2021 was another year of growth. Wrestling with deeply entrenched thoughts learned from childhood was difficult. Reading soothed a bit. I am hoping 2022 sojourns into a variety of thoughts will continue to help me heal from past traumas and foster other kinds of growth. Will this be the year I reach that 2-0-0 goal marker I arbitrarily set? Let Foster Tales 1 chart this development.
| Book # | Approximate Date of Completion | Title | Author | Notes | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 103 | 12/26/22 | That Noodle Life | Mike and Stephanie Le | A wonderful cookbook that soothes the soul like when I actually consume carbohydrates. They count wonton as noodles (if ravioli counts, why not?). Category: Nonfiction; Cookbook | N |
| 102 | 12/26/22 | The Polar Express | Chris Van Allsburg | I keep feeling I missed out on not knowing this 1985 "you-got-to- believe-for-Santa-to-be-real" story. I appreciated the Art Deco quality of the illustrations. I don't remember when I stopped hearing the ring of Santa's sleigh bells
Category: Fiction | N |
| The 101 Freeway | 12/25/22 | I Never Thought of It That Way | Mónica Guzmán | We default to SOS: sorting, othering, and silo-ing. Curiosity by asking questions through the lens of concern and minding the gap between priorities of values
Category: Nonfiction; How-to | Y |
| 90+Sunak's Den | 12/22/22 | Project Management for Parents | Hilary Kinney | Some interesting models to define purpose in functioning as a family unit and getting things done
Category: Nonfiction; How-to | N |
| 90+Doctor's Orders | 12/21/22 | Things My Son Needs to Know About the World | Fredrik Backman | Lots of chuckles, a praise to our humanity as we learn how to be loving parents in the current decade. I can only hope to maintain my humility and be at ease with my humanity through this parenting journey
Category: Nonfiction | N |
| 90+Garden Gate | 12/19/22 | Cribsheet | Emily Oster | Appreciated this economist's summaries that were data highlights, but not prescriptive, in how to make parenting decisions.
Category: Nonfiction; Preggo Note-o | N |
| 90+Lucky Seven | 12/13/22 | I Broke My Butt! | Dawn McMillan | I needed this levity after feeling anxious and frustrated
Category: Fiction; Humor | N |
| 90+Tom Mix | 12/11/22 | Reading for Our Lives | Maya Smart | Another Ryan Holiday recommendation. Glad I was smacked with the realization that even though I am extrovert, I may not express myself verbally out loud as much as I do. Baby girl needs to be engaged in conversation to learn the the tonal variations and vowels of language everyday to promote literacy. Cognizance of development milestones and other resources.
Category: Nonfiction; How-to | Y |
| 90+Man Alive | 12/11/22 | I Need a New Butt | Dawn McMillan | Ryan Holiday brought to my attention that this book is trying to get banned in Texas. Had to see what's so offensive. It's just a silly book. Onto the next one in the series.
Category: Fiction; Humor | N |
| 90+Knock at the Door | 12/11/22 | SLIPSTREAM TIME HACKING HOW TO CHEAT TIME, LIVE MORE, AND ENHANCE HAPPINESS | Benjamin Hardy | Enter a wormhole of time where time almost seems to come to a stop and you feel alive every moment by entering into collaborative alliances, take on high-gain risks, deciding towards your wheelhouse (while delegating other tasks that would make time appear slow because you are mired in details that do not elevate your true potential), contribute to dematerializing and democratizing access to knowledge, and, most importantly, act.
Category: Nonfiction; How-to; Self-Help Fluff | N |
| 90+Cup of Tea | 12/8/22 | How to Tell Stories to Children | Silke Rose West and Joseph Aarosy | Surprising. Stories are about looping in familiar objects, places, and situations to create intimacy.
Category: Nonfiction; How-to | N |
| 90+One Little Duck | 12/5/22 | Arrival Stories | Various Authors | Appreciate Amy Schumer and Christy Turlington Burns for this collection of rarely told first-hand accounts of motherhood from women across different professions.
