Books-In-Review 2016: The Year of Girl Power, Personal Growth, & Love
2016 was a huge year for books on girl power and feminism, self-improvement, and romance – these topics were a trend on my reading list last year. Here are my favorite reads from 2016:
#Girlboss
Sophia Amoruso (Founder and CEO of Nasty Gal)
In this witty and compelling book, Sophie Amoruso, founder and CEO of Nasty Gal, tells the story of how she was able to turn her passion for buying and re-selling vintage clothing on eBay into a multi-million dollar business. She went from dumpster diving in her teens to running a successful online fashion retail store and creating a name for herself with Nasty Gal. The birth and growth of Nasty Gal is truly a story of thriving against all odds as well as a big "fuck you" to doubters and naysayers. And if reading is not your thing, you can learn all about Amoruso's journey to the top through the Netflix series adaptation of the book, Girlboss, which is executively produced by Sophia Amoruso herself. The series shows a very loose re-telling of Amoruso's original story. Watch the series on Netflix or buy the book here!
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook)
In Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Sandberg talks about how women unintentionally hold themselves back from moving upward and striving for higher positions of power in the workplace. She also discusses how women can move up in an economy that favors men. She backs up her many arguments with hard facts and anecdotes from her own life. In her book, Sandberg urges all women to Lean In, take risks, and pursue their goals; in turn, she urges men to support the women in their lives, in the workplace and at home. Buy the book here, and learn more about the #LeanInMovement by visiting leanin.org.
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
Maxine Hong Kingston
In this hauntingly beautiful book, Hong Kingston tells readers her story as an immigrant woman and Chinese-American. She intricately blends reality and fiction in her novel to recount her experiences as a Chinese-American woman growing up in California and raised on the stories and expectations of her immigrant parents. The Woman Warrior talks about the harsh reality of female oppression in old China and the power, as well as resilience, of these woman warriors of her mother's past. Emerge yourself in the world created by Hong Kingston in this new-genre tale by buying the book here!
The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery
Don Miguel Ruiz and Don Jose Ruiz (with Janet Mills)
In The Fifth Agreement, don Miguel Ruiz and his son, don Jose Ruiz, add to The Four Agreements don Miguel Ruiz posed to live a happier and healthier life with this powerful sequel. In this book, Ruiz and Ruiz give us advice on how to be our truest selves and live to our fullest potential. Their five agreements are: be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, don't make assumptions, always do your best, and be skeptical, but learn to listen. This book truly changed my way of thinking about life and my experiences, and my copy is filled with highlights of my favorite lines! Don Miguel Ruiz and don Jose Ruiz separate the mind from the soul in this text and stress the difference between the mind's interpretation of your self versus your true self. Learn more about the five agreements by buying the book here!
This Modern Love
Will Darbyshire (British YouTuber & Film-maker)
This Modern Love is a collection of heartfelt messages about love, heartache, and "everything in between" put together by the author, Will Darbyshire. The book is based on 15,000 submissions from nearly 100 countries from real people confessing about their current and past love lives, and their ideas of love. With beautiful photography to accompany most of these confessions of love, this book will pull at the heart strings. The hopeless romantic in you will cling to these stories and you won't be able to put it down. Indulge yourself in tales of magnificent love and longing, and the not-so-great tales of heartbreak and loneliness. Buy the book here.
Xo, Naydeline
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons