Welp with the Coronavirus Quarantine taking over, I’ve been lucky to be able to prioritize reading. I know this a luxury not everyone will have and I am especially appreciative to all the essential workers who are fueling our communities right now. Anyone unable to be home right now, I think of constantly and am so grateful for their blood, sweat, and tears. Reading has been a good escape from TV (although I’m real into that right now, too) and especially the news/social media. I just love, love, love non-fiction as you will see so this list are the top handful that I highly recommend right now if you also enjoy non-fiction! You’ve probably already even read a few, I was a little bit behind on some of them but wowza. Check ’em out below and leave any suggestions in the comments!
1. Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
Wowwww, maybe this was extremely interesting to me because I work in tech where vision selling is a norm or that I live in the Bay Area where the tech scene is unavoidable but this blew my mind. How Elizabeth Holmes could convince so many people that what she was saying was the truth and not only that, bull dozed her way through funding and powerful connections was just riveting to me. I’m also SO glad she was caught and that she has now been exposed. I’m looking forward to following her trial once it hits the courtroom.
2. Educated by Tara Westover
I read this on a vacation, back when we were able to travel and before we’d ever even heard the words Coronavirus. I read it super quickly and what I thought was so intriguing about it was the pure bizarre lifestyle Tara’s parents pushed in their children. They obviously did not think this way and it seems there is a community of people who live this way so I am not trying to offend anyone but this is a way of life I just cannot understand. Her dad is so insistent that the illuminati are out to get them and therefor stockpiles supplies up in the hills where they live away from people and had their children at home who don’t even have birth certificates. It is a sad story in a lot of ways about her family dynamics so if that is not what you need right now, I totally get it and I would not suggest picking this one up. Without ruining the ending, I have to say I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending but would still recommend the book just to learn about resilience and finding your own path.
3. Inside Out by Demi Moore
I have to say I didn’t know much about Demi Moore before picking up her book aside from seeing her in movies and tabloids. I kept seeing her memoir on must read book lists (now ending up on mine) and was intrigued. She had a hard upbringing but I just found her so endearing. She lets out a lot of secrets but in such a self reflecting way and not blaming anyone else for the situations and life experiences she goes through. I found it so refreshing from a Hollywood star who didn’t come off self absorbed at all and how she’s evolved to love herself. It gave me happy feels at the end and now I have a completely different perspective of her.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Chelsea lent me this one and again, I didn’t know too much about Trevor Noah but recognized him from tv. Another book on hard upbringings and a desire to straight hustle. Trevor grew up during Apartheid in South Africa and has such vivid memories of how the country operated, it was very eye opening. I found that I learned things from this book, I laughed, I felt sadness, and just think he’s such an amazing story teller. Oh and he had a very strong mother figure which I guess now that I’m writing this blog, I am realizing how drawn to stories about strong, resilient women I am. Very entertaining and interesting read that I would highly recommend!
Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow
Another one not for the faint of heart. I found this a very important book to read and also grateful that so many had the guts to put everything on the line to stop a predator (aka Harvey Weinstein). At the time, Harvey had unbelievable power over the media and high powered execs to be able to hide any real news breaking on him and his disgusting behavior. The book chronicles the timeline and process it took to get real stories/facts out about the creep and eventually bring him down. It’s incredibly powerful and as someone who used to work in media, I can absolutely see how people in power felt they could silence lower level employees who’d been victims. It’s just terrible what happened for YEARS. However, thanks to Ronan and many brave others, they made it happen and started the pathway to justice and for that, this book is an incredible journey.
One thing all of these books have in common is justice of some kind. I am a big fan of justice and learning about people’s paths to the other side of tough situations. In that way, I found these books to be inspirational. There are so many great books out there and once you find your genre, it’s easy to get on a good roll! What are some of your favorite books?