Books I Read in 2015

I didn’t read as much as I have in past years. While I feel a bit bad about that — and very much wish I had made time to read more — the fact is that the house rehab project as well as many other worthwhile, yet time-consuming, factors simply meant my focus was elsewhere. I hope that the coming year brings me more time to make reading the priority it has been in years past.

Here are the books I read this year in the order I read them with a short review of each.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brene Brown — A wonderful book that explores the idea that living a whole hearted life means having the courage to love ourselves despite out shame about out imperfections. Great way to start the year.

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg — This is one of the writing books. One of those widely considered the gold standard of books on writing. For good reason, it is wonderful. This is actually my second time reading it. The first time, a couple of years ago, I did not highlight or mark it up for easy future perusal. I read through it again mainly for that purpose. I plan on visiting this book and browsing through at least once every year.

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld — This was wonderful book. Two books, actually because… It is the story of an 18 year old debut YA novelist and each chapter about her is interspersed with the novel she write. So, you are reading two books at once, really. Sounds gimmicky but came together quite well. I’m not normally into YA but I highly recommend this one.

The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer — A must read for artists of all sorts. This is a delightful, and often very moving, combination of advice and personal memoir.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac — I’m trying to make it a personal goal to read more of the classics that, for one reason or another, I have missed. Reading this was near the top of that list. I’m glad I did because it is a classic for a reason. Kerouac has a voice all his own. It’s like reading improvisational jazz as interpreted by Woody Gutherie. It is at once relaxed and frantic.

The Circle by Dave Eggers — A ridiculous book, really. Contrived and clichéd in all of the worst ways. And, it went a long way towards finally convincing me that middle aged men are rarely good at writing young female characters. But I powered my way through. It makes its rather simple point about 20 pages in (i.e. Companies like Facebook and Google are evil and we should fear what they stand for) and then spends the rest of the book beating away at this thinly veiled point. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson — This was a really fantastic book. The first 2/3rds of it follow the total destruction of earth following a mysterious event that causes the moon to explode and fracture. Humanity must find a way to survive and very few do. The final third happens 5000 years later. It’s a gripping story of survival, ingenuity, and human nature. My only warning is that, like many of Stephenson’s books, he can at times get a little bogged down in the weeds of technical detail. Fascinating if you are interested, easily skimable if not.

The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion by Elle Luna — Normally, when I read a non-fiction book I highlight key sentences and paragraphs to make it easy to find specific important thoughts skim through the book again in the future. It is rare that I will “dog ear” a page. Because, when I dog ear a while page it means everything on the page is important and not a single word is to be missed. I dog eared a lot of pages in this one. Several in a row in many cases. Unlike a lot of the “quit your job and follow your dreams” books, this one is rational, reasonable, and readily admits that jumping off such a cliff is not wise. Instead, it argues that if you can make the time to do the things you should do, you can make the time to do the things you must do. And it gives plenty of examples of those who have done just that. A particular favorite is composer Phillip Glass who continued to work as a plumber even as rave reviews of his work were being published in the New York Times. This is one of those books I now recommend to as many people as I can. Plus, it is beautifully illustrated. Worth getting for that alone.

Darkened Blade: A Fallen Blade Novel by Kelly McCullough — A fine wrap up of the series. Just as fun as all the rest. You should read them all (and look back at my past reviews of them if you’d like to know more).

Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim S. Grover — This book will either completely piss you off in the first few pages or completely resonate with you. It’s one of those books. For me, it not only resonated but I found myself compiling a list of others I know who needed to read it. I sent one as a gift to a friend only half way though. I knew they would see themselves in there like I did. Tim Grover is a personal training coach to many top athletes — especially in the NBA. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and many other credit him with a large part of their success. His mission, taking players way past their perceived limits to be the very best. Not just the best in the game or the best playing today but the best of all time. He’s the best at what he does and he has the clients and results to back it up. He also makes no bones about that and gives zero fucks about what you think. He is arrogant, cocky, and tells it like he believes it is. In this book, he gets into the mindset and anecdotes of what it takes to play and live a life at that level, who has it (very few), who doesn’t (the vast majority). This is not a book that will teach you how to get there. This is not a how too guide. It will not teach you how to get into “the zone” and stay there. And, as he makes clear, if that’s what you want then you already don’t have what it takes so he can’t help you anyway. What it is is a litmus test. You will either recognize the qualities it takes to meet this kind of success or you will not. Very inspirational to the right person. Worthless hyperbole to most. But, some very interesting and entertaining anecdotes for the long time basketball fan.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel — Wow, this is a really wonderfully written book. Set both just prior and 20 years post-apocalyptic pandemic that wipes out most of earth’s population, it is a story of survival and hope. But not only in the ways one might expect from such fare. It’s really about relationship and connectedness and how even in the worst of times simply surviving is insufficient.

The Gypsy in Me: From Germany to Romania in Search of Youth, Truth, and Dad by Ted Simon — A wonderful account of one mans’ journey, mostly by foot, to trace his Eastern European roots. Along the way, he finds a deeper meaning of his own personal identity. Part travelogue, part memoir, with plenty of political and social inquiry, this book is a unique bird but an engaging read.

The Assured Expectation of Things Hoped For by Shawn Mihalik — A smart and beautiful coming-of-age story about a young woman growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness. This offers an interesting peek into a world many of us turn away when it comes to our doors. Shawn is a really good writer — especially in the shorter form of a novella.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald — The classic novel about a group of Long Island upper-crusters and one particular mysterious gentleman. The prose is beautiful and, at times, whimsical with a strong sense of time and place. At its heart, this is a novel about the stories we tell (and the ones that are told) about ourselves in an effort be strive to be better and how it keeps the world from being able it care about who we really are.

