Tag: reading

My Summer Reading List For 2021

It’s summer and the air is fair. As part of my ongoing effort for this year, I am trying to finish what I already have. Netflix I have made a list and while the list dwindles slowly, it dwindles. I’ve put a hiatus on buying new video games until I’ve finished the old. And my Audible subscription is cancelled until further notice. Lists are becoming my saving grace this year and now is the time to finish the books I’ve received but haven’t read. So without further ado, here’s what I’m reading this summer:

Moonflower Murders –

Everyone loves a good murder mystery and everyone needs a beloved author; this book fills both those role. ‘Moonflower Murders’ is the sequel to Anthony’s Horrowitz’s, ‘Magpie Murders’, a book with a twist and one that I couldn’t put down. Will ‘Moonflower Murders’ offer the same experience? Hard to say but I love Anthony Horrowitz. He wrote the ‘Alex Rider’ series that I read as a teen and the fact that he writes adult novels has been a dream come true. No more sitting on the shelf, I’ll be dusting this book off in the coming months and reading it to my heart’s content.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes –

Hunger Games. The series I binge read in college. I started one book and couldn’t put it down until I had read the entire trilogy. I am a sucker for post-apocalyptic novels and this was no exception. At one point, I was able to figure out the location of every district based on details in the books. Now, I only remember a few. Will ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ offer as many thrills? It’s an enticing offer, having a story regarding Snow. I know so little about the book that it’ll be a treat all on it’s own, one that I will hopefully get to reading before the summer ends.

The Righteous Mind –

A classic written by Jonathan Haidt. My friend gave it to me as a gift and I’m slowly making my way through it page by page. Little to my knowledge, the author actually came up with the term The Rider and the Elephant to describe intuition and rationality, which I had heard many years ago in my Ethics class! As such, this book is beyond awesome for that reason alone as I started applying that concept to my everyday life. I’m a little over 50 pages in at the moment, so here’s hoping to finishing the book before the Oregon Wildfire season consumes my every waking thought!

The Odyssey –

The original, the classic, THE epic poem. It’s time I become cultured and join the upper epsilons of society. Will this lead to reading ‘Dante’s Inferno’? Who knows. But I do know I actually lost my copy of ‘The Odyssey’ but am so determined to read it that I bought a copy on Audible. I’ve had this copy since before the Pandemic, just to give you an idea of where the backlog of books begins.

And that’s it! Four books for three months! I’ll be taking time off in August so I’m hoping to get a lot of reading done this summer. Ideally I want to read at least ten minutes a day to get back into the groove and really sit down to enjoy a good book. All these books I know so little about, so it should make for an exciting summer.

Blink: Worth a Read?

So, I read a lot. I’ve been going through about a book every week or two for the past few months. I’ve had a few favorite authors throughout my lifetime: Steinbeck, Hemmingway, Orwell. And now? Malcolm Gladwell, the author of “Blink” He was recommended to me through a professor of mine and I’ve since read “Tipping point”, “Outliers”, and now “Blink”. All three are wonderful books, so with that, let’s get started.

What’s it about?

“Blink” is an adventure book that delves into the unconscious mind. It explains specifically the question of “trusting our gut”. What I like about Malcolm Gladwell is he uses research to illustrate his points. He will go over case over case until his question is clearly illustrated. He’s analytical without being dry. If you’ve ever wondered why you make the decisions you make and have a “hunch” then this book is for you. As you read further into the book, the bigger picture becomes clearer and clearer. My favorite part was when he went over mind reading towards the end of the book. So if you say mind reading is impossible, you might want to give this book a go.

My Recommendation

Read it! It’s such a fun book. Not only is it fun but it’s a thinking man’s (or woman’s) book. Malcolm Gladwell has yet to disappoint. The writing is quality, the humor good, and the interesting subject material aplenty. So go on, give this book a spin and yell at me if you’re disappointed.

Where to Buy?

I literally do all my shopping on amazon (thank you amazon student), so here’s a link: Blink

Comments?

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