diary of a miu miu sales girl x jennifer wong

Genre: Memoir/Poems

Length: 📖21

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

An incredibly sentimental collection of poems by Jennifer Wong reflecting on her life in Hong Kong and making a new home in London. It was was very short, very sweet, and very tender.

I found Diary of a Miu Miu Sales Girl by way of fashion blogger @vivthemole on Instagram. I mention this because I think the path of discovery is an interesting extension of some of this piece’s main themes; multiculturalism, femininity, identity.

Wong uses classic expressions of femininity - shoes, bags, clothes - to exemplify her adjustment to a new culture, to connect with the women she feels far from, to indicate identity. She reflects on race through a lens of multiculturalism, finding herself between stories of an Uber driver from Pakistan and check out clerks. In many ways, this is also how Wong uncovers her relationship with class and upwards mobility. Most of these themes are intersectional, not merely co-existing, but rather forming complex relationships and dependencies on each other.

“In our home country we would never have met, but here I have touched their waists, know their bra sizes and their children’s names”

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo x taylor jenkins reid

Genre: Fiction

Length: 📖389

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

I cannot express how much I anticipated reading this book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Traveling this summer, I saw it in someone’s hands on almost every one of my flights. Not my typical type of read, I probably wouldn’t have read it if I hadn’t seen it every bookstore and on every book list. My curiosity piqued by the masses.

It was fine. A very accessible read with a very simple and approachable story line. A gorgeous movie star looks to have a tell-all written about her, taking control of her narrative once and for all. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo moves between Evelyn explaining each of her seven marriages, and her and her biographer’s developing friendship. This switch from chronological past into present day is not disruptive and very well done. Reid also uses newspaper/magazine clippings from throughout Evelyn’s career to move the story forward and provide date stamps, which gives necessary context to key plot points. Evelyn is reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor, a famed woman who instead of feeling taking advantage of for being hyper-sexualized instead yields power, money, and status from it.

There are twists in the story that are a bit obvious, especially considering the level of build up and hints Reid provides. However, this helped move the story forward and provide essential motivation to finish the book, otherwise I am not sure I would have.

i will teach you to be rich x ramit sethi

Genre: Personal Finance

Length: 📖352

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I Will Teach You to Be Rich has been recommended to me so many times and honestly, I haven’t wanted to read it. I don’t know why. I read a good amount of finance books. I have no good reason not to. Another person recently asked for my opinion on it, and I figure, it couldn’t hurt to read it…

So I caved in.

This book is targeted to people who have American bank accounts, credit cards, and general financial stake in the US. However, it could be beneficial for non-Americans who do not have personal financial management skills/knowledge and are looking to improve in this area. Ramit Sethi includes a variety of lessons and support towards getting finances in order, including handling debt, pay raises at work, basics of investing, choosing banks, money in relationships, and more.

Obviously, this book will not make you rich. But I think if someone was to ask me about how to get better at managing their finances, or looking for an introductory personal finance book, I would consider adding this to the list of resources I usually recommend.

just us x claudia rankine

Genre: Non-Fiction

Length: 📖352

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Written in prose and short-story format, Claudia Rankine sites and sources her way through Just Us, using Facebook posts, poetry, articles, Beyoncé’s Lemonade, and studies to support her as she analyzes airport conversations, mass-shootings, white-nationalism, microaggression, and more.

I loved Rankine’s inclusion of imagery throughout each chapter. From screenshots of polling results to newspapers and close ups of hair, she finds many ways for readers to understand the story she is telling is more than just a story, but is reality. You can’t just put down Just Us and move on, the carefully curated images have lasting impact and cement firmly in the mind.

One great example of this is an image from Paul Graham’s overexposed series American Night. Rankine discusses a piece from the series, “Woman with Arms Outstretched (Memphis),” to demonstrate how Graham’s overexposure causes the viewer to slow down and overcome the imposed bias and blindness, to “communicate the difficulty of knowing through seeing”. In order to understand the subject (a black woman wearing a red cap) what she is doing (standing with arms outstretched, bags on the ground) where she is (in the street, perhaps between two roads) the viewer has to look, squint even, and only then is the why revealed. It is in a sense performance art as much as it is visual art.

