Book 26 of 100 – “Letter to My Daughter” by Maya Angelou

I wish I didn’t need to read 74 more books so I could spend a few weeks combing through this book. I want to soak in every word and appreciate every bit of wisdom Maya Angelou felt necessary to impart upon me.

I wish Angelou would have kept writing this book forever. In the several short chapters I read, I got mini glimpses into Angelou’s life. As much as I loved this, I am still a bigger fan of her poetry than anything else she has written.

I chose to read “Letter to My Daughter” because in my opinion, if I can grow to have a life even a fraction as interesting and well fulfilled as Maya Angelou, then I will have lived my life well.

Everyone should read this piece. It may not take you long, you may notice some pointed opinions, but you will also notice a wise, well-lived life laid out on paper which you have no choice but to appreciate.

Book 24 of 100 – “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou

If you yet to experience any form of Maya Angelou, you are seriously missing out on one of the finer things in life. Maya Angelou is one of my greatest inspirations and her writing always seems to provide me with exactly what I need when I need it.

It was interesting to pick up a piece of her prose. I have always found myself fonder of her poetry than anything else, but I decided it might be fun to pick this up since it magically appeared in front of me at a local bookstore.

“I Know Why the Caged Bird sings” is an absolutely beautiful piece of work. The beginning is slow and sometimes strange, but by the end you will understand it all and want to soak in every work a million more times. Angelou writes about her childhood in her poetic manner, but also with the mind of a child. The perspective that she creates in the book rivals almost any other childhood memoir I have encountered. Pick up this book and everything else by Maya Angelou today. While you are at it, hop on over to YouTube, find a video in which she reads some of her poetry, close your eyes, listen carefully, and tell me you feel no changes deep in your thoughts as you consider her beauty, vulnerability, and magic.

Book 14 of 100 – “Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass”

I read this book mostly out of necessity. I took a history class this semester and our final paper required that we read it and write about it. It was not a very difficult read, being a small, thin book that is what I expected. However, it was very interesting.

In this autobiography, we learn about the events that shaped Douglass into the great man that he eventually became. If you are a history buff, this is a definite must-read. I got a very interesting look at what life was like as a young slave at the brink of the war. Douglass went on to do some very wonderful things and helped shape our country as free for all.

Book 13 of 100 – “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (supposedly) by Nicholas D. Satan and Prof. Marcus J. Weeks

Let me start off by letting you know that this book is completely satirical and is a wonderful play against the popular Dale Carnegie book. The subheading is “666 Ways to Guarantee Success in the Workplace.” The physical aspect of the book is actually quite cool and secretly appealing in a its-possible-I-might-be-demonic sort of way. The hard covered book is black with ominous red lettering, red satanic stars, and an awesome elastic diary strap. The inside pages appear to be slightly burned and there are many sections that indicate blood was spilled in the writing of this book.

I found “How to Win Friends and Influence People” on sale at a local bookstore and purchased it, along with a book about homosexuality, much to the horror of, what I can assume, was a 60 year old, very Christian, cashier.

This book was funny, it played off of the seven deadly sins (but combined two of them so there were only six), and it talked about the merits of each. For example, if you are greedy, you get to have a lot of money. How awesome right? It even mockingly referenced people who practiced the standards of the book, but who were actually just big criminals.

As interesting as this book was, I also found it slightly annoying. It was somewhat repetitive and way too over the top. I understand their reasoning in doing this, the best way to avoid law suits is to make it very clear that you are joking, but I find that I prefer humor that you have to work for at least a bit. I did get a really cool “Satan-Corp” Diploma of completion out of it, something I will always cherish and probably never actually display in any form of office space. For now, I would like people to assume I am still a good person.

Book 12 of 100 – “The Year of Living Biblically” by AJ Jacobs

In this novel, AJ Jacobs takes on the ridiculous task of following every single rule that is outlined in the bible as closely as possible, then he documents his journey. I read this very interesting book at the request of a wonderful friend and I found it to be a great suggestion.

AJ Jacobs did not make his job easy. He chose to spend eight months following the Old Testament to a key and later spend four months following the New Testament from the bible. As much as I enjoyed this book and the humorous comments that Jacobs made, I found it somewhat difficult to read. There are times that he makes long, drawn out references that don’t completely make sense. He can get lost in how he feels about what he is doing or adversely lost in the micro challenges that he faces.

AJ Jacobs in his extreme detail told a story of something I know I will never be able to do. This was a fun book, but be careful not to read it with a fine-tooth comb or a critics tongue. Enjoy this book for the book and the challenge that Jacobs takes on.

Book 11 of 100 “The Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx and Friedrick Engles

How about this for a diverse read? I recently spent a weekend in Tucson. Since my friends and I don’t play by traditional vacation rules, we decided to try out something new and visit an LGBTQA all inclusive coffee house and book shop. Let me tell you, this little place was the most adorable coffee shop I have ever been to. On top of it, they managed to make a perfect caramel macchiato with almond milk. While we were visiting, they happened to be having a Marxist study. SUPER COOL! Although we didn’t participate on the study, we did have some interesting conversations about Mr. Karl Marx. So, I decided I would look into some of his work and get some more diversity in my studies. This book did not turn me into a communist, but it was interesting. Marx and Engles throw some really interesting theories out there. Some of their thoughts about how capitalism would turn out are pretty interesting and fun to play around with. I encourage those who are going to read this to do so with an academic, not political, mindset. Do not attempt to challenge all of the perspectives that they display, simply study them. You might learn something, I did.

