Author: Patricia Elzie

This book begins by detailing the importance of not focusing on goals, but instead focusing on systems and habits. There are many sports analogies in this book and the author points out that winners and losers have the same goal: to win. Having the goal of winning isn’t what leads to success; instead, it’s having a system in place where you make continuous small improvements to achieve the desired outcome. Also, having a goal makes there be an end point or as Clear puts it, a momentary change. So you reach the goal then what?

Clear proposes a system of atomic habits: small, consistent improvements that can build on each other to fuel bigger wins, bigger successes, etc. He talks about habits not only being “a thing you do” but how habits foster changes in your identity. It’s the difference between learning an instrument and becoming a musician or between reading a book and being a reader.

After making a very compelling argument for why habits, the book goes on to give a roadmap for how to successfully build habits. Not only how to successfully build good habits, but also how to break bad habits. He starts with introducing the “habit loop,” a cycle of four things: Cue, Craving, Response, and Reward. That is, make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying. He also inverts it for us so that we have a roadmap for how to break a bad habit.

The bulk of the book is then breaking down these four elements and how to implement them in a way that works. After that, there are some advanced tactics for going from good to great. I think one of the most important parts of this book is when he talks about how to continue cultivating a habit when it gets derailed.

Heads up that this book is very heavy on examples focusing on exercise, weight loss, and a couple things here and there that have the pallor of diet culture.

If you have set any goal or intentions or resolutions for this year, this book can be extremely helpful.

The premise of this book is that we need boredom in order to foster creativity while at the same time, boredom is increasingly hard to come by, especially with our current level of access to technology. I want to make it very clear that Bored & Brilliant is not anti-technology. I love technology! You’re reading this right now using technology. Some of my reading is done with the help of technology. The author is also a fan and user of technology, but wants readers to be engaged with technology in a more deliberate way rather than the mindless filling in the silences or gaps in stimulation that happen in elevators, on transit, and so forth.

Zomorodi created the Bored & Brilliant project in 2015 to try to find out, “If we changed our relationship to our gadgets, could we generate bigger and better ideas? Would there be a ripple effect of changes to the way we work, the way we parent, the way we relate to one another? Could this change the way we see the world?” It is a seven-step project that this book goes through, along with research about boredom and how technology affects our brains. The project is presented in a way that allows for readers to do it on our own.

One of the sections that really stuck with me was when the author begins discussing how technology has affected people’s ability to do deep reading. The internet has changed how we read, not only via language but scrolling and hyperlinks. It’s no longer the linear activity it often was. Zomorodi learns that people are losing the ability to “deep read,” that is, to sit with a book or novel that is involved and to focus and retain the information. As a reader, a writer, a librarian, a book enthusiast and professional, this is terrifying to me.

Another section that really stuck with me is about how tech professionals and visionaries, like Steve Jobs, limited or denied their own children access to tech. This alone is so telling and chilling to say the least.

Each time I read this book, it resets my relationship to my mobile phone and I’m grateful for it.

Full-disclosure: I am not a yoga practitioner. Historically, I am very yoga-averse. Specifically I have a strong aversion to American yoga from the cultural appropriation to the connection to the wellness industry. It’s been really hard to imagine a place for someone like me in a yoga practice; however, after reading this book, which was both an informative and cathartic experience, I was inspired to give yoga another try. That is how remarkable this book is.

According to Stanley, Yoga means “to yoke,” as in to join together. Lightness and darkness, good and bad. She says, “to yoke is to marry breath, though, and movement, to connect the body, mind, and spirit.” It’s about balance. She makes this connection in writing about her imposter syndrome and the necessity of embracing those fears. As is often said, you can’t have lightness without darkness. She talks about giving herself permission to take up space and giving herself permission to not know everything.

The way Jessamyn Stanley writes about poses and breathwork really connected with me in a way it hasn’t in the past. She talks about the yoga of everyday life. Yoga as a thing that you don’t only do in a studio or on a mat. Yoga as the daily project of living. The author’s teachings in this book are connected to stories of her own learning. It is both educational and memoir. I want to mention that she talks about fasting so if that is a trigger for you, know that it is discussed in this book.

My favorite parts of this book are her examinations of the American yoga industrial complex, the whiteness of American yoga, and the cultural appropriation which is so prevalent in American yoga. She gets very real about her own participation in capitalism and cultural appropriation and I think that’s finally what convinced me to take down some of my walls I had up that were keeping yoga at bay.

I enjoyed this book way more than I expected and as I mentioned, it has compelled me to integrate yoga into my own life.

I have been a fan of the UFYH site for years, before it was even a site and was a Tumblr. It is not about minimalism. It is not about keeping a perfectly clean home. It’s about doing what you can with what you have and not only what you have physically at your disposal, but with what sort of physical and emotional bandwidth you have. This book is about each and every one of us deserving to live in a space that we are glad to be in or at least, doesn’t stress us the hell out because of cleanliness.

My habitat, like that of many others, takes a nosedive when my mental health isn’t its best. Some people have never learned basic housekeeping activities. Some people have disabilities that limit the amount they can clean. Some people live in small spaces or share a space with others or have children or dependents to clean after on top of cleaning up after themselves. UFYH is about doing something, anything, instead of nothing. No matter how small, regardless of your gender (no gender roles here, folks).

