What I'm Reading - 7/7/24
My vacation book list
I am back in Washington, DC. I had an absolute blast at home and fishing in Canada, but I was ready to get back (and have reliable internet). I also have a TON of ideas and things I want to do/work on coming out of these two weeks. I’m so excited to explore them. I took a ton of pictures, but I did want to share this aerial view of Green Bay that I got while taking off that shows some important places to me rowing up.
What I also did was read a ton of books. I thought I’d share my list. Some were re-reads of favorites, but many were new. Normally, I just read non-fiction books, but I have tried to mix in some fiction as well. Two more that I’m just starting now are:
Provence, 1970 which “is about a singular historic moment when in the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery.”
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space - a story about the Challenger explosion that “follows a handful of central protagonists—including each of the seven members of the doomed crew—through the years leading up to the accident, and offers a detailed account of the tragedy itself and the investigation afterward.”
I hope you have a great Sunday. I’ll be catching up on many things before getting back into the swing of it all on Monday!
Books I Read on Vacation
Non-Fiction
I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself by Glynnis MacNicol ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love everything about this memoir, but one of the things that hit me the most is that she wasn’t able to ultimately sell a script about her first memoir about being single at 40 because no one could figure out what the main character should overcome if it didn’t deal with love or children.Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (Re-Read) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’ve been in a creative mood and wanted to re-read this to get some inspiration from one of my favorite authors.When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day by Garrett M. Graff ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
June 6, 1944—known to us all as D-Day—is one of history’s greatest and most unbelievable military triumphs. Though the full campaign lasted a little over two months, the surprise sunrise landing of more than 150,000 Allied troops on the beaches of occupied northern France is one of the most consequential days of the 20th century. It was the moment that turned the tide for the Allied forces and ultimately led to the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II, freeing Europe from the clutches of fascism and tragedy. In the decades since, countless stories of bravery, brotherhood, and sacrifice have made up and sustained our collective memory. Now, Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff, historian and author of The Only Plane in the Sky and Watergate, brings them all together in a one-of-a-kind oral history that explores this seminal event in vivid, heart-pounding detail.The Situation Room by George Stephanopoulos ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
No room better defines American power and its role in the world than the White House Situation Room. And yet, none is more shrouded in secrecy and mystery. Created under President Kennedy, the Sit Room has been the epicenter of crisis management for presidents for more than six decades. Time and again, the decisions made within the Sit Room complex affect the lives of every person on this planet. Detailing close calls made and disasters narrowly averted, THE SITUATION ROOM will take readers through dramatic turning points in a dozen presidential administrations.World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century by Dmitri Alperovitch and Garrett M. Graff ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book and the Fourth Turning is Here by Neil Howe are two books I keep citing when talking about what the next five years have in store for us. His explanations of China and Russia are super helpful in grounding where we are today and where we might go.
Fiction
Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The last of Elin Hilderbrand's bestselling Nantucket novels, Swan Song is a propulsive medley of glittering gatherings, sun-soaked drama, wisdom and heart, featuring the return of some of her most beloved characters, including, most importantly, the beautiful and timeless island of Nantucket itself.The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Set during the height of the women’s suffrage movement and with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men.Main Character Energy by Jamie Varon (Re-Read) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
NOTE: Only $1.99 on Kindle right now
A fun book about a woman who wants to be a writer, is ready to give up, but her aunt dies and leaves her a villa in the South of France, but there’s a catch. She has to live there for six months and finish the first draft of her novel before she can inherit it.The J.M. Barrie Ladies’ Swimming Society (Re-Read) by Barbara J. Zitwer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another fun read about a woman who goes to England to oversee the renovation of a house where J.M Barrie wrote Peter Pan and she befriends a group of women who regularly go swimming in a pond in the middle of winter. The friendships and experiences change her in ways she didn’t know she needed.Victory City by Salman Rushdie ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had a hard time getting through this one, but this book about a nine-year-old who becomes goddess and lives for 250 years - long enough to see a city she created be born and die - got me at the end when she speaks of how words are all that is left.
What I’m Reading
Persuasion: Frances Fukuyama on Global Chaos (and why you don’t need to worry about it)
Taylor Lorenz: Top Stanford researcher smeared as a 'CIA censorship supervillain'
New York Times Opinion: No Poll Can Tell Biden What He Needs to Hear
European Commission: State of the Digital Decade 2024 report
The Guardian: #ukpolitics: how the 2024 general election has played out on TikTok
Washington Post: Opinion - Great leaders are scarce. How do we increase the supply?
Bond/Mary Meeker: AI & Universities – Will Masters of Learning Master New Learnings?
Wired: YouTube’s Rulings on Gaza War Videos Spark Internal Backlash
Institute of Global Politics: Information Operations Targeting Elections
Reuters: Google to simplify disclosures for digitally altered content in election ads
Bertelsmann Stiftung: The Making of Misinformed Choice: Digital technologies in election cycles. Insights from nine countries in Asia.
TechCrunch: YouTube now lets you request removal of AI-generated content that simulates your face or voice
Associated Press: The Supreme Court will hear an appeal to upend Texas' age verification law for porn websites
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