Summer Stack

What are you reading this summer?

I love it – I asked my learners, what they intend to read this summer and the list was very long and varied. What’s on your list? Here’s where my list is starting and I plan to add to it as the summer progresses and you add your suggestions in the comments below this post. Thanks in advance for your help!

• Brown Girl Dreaming – This one’s been on my list for a while so I’m moving it to the top of my pile. Written by poet Jacqueline Woodson who was raised in South Carolina and New York; it is the story of her life told in poem form. She shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement.
• Creativity Takes Courage by Irene Smit & Astrid Van Der Hulst – The editors of FLOW bring together inspiration, hands-on projects, boundary-pushing activate, and a variety of paper goodies to help unleash creativity. This is going to be partially activity book and the other part thought provoking that will give me a chance to journal along the way.
• Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver – This is a classic memoir that helped people look at the civil rights movement and the black experience in a different way. In Cleaver’s words about Soul on Ice, “I’m perfectly aware that I’m in prison, that I’m a Negro, that I’ve been a rapist, and that I have a Higher Uneducation.”
• Breathe: The New Science of a Lost Art – The author, James Nestor (no relation) puts together science and ancient breathing practices to present ideas around breathing. It’s billed with “You will never breathe the same again.” I’ll let you know how this goes.
• Ten Years a Nomad by Matthew Kepnes – I love to travel and look forward to digging into Matthew’s stories about quitting his job and traveling and how it turns into his job.
• Let’s Talk About Hard Things – Anna Sale hosts a podcast and she has taken what she has learned and written this book. She focuses on courage to talk about the hard things which lead to learning about ourselves, others and the world that we make together. I’m really looking forward to reading this one.