My January Reading

My reading speed seems to have dropped off even more this year if this month is any indication. However, I read great books, so I can't really complain. The Happiness Project had languished on my TBR for years, and every year, I made plans to read it, but it has never happened, for some reason. Not sure why, because it is eminently readable. This year, I decided to spread the reading out, and that's helping to get me to move on it.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Categories: Nonfiction
Comments: One day, Rubin asked herself what it was that she wanted from her life. And the answer that came to her was to be happy. That started her on a year-long happiness project of self-examination and self-determination. This book is a collection of her thoughts and conclusions of her project and the tools and methods, she used to work through her issues. sEach chapter in this book is by month. I'm going to be reading this book, one month at a time. So expect to see something about this book in every month's reading roundup. This month, I read the "Getting Started" and "January" chapters. My review is here.

Gutenberg the Geek by Jeff Jarvis
Categories: Nonfiction
Comments: Johannes Gutenberg, of the printing press fame, was history's first technology entrepreneur and should be Silicon Valley's patron saint. He is also credited with training and producing more entrepreneurs who went on to build tremendous value of their own.

In the end, it was his cash flow and equity structure that did him in. After pivoting from one business to another, solving myriad technology problems with keen insight, recruiting his team, raising capital, perfecting his product through secret alphas and public betas, launching his business, finding customers, and earning revenue, the founder's main investor call in his loan, and in a nasty legal battle, took possession of most of the company's assets.

Gutenberg, who used technology to create a manufacturing industry, was perhaps the genesis of industrialization itself. He had a profound impact on the major events in the centuries to follow. This book goes into great detail about Gutenberg's working years and how he researched and developed all the technology behind his press. Through trial and error and with great vision and determination, he kept refining his product until it was just right. And despite his success being snatched away by his investor, his name came to be associated with his product forever more.

Daughters of a Nation by Kianna Alexander, Alyssa Cole, Lena Hart, Piper Huguley
Categories: Historical Romance
Comments: This is an anthology of stories of black suffragettes, where the desperate struggle for equal voting rights for black men and for women is told against the backdrop of American history and the romantic entanglements of the protagonists. I truly enjoy historicals where I’m not only entertained by a well-written story, but I also learn about a part of history about which I have had no prior knowledge. So I really appreciated seeing a bibliography at the end of three of the stories in this anthology. A welcome first for me, because I’m interested in following up on the history behind these stories. This is a unique book in historical context, and one I recommend. My review is here.. Here's a bit about the individual stories:

In the Morning Sun (1868) by Lena Hart
Having lost her beloved James Blakemore to the Civil War, Madeline Asher’s ready to follow her other passion. She moves from her home in Philadelphia to Nebraska to educate and enlist the freedmen to vote. But James isn’t dead, and she runs into him in that tiny town and they learn how difficult it is to be a biracial couple there.

The Washerwomen’s War (1881) by Piper Huguley
Mary Frances Harper, the young daughter of the famous poet suffragette Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, is invited to take a month off from being a student at Milford College to teach adult women at the Atlanta Female Baptist Seminary. There, she comes face-to-face with Gabriel Harmon, a minster whom she’d refused to marry when they’d met before. The two get deeply involved in the washerwomen’s uprising and demand for fair wages.

A Radiant Soul (1881) by Kianna Alexander (1881)
Sarah Webster is a dedicated pastry chef at a hotel in Wyoming Territory. She meets Owen Markham when she returns home to Fayetteville, North Carolina. He’s involved fighting for equal voting rights for black men. Their relationship has to allow for them both to be activists while doing their day jobs.

Let Us Dream (1917) by Alyssa Cole
Bertha Hines owns a successful cabaret in Harlem. In her spare time, she teaches classes on the rights of citizens, civics, and politics for the marginalized African American women of New York City. Enter Amir Chowdhury, an illegal Muslim immigrant from Bengal, India, who jumped a British ship to settle in America. Little did he realize that he’d be treated like an alien and have to hide from immigration officials. He gets involved in activism for immigration reform. The two struggle with acceptance for their bi-racial relationship.

Obama's Legacy by The Washington Post
Categories: Nonfiction
Comments: Bold, deft, and articulate, this collection by some of The Washington Post's best journalists is a great look into the Obamas' public life in the White House. From policy to personal attacks, most aspects of their public life is discussed, critiqued, and praised in these pages. I loved reading it and will return to it.