It’s Never Too Late: A Kids Book for Adults by Dallas Clayton — Full of wisdom and whimsy, it’s a short inspirational, “kids book” (i.e. with illustrations) meant for adults. Mainly about the value of time and living life to the fullest. This was a gift from my friend Garrick and it was timely and very sweet.

Books I’ve started…

(But have not yet finished.)

The Journals of Henry David Thoreau by Henry David Thoreau — I’m slowly working my way through this, the most reader friendly version of the original 7000 journal pages of one of my favorite writers and thinkers. At only 704 pages, it seems a breeze in comparison. This is something I pick up and read a bit more of when I’m between other books.

Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 by Eric Foner — This 750 page tome I’m reading as contextual research for a Big Book Project I’ve been (slowly) working on.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow: Books — This is the engaging and fascinating definitive biography of one of America’s most misunderstood founding fathers. Started reading it, in no small part, because it is the inspiration for the current Broadway musical of the same name (which my wife is obsessed with). We will be seeing the musical in March in New York City and, well, wanted to “read the book first”. Glad I am.

Things I Love: Buck Mason Crew Slub Tee

buck-mason_army_crew_slub_7500

I wear a t-shirt almost every day. For me, it’s as essential a first layer as underwear. And, in the summer, it is sometimes my only top layer. So, for me, it is important that a t-shirt look great, be supper comfortable, fit very well, and also be ‘enough’ by itself when the day calls for it.

For a very long time, I couldn’t find just the right thing. Some models and brands came close in the fit and softness department but failed in others. Then, on a whim, I ordered a Buck Mason Crew Slub Tee when it was being offered by Need. They had them on sale and it looks like a good option so I thought, “What the heck, let’s give it a go.”

I’m so glad I did. It fits all of the qualifications I was looking for. This is the most comfortable, best fitting, most ‘tailored’ looking t-shirt I have ever worn. It’s like they were made just for me. They feel like silk against the skin. The rounded bottom hem makes them perfect for wearing tucked or untucked and gives them a classy look when worn untucked just by themselves. Plus, they layer very well not too thick to wear as an undershirt. I have since ordered several more in different colors from Buck Mason directly.

Buck Mason offers a neat deal where you can order up a package of three of these tees and return them for free if they don’t suit you. I could not recommend them more highly and it’s a great way to check them out.

Not All Introverts Are Quiet

At a party, you will find me being gregarious and able to easily engage in conversation with others. At a conference, I have little problem discussing the points of the speaker or opening a dialog in the hallways with fellow attendees. When I was a student in class, I never had an issue with raising my hand and asserting my view when called upon. I even engage store clerks with friendly trivial banter about the quality of the day. “Quiet” is not the first word that would come to mind to describe me — even by those who know me well or have known me for a long time.

What they often don’t see at the party is that I have specifically chosen one or two people I know and singled them out. I engage them in a deep discussion so that I can focus only on them and try my hardest to tune out the rest of the surroundings. They probably don’t notice that, even then, I find an empty room or a space outside in which to disappear for twenty minutes at a time. So I can sit there, alone, and recharge my internal batteries enough to go back to the party. They likely don’t know that by the end of the night I feel as though I’ve ran a race, in the rain, all up hill. Every nerve in my body feels taxed and my emotions wrung out to dry.

Those at the conference could not possibly know that it has taken me years to muster up the energy to attend. That if not for some very important topic or unmissable speaker I would never have come. That until I run into someone I know or meet someone I can engage with one-on-one, my overwhelming instinct is to find the nearest exit and run out of it as fast as I can. That it will be another few years before I can face another event like this. That I need to block off a full week following this one with as little human contact as possible so I can rest my spirit enough to engage with anyone outside of my immediate family.

When I was in high school, I often skipped less important or uninteresting classes because I could just not be in a single room with thirty other people for a moment longer. I would walk back home or go to a nearby park, recharge, grab a quiet bite to eat, or read a book. Only then would I walk back to school for my next class. If I had an English or History class, both of which I participated in and loved, you could almost guarantee I would sometimes opt-out of whatever class followed those. How do you explain to a school counselor that, ideally, you need one class period unscheduled following every one you have scheduled? That time alone in a room with a good book is as important to your education and well being as any class you could take during that time? You don’t. I didn’t. So, I skipped. Let’s just say it made no one very happy and my grades in no way reflected my ability or intelligence.

My introversion was even a surprise to me initially when personality tests called it out. In fact, my first time taking a Meyers-Briggs Personality Assessment, I questioned my MBTI score enough that I decided to take many more, at different times, to see if they would come out the same. They all did. I’m an INFJ (Introversion, iNtuition, Feeling, Judging). Introversion in the MBTI does not always mean someone who can’t be social or behave in ways that the world would perceive as outgoing. In fact, many famous people and leaders would also fall in the Introversion spectrum. For instance, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela are all INFJs.

I’m friendly. I can assert my thought or opinion when asked (and many times when not). I like having good, meaningful, conversations with friends and strangers alike. I can get up in front of large audiences and speak without overwhelming anxiety. While if given the choice between going to a party or convention or staying home alone I will choose the latter, that does not mean I don’t generally find value in the former. I just know which one will give me energy and fuel my spirit and which interactions will deplete them. It is this difference, hidden to many, that defines my status as an Introvert.

Not all introverts are hidden in our extrovert biased world because we are quiet. In fact, some of us are hidden because we are not quiet. We are able to hide it or we have personalities that cause us to appear otherwise externally. So, when thinking of the word “quiet” in relation to introverts, think not about how we act in the world at large but, instead, how we need to react to it to survive.