The Library

The Overstory

Richard Powers

★★★★★Sep 23

Brave New World

Aldous Huxley

★★★★★Jul 24

I felt like there wasn't really much of a plot until later in the book, but it became interesting later on and gave me some things to think about

Socialism and Man in Cuba

Ernesto Che Guevara

★★★★★Jul 24

Braiding Sweetgrass

Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Robin Wall Kimmerer

★★★★★Apr 6

also a banger I will come back to occasionally

Cultivating Compassion

A Buddhist Perspective

Jeffrey Hopkins

★★★★★Apr 6

banger. will keep coming back to this

The Motorcycle Diaries

Notes on a Latin American Journey

Ernesto Che Guevara

★★★★★Apr 2

Such a banger. Inspiring adventure, funny, and good motivation for revolutionary politics. "In nine months a man can think a lot of thoughts, from the height of philosophical conjecture to the most abject longing for a bowl of soup - in perfect harmony with the state of his stomach"

Reason for Hope

A Spiritual Journey

Jane Goodall

★★★★★Mar 9

I was hoping for a nice hopeful book and this was definitely not that. It filled me with more of an understanding for how cruel humanity can be rather than with hope. But she lived an interesting life and I learned some things

Dear America

Notes of an Undocumented Citizen

Jose Antonio Vargas

★★★★★Mar 2

my first book with the borderlands book club. I learned a lot from his perspective, mostly that I really don't know much about how immigration works in America.

Surviving the 21st Century

Saúl Alvídrez

★★★★★Feb 14

Good words from two very good old men. Some ideas I liked: Capitalism is not just an issue of economic setup, but of our culture. We can fight it by cultivating a culture of community and creation rather than consumerism and individualism. It is not the man who has little, but the man who craves more, who is poor.

Arabic for Beginners

International Edition

Syed Ali

★★★★★Feb 11

I suppose I should have known by looking at the squiggles that I wouldn't be able to learn Arabic in a book. It helped to get an understanding of some of the concepts of how the language/numbers work, but you can't hear how to pronounce anything from the book...

East of Eden

John Steinbeck

★★★★★Dec 19

I liked it a lot. The characters were incredibly well built out. It was cool to see their stories play out over generations. Inspiring message as well

The Poisonwood Bible

Barbara Kingsolver

★★★★★Oct 27

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Andreas Malm

★★★★★Oct 13

There There

Tommy Orange

★★★★★Sep 17

It was kinda hard to keep track of who was who but each chapter was great as a story on its own so i didn’t mind. I loved the way the writing would bring you in with a casual, down to earth tone that somehow smoothly transitioned into poetry without you noticing. Really fucking tragic though

To Shake the Sleeping Self

A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret

Jedidiah Jenkins

★★★★★Sep 4

Moon Palace

Paul Auster

★★★★★Aug 19

A hell of a journey. This book is the epitome of a tragedy, and it connects you with the essence of humanity

The Narrow Road Between Desires

The Kingkiller Chronicle #0.6

Patrick Rothfuss

unratedJul 17

On the Road

Jack Kerouac

★★★★★Jul 12

I really liked this book. The writing style was fun and the content was also fun and inspiring. I did feel like there was no real overarching plot for me to really get invested in though so it took a while to get through just because i didn’t find myself excited to see how things would unfold. Still very enjoyable thanks jeff

The Wise Man's Fear

The Kingkiller Chronicle #2

Patrick Rothfuss

★★★★★May 6

One heck of a story. I hole the wait for the third book isn’t too long, there is a lot left unanswered

The Message

Ta-Nehisi Coates

★★★★★Apr 6

Really great book. The writing style was really engaging and eloquent. He did a great job showing the connected systems of oppression from the us to palestine and from the past to its current implementation. I felt like the way he told it as a narrative helped the flow if the book while he still got the important information across.

Wealth Supremacy

How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s Crises

Marjorie Kelly

★★★★★Mar 14

Book club book finished late. This shined a light on some of the underlying systems that lead to our exploitation under our current form of capitalism. Finance is something that I was not very knowledgeable about before this book and i feel like it gave a good introduction to some of these topics. The third part gave ideas of how to improve our situation which i enjoyed, but they felt very rushed and a little abstract. I would like a more in depth explanation of some of them, but i guess that would take another book.

The Trinity of Fundamentals

Wisam Rafeedie

★★★★★Feb 26

This book was a bit disappointing. Maybe its the translation from Arabic, but the writing did not flow well. It also spent much of the time describing periods of waiting/hiding which just made the pacing feel very slow. Maybe thats the point but it was tough to read. That being said its a compelling story, and I could see why it had such a strong impact in the right context

How to Know a Person

The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen

David Brooks

★★★★★Feb 21

My first audio book, it was nice to listen to on bike rides. Definitely had good lessons on compassion. There were also times where he seemed to be making generalizations about certain types of people that i think simplified things too much. Good stuff all in all though

The Lean Startup

Eric Ries

★★★★★Jan 24

Trade routes. Definitely some good info. Will continue to reference

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass

Lewis Carroll

★★★★★Jan 20

The back of the book says its in the “literary nonsense genre”, And that definitely feels accurate. Theres cool characters and clever dialog but it ultimately amounts to illogical nonsense, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The Name of the Wind

The Kingkiller Chronicle #1

Patrick Rothfuss

★★★★★Jan 3

Definitely lived up to the hype. The way you tell your story to yourself and others has power over reality

Siddhartha

Hermann Hesse

★★★★★Dec 18

Really good. Im a big fan of the buddhist perspective. Describes the way everything is one in a way that feels undeniable. Also lots of other good life lessons “People are children”

Red State Revolt

The Teachers' Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics

Eric Blanc

★★★★★Dec 9

A refreshing positive outlook on class struggle in the US. Affirming to hear an example of how grassroots organizing - particularly through unions and in the workplace - can win more concessions from employers than years of lobbying.

Life of Pi

Yann Martel

★★★★★Oct 25

Themes of perseverance, religion, and story telling. The ending really got my goat. I liked this: “The world isnt just the way it is. It is how we understand it. And in understanding something, we bring something to it. Doesnt that make life a story?” Is there an objective reality outside our perception of it? Also, hearing about how good a turtle tastes when youre stranded at sea kinda made me want to eat some raw meat.

Beloved

Toni Morrison

★★★★★Sep 24

Culture and Resistance

Conversations With Edward W. Said

Edward W. Said

★★★★★Aug 12

I think i would have preferred to read one of edward said’s books. This was easy to read and informative though. I definitely learned a lot. Just didnt have a unified, in depth look at any one particular subject.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

★★★★★Jul 31

Untamed

The Wildest Woman in America and the Fight for Cumberland Island

Will Harlan

★★★★★Jul 31

Angle of Repose

Wallace Stegner

★★★★★Jul 31

American Dirt

Jeanine Cummins

★★★★★Jul 31

I felt like i had to take a second to catch my breathe after every chapter. I learned a lot about the human capacity for both good and evil, and definitely gained appreciation for my safety.

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho

★★★★★Jul 5

Very good easy read. Inspiring and beautiful with a cool setting

Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

★★★★★Jun 24

I liked the writing style and it was interesting, but it was just a bad time for me to be reading this book. Ive been thinking about/fighting against US genocide a lot lately and this book took a nihilist position that war is inevitable which i think is a load of malarky, and a position that creates more preventable war. It was entertaining though