book recommendations

3 Great Books

January 28, 2020

Have you read any good books lately? I’ve slowed down on my reading lately, but I do have a few great reads that I wanted to pop in and share with you all. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I never know what to pick when I’m searching for a good book. I like to bookmark it when my friends share books they enjoyed so I have something to refer to when my book-amnesia hits.

First up is this sweet little book called Inward by Yung Pueblo (Amazon). I bought this book because I wanted to support his work after really enjoying his instagram and I’m really just pleasantly surprised by how much this book is touching me. It’s already totally dog-eared and on its way to tattered status. Here a few quotes I loved:

progress
is when we
forgive ourselves
for taking so long
to treat our bodies
like a home
-yung pueblo, inward

and…

if you spend too long
not letting yourself be creative
you can literally start feeling sick
you were born to create
let it flow, do not overthink it
-yung pueblo, inward

It’s full of these very wise snippets. I find it’s the perfect book to read before bed or before you meditate in the morning.

I also really enjoyed reading The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Amazon). It was a beautiful, lyrical, gripping novel. You know the kind of books that just propel the pages to turn? That’s this book. Coates writes about slavery and the underground railroad and Virginia and magic with such vividness. I learned so much reading this book and I’m so thankful that it exists.

Educated by Tara Westover (Amazon) is another book I can’t stop raving about. What an incredible memoir. She writes about growing up in an uber conservative evangelical Mormon community in Idaho where she never went to school and spent her days working in her dad’s junkyard. This book documents her coming to terms with her upbringing and her eventual separation from her family whens she went to college and took a different path than the one laid out by her family structure. While her experience was way more extreme than mine, I identified with her story in so many ways. I went to a liberal arts college many states away after growing up in a conservative Christian home. I had to negotiate so many different worlds and understand where my roots still fit into my life and where I needed to chart my own path. I didn’t do it with nearly the grace that Westover did and I still feel like I’m finding my way, but reading her story helped me to understand some of the turmoil I went through in my early twenties.

Okay, those are my latest books. What about you? Reading anything great?

books, deep thoughts

Book Spotlight on Unashamed: Musings of a Fat, Black Muslim by Leah Vernon

January 8, 2020

When I was in my mid-twenties, I landed what I thought was my dream gig: writing unpaid reviews of rap videos on a popular music blog. Let me see if I can find anything in the internet archives…yep, here we go. I die at little MeeshyD and her commentary: “You can practically feel the sexual tension in the air when the two arrive at the show and go their separate ways, leaving Trey to reminisce about the naughty times they shared together while she created her masterpieces.”

I decided pretty quickly that my dream gig didn’t make me feel that good inside because I’m just not a critic. I’ve learned so much from reading thoughtful critique from writers I admire, but it’s just not me. Consuming art with the express purpose of finding ways to praise or asses its value just didn’t feel right to my soul. For anyone who knows me, it will come as no surprise that most of my reviews were glowing. The only conflict I had with my editor was finding ‘balance’ in my posts which you can tell caused me to start my own blog where I can be as glowing as I damn well please.

In keeping with my legacy as a poor critic, I’m not going to do reviews on meeshyd.com, but I will make recommendations for books and other art I admire. I feel compelled to do whatever I can to encourage thoughtful, courageous creativity because I know first-hand how hard it is to put work out there in the world that is vulnerable and true, which brings me to the topic at hand: Leah Vernon’s book, Unashamed: Musings of a Fat, Black Muslim. I have followed Leah online for years now and I have witnessed her struggle and her success. She speaks truth and she creates great art and she has written a truly beautiful book that I was happy to buy and read and, finally, share with you all here. In her memoir, she tells the story of her life growing up Muslim in Detroit with a struggling mom and an absent father as well as the story of her painful 10-year marriage. She shares her traumatic experiences in detail, but she also brings us along to her redemption, which happened when she finally gave herself permission to be imperfect and also unashamed of her identity as a fat, black muslim woman. I really loved reading this book and I hope you will consider supporting Leah by buying a copy for yourself and by following her online. She’s a real NYC model these days and I love cheering her on in the comments section on her insta.

Am I a fangirl? 100%.

Do you have any other great work from creatives that you’d like to shout out? Feel free to fire away in the comments, even (and especially) if that courageous work comes from you!

books, just for fun

5 Wonderful Books

November 26, 2019

Friends.

If you’re reading here, my guess is that you love books. I bet you grew up with your head in a book and that you’d rather read than do most anything, even as an adult. I know I’m constantly looking for a book that is going to speak to me on a soul level, leaving me better having read it. It doesn’t always happen, does it? But, when that book magic hits and it teaches you an important life lesson in the gentle way that books have… wow, I love that feeling so much.

These books below spoke to me in so many ways, so I wanted to share them here for you. Please take what resonates with you and let me know if you want to chat about it. I love bonding over reading.

The Alchemist (amazon)

This book reconnected me to what I believe is my purpose on this planet – to express myself via writing. I saw myself in the hero’s journey in pursuing his Personal Legend. It is an engrossing, beautiful read. If you haven’t read it, I highly, highly recommend.

The Untethered Soul (amazon)

This book taught me so much about spirituality. I reread it multiple times. It helped me understand how to transcend the incessant voice in my head and get in touch with my true soul. It was a truly impactful read for me and I highly recommend it to any spiritual seeker.

The Surrender Experiment (amazon)

This book is the perfect companion to The Untethered Soul. It tells the story of the author, Michael Singer, who applied the concepts he teaches in The Untethered Soul to his own life journey. It’s a real-life example of what it means to surrender. Beautiful.

You are a Badass (amazon)

This book kick-started my whole spiritual journey, so I have such a big soft spot for it. It’s a great read for learning how to get out of your own way and trust the flow of the universe, to level up into the person you want to be. It is informal and easy to read, but the concepts pack a punch. It’s a great read if you’re like, ‘spiritual what? who?’ It’s a great place to start.

The Artist’s Way (amazon)

This one is still new to me, but it again validated how important the creative pursuit is to the artist. It argues that making time and space for creativity is vital for people who consider themselves creative or who have creative yearnings. I didn’t realize how much stifling my creativity was hurting me until I read this book. I haven’t had time to do all of the processes and workshops, but I do try to do the artist’s pages every morning and I have found it super helpful.

Those are some books close to my heart. I hope you enjoy them, friends. Now, more importantly: what are you reading right now? Please let me know the books that speak to your heart so I can add them to my library.