While 3 years ago I would have refused to pick up anything non-fiction in the “self-help/leadership” genre my 2020 and 2021 lists definitely reflect an evolution and openness to read books in that genre to expand my perspective and level up.
The Overstory
The Handmaid’s Tale
I really enjoy dystopian novels such as George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and the Hunger Games series. I have had this book my reading list after hearing about the success of the Hulu series and political references.
Set in the Republic of Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships. Offred the titular character serves in the household of the Commander and his wife, and under the new social order she has only one purpose: once a month, she must lie on her back and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if they are fertile. But Offred remembers the years before Gilead, when she was an independent woman who had a job, a family, and a name of her own. Now, her memories and her will to survive are acts of rebellion.
It is stark and horrifying at times but also has the underlying tone of rebellion and hope which I loved. I would definitely recommend this book.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
I wanted to like it but seemed a bit shallow. The premise was interesting and thought provoking nonetheless. What if you were given a chance to undo your regrets and choose alternate lives. Which one would you end up living and enjoying? Maybe none besides the one you are living – because life is meant to be lived!
Making of a Manager by Julie Zhou
I definitely fell short of my goal of 10 or more books. I did manage to read books that have been long on my list and were diverse in nature – fiction; leadership; self improvement.