Just starting the sometimes massive undertaking of cleaning can be enough to turn anyone off from doing it at all. The author has tips on where to start and is a big fan of what she calls 20/10s, that is, cleaning for 20 minutes then having a rest for 10 minutes. Repeat that as much as needed. It helps mitigate the cleaning burnout that can happen from marathon cleaning, that is, cleaning for multiple hours at a time without breaks. Sure, you can get it done that way but then you’re also burned out on cleaning so you avoid it for the next three months and you’re back to square one.

There are many cleaning basics because not everyone knows how to clean, like an outline of how to clean a bathroom. There are also some excellent checklists, like things to do in the evening to make the next morning go more smoothly. There are also some really valuable talking points for talking to a person you share a space with, how to ask for help, and questions to ask if you’re helping someone else clean their space.

Most importantly, the tone is full of kindness and empathy. It’s been such a valuable resource.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl aka Doreen Green is a hero who has both the powers of squirrel and girl. I’m going to say something that may be controversial: Squirrel Girl is the best and brightest star in the Marvel Universe. This comic reminds me on every page about why I love comics so much. While the character debuted in 1991, I recommend starting with the 2015 run and specifically Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Volume 1: Squirrel Power.

Doreen Green is a first-year computer science student. She lives in the dorms with a roommate, Nancy Whitehead. Nancy doesn’t technically have any superpowers but she certainly has the power of sass and a cat about whom she writes fanfiction. This volume is really about getting to know Squirrel Girl and her friends (as well as her sidekick, a squirrel named Tippy-Toe). Squirrel Girl is super strong and likes to eat nuts and kick butts but rarely if ever does she defeat villains by using only physical force. She’s incredibly clever and often either defeats villains by using her smarts or she just uses the power of friendship. Yes these are all-ages comics and yes, a superhero using the power of friendship might not really sound appealing but I promise you, it is so fabulously excellent. Warning: these comics are full of puns and I am endlessly impressed with the number of puns they are able to squeeze into these pages.

The wonderful and maybe sad news is that this run of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is complete. There are twelve volumes of trades available as well as some accompanying books and a graphic novel titled The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe. If you’re the kind of person that doesn’t like to read comics until they’re all available, then this is great! But I warn you, you’re going to fall in love with Doreen and all her friends and you’ll never want it to end.

Hannah works at the magical supply shop—not a shop of magic tricks but supplies for use in witchcraft. Hannah just finished her junior year of high school and recently broke up with her ex, Veronica, a graduating senior. Both Hannah and Veronica are witches. Specifically, they are Elemental witches who can both manipulate and draw power from the elements: earth, fire, air, and water. There are two other types of witches as well, Caster witches (who cast spells) and Blood witches. Blood witches are rare. They are also frowned upon and even feared by the other types of witches.

We learn right away that Hannah absolutely despises Veronica. It’s not super clear why they broke up but it all centers around a past terrifying experience during a trip. There was a Blood witch involved, so they’re both hyper-sensitive and paranoid about a Blood witch being around, but there haven’t been Blood witches in Salem in forever.

Hannah’s best friend is Gemma, who is a reg which is short for regular which is what the witches in this universe call non-witches. Gemma does not know that Hannah is a witch nor even that magic exists. As you can expect, Hannah would get in huge trouble with the council if that secret were let out. The person in charge of the coven is Lady Ariana, who is not someone to be reckoned with.

This book begins around the end of the school year but before graduation. There’s a celebratory bonfire that the incoming seniors and graduating seniors attend. This is where the excitement starts. There’s a scream and not far from the bonfire someone had started a different fire and by the looks of it, they were attempting and maybe even succeeding at some kind of magic. There’s blood. Was it a blood witch, even though there aren’t supposed to be any around for many decades? Was it some witch who isn’t part of their coven? Was it a reg trying their hand at magic?

This book is mystery and teen messiness and magic and really bad relationship decisions and I love mess! At the end of the book, it’s very clear that the story continues into the second book, This Coven Won’t Break (which is already available for purchase).

Blair Imani is a Black, bisexual, and Muslim educator, historian, and internet influencer who makes great videos under the series name Smarter in Seconds. These videos are often under a minute long and will give concise explanations of anything from online harassment to how to apologize to gaslighting to bisexuality. This book is almost like a bunch of those little videos all together in book form. She tackles a lot of big subjects and supplies readers with enough information that we can walk away knowing basic definitions and also ideas about where we need to dive deeper. A single chapter in a book is in no way enough to tackle something like gender but it’s maybe enough to give an overview to a relative who has perhaps not thought deeply about it.

The author starts with the self and focuses on identity from name pronunciation to gender and deadnames and last names and pronouns and more. Then she moves on to relationships like family structures, intimate partnerships, abusive relationships, boundaries, and things like how to be accountable to your circles and how to apologize.

One of my favorite sections is about class where she answers questions like “What is capitalism? and “What is socialism?” We already have socialist programs, like the postal service and the library! “What do people mean when they talk about wealth hoarding?” There are also great sections on race and racism and disability and so much more.