Book 10 of 100 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

Just like a previous post of mine that you can find here about Titus Andronicus, I read this play for my Shakespeare class. However, I have already read this before. In fact, I performed this play in High School. I played the very interested character of Helena, and had a great time with it. Because the two characters of Helena and Hermia are supposed to have a very pronounced height difference, they cast me (5’6” at the time) as Helena and a small friend of mine (5’1” at the time) as Hermia. However, they did the casting for the fall play at the beginning of the summer and when we got back to school in the fall, Hermia had grown a few inches after a wonderful summer growth spurt. So to help create the physical height difference that was now not quite as pronounced, I had to wear a pair of very tall heels. Unfortunately, heels and paper mache hills don’t always go so well together. Long story short, I fell a lot and lost all of the trust I had for chicken wire, glue, and strips of paper.

As much as this play hurt me, I still love it. There are so many ways to approach this play. You can enjoy it for its comedic surface, its political statements, its large amount of imagination, or even its semi-feminist character. It is a fun one to read and play around with. I would highly suggest this play to anyone who wants to dabble in some of good ‘ol Shakesy’s work and have a good time doing it.

Book 9 of 100 – “Eleanor and Park” by Rainbow Rowell

This was a very cute book. The young Park and Eleanor slowly fall in love and quickly fall into chaos. However cute this book may be, it was not really my style. It was very much a coming-of-age type novel meant to pull on the heartstrings of young adult readers as they struggle to identify the things that they are feeling much like Eleanor and Park are in the novel. Although it was not necessarily my style, this novel was very well written. Rainbow Rowell uses a simple poetic language to capture the attention of the readers. She creates strong characters and gets inside their heads, and the heads of the teenagers she is writing to.

These characters create a strong novel: until the end. Rowell attempts to leave the readers wanting more and aching for the loss of the characters at the end of the novel almost in a “Fault in Our Stars” manner. I could tell that this is what I was meant to feel, but that is not what happened. Instead, I felt like the end was both rushed and overdue. She could have ended the novel about three chapters before she did, or written more to the story, but instead she stopped in between those two. I wasn’t satisfied, but I wasn’t lost either. I didn’t learn a lesson in the weird ending or keep thinking about what happened, instead, I just finished.

Book 8 of 100 – “Dirty Rush” by Taylor Bell

I won’t shy away from saying that I read this book with a skeptic’s eye.

Dirty Rush is described as being written “true-to-life,” but I have a hard time finding that 100% believable.

For the past three years, I have been heavily involved in my sorority (technically a Women’s Fraternity), Zeta Tau Alpha. I have loved every second of it. I have found women who have become family and who are with me every step of the day. I have gained valuable leadership, philanthropic, and diplomatic experience and I have even had the opportunity to plan large scale events such as 5ks that raise thousands of dollars for Breast Cancer Education and Awareness.

Many people say that Taylor Bell captures Greek Life perfectly in her novel, and although we went to different schools and were even involved in drastically different sized Greek programs, I must say that Taylor Bell and I did not see the same rush systems.

This novel is just that, a novel. It is exciting, has ups, downs, sex, adderall, hazing, cocaine, alcohol, and hot boys. It has a rising action, a climax, and a falling action. Please do read this novel if you want something to entertain you for a few hours, but please DO NOT read this novel if you are looking for an accurate description of Greek Life, because this is not it.

Dirty rushing is something that most sororities will not do. Not just because it is discouraged, but because it hurts everyone. There is a reason for the rules, rules I have hardly ever seen broken. Bell also writes a lot about hazing. I would also like to talk about that in comparison with my experience. Very often, women will refuse to go through recruitment simply because they are afraid we will haze them. Books like this make it difficult for us to persuade young women that they will not be harmed, physically or mentally. The media, much like this book, blow up every scandal at every turn because it is a big money maker.

The truth is, if these women, who walk through the door, are truly my sisters: why would I even consider laying a hand on them? If I want them to be there for me as much as I am for them, why would I make them do pointless tasks to prove their loyalty? Some Greek organizations have hazed in the past, and a few may still do it, just like sports teams, clubs, and even work environments may haze. However, for a long time now, the Greek community has done their best to pull away from this stereotype and there are countless anti-hazing programs across the country. I cannot speak for other groups, but I can assure you that I was not hazed, I have never hazed, and I will never condone even the consideration of hazing (an opinion shared by the national council of Zeta Tau Alpha).

It is books like “Dirty Rush” that give Greek Life a bad reputation. It is books like this that I despise.

Bell did get one thing right in her book: going Greek will change you. It will help you become a better leader and help you find the big sister who will stand next to you during the most drastic event. It will help you find women who are willing to push men in the dirt so you can stop crying. Greek is good. It may be difficult to explain, and in my opinion, Bell doesn’t do a very good job of explaining the hard parts, but she does do a good job at explaining the part where you become so much better with the help of your sisters.

 

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Book 7 of 100 – “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman

It is generally a safe bet that if you pick up a Neil Gaiman book you will enjoy it, but with “The Ocean at the End of the Lane,” I can almost guarantee it.

I absolutely loved reading this book. I picked it up and found it nearly impossible to put down. Very often I found myself smiling, scowling, and nearly crying along with the characters (although I mostly refrained from the last once since I read this book while at work). The near-poetic prose that Gaiman relies on to convey emotion to his readers is used perfectly in this novel.

If you want to be reminded about how beautiful childhood and imagination is, read this book. I found myself reflecting on my own childhood adventures and pulling for the character to stay in his and defeat his demons. I 100% recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick, yet effectively beautiful, novel to read.

Favorite Quote: “I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I found joy in things that made me happy.”