Category: Nonfiction; Preggo Note-o | N |
| 90+Kelly's Eye | 11/30/22 | Collectibles 101: McDonald's Happy Meal Toys | Joyce and Terry Losonsky | Compiled in 1999, a great trip down Memory Lane on the toys I've cherished and those I pined for. A nice touch of including some toys from around the world
Category: Nonfiction; Purty Picture | N |
| Top of the shop / end of the line / as far as we go | 11/28/22 | Mama You Got This | Emma Bunton | Leave it to a Spice Girl (appropriately, Baby Spice) to help narrate the possible challenges in life. I'm surprised by the nuggets of another celebrity mama book.
Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction; Preggo Note-o | N |
| Nearly There | 11/27/22 | 12 Notes on Life and Creativity | Quincy Jones | I love the presentation and storytelling behind the lessons. He truly knows how to connect with people. I think I want to recommend this book to future mentees. The lessons:
Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | N |
| Two Fat Ladies | 11/26/22 | Vietnamerica | GB Tran | A bold graphic style to depict the harsh journey to America during the Vietnam War and everything the family had to leave behind to survive Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction; Graphic Novel | N |
| Torquay in Devon | 11/26/22 | Pregnancy All-in-One for Dummies | Various Authors | A brilliant crash course that helps me overcome my usual squeamish reaction to the reproductive parts of the body Category: Nonfiction; Preggo Note-o | N |
| Between the Sticks | 11/26/22 | Eat This, Not That When You’re Expecting | Dr. Jennifer Ashton and David Zinczenko | Oh, Shredded Wheat and Wheat Chex. Surprised I've come to like the Thomas Light Multigrain English Muffin with peanut butter and banana Category: Nonfiction; Preggo Note-o | N |
| Staying Alive | 11/24/22 | Finding Calm for the Expectant Mom | Dr. Alice D. Domar and Sheila Curry Oakes | Suckered in by the quizzes in each chapter to gauge where you need to focus your attention on improving. Appreciated the appendix of self-care techniques and other resources Category: Nonfiction; Preggo Note-o | N |
| Seven Dozen | 11/24/22 | The Mindful Way Through Pregnancy | Susan Piver | The best part of the book was the journal prompt about values to impart on the child. Everything else felt like a rehash of other mindfulness curiosities I've tried to absorb Category: Nonfiction; Preggo Note-o | N |
| Time for Tea | 11/24/22 | Baby Bumps | Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi | OK, guilty pleasure read. Some practical tidbits about pregnancy. Category: Nonfiction; Memoir/Autobiography; Preggo Note-o | N |
| Straight on Through | 11/22/22 | Speak | Tunde Oyeneyin | Surrender. Power. Empathy. Authenticity. Knowledge. Love this native Nigerian Houstonian's energy in expressing your true self and finding ways to live in, on, and with purpose. I love her articulation in the discomforts of our current reality (after pain is growth) to nudge towards better understanding. If Black Lives don't matter, there is no All. The beauty of uncertainty is infinite possibility. Category: Nonfiction; Memoir/Autobiography | N |
| Stop and Run | 11/15/22 | The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother | Amy Chua | Wow, what a struggle to raise confident, excellent humans. I don't know how I feel about the "Chinese way." Category: Nonfiction; Memoir/Autobiography; Preggo Note-o | N |
| Ghandi's Breakfast | 11/9/22 | Spellbound | Bishakh Som | Distinct drawing style and handwritten captions that demonstrate the swirls of identity, family expectations, finding a meaningful existence for yourself Category: Nonfiction; Graphic Novel; Memoir/Autobiography | N |
| One More Time | 11/9/22 | Ready Player Two | Ernest Cline | Morris Day and the Time! Category: Fiction; Book Club | Y |
| 39 Steps Again | 11/6/22 | Listen to the Squawking Chicken | Elaine Lui | Oh, the mirthful laughter from witnessing Chinese women exhibiting these behaviors! I devoured this semi-biographical look at how a kid of Hong Kong immigrants (in Canada) straddles North American norms and dumb filial pretty piety. My mom is not a carbon copy of this mythical person, but I can see so many similarities Category: Nonfiction; Memoir/Autobiography; Biography | N |
