The + Friday + Five: 08.30.24

The Friday + Five* is a brief list of things I have found meaningful, challenging, joyful, soothing, or quirky from the week. Some weeks will have themes, while others will feel like they were gathered by a raccoon hyped up on six shots of espresso. You’ve been warned.

Your Friday Five: 08.30.24 (The Book Edition)

I happened to order and receive a bunch of books over the past few weeks, so yes, today’s post should more accurately be titled, The + Friday + Eight.

What can I say? I’m a rule breaker.

Book Links: All links are affiliate links to my store on Bookshop

Let’s start off with a couple of books by people I know.

First up, from who Substacks at has writen the yet-to-be-released The Mystics Would Like a Word: Six Women Who Met God and Found a Spirituality for Today. I am unsure if we have ever met in person, but we connected over the interwebs and maybe a prayer service during lockdown? Feminist Prayers for My Daughter: Powerful Petitions for Every Stage of Her Life and Rewilding Motherhood: Your Path to an Empowered Feminine Spirituality, you can trust that this next offering from Shannon is solid. This is not just a “let me introduce you to some cool church people” book, but through the lives and lenses of these six women how we can address mental health, sexuality, environmental justice, art, and more. I have not started it yet, but this will def be one where I am gonna learn a whole lot!
Next up is Not So Sorry: Abusers, False Apologies, and the Limits of Forgiveness by , who substacks at , and is the author of The Defiant Middle: How Women Claim Life's In-Betweens to Remake the World. I have known Kaya via multiple podcast interviews and interactions online, and I continue to love her writing and vibe. I am not quite through the book, but Kaya, with such an inviting style, turns forgiveness on its head. As usual, she takes on tough issues and questions as if they were not. She matter-of-factly, with great story telling and bold claims, takes on the entire church forgiveness industrial complex and all its subsidiaries. So far, it’s a book that puts into words what my gut has been stoking for a while.
I am always looking for productive systems that can be tweaked to fit my personality and pace, so I picked up Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day after seeing it pop up on a few substacks. I am particularly interested in the idea of a single highlight and focus for the day. I instinctively do that already, but I am curious how it fits with other patterns I can pick up or put down.
On the recommendation from More Light Presbyterians, I ordered Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism to dive deeper into my understanding of antisemitism in light of what has been happening in Palestine as well as the historical and cultural broader implications for the United States and the world.
Soon, I will post about my ongoing ride on the roller-coaster of weight, exercise, diet, dieting, and body imagery, so this will be a good read. I admit, that this was an Instagram find, but after doing a little sleuthing, I decided to order Live Nourished: Make Peace with Food, Banish Body Shame, and Reclaim Joy by who substacks at . I have not started it yet, but I look forward to adding her voice to the chorus in my ongoing relationship with my body, health, weight, etc.
When I saw this title, The Enneagram for Black Liberation: Return to Who You Are Beneath the Armor You Carry by who substacks at I immediately added it to the cart. While I may not be the central target audience, as I skimmed a bit, I loved the vibe. I am sure this 3/4 will discover more than a few meaningful insights.
& 8. Bitter and its sequel, Pet, are two futurist YA reads from Akwaeke Emezi that a colleague recommended to me. The way they were described was compelling, so into the cart, they went!

Okay, there you go. They are all listed in my Bookshop Bookstore, or you can find them everywhere you buy books.

I opened the comments on this post for everyone, so feel free to drop some titles below. I am open to all genres, so please share some of your favorite reads, old or new!

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Random Photo/s from the Camera Roll: It was another bittersweet weekend as we dropped Youngest off for her final semester of undergrad. With two older kids, this is our last undergrad move-in, and as I shared on the Instagram photo dump, “To be completely clear, leaving our kids at school does not get any easier; we simply tend to our gratitude and grief better and better.” And yes, we all shop at the same glasses store :-)

*The Original Friday Five was a weekly-ish post from my 2010s SF Gate’s City Brights blog. If you stumble across anything that you think would fit, please feel free to drop me a note.