my current reading list (as someone who used to hate reading)
I kid you not, before this year I don’t think I’ve finished a single book since required reading in high school about 10 years ago. We can blame that on my attention span, busy schedule, or blatant lack of interest in reading. Well a lot has changed this year, and lucky for me, I’m now a self-proclaimed book worm. For lack of better words (lol), books are f*cking awesome. Being someone who would (unintentionally) avoid reading a full book, I want to share with you all a few books that I highly recommend.
I’ll start with the books I’m currently reading and very obsessed with:
This Is Not A T-Shirt: A Brand, a Culture, a Community — a Life in Streetwear by Bobby Hundreds
As a recovering 00’s era streetwear and sneakerhead, this book means a lot to me. During the Xanga and Myspace days back in middle school and high school, I would spend hours on sneaker forums (mainly ISS and FemaleSneakerFiend) keeping up with the latest releases, posting my greatest fits on WDYWT, and going back and forth with strangers about the best underground hip-hop artists and mixtape releases. I’d read blogs from brands like The Hundreds and Brooklyn Projects as if it were the daily news. When we’d visit family in LA once a month, my (amazing) mom would always drive me to Fairfax and Melrose to visit the mecca of shops where I’d cop one-of-a-kind sneakers and clothes that nobody else at my school had.
If you were to ask younger me why I was so obsessed, I probably wouldn’t be able to give you a straight answer aside from “it’s just cool” and “it’s different”. Looking back now, I’d say at the time it felt almost refreshing to be involved with an exclusive culture and community that very few folks (and even fewer girls) were a part of. I was (and still am) always finding ways to embrace the “other” and standing out from the crowd. In this book, Bobby writes a lot about how he was always going against the stream too, and I think that’s what made me fall in love with streetwear culture initially.
This book really takes me back to simpler times…so much nostalgia. I’m just a few pages into Chapter 13 and I’ve got to say, Bobby Hundreds is inspiring as f*ck. I’ve seen the rise and over-saturation of streetwear through the very lens Bobby writes about in his book. The most intriguing aspect of The Hundreds story in particular, is that Bobby built his brand on community and to this day, stands strong to “people > product” first. I think a lot of brands these days have lost sight of that value, or they never cared about building community to begin with.
So yeah, you’ve gotta read this. Even if you are clueless to the culture during that era, there’s a lot to takeaway from his story.
Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer
To be transparent: between this year and last, I’ve gone through a lot of sh*t that I would never wish upon anyone (trauma, loss, you name it). I thought I had a solid grasp on navigating through life, and like a lot of twenty-somethings out there, I thought I had it all figured out. I was dead wrong…nobody really knows anything at all.
One of my best friends recommended that I read this book in 2014(-ish?), as it helped her through an extremely rough period of self-realization and transformation in her own life. I bought the book the moment she told me about it, but to be real, it sat in my trunk untouched for the past year or so, and it lived in my closet for even longer. Well finally, I dug this book out of my trunk a couple months ago when I was desperate to read something (anything) during my lunch break, and I truly believe it was divine intervention that I started it up again.
Disclaimer: I’ve been reading this book very, very slowly. Every chapter holds an important message/lesson that takes me a moment to process and put into practice. It’s a lot to soak in, but every time I read another chapter, I read something that I need to learn at the perfect time.
Here are a couple important takeaways that I’ve learned so far from reading Untethered Soul:
- Your “inner-roommate” doesn’t know sh*t. In the first chapter, Singer introduces your “Inner Roommate” aka those annoying, irrational thoughts that cloud your mind with self doubt, fear, and negativity. From this book, I’ve come to the realization that my inner roommate is not in alignment with my soul. We’ve all gotta tell that passenger in our brain to STFU in order to live in the present.
- Just let things go. Don’t hold on to the bad feelings, and don’t cling to the good ones either. If you spend your time holding on to a negative feeling or event, you’re keeping your heart closed and preventing the good energy to flow. Same goes with when you cling too tightly to the good – you’ll never find true happiness when you’re busy thinking about when things were “better” or what things “ought to be”.
- Keep your heart open, always. It may sound a bit cliché, but an open heart really does equal an open mind. When your heart is open, you allow love and positivity to flow through freely.
I could go on and on about what I’ve learned, but to sum it all up: this is the perfect book to read if you’re going through an intense period of transformation and self-realization. Pick it up when you’re ready.
Lastly, here’s a very very important book I read earlier this year…
Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss, M.D.
This one right here, man. Game changer.
Earlier this year, I lost someone that was like a little sister to me. She read this book a couple times before she passed and said it changed her life. I think it’s safe to say that after reading it a couple times myself, I understand why she felt so strongly about this particular book.
With very little prior knowledge on the subject, I’ve always felt connected to the concept of reincarnation. The experiences Dr. Brian Weiss shares in his book(s) have brought so much clarity on the soul’s journey and greater meaning of life. This book brought me peace. That’s all I can really say.
If you’ve made it this far reading this post, I hope I was able to convince you to pick up at least one (if not all) of the books I’ve listed here.
