No one:
Really, absolutely no one:
Me: OMG I’M SORRY MY BLOG POST ABOUT BOOKS I READ IS LATE!
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I’ve been super busy with work and that has created a backlog of all the other stuff I want to do. But here we are.
Fiction
Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff
Why I picked up this book: After I read the Rakoff book below I looked up another book to read
Mood: Narrative poetry Rakoff
He reads his own books and I highly recommend listening to the audiobook for these books! I didn’t like this as much as a the first Rakoff book I read below. He challenged himself by writing this story in rhyming verse.
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Non-Fiction
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
Why I picked up this book: I listen to his podcast under the same name and love it.
Mood: Smart, funny, personal, historical narrative
Green is reviewing random things in the world, from sunsets to Dr. Pepper, on a 5-point scale. He is an amazing writer who weaves together historical research, quotes from literature, and personal narrative in a way I could only dream of doing. I love his tone and sense of humor and wish I could be so talented. There is a chance that the book is exactly the same thing as podcast and I still don’t regret listening to the whole thing. If you’re on the fence, consider just listening to one of podcast episodes!
Don’t Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems by David Rakoff
Why I picked up this book: This is one of the books I looked up when I was decided not to read any sad books for a while. I’ve enjoyed his segments on This American Life and have been meaning to read one of his books
Mood: Someone writing about their life in a sassy way
I liked this book and the way Rakoff describes things and his life. It felt a little less timely because he’s talking about about the current events around when this was written, but it feels so different than our world now, but I still enjoyed it.
Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders by David Marquet
Why I picked up this book: My previous supervisor recommended this book to a co-worker who told me they were reading it
Mood: Want to read about a leadership/management theory?
I have to admit that I was extremely close to abandoning this book after reading the introduction. It just sounded like a super self-help/management style “here’s what I did” type book that I had lukewarm experiences with. BUT, I stuck it out and I did find some things helpful to think about and gave context to some of the things my previous manager did.
- Empowering the people you manage to make decisions by giving them autonomy and actual power to make change and improve. Giving them the real space to practice leadership by letting them own the problem.
- Radiating intent. I mentioned this in the last post but to summarize again: If you find yourself micromanaging, or on the other side, feeling like you’re waiting for permission, consider creating a culture of radiating intentions: “I intend to do x,y,z.” That way your supervisor and team knows what you’re going to do and weigh in or they don’t need to checkin on you.
here’s a photo from a hike in Whistler