| Sunset Strip | 11/3/22 | Be a Triangle | Lilly Singh | The Universe was speaking to me to borrow and read that book in one evening. Building a strong foundation to return to requires a relationship with yourself, a relationship with the universe, understanding distractions (shedding what doesn't serve you), and implementing design (find your own energizing solution, love, and peace instead of a societal template that may not fit) Category: Nonfiction | N |
| Trombones | 10/29/22 | My Life Growing Up Asian in America | Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment | I appreciate the collection of essays (especially those that identify partially with non-Asian heritages) to hopefully pass on to my future children to help them feel reassured of their identities and establishing their place in America. It was reassuring to read the words, "just be you and your identity will shine through" Category: Nonfiction | N |
| Strive and Strive | 10/16/22 | The New Rules of Pregnancy | Adrienne L. Simone and Danielle Claro | Helpful in building the to-do checklist Category: Nonfiction | N |
| Hit the Floor | 10/16/22 | A Little Closer to Home: How I Found Calm After the Storm | Ginger Zee | A very triggering read to understand that acting out/being risky is sometimes an extreme means to feel like you have a sense of control. Healing from reproductive trauma includes confronting the sad truth that it is still a taboo topic and you're shunned by a large population Category: Nonfiction; Memoir/Autobiography | N |
| Queen Bee | 10/15/22 | Our Stories Carried Us Here: Belonging in America and Mexico | Daniel Zuniga Gonzalez | A familiar uneasy feeling of not really belonging amongst people with the same cultural heritage. Glad immigrant stories like this are being told Category: Nonfiction; Graphic Novel | N |
| Six Dozen | 10/9/22 | What Are You Going Through | Sigrid Nunez | People gaslighting the complexities of living and dying. I felt uneasy at the end of the book Category: Fiction | Y |
| Bang on the Drum | 10/1/22 | Trejo | Danny Trejo | Made me nostalgic about LA. Warms the heart how Trejo's soul grew with love and resolve to help addicts Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | Y |
| Three Score and Ten | 9/24/22 | Act Like You've Got Some Sense | Jamie Foxx | A love letter to his maternal pillar of strength and how it informed him on how to raise strong, independent children Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | N |
| Any Way Up | 9/17/22 | I'd Like to Play Alone, Please | Tom Segura | Amusing company in a road trip. Apparently, it's mostly stories rehashed from the podcast Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | Y |
| Pick a Mate | 9/10/22 | What's So Funny | David Sipress | At the end of the day, it's your ability to laugh at yourself and express it in your unique medium that gets you through this messy life Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | N |
| Stairway to Heaven | 9/8/22 | All About Me | Mel Brooks | Didn't realize how many movies he produced. Truly a prolific contributor to American culture Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | N |
| Clickety Click | 9/8/22 | A Modern Parents' Guide to Nursery Rhymes | Jennifer Griffin | Appreciate the Spanish verses. The origin sidebars and hand accompanying hand motions kept me enthralled Category: How-to; Nonfiction | N |
| Old Age Pension | 9/4/22 | How to American | Jimmy O. Yang | Being a Californian and UCSD alumnus, I was thoroughly amused and can relate. A joy to read Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | N |
| Red Raw | 9/2/22 | Little Fires Everywhere | Celeste Ng | The twists and turns and numerous back stories... no wonder it created enough fodder for a Hulu series. It hit me hard again with themes of motherhood. Category: Fiction | Y |
| Tickle Me | 8/31/22 | Vogue Essentials: Little Black Dress | Chloe Fox | The LBD is timeless because it is a not-so-bold canvas of possibilities for the accessories (hats, gloves, handbags, jewelry, belts, shoes) and accentuates the mood of the wearer (practical, transitional, vamp, so forth) Category: Purty Picture | N |