This book is a really phenomenal resource for folks who are new to thinking about all of these topics. I see it as not only a good personal read, but also a good gift for anyone from a young adult to an older relative who has not done any deliberate learning since they were in high school. You know the ones. The ones that respond to everything remotely new with, “Well, that’s not what I was taught.” What I like most about this book is that the subjects felt bite-sized. It was clear and concise and laid a lot of basic groundwork for further learning.

Our narrator and protagonist is Nishat. Nishat’s parents are Bangladeshi immigrants and they all live in Ireland. Nishat is super close to her younger (and very social) sister, Priti. The story starts with Nishat making the decision that she is going to come out as a lesbian to her fairly traditional parents. She steels herself to her decision while at Sunny Apu’s engagement party (Sunny Apu is a very distant relative but the closest they have in Ireland). That evening, Nishat goes to Google translate and figures out how to say lesbian in Bengali and plans her script.

The next morning while having her tea in the kitchen, she comes out to her parents. Their reaction isn’t extreme in the way that she was expecting. It was actually very cold. By the way, she didn’t tell Priti she was doing this. Priti knows Nishat is a lesbian, but didn’t know that she had decided to come out at that time. Later Nishat overhears her parents having a discussion that basically amounts to them thinking she’s in a phase and that she’ll grow out of being attracted to women.

Not long after is Sunny Apu’s wedding. The wedding party goes to get their henna done at the salon but Nishat isn’t feeling super social so she, an amateur henna artist, decides to do hers and Priti’s henna herself and it turns out pretty well! At the wedding, Nishat meets a beautiful girl named Flávia, well, re-meets her (they went to school together when they were much younger). Flávia has moved back and will be at the same school. Unfortunately, we learn that Flávia is also the cousin of Nishat’s mortal enemy, Chyna.

There is lots of secondary school (high school) drama, not the least of which is in the title of this book. The students need to make their own businesses. It’s a competition. It gets ugly but then it also gets so sweet and lovely because hey, it’s a romance!

Content warnings for racism, homophobia, bullying, and a queer character being outed.

This book takes place in New Orleans in an alternate post-Civil War setting with a steampunk overlay. In this alternate history, the Union and the Confederacy called it a draw so folks were free in the Union states and slavery was legal in the Confederate states. They would put gas masks on the enslaved people and pump them full of a gas that basically made them like living zombies that followed orders. New Orleans is considered neutral ground.

Our protagonist is a teen nicknamed Creeper, because of how deftly she can climb things. The goddess Oya has taken up residence inside Creeper, occasionally giving her visions or even working through her physically. Oya is the Yoruba goddess of the wind, one of the Orisha brought over with the Africans on the first trans-Atlantic slave-trader ships (I’m oversimplifying). Oya gives Creeper a startling vision that puts her on edge, and then Creeper overhears some men talking about a Haitian scientist who is willing to trade The Black God’s Drums for a jewel.

Creeper knows just who to tell, or rather, barter with having this information. There’s an airship Captain who would go to great lengths to keep this out of the hands of the Confederacy and Creeper is looking to become crew on an airship. When Creeper finally is able to talk to the captain privately, the captain, too, has a goddess in residence, the goddess Oshun.

This novella takes so many exciting twists and turns and it’s full of amazing, eclectic characters that make me want even more stories featuring them. It’s a super entertaining read and perfect for this time of year if you’re trying to meet an end-of-year reading goal.

Our protagonist is Briseis, a literal magical Black girl. She lives in Brooklyn with her two adoptive Moms who own a flower shop. Since a young age, Briseis has had an affinity for plants. More than an affinity, actually. She straight up has magical plant powers. She can grow an entire rose bush from a single pistil, but she doesn’t know a lot about her powers and because she tries so much to restrain herself, it often makes her tired and dizzy any time she uses it. If she is out and doesn’t keep her powers shoved down, trees will lean toward her and plants she walks by reach for her. Only her moms, who she calls Mom and Mo, know about her power but they don’t know much either. Because Briseis keeps her powers restrained, she also has no idea of everything she is capable of. Early on in the book she starts to discover something that I’m not going to give away because it had me on the edge of my seat.

As you can imagine, having such powers is really distracting. She’s grown apart from the only couple of friends she has and her high school grades are not good. On top of that, the rent is going up on the building where their apartment and flower shop is and money is already tight. Coincidentally, an estate attorney shows up saying that Briseis has been left a huge home and everything in it and the many acres it is on. She has been left all this by her birth mother’s sister, Circe, who has died.

Briseis and her moms decide to go check out this mysterious home in this tiny town hours outside the city. They figure it might be the answer to their financial problems and also, out in the middle of nowhere, maybe Briseis can give her powers a stretch. Big creepy home in a small town they’ve never been to? Recipe for weirdness for sure. She makes somes unexpected friends. She finds a secret garden which only has more secrets. The house, too, is full of secrets to be discovered.

I could not put down this book and fair warning, it ends in a cliffhanger and the sequel, This Wicked Fate, is supposed to be out in June of 2022.