1. The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
I've read the first 50 pages so far, and I must say this book is well worth the read. The author, Michelle Alexander, presents one of the most revolutionary books of our time. Within its contents, a reader will discover the harsh realities that minorities in America face with the legislation enforced to be used against them.
Every page divulged deeper into the matter of justice for all people and started to yank the wool away from the eyes of those who idolize the government. Overall, I can't stop reading the book because every page is a feeding of more knowledge to my activist heart.
2. Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner
Growing up, I heard at least three different languages in my house daily -- my mother speaking five different languages and my father speaking two. Of course, I felt like the oddball monolingual English speaker, along with my siblings.
In hopes of becoming a polyglot, I have purchased this book to be my guru and teach me the ways of the master. I skimmed through a few pages, and the author presents a game plan to learning languages permanently. I'm up for it!
3. Hitler's Last Days by Bill O'Reilly
One of the 20 books that I have started, but I have not read all the way through it yet. I'm 24 pages into this book and have not gained many juicy details on Hitler's death. (I believe that part comes at the end).
This author has very well-written historical biographies of well known men from the past. The last book I read from his saga was "The Last Days of Jesus." Now, I'm not a very religious person to begin with, but the book was quite intriguing and I would recommend it to anyone. Based on the predispositions that I hold towards his previous book, I'm assuming that this book can be just as eloquent. From what I have read so far, it's very enticing.
4. The Clouds Should Know Me By Now: Buddhist poet monks of China Edited by Red Pine and Mike O'Connor
By skimming the book, I can already feel the awe in my heart from the grace of the Chinese calligraphy written along with the English translation. I found this one poem and thought I might share it with you:
"The solitary bird
loves the wood;
Your heart also
not of the world."
- Chia Tao
It's such an abstract poem, which is what makes it exemplary. I've always loved Chinese culture and language ever since I was small. I found this book in the discounted section of my University library and purchased it for a small fee of $0.25. So far, it's worth while.
5. A History of God: The 4,000 year quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Karen Armstrong
If you knew me, my friends would tell you that I am not the most religious person on the block. On the contrary, I am the last person to tell you that your religion is a fallacy. I consider myself to be agnostic and very open to the multitude of religious belies that the world, and many believers of those religions, have to offer.
The top three reigning religions of our world have many, many, many similarities that the ignorant refuse to acknowledge. With their prejudice, I would like to take a detour and go on to the path of enlightenment of each religion. Not saying that the grass is greener on the other side, but I can at least go to the other side to see what the whole "green grass" craze is about.
Once again, I bore you with my recommendations of books that I buy at the bookstore with many false hopes in reading them. Especially with the mountains of office work and textbook readings in my way, it's hard to find time to enjoy a good book. Once all the craziness of work and school are over, you will find me and a virgin Pina Colada in a bean bag on my front lawn ready to hammer away at that reading list.
