Hello, hello! August was a slow month for me, reading-wise. I spontaneously signed up for a 2-week intensive Dutch course, which meant I spent three hours every morning from 9 am to 12 pm in a classroom, attempting to speak a foreign language.
Each afternoon, I’d go home, eat lunch, and then zone out while I binge-watched Shameless (so good!). I’m not complaining. But it didn’t leave much headspace for other things.
Now the challenge is finding a way to stick to it. My plan is to spend 15-30 minutes each afternoon studying and, hopefully, overcome my fear of speaking by ordering more in Dutch at restaurants and cafés.
The thing is, Amsterdam is so international that the staff are often expats and also do not speak Dutch. It’s also hard to learn because Dutch people speak English so well (at least in Amsterdam) and they always switch to English when they realize you have no idea what you’re saying. But I’m gonna try to keep going!
Now, onto the books…
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Exit Interview by Kristi Coulter
In this memoir, Kristi Coulter chronicles her toxic experience working at Amazon for 12 years until she eventually quit. Here’s a great review that explains it way better than I ever will.
I was initially intrigued by the subtitle, “The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career” because I’ve been rethinking my career and ambitions lately. I don’t have any concrete plans aside from working on my first book (alongside my freelance work), but earlier this year, I thought I had lost my ambition, and now I’m realizing it has simply been redirected. I’d love to know a bit more about where Kristi is now—I hope she’s working on another book, though I cannot find any mention of it on her website or social media.
Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed edited by Meghan Daum
This anthology is a collection of beautifully written essays—mainly by women—who are childfree by choice. As someone who doesn’t have or want kids, I related to some part of every essay. It was interesting to learn about other people’s stories on the topic and how they arrived at their choice. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s on the fence and wants to read about other people’s experiences.
Other—shorter reads—I’ve recently enjoyed
I’m Begging You: Never Write With A.I. (gift link)
They Went Abroad to Save Money. Moving Back Seems Unaffordable. (gift link)
What have you read recently? What’s on your TBR list? Please share in the comments!
Take care,
Alexis
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Hi! I am indeed working on my next book, a novel. Actually just finished the draft, which took just over three years. I’ll be sending it to my agent by the end of this month!
According to Google, Amsterdam is the most accommodating city in Europe to Americans who speak English.