Kate's Top 3 Adult Nonfiction Reads of 2024
Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say and How to Be an Ally by Emily Ladau
This book gives readers actionable steps to be an ally to the disabled community as well as how to act and what to say or not to say to disabled people. The author describes how to follow these steps in a nonjudgmental way. She realizes that everyone makes mistakes and she informs readers on terminology to use and to eliminate from your vocabulary when it comes to the disabled community.
This is a concise guide to help readers become more educated, empathetic and accepting. I highly recommend reading this book.
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
This book focuses on life values that align with my way of thinking, therefore I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The author explains how important it is to focus on gratitude, reciprocity and community. She uses nature based examples to explain how the natural world also lives by these values.
Other books by this author include Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Give this book a try if you enjoy nature and short reads.
The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work by Simone Stolzoff
This book urges readers to reclaim their lives from a work obsessed world. It suggests putting more emphasis on our lives outside of work and allowing ourselves to believe we are doing a good enough job in our work lives.
The author offers strategies for how to have a healthier relationship with work and how to have a better work-life balance. If you are struggling with burnout at your job, this book will hopefully help you realign the important things in your life and make you realize you are doing a 'good enough job' in your career.
I really enjoyed these two quotes from the book:
“You are not the work you do, you are the person you are.”
(Edited to add: This was originally said - or rather, written - by Toni Morrison in a 2017 New Yorker article titled The Work You Do, the Person You Are. It was quoted with the source in the book. Thanks to the reader who pointed out this additional context would be good to add!)
and
“A good enough job is a job that allows you to be the person you want to be.”
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