book life: what I read in May
and a book recommendation request
Welcome to Borrowed Words, a new series from Sage Neighbor. I’m a book nerd and hope to find some fellow bibliophiles in the group! I set this up so that if you only want sustainable living content, you can modify your subscription preferences and not receive this Borrowed Words series. I know your inbox is busy, and I don’t want to send anything that doesn’t interest you!
Without further ado…
first up, book rec request 😊
I am traveling to Alaska this summer and would love to read some books about Alaska before we leave. Do you have any recommendations for great books that feature Alaska or take place in Alaska? I’d love to hear them!
what I read in May
I’ve been making a concerted effort to read instead of scroll. The screen time app on my phone and my Storygraph tracker tell that story well. One is way down and the other shows I read 7 books in May. It feels so much better to read than scroll! Here’s a look at what I read in May.
The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters by Susan Page
After hearing an interview with the author on the
podcast, I picked up this book with little knowledge of Barbara Walters. I found the book super interesting and was surprised to learn about many elements of her life I did not know.I feel like I'm seeing a lot of books about women who broke major gender barriers around the time I was born, and this book fits right into that category. This group of books adds a lot of context to the gender equality conversations I've grown up hearing about but didn't experience; the world before women had any semblance of equity.
As we see women's rights being attacked from several angles currently and a cultural narrative that wants to put women back in subservient roles, shining a light on the state of women during the period many conservatives, tradwives, and dominant men glorify reminders us how far we've come and how much we should fight to maintain the equity we've earned.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
I picked up this book as part of Sharon McMahon's book club with zero knowledge about the story. I didn't know who “the women” were, but her book recommendations have been nothing but stellar so I started reading without a second thought.
Sidenote: If you appreciate thoughtful and intellectual book discussions, McMahon leads a fascinating virtual book club filled with women who share many interesting perspectives on the incredible books she chooses. She always ends a book club section with a virtual meet-up with the author. It's such a cool group if you're interested!
The historical fiction novel highlights the women who served in the Vietnam War, women who were often overlooked and whose stories were hidden or ignored. I look back at my high school history classes and realize we missed the Vietnam War.
Maybe we ran out of time to cover it before school ended for summer break. Maybe it was too fresh and still too controversial for high school textbooks to take up. But whatever the case, I learned little about the Vietnam War besides that it took place. This book was such an amazing entry point to learning about the United States’ role in the Vietnam War, how people reacted in the United States, and some of the fallout for military personnel that impacted the rest of their lives.
Much like the rest of Kristen Hannah's work, this book is powerful, engaging, and worth every minute it takes to read. If you choose to read it, you will not regret it.
The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza
I don't read a lot of fiction, but I've recently been incorporating more novels into my reading repertoire.
recommended this book by , and it sounded interesting so I requested it from the library. I suppose it's a reflection of the reading circles in which I run, but it's yet another book about women and their place in a patriarchal society. Do you see a trend?This book follows one woman's journey back to Italy to uncover mysteries about her family's history. Through this journey, she learns about females from her family and the community who held influential positions in their small rural village. Through the ups and downs and despite the power of the patriarchy, the women support each other even when times are grim and they are constrained by social dictates.
Connecting to current times, the book also covers issues related to women's reproductive rights, the autonomy they had and did not have over their bodies, and how family planning (or lack thereof) impacted their relationships, independence, and mental health.
I flew through this book and highly recommend it. It's great for seasoned readers and casual readers alike!
Bad Mormon by Heather Gay
Sometimes I need something light and easy, and this audiobook did the trick. Gay may not feel like it's a light and fluffy book. She dives deep into the emotional roller coaster of being a member of a prescriptive Mormon church, how that constrained her, and how she escaped a religious culture that felt very suffocating to her.
Someone experiencing a similar situation to her may find this to be an emotional book to read. I don't have strong ties to religion, nor do I feel like my community upholds uncomfortable boundaries for me. It felt more like being on the outside and looking in for me.
It was a solid book but not something I'd put on my list of top books I agree to recommend or books I'd buy as gifts for friends and family.
Print Version | Audiobook (I listed on Spotify Premium)
Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins
I listened to this book on Spotify. The audiobook is included for free with my Spotify Premium account. It's a quick read, and the author offers an interesting perspective on managing money as we move through life.
He argues in the book that we should all aim to die with no money. Instead of waiting until we die to give away all of our money, we should either spend it to enhance our life experiences or give it away earlier to children, charities, or other people and organizations we choose to support. Those people and entities benefit more from our money now than if we wait to pass it along until we die.
It's a way of thinking about accumulating, spending, and sharing assets that I've never considered before and was very eye-opening. I think it's a great read for anyone with even a bit of excess wealth or disposable income they plan to hold until their death. This might make you rethink your financial legacy planning.
The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time by David Sloan Wilson
Whew. This book was a lot and definitely written by a scientist. It wasn't textbook dense, but I found myself rereading certain parts and doing outside research to gather appropriate background information to understand the author’s arguments.
The author, an evolutionary biologist, proposes incorporating evolutionary thinking and theory into all of our social sciences, from psychology and sociology to economics. Principles like 1) variation-and-selection processes and 2) the idea that instituting change often requires many small steps and iterations can help us better understand and enhance everyday lives and how we study humanity. We can't always jump from point A to point b without intermediate transitions, much like a species evolves through small changes over time based on trial and error.
Evolution also incorporates the theory that living things operate, mutate, and evolve for certain reasons. Those reasons aren't always logical or rational but serve some purpose unique to the environment and circumstances.
This book warrants a full review to do it justice. If you enjoy getting into nitty-gritty scientific and social theories about human behavior, this book might be up your alley. For a casual reader, it's probably a little dense and academic.
Print Version (I bought mine used from Better World Books)
The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand
After seeing what else I read in May, you probably understand why I picked this book up next. I needed an easy breezy read after several books that required note-taking, reflection, and sometimes even a bit of research to digest.
In this novel, the main character loses her husband and becomes a single mom. With all the emotional weight, she brings together four friends, her best friend from each period of her life, to host an Instagram-worthy, gloriously-planned weekend at her summer home in Nantucket. The five women meet up for a five-star weekend and the reader enjoys drama, emotions, and camaraderie among this select group of women.
next up for summer reading
Now it's on to a full pallet of Summer Reading. I expect my book selections will be a little lighter with my boys often in the background asking me to make them breakfast, take them to the pool, and generally facilitate their glorious summer.
What's on your reading list for the next few months? I'd love to hear your recommendations. And if you've read any of the books above, tell me what you think in the comments. I love talking about books and can't wait to hear from you.
Check out my full reading history on The Storygraph, a reading tracker I love (and a great alternative to Goodreads, which is owned by Amazon. Blah.)
** Links to books are affiliate links through Bookshop and Libro.fm. They have no impact on your purchase price. Thanks for supporting my work!
So glad you read the Barbara Walter's book! Susan Page is SUCH a treasure! We loved her biographies of Barbara Bush and Nancy Pelosi too!