My Book Shelf
Below I’ve kept the old list of what I’ve read. Some I liked, some I hated, and some I wished would have never ended. You’ll find a short intro to each below. Many of the books below would certainly fall under “best book I’ve read” until the next “best book I’ve ever read” fell into my lap”. And even some of the bad ones, I’m glad I read, they make the good ones that much better.
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For current lists of everything I’ve read, updated weekly, follow the link to my bookshop.
Need a New Book?
Part of the Discourse includes book recommendations with each letter from me. All of these recommendations can be found through my bookshop.org recommended link, updated constantly. Plus with bookshop.org, you’re purchasing from independent bookstores (versus amazon). A great way to support local, small businesses and the authors.
Circe by Madeline Miller "When I think of the stories we are told in our culture, the modal story is “What if you finally got what you always wanted? Wouldn’t that be great?” And ancient Greek stories more like “What if you finally got what you always wanted, and what if it were terrible?”There’s something really interesting in the difference between a culture that believes getting what we want will be the path to happiness and one that thinks it’s a lot more complicated than that." Ezra Klein on M. Miller
Figuring by Maria Popova This is the kind of book that needs time and space...there is so much in these words...it's not so much of a page turner, but a page-stopper... you have to stop reading while your mind explodes with new ideas.
Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? By Frans De Waal I purchase this because of an interview I read with the Author on 52insights.com. How we treat animals I think will be one of our greatest human regrets.
Devotions by Mary Oliver One of my favorite past times is to open a book of poetry at random and read whatever is there. This book helps to guarantee that I'm moved by whatever I pick.
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by Buckminster Fuller I would put this book under required reading for 2020. Mr. Fuller has a way of looking at the potential dystopia or utopia in a way that distills the world's problems into exciting human potential.
Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler This book is wild to read in 2020-because despite being written in 1998, you feel like it's describing a world that's already here, or not too far off.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott This book sits on my desk while I write. It can give me that little bit of inertia I need for those moments when I'm banging my head against the keyboard instead of my fingers.
The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli I hated physics in high school, but as an adult I am so drawn to the subject matter-it offers an interesting perspective to how I experience life. Rovelli makes physics understandable for the layperson while adding a philosophical twist. Highly recommend.
Go Ahead in the Rain by Hanif Abdurraqib There are so many individual sentences of this book that I love. Hanif has a way with structure. I grew up listening to Tribe and this book offers a powerful behind the scenes look into the group and history of hip hop.
Reality is Not What it Seems by Carlo Rovelli Similar to Order of Time, Rovelli's book offers a new lense in which to look at the world.
River Flow by David Whyte Whyte's poetry is great for both poetry lovers and haters...I particularly like selection towards the end of the book.
Sum by David Eagleman What happens when a neuroscientist writes literature...such a unique find.
Underland by Robert MacFarlane I don't know how this author was never on my radar. This book was incredible. Another favorite of the year. I'll never look at the ground beneath my feet in the same way.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery Filed under kids books that adults should read instead. A classic worth revisting.
Things I Don't Want to Know by Deborah Levy Sometimes books don't keep you the whole time, but will have one chapter, or paragraph, or even just one sentence that will make the entire read worth it. I'm thankful for one particular paragraph in this book that shook something alive in me.
American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee Growing up in Wyoming, wolves have always been a hot topic. I thought this book did a good job of presenting both sides and letting the reader come to their own conclusions even if it was a sense of empathy for all involved.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous A special writer. I enjoyed his interview on the On Being podcast almost more than this book, but both compliment each other well.
Felicity by Mary Oliver Love poems of the simplest kind: "I did think, let's go about this slowly. ... But, bless us, we didn't"
The Book of Images by Rainer Maria Rilke I particularly like this addition as it is in both german and english. Another book I enjoy opening at random and seeing what I find.
Mountains without Handrails by Joseph Sax My dad gave me this book. While written in the 80's it brings up many interesting points of conflict and interest around National Parks in the US that are still relevant today.
The Last Love Poem I Will Ever Write by Gregory Orr A book for someone who is grieving. I have often found comfort in Orr's words.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius I like re-reading books I read in school as an "adult". A good classic.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker Walker has a way with dialogue that gives you the feeling you are right there with the characters.
