want to discuss them — it would be great to swap notes. Feel free to say hello on Twitter: @rachelmercer or on Goodreads.
For previous editions of ‘Books I Read’:
A Booklist Recommendation:
I love Amanda’s booklist for it’s sheer variety but also especially her books on management and adapting a ‘coaching’ mindset. In watching The Last Dance, I found myself very inspired by Phil Jackson’s approach and believe the coach approach is an apt one.
