Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime

Stories from Trevor Noah‘s childhood during Apartheid in South Africa

I picked this up with little to no expectations. My siblings and I watch The Daily Show regularly so this was a way to learn more about the dimpled man who followed in Jon Stewart’s foot steps.

It’s hard to imagine Trevor Noah as anything other than the handsome, elegant, and confident man on TV. But there is so much more than meets the eye and this book made me respect the comedian with the childish jokes that sometimes don’t land so much more. Noah grew up wearing many hats: from a rambunctious devil child that no one could control to a teen with severe acne whose first date to a school dance was one he paid for through a deal with a friend. And that’s not even the half of it: Noah was a straight up hustler finding money making opportunities wherever he could from using his athletic build and speed to get lunch for kids at school who couldn’t run to the food trucks fast enough to beat the daily lunch lines to selling pirated CDs at a time where no one owned a CD writer to DJ’ing in the hood.

Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

A book on decluttering and organizing based on the KonMari method

Yes, you read right — even with all of my OCD tendencies – I read a book on organizing. I have to say it has its merits, some are overambitious, but definitely worth a try.

After reading the book, I thought the author was bold in saying decluttering would change your life; definitely didn’t believe it was a game changer. But here I am – two weeks later – finding myself tossing things in my house that don’t give me joy. I’m taking stock of my inventory and asking myself whether I’m ever going to use the item at hand. 9 out of 10 times, the item is being kept because of a flawed thought: it may come in handy down the road. For example, pajamas – I have a ton of pajamas that I don’t wear anymore yet am keeping them around in the event that maybe, just maybe, I’ll need them when I’m painting my house (true story). I can’t remember the last time I painted so why do I need to save something for an event that may or may not happen?

Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air

An inspiring autobiography about a neurosurgeon that grapples with a fatal cancer diagnosis

It’s very rare that a non-fiction book moves me and this book did just that. I couldn’t put it down. The book gave me a lot of feels that I hope I can portray in the following summary:

Death is such a foreign concept — we throw phrases around like “live everyday like it’s your last” and “live life to the fullest” but most of us aren’t actually living out those phrases. And it’s for good reason — we have jobs, bills, and countless other responsibilities we’re held accountable for. And that’s life. We hear stories about people quitting their day jobs to go on a crazy life changing adventure but does anyone ever talk about what happens to those afterwards? No? Probably because they’re now trying to make a living somewhere.

Amy Schumer’s The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo

Random chaotic ramblings of Amy Schumer

I really didn’t care for Amy Schumer’s crude humor so honestly, I have no idea why I even picked this book up but I think it has a lot to do with the title — it’s hilarious! And, it may have something to do with the fact that no other book appealed to me during that month’s book of the club selection so by order of elimination — I ended up with this book.

Jokes aside, I’m glad I read it — I like her so much better now that I know more about her. She’s real and keeps it real in her book, putting her entire business on the line from her parent’s infidelity to her one-time one-night stand to loving her body. She takes these otherwise serious topics and pokes fun at them.