When I began college reading for fun came to a screeching halt as I was bogged down with project after project. A resolution for 2018 was to read more. Over the course of this summer, I succeeded. The books that I read were informative and I would like to share them because I believe that people my age can benefit from them. Here’s my list:
How To Retire with Enough Money: And How To Know What Enough Money Is by Teresa Ghilarducci Ph.D
Before my birthday I felt some type of impending doom in relation to the realization that I am aging and that there is no stopping it. Instead of feeling like my usual confident self around my birthday, I felt a little sad and reluctant to celebrate. I just kept thinking about how old I am getting. Never mind the fact that I have just entered my twenties. I believe that my age peers feel an overwhelming sense of needing to have certain things done by a certain age. Degrees by 24, a house by 25 and a marriage by 26. I’ve realized that thinking like this is putting myself in to a state of panic and that I must stop. However, I know that I must be smart and I decided that I wanted to know how to secure my future. So I somehow winded up in the retirement section of books and picked this one. I expected it to be a difficult read, as I don’t know very much about finances. This book explained retirement and all its jargon so easily that I swear it should have had “dummy” in the title. This book put in to perspective what I need to have in place for when the time comes that I am actually old. This small book will change your life.
You can get the hard cover for $8 or the kindle for $6 here. https://amzn.to/2NfMidQ
Spare The Kids: Why Whupping Black Children Won’t Save America by Stacy Patton
This was a painful, but necessary read. This book covered a lot of what I have known for some time but was unable to verbalize. Although this book is a little over 200 pages, I finished in about three days. Upon reading this I was challenged on my ideals of parenting and forced to look back at mine and my peer’s childhood. It made me think of what my mother’s childhood was like and my ancestors before her. Stacy Patton did a wonderful job of putting her thoughts on to paper and has inspired me to do more research on the topic. Although our entire community doesn’t subscribe to “whuppings”, “beatings” or “spankings” a good amount of the community does. Anyone on “black twitter” has seen the recycled topic of child punishment. It can get very, very ugly on twitter during those discussions. After reading this book I wished that I had the funds to distribute to every single person who partook in that discussion. Or just a way of grabbing people’s attention and directing them to this book. This short review is my first attempt at doing so.
You can the paperback for $12, the kindle for $17 or a used version for $4 here. https://amzn.to/2pawXgd
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Beyoncé first introduced me to the Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda. It would be years later until I fially got my hands on a book of hers. It was such a small book and I was so excited to read it that I finished it in one setting. Although, I have adopted my own principles and rules for my personalized “feminism” it was very interesting to listen to hers. If you are unsure of feminism, don’t know anything about it or if you’re already well versed, I recommend this book. Navigating a male dominated world can get tough sometimes, even though we are making slow progress. This book reaffirms why you should not shrink in to yourself, why you should stand firmly as you are. The book is very short and does not dive in to all the nuances of feminism, it delivers just enough and makes a wonderful introductory book.
You can get this for $6 in the paperback version and $4 on kindle here. https://amzn.to/2xhf6Zn
You can also do a free audiobook trial for 30 days and listen to it. This is a perfect hands free way of absorbing the book.
Dear Ijeaweale, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
After reading my first Chimamanda book, I quickly grabbed another. This was another small book that was very easy to read. As a woman that wants to have nothing but daughters, this book is a great read for creating the path to raising daughters who are strong individuals. By no means do you have to raise a bra burning little woman with hairy armpits, as most people picture feminists to be, but there is important ground work to do to make sure that she is equipped to survive in this world. This short read put things in to perspective for me and gave me better insight in to how I would like to raise my children.
You can buy it for $8 on paperback or on kindle for $7 here. https://amzn.to/2MGcppb
Try signing up for a free 30 day audiobook trial and listen during wash day. I think that you still get to keep the audiobooks even if you don’t want the subscription. (If this is true download as many as you can.)
What did you read this summer? If you didn’t read why? Comment below.
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