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Hey everyone,
Thank you.
I don’t say that often enough!
But honestly, thanks for reading this Reading Club. The world of email is so full of junk. I hate it. And yet it’s where our group gets to slam the windows shut, lock up the doors, and just chat about books once a month. I always look forward to it and reply with your thoughts, feedback, and book suggestions anytime.
TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speakingby Chris Anderson. Pop quiz! Who runs the most impressive thought leadership collective in the universe? What do you think? CEO of Google? Dean of some fancy school? No way. I don't trust those guys. Chris Anderson gets my vote. TED is non-profit. Every talk is free. And as CEO he takes no salary. TED is spreading like a beautifully expanding ink drop into classrooms, companies, and minds around the world. I think it’s how I first learned who Brené Brown or Susan Cain or Simon Sinek or Steven Pinker even were – never mind what they do. So I love Chris Anderson. I trust him. And his understanding of how to deliver a great speech shines through this book. It can be a bit painful to read as (if you’re like me) you’ll keep going “Ooh, right, I shouldn’t do that.” or “Oh no, I need to completely rewrite that.” But I think ultimately it’s important to remember the panning for gold metaphor. Sift, sift, sift, find a couple nuggets, get out of town. This is a brass-tacks guidebook for anyone who needs to give a great speech. I’ll shelve this next to Dale Carnegie’s fantastic How to Develop Self-Confidence and Influence People by Public Speaking which gets a little deeper into hooking and pulling in audiences.
I'm Just A Personby Tig Notaro. Tig Notaro spent nine days after her double-breast cancer diagnosis writing and then delivering a standup comedy routine all about cancer. And then it went viral. This memoir takes a big step back and chronicles the worst year of her life – a severe illness, her mother’s freak accident death, a breakup, and then the big C – with refreshing grace and perspective. The engine in this book gets faster as it goes and by the end we’re wrestling with huge questions in the deep end of the pool. How do you really live every day like it’s your last? Tig offers perspective through pain.
The History Of Love: A Novelby Nicole Krauss. A few weeks ago I gave a speech and, afterwards, an older lady walked up to me, smiled deeply with wet eyes, and handed me a tiny slip of paper. I opened it. All it said was “The History of Love by Nicole Krauss.” I looked up at her and she simply said “Read it” and then walked away. Then a few days later I saw the book mentioned again on Mitch Albom’s "Mitch's Picks". Turns out I needed those two pushes because I found the first two-thirds of the book totally frustrating. It’s written in that 3D jigsaw puzzle. Did you like movies like Traffic or 21 Grams? If so, you’ll like this book. Me, I’m lost the whole time. But I promise it does eventually deliver a massive payoff that makes it all worth it. Reading this book feels like setting up a hundred dominos in a dark room. Getting to the end feels like finally turning the lights on and knocking them all over. Beautiful.
Jerusalem: Chronicles From The Holy City by Guy Delisle. Have you been to Jerusalem? I haven’t. Who knows if I’ll make it. But that’s why I’m becoming addicted to these photo-journalism graphic novels from Guy Delisle. I enjoyed Pyongyang because I felt like I was a French animator working in North Korea. And now I’m a French graphic novelist spending a year with his wife working in the West Bank for Doctors without Borders while I’m taking care of my two kids in Jerusalem. A foot-on-the-ground view of a city with endless cultural questions and challenges along the way. But … it really is just one guy’s view. And that guy is Guy. So you need to enjoy hanging out with him. Being him. And you need enjoy skipping big-picture for minutiae of the day to day. I admit I found myself craving more zoom-out history and background like I found in graphic novels like Tetris by Box Brown.
Things Organized Neatly by Austin Radcliffe. This book is just super well-curated pictures of things (wait for it) organized neatly. A football team’s helmets and pads before the big game. A pile of fruit peels all fitting together. Are you one of those people who likes peeling the orange in one shot and then sort of wrapping it back up into a hollow orange? Then you’ll love this book. (Sidenote: Since I have a blog called 1000 Awesome Things and Austin has a blog called Things Organized Neatly I have a weird dream about starting a little mutant lovechild.)
Cookies: Bite-size Life Lessonsby Amy Krouse Rosenthal. My wife Leslie has a knack for picking out incredible children’s books. You know what the “most clicked on” book I recommended in this book club was for all of 2017? (Yes, I looked.) Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch. She tipped me onto that. And now this gem! This book pulls off an astounding feat. Every page shows a child in the process of making chocolate chip cookies together with a little behavior definition that sort of sneaks in. Some examples from the book: “Cooperate means how about you add the chips while I stir?”, “Patient means waiting and waiting for the cookies to be done”, “Modest means you don’t run around telling everyone you make the best cookies even if you know it’s true”, “Respect means offering the very first cookie to your grandmother.” I loved this book.
Zen in the Art of Writingby Ray Bradbury. Ray Bradbury is an egotistical blowhard. Ray Bradbury is an insightful genius. Those two thoughts kept ping-ponging in my brain while reading this book of essays about writing and creativity. I found I needed to stick my hands out and peel through the sticky film of his ego – the full-page photo of him petting a cat in front of a bookshelf, the essay on how amazing his memory is proven by how vividly he recalls his own birth, or his easy-as-pie word association technique for writing a short story a day – to get to the gold. And there is real gold. “Zest. Gusto.” These are the first two words of the book and these essays are filled with it. “The Joy of Writing” felt like minty balm as he talks about finding pleasure in writing instead of feeding off the pain. And I loved the essay on “feeding your muse” which is chock full of ideas getting unstuck and keeping things loose. I have no idea if he really was an egotistical blowhard but I do know the two pages of notes I took from this book make for some insightful genius that will last a long time.