| Turn the screw / Tickety-boo | 8/31/22 | Another Day | David Leviathan | Not quite the closure I wanted from the storyline. Of course there is another book in the works Category: Fiction | N |
| Bakers Bun | 8/8/22 | Every Day | David Leviathan | A recommendation from a Book Club buddy. There are curious similarities with The Midnight Library that make you question how fleeting/permanent a storyline in your life takes hold and how the people and their identity and their love in those stories can truly alter the course of that lifeline. Looking forward to reading the companion book, Another Day, to get Rhiannon's perspective of how those same events unfolded. Category: Fiction | N |
| Blind 60, Five Dozen, Grandma’s Getting Frisky | 7/30/22 | Finding Your Unicorn Space | Eve Rodsky | Curiosity. Connection. Completion. Category: Nonfiction | N |
| Brighton Line | 7/24/22 | The Midnight Library | Matt Haig | Through all the parallel universes, the constant: Love gives you potential to live. Be a volcano. Fertile soil after the chaos to build new landscapes. Category: Fiction; Book Club | N |
| Make Them Wait, Choo Choo Thomas | 7/12/22 | The Nineties | Chuck Klosterman | Wow, my recollection of the '90s as a child is nothing close to this. A fascinating read through an adult prism. Friends is a white-washed version of Living Single! Category: Nonfiction | N |
| Heinz Varieties | 7/6/22 | Move | Caroline Williams | Yes, 120 steps per minute moving forward with a springy walk that challenges your balance to boost the brain. Regulate stress by activating your core. Category: Movement; Nonfiction | N |
| Shotts Bus, Was She Worth It | 7/4/22 | The Awesome Human Project | Nataly Kogan | Acceptance, gratitude, self- care, intentional kindness, and why. I've been exposed to these thoughts before, but Kogan expressed them in a way that caught my attention Category: Self-Help Fluff; Nonfiction | N |
| Snakes Alive | 6/29/22 | The Giant Book of Tiny Homes | John Rina | Modular 200+ sq. ft. offerings look purty on paper, but I am still skeptical if I would enjoy tiny home living. It's a romantic notion to have the capability to tow a tiny home anywhere I go, but I have a difficult time with not laying down roots and finding security in a wide open space that I can nest in and walk around that serves a specific living function Category: Purty Picture; Nonfiction | N |
| Clean the Floor | 6/28/22 | You Can't Be Serious | Kal Penn | Footnote humor always gets me rollicking. I haven't seen too many of his movies, but I appreciate his candor and exploration of his Indian identity in Hollywood Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Humor; Nonfiction | N |
| Stuck in the Tree, The Welsh Div | 6/25/22 | Style Comfort Home | Andrew Howard | Don't use the same window treatments on windows at opposite walls. Hang curtains either way up high or right at the window for vertical sorcery to make ceilings look higher. Wallpaper on ceilings, hmmm. Category: Purty Picture; Nonfiction | N |
| Weeks of the Year, The Lowland Div, Deck of Cards | 6/25/22 | Making Space for Women: Stories from Trailblazing Women of NASA's Johnson Space Center | Jennifer M. Ross-Nazzal | Joy made this book come alive for me with the WELL Book Club discussions. So many cultural subtexts about women's role to explore in this collection Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Biography; Aerospace; Uplifting Women; (WELL) Book Club; Nonfiction | N |
| Tweak of the Thumb, The Highland Div | 6/24/22 | Open Skies: My Life as Afghanistan's First Female Pilot | Niloofar Rahmani | It takes a community, dreams, confidence, and trust (in yourself, especially) to find a path to service and freedom Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Biography; Aerospace; Uplifting Women; Nonfiction | N |
| Blind 50, Half a Century, It’s a Bullseye | 6/24/22 | American Born Chinese | Greene Luen Yang | A young adult look at what seemed like 3 unrelated stories of the Monkey King, an American caricature of Chinese, and a young Chinese-American boy who pines for that White girl and wishes he wasn't the embodiment of a submissive Asian nobody, but wraps up nicely meeting all 3 threads Category: Graphic Novel; Fiction | N |
