The 3 Books to Read in Febraury

It seems as though we blinked and it is already the middle of February. Between the holidays, applying for jobs, transitioning to living life in America again, I have neglected my reading list in January. Apologies to the few people who did check for the January reading (shoutout Google Analytics), but I am happy to report we are back on track for February! Be on the looking for another blog in the next week or two about our journey to Tromsø, Norway to see the Northern Lights!

I’ve read so many books about the 2008 financial crisis. It is one of the most fascinating disasters to me. Through all the different books I have read, I have been able to hear so many different perspectives and timelines from about 2004/2005 all the way through about 2008/2009. It has been amazing to be able to read so many different points of view and see the disaster unfold as the years passed. What was so exciting about this book, is it takes you through the recovery years after the disaster, and the policies that President Obama put in place to try and help the financial system recover. The pressure that everyone in the White House was under to slowly piece back together this completely shattered economy was so intense that it is crazy to me that there was even any success achieved at all. This book gives the reader a fly-on-the-wall type perspective of the intense rebuilding efforts, and that is what I really loved about it. I like books that can tell you a non-fiction story as if you were actually in the room with the people in the book. Suskind does such a fantastic job of this, all while maintaining a dead-center political ideology throughout the entirety of the book. I just really liked that this book sort of closed out the entire story of the 2008 financial crisis. This book kind of reads like a sequel to another book I have recommended in a previous before, Too Big to Fail. If finance is an interest of yours, and you enjoy reading fly-on-the-wall accounts, then I recommend reading these two books. These are both very long books, but once you’re done with them, I believe you may have a new respect for how our government attempted to handle the crisis, or at the very least soften the blow. Read Too Big to Fail first, and then move onto this book.

I love hip-hop memoirs. I am a sucker for reading about a life that I have never come remotely close to living. As a person who grew up in the country with Amish neighbors, I don’t have the slightest idea about growing up in an urban area, carrying a gun, or selling drugs just to survive on the streets. The stories that rappers like Rick Ross, Gucci Mane, Jay-Z, and Rick Ross tell keep me at the edge of my seat through the entirety of their books. The fact that all of these, and even more rappers who came from rough beginnings, have been able to come from absolutely nothing, and build literal empires, is one of the least discussed, but most impressive accomplishments. I read Gucci Mane’s memoir first, I’ve already written about his memoir in a previous month, so I was excited to hear that Rick Ross was coming out with his own memoir with the same co-author. It is incredible reading Ross’ journey from growing up in the projects of Miami during the height of the crack epidemic, to being a star football recruit, and eventually rising to the artist he is today with the infamous grunt. Ross is a fantastic storyteller. I was genuinely captivated by pretty much every route he took throughout the course of the book. Ross has lived a very accomplished life, and it was incredible reading about how he came from nothing, almost failed numerous times, and managed to get where he is today despite his numerous setbacks and controversies. What I love about these memoirs is how candid the authors get to be about controversies they have been involved in throughout their careers. In both this memoir by Ross and Gucci Mane’s novel, they address and squash pretty much all the controversies they have been involved in during their careers. While this obviously just their side of the story against the other side, it is still greatly captivating to hear what they have to say. I definitely recommend reading Ross’ memoir, and if you haven’t already, I recommend reading Gucci Mane’s right after.

I want to preface this review by saying that I am a big Mayor Pete person. I am a bit biased because he governed South Bend, the city that my sister lives in and works for, but I genuinely do believe that Pete will be the President of the United States of America within the next few election cycles. I stay far out of any political conversations and leanings 99% of the time, but I do think Pete is a person who has a long and successful future ahead of him. This book is a strong example of why I do believe that he will have a successful stretch ahead of him in politics. After such an odd 4 years in America’s political arena, Pete discusses the role of trust, how important it is for us as citizens to be able to trust our elected leaders, and how important it is for our elected leaders to earn the trust of the citizens that they govern. It is so encouraging to hear a politician say, and genuinely mean, that he cares about what his constituents want and need. He hits the nail directly on the head when he says that we as a country need to work together. Partisanship needs to be thrown out into the garbage, and bi-partisanship needs to be the new normal in American politics again. Pete draws examples from his work in South Bend, in the military in Afghanistan, and on the campaign trail to show striking examples of how trust can mend so many things and fix so many broken things. I believe a lot of the newer age politicians, like Pete, are much more transparent than their predecessors, and I believe that is what this country needs. I strongly recommend having a read of this book, even if you are a far-right person who doesn’t like Pete. I think you will come away agreeing with a lot of his points.