On My Shelf

Time flies… and there are two more butterfly editions I want to send out this year 😊 This one is all about the books that inspired me in 2022. So in case you are looking for Christmas gifts or holiday reads, here are the books that made it onto my shelf (or that I pulled out again after a while…):
 
Bittersweet by Susan Cain: If you have a melancholic side, rank high on the sensitivity spectrum, or always had a feeling there might be something wrong with you for this deep sense of longing, this book is for you. It talks about sorrow and longing and its connection to creativity, about grief and inherited pain. I will admit it sometimes feels a bit repetitive and could have been written in less pages, but I still really enjoyed it.
 
Wild by Cheryl Strayed: First things first: I did not enjoy the movie a lot. I think it does the book no justice. What I love about the book as a avid reader is how it moves back and forth in the story of personal development and solitude. This book sparked an entire series of documentary binge watching on how to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and left me with a deep longing for wilderness and alone time in the nature. A nice PCT documentary we found is this one, by the way 😊
 
Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed: Reading Wild led me directly to this compilation of brutally honest and wonderful letters written in response to equally honest and vulnerable questions “Sugar” received when writing her column “Dear Sugar”. Highly recommended 5-minute treats for binge reading, commutes or in between anything else.
 
Non sono mai andato a scuola (English: I never went to school) by André Stern: Maya is about to start school, a system that was tailored to the industrialization and has only undergone minor changes ever since. The concepts of unschooling, free learning and play are resonating a lot with me. An adventure the bravest version of myself would embark on. One of André Stern’s quotes is still stuck in my head: “The eyes which look at us while we are kids define the way we see ourselves for the rest of our lives.” So much truth in this. 
 
Good Inside by Dr. Becky Kennedy: My dearest friends know I have a very torn relationship with parenting books. I am trying to stay away from them – until I reach a point where my intuition is leading me off the beaten path (when trusting in my kid’s elevated sensitivity in moments when most people would not, for instance). Then I get scared and start looking for evidence that this road can actually be taken without turning into a lone nut. As long as you don’t read the book as a prescription (the author says she follows her own advice about 30% of the time…), it contains a lot of healing thoughts in my humble opinion, and I now feel much better when showering my kids with love when they are giving us a tough time. After all, we all are good people having a hard time sometimes, aren’t we?
 
No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix: This is one of the books I had read before and pulled off the shelf once again this year. I really enjoy the clarity of thought and structure in this book on company strategy and culture, the hands-on examples and radical candor it entails. If you work in product or management, I highly recommend you read this to spark some interesting thoughts.
 
Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown: Do you know the difference between fitting in and belonging? Do you know the places you go deep inside when you are hurting or comparing yourself to others? Dr. Brené Brown took on the impossible task of mapping out 87 human emotions, as always packed with personal examples and written in a very digestible way. After finishing this book, I went straight to the next one by Brené Brown that had been sitting on my desk for a while:
 
The Art of Imperfection by Brené Brown: In this book, the author explores how authenticity is a choice that requires courage, compassion and connection. In order to relate to the struggles of others, we first have to embrace our own vulnerability. Definitely something I deeply crave and am starting to practice more and more.  

I also started reading How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell, but was not able to finish it yet. I guess I am still having a hard time with this topic… Maybe next year 😉
 
As you might have noticed, I did not read a lot of business books this year (most of my business-related reading has been done on Linkedin instead). Over the last couple of years, I have devoured tons of start-up books, books on product strategy, organizational development and more. These books have started substituting my beloved classics, the ones I have enjoyed since my early childhood and during my studies of Comparative Literature. It was about time I brought back some reading for pleasure, some poetry and philosophy.
 
That’s how This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley made it onto my shelf and why I pulled out The Alchimist by Paulo Coelho once more. Also, I made it a habit to start many days by reading a poem, for example from Die schönsten deutschen Gedichte or The selected works of Audre Lorde.
 
Which books have inspired or deeply touched you this year?
 
Wishing you a wonderful pre-Christmas time (trusting I’ll find the time to write one more edition before Christmas Eve 😊).
 
Big hug
Tanja

This text was first published in my though-letter Tanja’s Butterflies (December Edition 2022 – Part 1). If you are interested in receiving the next editions in your inbox including additional resources such as inspiring quotes, books and more, you can subscribe here.