| Rise and Shine, PC 49, Copper, Nick-Nick | 6/21/22 | Love Me As I Am | Garcelle Beauvais | We share a birthday and what she shared resonated with my spirit Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Uplifting Women; Nonfiction | Y |
| Four Dozen | 6/20/22 | Permission to Come Home | Jenny Wang | A healing book that provides a lot of prompts to inform the journey in feeling safe, you belong, expressing authenticity, and getting unconditional compassion as an Asian American. The mental health book I needed as I'm searching for a house to make it a home for my future multicultural child(ren) Category:Self-Help Fluff; Nonfiction | N |
| Four and Seven | 6/18/22 | All You Can Ever Know | Nicole Chung | Although I cannot fully understand the complexities of being adopted, her story resonated with me about feeling out of place while seeking commonality with others of the same ethnicity (but harboring doubt and shame about being a family secret because of the fear of losing face) Category:Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | N |
| Up to Tricks | 6/13/22 | Move More at Your Desk | Kerrie-Anne Bradley | Yay, recommended routines to move throughout the day! Category: Nonfiction; Movement | N |
| Halfway There, Cowboy’s Friend | 6/13/22 | New Waves | Kevin Nguyen | Asian and 90s cultural references in this surprising novel that kept me intrigued about human and technical relationships Category:Fiction | N |
| All the Fours, Droopy Drawers | 6/12/22 | Secrets of the Sprakkar | Eliza Reid | Heart-warming and confidence-boosting to read about extraordinary women. This was a love letter about the cultural embrace of working towards parity or at least respect for women in Iceland because women collectively takes action to uphold, "I dared, I can, I will." Category:Uplifting Women; Nonfiction | N |
| Winnie the Pooh, The Street in Manhattan AND Down on your Knee | 6/12/22 | Radical Compassion | Tara Brach | It took reading the print to fully absorb and appreciate the practice of RAIN: recognizing, allowing, investigating, nurturing, and fully inhabiting that nurture and experience. Category: Nonfiction; Self-Help Fluff | Both audio (first time) and print |
| Time for Fun, Life’s Begun | 6/11/22 | The New Corner Office | Laura Vanderkam | Didn't inspire new thoughts on remote work. Reinforced working by task, maintaining relationships, reconsidering the necessity of meetings, giving time to let solutions marinate Category: Self-Help Fluff; Nonfiction | Y |
| Blind Forty, Naughty Forty, Life Begins, Two Scores | 6/10/22 | The Way Forward | Robert O'Neill and Dakota Meyer | I can't begin to understand the grit and perseverance cultivated from a military mindset out of humble upbringings in Montana and a Kentucky. Some lessons learned to borrow:
Category: Nonfiction; Self-Help Fluff | Y |
| Steps, Jack Benny | 6/4/22 | The Reading List | Sara Nisha Adams | Wow, a 12- hour audio adventure into tenderness. Another list of books to read:
Category: Book Club; Fiction | Y |
| Christmas Cake | 5/28/22 | The Sunny Nihilist | Wendy Syfret | I can see the merits if not embracing meaning. With no (future) meaning assigned, we are uninhibited to explore the present and make more concerted efforts now Category: Nonfiction | N |
| More Than Eleven | 5/22/22 | Fiona and Jane | Jean Chen Ho | Too dramatic for my sensibilities. Too much of a caricature of my experience as an Asian American in the greater LA area. Getting closer to finding a story that resonates with my journey of finding comfort and understanding in my Asian American identity Category: Fiction | N |
| Three Dozen | 5/20/22 | Where Am I Now? | Mara Wilson | I recognized her from Mrs. Doubtfire. I was curious about her Southern California upbringing. I didn't think about her Jewish identity, her relationship with other cast members (I didn't watch Matilda so didn't know Danny DeVito was there for her when her mother was battling cancer), her struggle with keeping appearances while delving into a storytelling career, her journey with OCD, choir aspirations. A good reminder that all humans have multifaceted identities that do not necessarily surface to the public, but are eagerly waiting to be recognized Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | Y |