Who Rules the World? By Noam Chomsky Read in 2020 as an attempt to figure out what is going on. This book was informative and gives me the sinking feeling that there are some really bad players out there doing some pretty horrendous things all in the name of power.
Concerning the Book That is the Body of the Beloved by Gregory Orr A book for someone who has experienced loss of a loved one. A book for feeling your grief instead of just trying to fix it.
Salt by Nayyirah Waheed I'm amazed how four lines of poetry can express what was before a wordless emotion or thought.
Art of Freedom by Bernadette McDonald Another great mountaineering book by Bernadette. She has a way of shining a new light on the "why" of mountaineer's motivations beyond the obvious and cliched. Her other, Freedom Climbers is also a must read.
Apeirogon by Colum McCann The style of writing alone was so unique let alone the beauty of the story. One of my favorites this year.
A favorite author of mine. Such impressive writing, really challenging storyline. Not a light book.
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker Beautiful little novel. Purchase tissues with the book.
The Man Behind the Maps by James Niehues Perfect coffee table book for a chairlift lover.
I Can Ski Forever by Andrew Munz I grew up with Andrew, and then when I was more grown up went to see his plays, titled the same as this book. He finds a way to both mock and showcase our shared hometown, encapsulating the love/hate relationship one can have with Jackson.
Bravey by Alexi Pappas A memoir in essays. An inside look at an Olympians life from start till now-I love reading athlete's stories though I find they are often written long into adulthood allowing time to give it's lessons. So, it is a refreshing experience to read about someone who is close to my age and still in the thick of trying to decipher her past in order to grow into a new future.
Unsolaced by Gretel Ehrlich Hard to describe how good a day can be when you walk into the bookstore to find that one of your favorite books now has an unexpected sequel. Start with her first-The Solace of Open Spaces. I rarely will call a book one of my favorites, both both of these are so high on the list they could possibly be called my favorite books. I read The Solace probably 3 times a year.
The Wild Iris by Louise Glück A gifted book of poetry. I have the version where the english and german translations live side by side-perfect for my german language learning. I've been using poetry as writing prompts thanks to the Wild Writing course I took this year, and this book is a perfect place to draw out one liners from.
Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion Twelve essay collection from one of the greatest writers out there.
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman The kind of book you could read a few times, which I do. It's so dense with interesting information, I feel like I always learn something new from it. It makes me think about how I think!
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri I loved her other books-The Namesake and Interpreter of the Maldives, and it only took the opening chapter to get me hooked on the Lowland as well. A true wordsmith. She puts you in the lands she describes and in the mind of the characters.
The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck I go back and forth between liking anything in the self help genre and wanting to poke my eyes out when reading anything in the self help genre. I experienced both while working through this book. In general I do think it had interesting exercises to working through some personal demons. And is it ever really a bad idea to work on yourself, to pause and reflect, to disconnect from your internal stories-probably not even if the wording in books like this and other sometimes are just too much. The people I seem the most intrigued by are the ones who are so completely themselves and this book is a way to getting there.
The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy I find Levy does a really good job of writing about the internal thoughts of a woman. So much of it feels relatable even if her life and age are not at all like my own. I'm also becoming more and more impressed with how she can fill so much of a book using so few words-her works are some of the shortest on my shelves but at the same time some of the fullest in terms of content.
Writers and Lovers by Lily King I was looking for a romp of a book to balance out some of the denser books on my nightstand (aka my bedside floor). This book was indeed a easy-read-page-turner with those classic elements of relationship drama and waitressing scenes. But it managed to sink deeper than that. The portrayal of grief and the desperation to complete a life's work resonated so strongly with me. King wrote life as it is...the banal and trivial living within with the enormity of being alive. I was sad when the book ended.
Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa This came on recommendation as Jimmy Chin's favorite book. I have a soft spot for Japanese literature and Samurais (I used to only eat fish before comps just like Samurais would do before a match, refusing to eat anything that stood on more than 2 legs)-this became an easy pick despite it being over a thousand tiny print pages. It's a classic zen warrior story filled with bloodshed and sage wisdom. I loved reading it and think of it often when I'm thinking about my life as an athlete.