From Here to Eternity
I loved loved loved The Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, so it only makes sense that I would love Caitlin Doughty’s second book, From Here to Eternity. In it, she details death rituals from around the world. The book made me question the way that the death rituals I grew up with cause me to think about death, or allow me to avoid thinking about death. That’s what I think makes this interesting – one of the things we all have in common is that we die, but across the world, there are wildly different ways of handling that.
I Will Teach You to be Rich
I am a nerd about personal finance. This is not new to anyone who knows me – I have been reading blogs and books and listening to podcasts about personal finance on a daily basis for a few years now. With a lot of them, there’s no longer any actionable takeaway for me – I already have a Roth IRA, I already automate retirement contributions and live with roommates to save money. However, I Will Teach You to be Rich had some good ideas and presented them in a compelling way that actually convinced me to make changes to the way I manage my money. I also appreciate that Ramit Sethi doesn’t advocate an ultra-thrifty approach for everything, which can leave people feeling really deprived.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
I heard about this book a while ago – before the Netflix show. When the Netflix show came out in January, I binge-watched it, and I was obsessed. Reading the book gave more depth and explained a lot of the “why” behind the process that Marie Kondo developed. The book really sold me on the idea that it is possible to organize and clean your house, without having to do it again a year later.
The Excellent 11
I heard of Ron Clark from a teacher friend about a year ago, and I’ve followed the school and some of the teachers on Instagram since then. I really appreciate the relentless positivity that Ron Clark exudes, while also embracing the fact that teachers and students are humans and that classrooms are going to be imperfect. There were definitely some ideas in the book that I plan to use in my classroom next year.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
My first impression of this book was that it was kind of weird and nothing happens. Which is not untrue, exactly – there is a lot of internal monologue and less action, but it actually does have an engaging, meaningful plot with really rich characters, which carries the story.