| Jump and Jive | 5/18/22 | Gordo | Jaime Cortez | These feel like caricatures of people in the home neighborhood. However, they're in Northern California so I guess there are commonalities in the Chicano experience across this elongated state? The familiarity of these stories are a bit comforting. Category: Fiction | N |
| Ask for More | 5/18/22 | Beautiful Country | Qian Julie Wang | Her love of the public library and The Puzzle Place resonates with my idea of childhood safety, refuge, and peace. I may not have had her exact experience as a child of a Chinese immigrant family, but her proximity in age, cultural struggles of fitting in, and anxiety of existence hit too close to home. It was uncomfortable, but at the same time reassuring that I can relate. Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | N |
| Blind Thirty, All the Threes, Three Feathers, Gertie Lee, Dirty Knee, ‘Sherwood Forest’, Two Little Fleas | 5/15/22 | Own Your Morning | Liz Baker Plosser | I've seen the title in Women's Health for years. I'm glad to finally absorb motivation to solidify my morning routine for more impactful days Category:Self-Help Fluff; Nonfiction | N |
| Buckle My Shoe | 5/15/22 | Illogical | Emmanuel Acho | Acho has a gift of storytelling that draws you in to consider an unpopular mindset: embracing unconventional faith to advance an objectives and not limiting yourself to a goal. Another example of benefitting from having a varied background (NFL and media) to advance as leader, facilitator, and advocate for something greater in this life Category: Self-Help Fluff; Nonfiction | N |
| Get up and Run | 5/15/22 | The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down | Haemin Sunim | I can see why folks gravitate towards his teachings. He is open to other faiths and draws on the universal wisdom to pause and turn inwards to draw strength in finding joy of service and connection to others. Category: Self-HelpFluff; Nonfiction | N |
| Blind 30, Dirty Gertie, Burlington Bertie, Speed Limit | 5/9/22 | Love for Imperfect Things | Haemin Sunim | Buddhist teachings to help with self-compassion. Feel those feelings, sit with the discomfort, give the love that you need to carry on. This thoughts and feelings are not you Category: Self-Help Fluff; Nonfiction | N |
| Rise and Shine | 4/30/22 | Wolfpack | Abby Wambach | A good expansion on her 2018 Barnard Commencement Speech. This feels like an extension of the feminine power masterclasses I've been taking, but endorsed by a famous athletic leader. The rules: 1) Create your own path 2) Be grateful for what you have and acknowledge what you deserve 3) Lead from where you are 4) Failure means you're finally in the game 5) Be for each other 6) Believe in yourself and demand the ball 7) Lead with humanity. Cultivate leaders 8) You're not alone, you've got your pack Category: Self-Help Fluff; Nonfiction | Y |
| Over Weight, The Old Braggs, In a State | 4/30/22 | Voice Power | Renee Grant-Williams | It's all about the passive breathing (taut like a turkey baster, breathe out first from below the navel) and focusing on consonants. Category: Nonfiction | Y |
| Gateway to Heaven, Duck and a Crutch | 4/24/22 | Stop Avoiding Stuff | Matthew Boone | Avoidance is not laziness. It is fear of the emotions you cannot control if you move forward with that daunting action. I appreciate these microsteps summarize the self- love and self-compassion practices that can help me move forward towards the values that I want to fully express and feel aligned Category: Self-Help Fluff; Nonfiction | N |
| Pick ‘n Mix, Half a Crown, Bed and Breakfast | 4/24/22 | Year of Yes | Shonda Rhimes | If an introvert can find more enrichment and perspective on deciding "yes" to the things that scare you, imagine how it would twirl an extrovert's life experience. I appreciate her brand of humor (even though I haven't seen Grey's Anatomy or the other primetime hits). Her Darmouth commencement speech made me smile about doing more than dreaming. Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Uplifting Women; Nonfiction | Y |
