Late Summer Reading List

A collection of what our team is reading and revisiting this season ~

Books!  Don't forget about them, they might save your life ~

"Arlo has been really loving these books from Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen's shape trilogy. We read Square or Triangle almost every night and we can't wait to complete the collection with Circle. These books are just as enjoyable for parents to read as they are for little ones. They legitimately make us all LOL. The illustrations are so beautiful that any or all of these books are also perfect for gifting. Emma gave me Pathways to Bliss for my birthday! I just started it but I can't put it down. I'm going in not knowing too much about Joseph Campbell, but I'm really interested in reading how mythology functions and how bigger themes of mythology can be applied to growth on my own little personal level. Symbolic wisdom guiding to the pathways to bliss? Sounds really good to me. It feels like a book I will want to re-read and come back to and mine for bliss gems." ~ Hillary 

"Right now I'm reading Let my people go surfing, by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia.  I listened to his interview on "How I Built This" on NPR and wanted to know more about his story.  This book was originally written for his employees and it is a chronicle of the beginnings of Patagonia and his philosophy towards business, design principles and the environment.  Patagonia was originally just Yvon making handmade forged pitons for rock climbing, which branched out and evolved into other areas over many years.  He never wanted to be a business man. He is a minimalist, an environmentalist and he believes in truly sustainable business practices.  He has proven that privately held "slow growth" companies with ethical practices can be hugely successful and profitable." I also just finished reading Michael Singer's The Untethered Soul a few months ago and I am now reading A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle. Both books explore the concepts of separating your consciousness, your true self, from your ego, the thoughts in your head and from the "form" of existence. Eckhart goes deeper and I am loving his podcast with Oprah exploring the book as well.  I am getting so much from it and highly recommend it." ~ Emma

"I just read Trevor Noah's book "Born a Crime."  I listened to it on
audible while I bottled Everyday Oil.  It was an eye opening
experience listening to Trevor Noah's story.  We live such privileged
lives here in the United States and most of us will never achieve what
he has with much less." ~ Jackson

"I've been trying to find a meditation style that works for me and have had a hard time sticking to one. The book Strength in Stillness is simple to read and Bob's tone has sparked my interest enough to pursue finding a TM teacher and taking the traditional taught four-day course this fall. I find the stories inspiring and am drawn to how many different people, from all different walks of life have found this method to work beautifully for them. It makes me excited for what is to come!" Also, When Things Fall Apart, by Pema Chödrön.  In good times and bad this book has been my trusty companion for many years. It is the one I gift whenever a friend is going through a hard time and the one I take with me whenever I am leaving town for a few months, I always want it near. Pema sums it up here:  “Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we like to dream about. The off-center, in-between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don't get caught and we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit. It's a very tender, non-aggressive, open-ended state of affairs.”" ~ Sam

I’m currently reading “The Accidental” by Ali Smith. I’m only 8 pages in so I can’t say too much at this point, but I chose to read it because Ali Smith is one of my all-time favorite authors. Before I picked this up, I re-read “How To Be Both,” which is an incredible read if you love art or museums or spent a lot of time engaging with either as a kid. Smith’s writing is serious, hilarious and deeply human all at the same time. Honestly, just a delight to read. ~ Stephanie

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