What I Read in September
This year I’ve taken it upon myself to up my reading goal and I’m happy to report that I’m well on my way to completing my goal for the year. Since this year has been filled with so many wonderful books, I thought it only fair to share them here with you. I do keep an updated Goodreads account as well but am a bit shy about sharing actual reviews of anything there so I will use this corner of the internet for that instead. Since we’re now well into October, I thought I’d share a recap of what I read in September.
High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way
by Brendon Burchard
This embarrassingly took me a good three months to finish, but not for the reason you would think. I was pleasantly surprised by this read which I picked up in an airport bookstore. While I’m not usually a fan of preachy self-help business books, this one took a slightly different approach and for that reason ended up being quite enjoyable. Burchard makes the argument that the most successful people don’t have to sacrifice their happiness or any part of their life and wellbeing to achieve great things. They simply have to focus their attention, streamline their productivity, find the right inspiration, while regularly taking time to reflect on the process and make changes as needed. While I didn’t find the written activities particularly helpful I could appreciate the overall optimistic tone of the book, ensuring that high performance is attainable to anyone.
Afropean: Notes from Black Europe
by Johny Pitts
This was a wonderful thing to read while transitioning my life from Lisbon to London. As an African American, I find my understanding of blackness in Europe being constantly challenged, most recently when asked what African country my family comes from. This is not so easily answered (and frankly not often asked) in the States but it was a wonderful reminder of the complexity of race and identity for people of the African Diaspora. This is a subject that Pitts (a Black British writer hailing from Sheffield with an African American father) examines in a beautiful and occasionally heartbreaking way.
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
by Eric Ries
Another airport bookstore buy, and maybe a bit “off brand” for me but it held my interest at least for a while. I find it quite useful to read books on topics so seemingly unrelated to what I do as they often inspire new ways of thinking about problems that exist in my own line of work and life. Seeing as I know very little about startup culture, I found it fascinating how experimental and creative this particular process appears, which is an approach that I found I could apply to my own creative process in the lean startup that is my life. Did Ries set out to write a manifesto-style self help book? Absolutely not, but he certainly inspired a new way of thinking for this very right-brained gal.
Want more book content? Check out Books I’m Loving Lately, a post from February, which still has some of my favorites reads of the year and follow me on Goodreads for real time updates.
Shop the Post