| Duck and Dive | 4/16/22 | Change Enthusiasm | Cassandra Worthy | Ms. Worthy was relatable at the 2021 Texas Conference for Women. I'm glad I read the book. To lean on the signal emotions (fear, anxiety, frustration, anger, and grief) and use it as fuel to embrace the opportunity to identify needs to rise through the discomfort Category: Nonfiction | N |
| Two Dozen, Pompey's Ladies of the Night | 4/16/22 | Land of Big Numbers | Te-Ping Cheng | Familiar and sad short stories of complacency with a gnawing need to change, but things fizzle out at the end. Something cultural about being young, Chinese, and navigating Western culture? Category: Fiction | Y |
| Thee and Me, The Lord Is My Shepherd, A Duck With a Flea | 4/16/22 | No Hard Feelings | Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy | Emotional tendencies assessments to further explore. Appreciated Liz's illustrations. Enamored with knowing that Mollie works for IDEO. Best takeaway: hone in on the emotional granularity so you can communicate needs and respond more productively. I can harness my over-emoting tendencies. More to learn. They have a new book, Big Feelings, releasing in a week. Probably a timely read for the upheaval changes happening this year. Category: Self-Help Fluff; Leadership; Nonfiction | N |
| All the Twos, Two Little Ducks, PC Parker, Dinkie Doo | 4/11/22 | Will | Will Smith | I can empathize with the obsession to throw yourself into work and having difficulty slowing down and being by your lonesome. An ouch listen. Towards the end of the 16 hour audio journey, I felt emotionally drained. Hearing about not leaning into others' feelings hurt. Category: Autobiography; Nonfiction | Y |
| Key to the Door, Royal Salute | 4/5/22 | Effortless | Greg McKeown | McKeown is chipping away at that thought pattern that is not serving me. Reminding me of other conversations and thought sharing of moving towards the flow of meaning and enrichment. Now I'm eager to read about his thoughts on being an essentialist. Category: Nonfiction | N |
| Blind 20, One Score | 4/5/22 | Emotional Agility | Susan David | Eerie how the book and quiz reinforces the messages I have not been actively practicing, but recognize the need to: self compassion, small tweaks, encouraging emotional recognition and encouraging the behavior triggered by the emotion Category: Nonfiction | N |
| Goodbye Teens | 4/3/22 | Minor Feelings | Cathy Park Hong | Yep, articulated many of my internal dialogues as an Asian American woman. What pain. What learning from women that struggled before me Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Biography; Nonfiction | Y |
| Coming of Age | 4/2/22 | Ghost Agents | Nita DeBorde | Because a Houstonian author used Galveston s a backdrop to this mystery, sci fi, romance adventure, I was hooked. Category: Book Club; Fiction | N |
| Old Ireland | 3/20/22 | Paper Son | Julie Leung | Glad there is a picture book about Tyrus Wong and how he was a paper son and freely expressed art through any accessible means. Painting the struggles of an immigrant who made a mark on American culture using Chinese Song dynasty techniques in Disney's Bambi and didn't get the recognition, but still kept true to his calling to express art. He lived to 106! Category: Purty Picture; Nonfiction | N |
| Sweet Sixteen Never Been Kissed | 3/20/22 | My Age of Anxiety | Scott Stossel | Another timely book. Anxiety is not bad (it's nature, nurture, co-morbid), it's just how one transforms that energy. Resilience is marked by optimism, altruism, moral compass, faith and spirituality, humor, having a role model, social support, facing fear, having meaning in life, and meeting and facing challenges Category: Nonfiction | N |
| Young and Keen | 3/18/22 | What Alice Forgot | Liane Moriarty | Temporary amnesia thinking you're back in 1998. The challenges of motherhood and maintaining relationships. Wow, it seemed like the right time to read this book. Category: Fiction; Book Club | N |
