Show Us Your Books – September Edition
Happy Show Us Your Books Day! Given that I’ve been writing an average of 10,000 words a week for work lately, free time to actually read other people’s words has been scarce. Sometimes I really miss having a normal people job where you get to stop doing the thing after 8 hours! I need to get better at taking time out of the day to not work. But then again, I really enjoy fancy things like affording food, so it’s a delicate balance.
Here’s what I’ve been reading this month!
This Fight is Our Fight – Elizabeth Warren
Before I get into my review, it should probably be noted that I totally own this bumper sticker:
So clearly I’m already totally Team Liz, but this book made me love her even more. I wanted the audio version since I really enjoyed her delivery of her last book, “A Fighting Chance”, but the regular e-book was all my library had so I jumped on it, since I live in the middle of nowhere and our “new arrivals” shelf often features books that came out like five years ago.
(Wearing your “Nevertheless, she persisted” t-shirt to read this book is optional but totally recommended.)
Pres…err, Senator Warren has such a great writing style in that she can explain complex topics in economics in a few pages so that they actually make sense. She discusses the horrors of student loan debt, why we should be investing in infrastructure and medical research, and how messed up it is that the average Wal-Mart supercenter costs tax payers a million dollars in funds for support like food stamps and Medicaid for its workers, despite the Waltons being one of the richest families in the universe. Unlike a lot of politicians who come from wealth and, you know, live in actual golden towers and such, Elizabeth draws from real life experiences, like how her mother was able to support their family on her wages working at Sears after her father fell ill and the family lost their usual income. And how she was able to put herself through college and eventually become a freakin’ senator because at that time, tuition was $50 a semester. And we’re not talking THAT long ago… just before the cost of living and the average income diverged so drastically.
No, this isn’t a page-turner of a thriller or laugh a minute type of read, but you’ll walk away SO much better informed. The next time you’re voting in a local election and there’s a proposal to increase taxes by X% to fund bridge repairs, you’ll know why it’s cheaper in the long run. When you hear politicians bring up Glass-Stegall repeal, you’ll actually understand the history of it. She’s excellent at explaining complex subjects in a way that they actually stick.
Normal Gets You Nowhere by Kelly Cutrone
I listened to this as an audio book less than a month ago, but I have almost no memory of it. I also can’t remember if I read her first book, too, or just heard about it so much that I think I did, so either the writing is really forgettable or I’m getting very old, very quickly? (Is this the most helpful review ever?)
The Nocturnal Journal by Lee Crutchley
I’m pretty sure I haven’t had a decent night of sleep since around 1987, so a journal designed to combat insomnia definitely caught my interest. (I’m finishing up this blog post at 3:45 a.m…)
First of all, the cover is awesome and it glows in the dark and the PR people included little glow in the dark stars when they mailed it to me, which made my inner ’90s teen very happy.
There are a few pages of regular text, but it’s mostly a guided journal/workbook to help you clear out the stuff that’s swimming around in your head and keeping you up at night. The exercises are a mix of fun and insightful.
It’s one of those books where you can just open at random and start there, or flip through until you find a page that speaks to you at the moment. There’s some list writing (like above), letter writing, drawing… a little bit of everything!
The publisher has offered to hook one of you guys up with a Nocturnal Journal of your own! Woohoo! (Giveaway is below!)
Head over to Life According to Steph and Jana Says to check out all of the other blogger book reviews for this month! And enter the giveaway for your own copy of Nocturnal Journal below! (Open to US 18+, ends 9/21/17)