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.

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.