All You Need to Know

I’m usually on a reading streak at the start of the year because of the goodreads challenge and this year, I set myself up for 24 books in the year. Though secretly, I’m feeling competitive with my boss who has a 50 book goal. But that’s insane so I’ll let him win that — it’s not a competition, I know. So, here are some of the things I’ve read thus far.

My friend from college, Anna (who is also my thesis partner and an all around taste maker to me) recommended this to me as something she and her sister Sarah had read. She warned me it would be dense, but worth it. Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés was all that and more. It took me forever and a day to get through it but well worth it. As someone who loves a bit of feminist leaning literature and trying to figure out this self-partnered situation, it was lovely to hear how there’s so much to my inner life that I should be interested in and working on connecting with. Could I explain this book to you? Probably not, but I enjoyed it thoroughly and will probably go back to bits and pieces of it as time goes by.

I first saw this book on Goodreads last year, but the release date kept getting pushed back and finally back in January, Everybody (Else) is Perfect: How I Survived Hypocrisy, Beauty, Clicks, and Likes by Gabrielle Korn was released. Korn was the editor in chief of Nylon for a bit. I used to read Nylon back in the day and though my reading the magazine and her tutelage never overlapped, I’m always curious to read about the print/digital transition and she uses that as a background to her struggles with her self-esteem among other things. I have a soft spot for anything magazine-related so reading about that sort of bygone era was a trip.

Finally, the always reliable Roxanne Gay recommended I Hate Men by Pauline Harmange on her Goodreads that I obsessively stalk for recommendations and at 50 pages or so, this book (can one call it that?) did not disappoint. Making a case for misandry (I promise it’s not as bleak as it sounds, but also, maybe a little), she concisely puts up arguments for it and why we keep apologizing for it (see previous sentence). I was laughing so hard while reading it and could highlight the entire book, because it’s full of lovely nuggets of quotable quotes. You have time for this book. Read it.

What have you read lately that you really enjoyed?