Een leeslijst van Ă©Ă©n mens is mijn algoritme voor ‘wat wordt het volgende boek?’
You Belong by Sebene Selassie (This might be my fave book of the year; it’s a tie between it and Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.)
Radical Belonging by Lindo Bacon (SO GOOD)
Unapologetic Eating by Alissa Rumsey (I had an advance copy; it comes out in February; it’s TERRIFIC. I highly recommend pre-ordering it)
We Will Not Cancel Us by adrienne maree brown
Conflict is Not Abuse by Sarah Schulman (re-read it; one of my fave biz books and it’s not even a biz book. This book got me through a personal hell a few years ago. I think it’s noteworthy that adrienne maree brown cites it in her book We Will Not Cancel Us.)
What You Do is Who You Are by Ben Horowitz. (I LOVED THIS BOOK. Earlier this year, I wrote that I was frustrated by Simon Sinek’s book Leaders Eat Last because I think he has a privilege bias. He writes anecdotally about the leadership and courage showed by mothers, for example, but only formalizes those specific tactics into a thesis when he can attribute them to a Marine Corp General. Horowitz’s book is the opposite of that — and the antidote. In particular, he profiles the extraordinary leadership practices of Toussaint Louverture, who led the revolt against slavery in Haiti — and shows us how to apply those lessons to our entrepreneurship and organizational stewardship.)
What Can a Body Do? by Sara Hendren
Ruined by Design by Mike Monteiro
Zucked by Roger McNamee
The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone by Brian Merchant
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
Disrupt-Her by Mikki Agarawal (couldn’t finish it. In fact, I couldn’t even force myself to read past the first chapter.)
Essential Essays by Adrienne Rich (h/t Dr. Kimberley B. George for putting it in my field of view)
Community Organizing by Joyce McKnight and Joanna McKnight Plumber
Capital by Thomas Piketty (honestly, I just skimmed it and looked at the graphs)
Option BÂ by Sheryl Sandberg
Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks (I re-read this one every couple of years. Essential.)
Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam
Newsjacking by David Meerman Scott
Zora and Langston by Yuval Taylor (I read biographies and correspondences of friendships between cultural luminaries to learn how they helped each other rise — and, in some cases, tore each other down. Trashing and “cancel culture” is not new.)
The Feminist Memoir Project edited by Rachel Blau DuPlessis and Ann Snitow (I read this at the same times I was reading Betty Friedan’s memoir, below. Again: trying to learn from the lived experiences of the luminaries who went before us.)
It Changed My Life by Betty Friedan (I went into this one with a chip on my shoulder about Second Wave Feminism in general and Friedan in particular — and came out with a way better understanding of the explicit politicking and huge gains and sacrifices that were made. Friedan was an expert organizer and politicker. Respect. And again: trashing, horizontal violence, professional jealousy and cancel culture are NOT new; and Friedan did not exactly abstain, to say the least.)
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis (I read Hollis’ books as research and a case example of The Female Lifestyle Empowerment Brand. Still, I have to admit that even though I am profoundly exasperated with her obliviousness to white privilege, fat phobia and sructural oppression, I think the structure and voice of Hollis’ first book, Girl Wash Your Face, is stellar. She also fought her publisher and threatened to sue them if they deleted chapter about love and gay rights. So, respect. But this second book? I couldn’t get through it.)
Didn’t See That Coming by Rachel Hollis (I was researching, stop judging me.)
Reclaiming Our Space by Feminista Jones. (If you want to know how to do social media for self-promotion, culture-making and movement-making, watch Feminista Jones. She IS a master class.)
I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Wasn’t) by Brene Brown. (I hadn’t read this older book. I wish I had, way earlier. It’s way more explicitly grounded in social and structural context than her later books. In my groups, I teach people that when you “toggle out” and see the big social picture, your shame dissolves. Having a structural analysis releases you from shame that’s not yours to carry, and frees you to do what you need to do, on your terms. In this book, Brown calls that having “a critical consciousness” and stresses how important it is to getting free of shame.
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown. (I mean, I’d read the phone book if Brene Brown wrote it.)
Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
Untamed by Glennon Doyle. (This book put food on the tables of independent and feminist-owned bookstores during a pandemic. RESPECT.)
Resilience: The Life Saving Art of Story by Michelle Auerbach
PHD by Published Work by Susan Smith (this is A Thing!!!!!!!)
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Right Wing Women by Andrea Dworkin
The Audacity to Be Queen by Gina DeVee (couldn’t finish it. My time was better spend writing this blog post, ‘Nope, Queen is Not A Feminist Business Model’.)
Patriarchy Stress Disorder by Valerie Rein
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Decolonize First by Ta7talĂya Michelle Nahanee
Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse
We’re Still Right and They’re Still Wrong by James Carville
Buck Up, Suck Up, . . . and Come Back When You Foul Up: 12 Winning Secrets from the War Room by James Carville
Culture Warlords by Talia Levin
You Were Born for This by Chani Nicholas. (Strangely, my copy has gone missing. Coincidentally, my 14 year old is explaining planetary conjunctions to me and needs to know everyone’s time of birth.)
Accounting for Slavery by Caitlin Rosenthal
The Art of Effective Facilitation edited by Lisa M. Landreman
Inviting Transformation by Sonja K. Foss
It’s About Damn Time by Arlan Hamilton
The Feminist Handbook by Joanne Bagshaw
Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers by Sady Doyle
Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky
The Prince by Machiavelli. (I still can’t figure out if it’s a handbook for how to seize power or a map of everything that’s wrong with oppressive societies.)
Anti-Social by Andrew Marantz
Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
Remembered Rapture by bell hooks
Blueprint for Revolution by Srđa Popović (<—–If you want to figure out how to create political change, this is a MUST READ.)
Thick by Tressie Cottom McMillan
Wie is Kelly Diels?
‘I admit, I’m not Generation X or Y. I’m Generation O, for Oprah. Oprah says use your life and I take it to heart.’ – Kelly Diels
[Van deze lijst heb ik Ă©Ă©n boek van A tot Z gelezen, Finite and Infinite Games van James P. Carse. Herinnering aan dat boek: in het leven draait het om het spelen van het oneindige spel, dat geen winnaar kent, geen duidelijke spelregels, waar je geen rol speelt, waarbij het hier en nu is. Ik wil dit spel graag spelen, nu een boek van die lijst lezen, vergeet prompt dat ik dat kan doen, hier onder de boom, dat ik mijn onrust over al het vermeende andere (straks, gisteren, ginds) terzijde kan schuiven. Om nu een boek van die lijst te leze hoef ik niet uit mijn stoel te komen. Naar Caste zou ik kunnen luisteren terwijl ik naar de wolken staar, waar ik vliegtuigen hoor maar niet zie (als een waarschuwing, een roep tussen zilveren vogels). Caste is ‘required reading for all of humanity’ volgens Oprah – al zie ik vanuit mijn ooghoek The warmth of other suns lonken van dezelfde auteur. Ik duw uiteindelijk op de knop voor You belong, een even verre sprong in het onbekende. Met BrenĂ© Brown heb ik Jungiaans schaduwwerk te doen, ik word plaatsvervangend nerveus als ik haar trillende stem hoor, ik hoor twijfel – en juist over Brown is Kelly Diels lyrisch. Oprah daarentegen is mijn heldin: ze verstopt autosleutels onder de stoel van iedereen in het publiek. Haar spirituele hulp is down to earth. Ze verzamelt mensen. Ze voelt niet de behoefte iets ‘wetenschappelijk’ te bewijzen. Geen ‘research shows’. Ze verspreidt joy.]