| Valentine's Day, Lawnmower | 3/14/22 | Obviously | Akilah Hughes | I appreciate her 90s references and I think I'd have a ball with her. She enjoys the karaoke and curation of content. Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | Y |
| Baker's Dozen | 3/10/22 | The Efficiency Paradox | Edward Tenner | Creative endeavors need some inefficiency at the beginning. Technology can complement the human inefficiencies, not replace them. Category: Nonfiction | Y |
| Twelve Eggs in a Carton | 2/8/22 | Heather Has Two Mommies | Lesléa Newman | A 1989 picture book that is banned. It's benign yet beautiful to me to depict that families come in all sizes and complements. Happy to see a grandparent being considered family Category: Fiction | N |
| Eleven Elves Looking for a Twelfth | 2/1/22 | Forgetting | Scott A. Small | Not getting bogged down by the details so you can creatively generalize. Generalize helps you integrate. Sleep helps you forget Category: Nonfiction | N |
| Ten 10 Three 4 Five | 2/1/22 | Panoramas and Vertical Vistas | Mário Linhares | A beautiful collection of tips for capturing perspectives in all directions. I enjoy that the pages fold out to demonstrate the approach of building out the horizons and the vertigo-inducing vantages Category: Purty Picture; Nonfiction | N |
| Cloud Nine | 1/30/22 | The Art of Noticing | Rob Walker | Engage more senses outside of the usual 5. Proprioception! More time within the frame of what you are sensing. Try to sense your environment without analogies - just list what is there or the absence of it to inform (e.g. lack of noise equates to suburbia or the still of night) Category: Nonfiction | Y |
| Lucky for Chinese, Eight | 1/28/22 | Be a Work in Progress | John Cena | His positivity emanates. It's no wonder that people respect his industry and care. His nuggets of wisdom resonated with my chaotic brain amidst this move: Replace the words deserve(d) and owe(d) with earn(ed).
Allow joy without condition into your life. Hard work and persistence are needed for success, but so are rest and recovery. Category: Nonfiction; Self-Help Fluff | N |
| Lucky for some, Seven | 1/16/22 | You're Not Listening | Kate Murphy | A timely read, a nudge to be secure with uncertainty and myself so I can be receptive to listening to others' invitation to their consciousness Category: Nonfiction | N |
| Fix with Six | 1/15/22 | The Biggest Bluff | Maria Konnikova | I did not pay attention to the poker game play, but I appreciated the tale of jazz discipline to build skills of flexing with the environment, not acquiescing to behaviors that are ruled by chance, and the reminder to rejuvenate in between the learning Category: Nonfiction | Y |
| Sink with Cinco | 1/14/22 | The Union of Synchronized Swimmers | Cristina Sandu | The vignettes of these Eastern Bloc ladies trying to find their ways of life after competing in swimming bothered me. Don't know if I comprehend the nuances of these verbal assaults with men Category: Fiction | N |
| Quattro Cheese Pizza | 1/8/22 | You Look So Much Better in Person | Al Roker | Love the Altruisms. Dance with humor and opportunity Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | N |
| Charlie's Trio | 1/7/22 | Big Friendship | Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman | Haven't listened to their podcast before. Shine theory - investing resources in each other so we can all shine. Friendship takes work (rituals, assurances, and openness), with towards resilience, not perfection. Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | N |
| Two hearts | 1/2/22 | Greenlights | Matthew McConaughey | Don't half-ass it. Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Nonfiction | Y |
| 1, not done | 1/1/22 | Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos, and Me | Lorina Mapa | 80s nostalgia mixed with a historical overview of Filipino politics and one woman's revolution into finding her own groove. A good way to start the reading habit for 2022 Category: Memoir/Autobiography; Graphic Novel; Nonfiction | N |
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