The best books have a way of turning introverts into evangelists, extroverts into masters of quiet self-reflection. They stay with you for days, weeks, months, sometimes years. They subtly change the lens through which you view the world, they become a reference point for future conversations. I’ve been lucky enough to read many such books over the course of my life, but there are three that served as essential inspiration for Parea. Before our first books come out, I want to give credit to the extraordinary books that I recommend to every single Parea author, every friend looking for a recommendation, and that I re-read multiple times per year.
I also thought it might be fun to send a weekly book recommendation roundup. Hopefully you think it’s fun, too. We’ll start with these three :)
Silence in the Age of Noise, by Erling Kagge
A dear friend who prefers to do almost anything before picking up a book recommended this one to me. The fact that he 1) read this entire book and 2) liked it enough to recommend it to me was enough to pique my interest, but I was not prepared for the impact this book would have on me. It’s written by Erling Kagge, the first person to reach the South Pole alone. He is a self-described arctic explorer, but he’s also an erudite philosopher. This book is his reflection on the beauty of the solace one can find in silence and solitude. It’s great in so many ways: it’s short and easy to read due to the simplicity of the prose, every single sentence is packed with profound ideas, scientific research is woven in seamlessly, and it encourages deep self-reflection. I found myself underlining and highlighting almost every single page. I snapped pictures of different passages, eagerly sending them to friends I knew could relate. I thought about my own relationship to noise and technology. I was inspired to take a technology break, turning off my phone for the day after I read it. It brought me far away from the stifling early days of COVID and to a completely new world. It brought into consciousness the feeling I’m constantly searching for: wonder. I’ve gifted this book to a friend who was setting off to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, a friend who was drowning in a hole of anxiety, a friend who was missing her adventures in the mountains and yearning for a mental escape, and all of my Parea authors.
This book encapsulates so much of what I’m trying to capture with my books. It takes you on an adventure to a place you’ve never been and likely won’t go, it prods you to turn inwards and confront your discomfort with silence and your reliance on mindless noise, it gives you tangible, factual knowledge through the integration of research, and it inspires you to make some sort of change in your life. You feel better for having read it.
Punch Me Up to the Gods, by Brian Broome
I had an atypical journey with this book. I picked it up because it was the monthly pick for Literary Swag, a book club I had recently joined. It was positioned as a memoir and as such, I was expecting a linear journey of the author’s life from childhood to present times. The book did not deliver on my expectations. It starts in childhood, but it is not a complete retelling of the author’s life. There are snapshots, entire chapters dedicated to one single memory. There is also a second narrative happening alongside the memoir part—the author describes an experience he’s having in present tense that reminds him of the parts of his past he chooses to disclose with the reader, he also brilliantly weaves in poetry. The format itself is enough to make one think more than they would while reading a more traditional memoir, but the content…wow. I don’t think I’ve ever read a memoir or personal narrative that has stayed with me in such a visceral way.
The book is about the author’s experience growing up as a gay, Black man in a conservative part of Ohio in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. It takes the reader into his childhood, growing up with a homophobic and abusive father who goes to great lengths to remind him what a “man” looks and acts like. It exposes his deeply complicated relationship to himself and his sexuality. It courageously and truthfully represents his years of being lost in drugs. This book is so many things. It’s raw, it’s shockingly honest, it’s thought-provoking. To say it’s bold would be an understatement. It was my first time reading about this specific experience and I learned so much about perspectives I had never before explored. Rarely has a book brought me closer to understanding a world that I’ve never belonged to. Never has a book provoked so many important conversations among multiple groups of friends.
Anatomy of the Spirit, by Caroline Myss
I’ve already written about the transformative experience this book gave me a few years ago. If you didn’t read the post, here’s the gist: I brought this book on a trip to Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia and it was the foundation for an unforgettable experience with one of my closest friends. The book was recommended to me by one of the most talented, profound healers I’ve ever met—she knew I was processing some major life changes and figured this book would have something to offer me. As usual, she was spot on. The author is an intuitive healer and gives many examples of solving medical mysteries that befuddle traditional physicians. She’s able to sense through someone’s energy what their physical ailments are, she strongly believes in the connection between the mind, heart, and body. The first half of the book details stories that are simultaneously difficult to understand yet make sense when you really think about them: stories of people who have cancer but start feeling better once they address the major emotional challenges in their lives, of people who have unrelenting bodily pain that won’t go away with prescription pills but alleviates once they address their emotional and energy blockages.
The second half of the book is where it gets really good. She writes in-depth about each chakra and how a lack or abundance of energy can manifest physically. She gives examples of how these things manifest in real life. She gives advice and suggestions for recognizing and remedying these energy imbalances. Most importantly, she leaves you with ten provocative self-reflection questions at the end of each chapter. These questions do not go easy on you! They’re confronting and uncomfortable, but if you take the time to reflect and answer honestly and thoughtfully, you will undoubtedly do months’ worth of therapy in the time it takes you to answer the questions. I had the even more impactful experience of reading the book and doing the questions in tandem with my close friend and travel partner. Not only did I learn about my own truths that had been buried for years, but I met my friend in an entirely new way. This book’s unique way of engaging with the reader, inviting the reader to really experience the concepts being taught in the book serve as constant inspiration for Parea books.
And, for fun, here are two books I’m looking forward to reading: Trust, by Hernan Diaz and Elena Knows, by Claudia Piñero.