I do recommend this read, but if it is not clear already I want to note it is politically heavy and the format’s conceptual nature add to the complexity of the book.

braiding sweetgrass x robin wall kimmerer

Genre: Non-Fiction

Length: 📖391

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Braiding Sweetgrass is a unique book. I found myself lost in the spellbinding and infectious nature of the author’s storytelling. At times, it reads like a journal. Other times it's educational fusion of science and Indigenous knowledge seep out of the pages like textbook nouveau.

One of my favorite chapters was Allegiance to Gratitude. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s daughter stopped reciting the pledge of allegiance, a morning ritual required in American primary and secondary schools. The chapter transitions from the reasons her daughter stopped, to similar traditions held by Indigenous North Americans such as the Words That Come Before All Else/Thanksgiving Address. It is an oratory giving of thanks and gratitude that traditionally begins and ends the week. It is long, but when considering the many different elements of nature that are given appreciation for their gifts, it makes sense to include stars, water, animals, plants, wind, and many more.

On ceremonies, Kimmerer highlights their significance. Marrying the mundane and sacred, ceremonies are a form of reciprocity to signify mutual flourishing between people and land. They are reminders of the gifts from nature, and the role and responsibilities people have to their gift.

Reading through the book, I gathered notable quotes and noticed a pattern. Kimmerer’s mindset towards nature is so calm and attractive, imposing questions that seem to ask, what would you rather have as your mindset?

"Isn't it supposed to be just a matter of increasing net primary productivity of the artificially selected domesticated genotypes, manipulating environmental conditions through input of labor and materials to enhance yield?"

~or~

"Why should it not be so for Mother Earth, who packs us a lunch every single day?"

Her conclusion towards society’s current relationship to nature and way to move forward holds beautiful resonance. It is simple, yet demonstrates the reversal of mindset, habits, and history that needs to be accomplished for better treatment of the planet;

"It's just a story we have told ourselves and we are free to tell another, to reclaim the old one."

creativity, inc. x ed catmull

Genre: Non-Fiction

Length: 🎧13/📖368

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This one came to me highly recommended, and I see why. Ed Catmull, Pixar co-founder and computer scientist who made significant contributions to 3D graphics, reflects on the early days of Pixar and the transformation into the iconic creative force it is today. I wasn’t sure if Creativity, Inc. was going to come off as a memoir, but Catmull does an excellent job keeping the book to being about the lessons of mistakes and failures, constant pursuit of growth, relentless determination, and what it takes to have extreme creativity inducing environments.

Pixar is the crème de la crème, the leader in animation, innovation, and emotional storytelling. But like many other leading companies, it was a long and non-linear path to success. Pixar was under Lucas Films (Star Wars) for a long time as ‘The Graphics Group’ but following George Lucas’ divorce and his need to sell Pixar for cash, its value was reduced from the team’s dream of making a fully animated feature film down to it’s possibilities for medical imaging, design prototyping, and image processing. Not exactly the creative and story-rich empire that Catmull and the team had in mind. But after relentless effort, and meeting Steve Jobs, The Graphics Group was transformed into Pixar, the monolith it is today. Creativity, Inc. is about that journey, and the lessons learned along the way to leading innovative creative teams. At it’s heart it is firmly a book about leadership, relationships, responsibility, and the business of creativity.

bluets x maggie nelson

Genre: Non-Fiction

Length: 📖112

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Maggie Nelson’s Bluets is an abstract idea of a diary, so beautiful at times I caught my own self teary eyed reflecting on the presence of the color blue in my own life. Short but packed with passion and wayfinding emotions, the rhythmic book is fast paced and fully pleasant. It passes through entries of love, war, travel, paintings, music, film, and the color blue. She sends out “blue correspondents” who collect their findings on the color. The entries are a numbered list, which I initially thought would be disruptive but was surprised with how fluid Nelson’s thoughts are composed. It as at times about the process of writing the book, and other times it is about the people, mostly lovers, in Nelson’s life. Sometimes, both.