15 Books We're Reading For Personal and Professional Pleasure In 2020
As we step into 2020, our team is reflecting on the 15 books (and blogs) that got us through 2019. If you’re looking for something to read this year that’ll provide you a little space from the 24/7 trash fire erupting on our social media timelines, you’ve come to the right place. Below is a collection of books that taught us something new, brought us joy, pushed us to think deeper or encouraged us to try again. Enjoy!
Here Are 15 Books and Things We’re Reading Again in 2020:
1.) Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino
As a collection of essays analyzing modern-day social justice and social media consumption, Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror is a provocative and self-reflective read. Each chapter presents a take on the fine lines between social performance and practice, the difficulties of critiquing a culture that consumes critique for capital and the ironies of striving for professional success as a form of feminism. (This book pairs well with a few hours in the tub and time to think.)
2.) Mixed feelings BY NAOMI SHIMADA AND SARAH RAPHAEL
Penned by model and influencer Naomi Shimada and editor Sarah Raphael, Mixed Feelings combines personal essays and interviews in an attempt to explore the nuances of being a human online. Examining influencer culture and social media’s lack of context, the book puts into words the ambivalence many of us share when it comes to sharing digital selves.
3.) Pleasure Activism BY ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN (AMB)
Penned by activist and community organizer Adrienne Maree Brown, Pleasure Activism is a reminder to do the things that make you feel good, unlearn the things that lock you out of pleasure and challenge the systems that attempt to rob us of our joy.
4.) Her Body and Other Parties by carmen marie machado
Horrific, wild and compelling, Her Body and Other Parties is a series of short stories by Carmen Marie Machado, combining queer theory and science fiction to challenge what we know of contemporary literature.
5.) How To Do Nothing by jenny odell
In How To Do Nothing, Jenny O’Dell uses data, storytelling, history and nature to remind us that what we pay attention to grows. In today’s media consumption economy, choosing our focus and paying mind to what matters is a radical act.
6.) Tales of Two Americas, edited by John Freeman
Examining systemic injustice and classist divides, Tales of Two Americas weaves stories from 36 writers to articulate the polarities of America’s perceives cultures, opportunities and histories.
7.) Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown (AMB)
One of our team’s favorites in 2019, this book presents new ways of looking at leadership, healing and collaboration. It also contains helpful self-questioning guides, group exercises and all sorts of flourishes from AMB herself on the beauty of life and making things with other people.
8.) Becoming by Michelle Obama
As a memoir, Becoming provides a compassionate look into Michelle Obama’s experience as an aspiring career-woman, activist and First Lady. The book doubles as both autobiography and guide, roadmapping the values-driven and life-changing decisions that brought the Obamas to the White House.
9.) Anything You Want: 40 Lessons For A New Kind of Entrepreneur by derek sivers
Short and sweet, this book is a one- to two-hour read, compiling some of CD Baby’s former founder and CEO Derek Sivers’ best advice. From self-funding to staffing, Anything You Want contains 40 bite-sized lessons in leadership.
10.) Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
A work of fiction, Homegoing is equal parts inspirational and devastating, following the journey of two half-sisters through eight generations—from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem.
11.) All About Love by bell hooks
What is love? Cultural critic, feminist theorist and writer bell hooks is on a mission to find out.
12.) On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by ocean vuong
An award-winning novel from writer Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a family portrait told through a son’s letter to a mother who cannot read. Exploring America’s relationship to violence, racism and trauma, Vuong examines masculinity, healing, joy and survival.
13.) My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
As humorous as it is murderous, Braithwaite’s debut novel My Sister, The Serial Killer is a fictitious tale of two siblings, navigating life’s expectations, family obligations, dating, marriage and death.
14.) My Year Of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Morbid, grotesque and clever, My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a cutting critique of privilege, addiction and the human desire to be numb to life’s pains and pleasures. Documenting a young woman’s determination to sleep for a year, the author somehow makes the art of doing nothing as scandalous as it is boring.
15.) GAY Mag from medium and roxane gay
Although not a book, Medium’s newest blog-zine, Gay Mag, is edited and curated by Bad Feminist’s Roxane Gay. Featuring emerging and established writers, from personal essays to short fiction, each read is thoughtful and interesting.
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