Showing posts with label life lessons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life lessons. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

GuRu

 


GuRu by RuPaul 191pp.

RuPaul enters the world of self-help books with this collection of ways to eliminate your self-imposed limitations alternating with photos of RuPaul in fabulous drag glory. The advice is as simple as waking up and praying, meditation, and ways to stop self-sabotage in your career, monetarily, and in your daily life. There's nothing new or earth-shaking here but the photos of RuPaul are wonderful. 

Monday, October 26, 2020

Coach

 

Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life / Michael Lewis, 93 pages.

An interesting story that is as small as it is large.  Michael Lewis recounts the moment he was highly unqualified but put in as a relief pitcher on his school team and how his coach, a widely respected and serious figure gave him the confidence to bring the game home.  A small event in the life of the coach but a HUGE event in the life of a young player.  Lewis revisits his coach after hearing alumni are raising money to redo a field and name it after their beloved coach.  At the same time, parents of the current class in the school are trying to get the coach fired because he may have been too "hard" on their kids.  The juxtaposition makes this so interesting as the administration looks at these parents as "customers" but the coach maybe the biggest school related influence in hundreds of lives.  As with all of Lewis' work, it is a wonderful way to spend your reading time.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

How to be a person in the world

How to be a person in the world: ask Polly's guide through the paradoxes of modern life. / Heather Havrilesky, 258 pgs.

Heather Havrilesky is the advice behind "Ask Polly" and here she consolidates some of her best columns to give us all a heads up on how we can survive modern life. Many of the questions she fields are from people trying to figure out what they should do with their lives. Polly gives it to them straight but also acts as somewhat a cheer leader telling them to go for it and be bold.  Polly is also a bit of a potty mouth.  For the most part, good solid stuff.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

365 Days of Wonder

365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne's Book of Precepts by R.J. Palacio  432 pp.

This is a companion book to Palacio's terrific book Wonder. In wonder middle school teacher, Mr. Browne, writes a precept for the month on the board that will be discussed and written about throughout the month. At the end of the school year he asks that the students send him a postcard over the summer with their precept on it. This book is a collection of Mr. Browne's favorite precepts and ones from the students featured in the book Wonder. There are also reflections by the teacher about the precepts, his life, his students, and events that took place in Wonder. Some of the featured precepts are touching, others humorous, and all are thought provoking. They are gleaned from a wide range of sources including famous people, authors, popular songs, and plays.
A few of my favorites:
"He was a bold man that first ate an oyster." (Jonathan Swift)
"Life is about using the whole box of crayons." (RuPaul)
"Don't dream it. Be it." (The Rocky Horror Picture Show).
"The things that make me different are the things that make me ME." (Piglet--A.A. Milne)