Books

Currently Reading

Chasing My Cure: A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope into Action by David Fajgenbaum—David Fajgenbaum, a former Georgetown quarterback, was nicknamed the Beast in medical school, where he was also known for his unmatched mental stamina. But things changed dramatically when he began suffering from inexplicable fatigue. In a matter of weeks, his organs were failing and he was read his last rites. Doctors were baffled by his condition, which they had yet to even diagnose. Floating in and out of consciousness, Fajgenbaum prayed for a second chance, the equivalent of a dramatic play to second the game into overtime.

Miraculously, Fajgenbaum survived—only to endure repeated near-death relapses from what would eventually be identified as a form of Castleman disease, an extremely deadly and rare condition that acts like a cross between cancer and an autoimmune disorder. When he relapsed while on the only drug in development and realized that the medical community was unlikely to make progress in time to save his life, Fajgenbaum turned his desperate hope for a cure into concrete action: Between hospitalizations he studied his own charts and tested his own blood samples, looking for clues that could unlock a new treatment. With the help of family, friends, and mentors, he also reached out to other Castleman disease patients and physicians, and eventually came up with an ambitious plan to crowdsource the most promising research questions and recruit world-class researchers to tackle them. Instead of waiting for the scientific stars to align, he would attempt to align them himself.

More than five years later and now married to his college sweetheart, Fajgenbaum has seen his hard work pay off: A treatment  he identified has induced a tentative remission and his novel approach to collaborative scientific inquiry has become a blueprint for advancing rare disease research. His incredible story demonstrates the potency of hope, and what can happen when the forces of determination, love, family, faith, and serendipity collide.

Read

— 2020 —

  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Rating: 2/5)
  • Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnet and Dave Evans (Rating: 4/5)
  • Lovingkindess: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg (Rating: 5/5)
  • The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (Rating: 5/5)

— 2019 —

  • The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm (Rating: 5/5)
  • The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath and Karen Kukil (Editor) (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration, and Get to Work by Mason Currey (Rating: 3/5)
  • Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller (Rating: 5+/5)
  • Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell (Rating: 5+/5)
  • Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam (Rating: 5/5)
  • Dare to Lead by Brené Brown (Rating: 4/5)
  • How Does a Poem Mean? by John Ciardi (Rating: 5/5)
  • The Overstory by Richard Powers (Rating: 4/5)
  • The Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen and Luca Dotti (Rating: 3/5)
  • Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty (Rating: 5/5)
  • Educated by Tara Westover (Rating: 5+/5)
  • Outer Order, Inner Calm by Gretchen Rubin (Rating: 1/5)
  • Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton (Rating: 5/5)
  • The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal (Rating: 2.5/5)
  • The Good Neighbors: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King by Fred Rogers (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance (Rating: 5/5)
  • The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout, Ph.D. (Rating: 4/5)
  • Dreyer’s English by Benjamin Dreyer (Rating: 5/5)
  • The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown (Rating: 5/5)
  • Becoming by Michelle Obama (Rating: 5/5)
  • The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies by Jason Fagone (Rating: 5/5)
  • The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict (Rating: 3/5)
  • The Library Book by Susan Orlean (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • The Real Story: Understanding the Big Picture of the Bible by Dr. Edward Sri and Curtis Martin (Rating: 2/5)
  • The Royal Nanny by Karen Harper (Rating: 3.5/5)
  • The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life by Ivanka Trump (Rating: 3/5)
  • Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Rating: 5+/5)
  • Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain by Antonio Damasio (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • Bell Canto by Ann Patchett (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success by Ivanka Trump (Rating: 3/5)
  • Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (Rating: 5+/5)
  • Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (Rating: 4/5)

— 2018 —

  • How to Be a Hepburn in a Kardashian World: The Art of Living with Style, Class and Grace by Jordan Christy (Rating: 2/5)
  • When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (Rating: 5/5)
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (Rating: 4/5)
  • Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Rating: 5/5)
  • The Doctors Mayo by Helen Clapsattle (Rating: 2.5/5)
  • Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (Rating: 5/5)
  • Why We Can’t Wait by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Rating: 5/5)
  • Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • Parson’s Pleasure by Roald Dahl (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Rating: 5/5)
  • Small Bites: Forty Short Stories by Don Tassone (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism by Olivia Fox Cabane (Rating: 2/5)
  • A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Rating: 5/5)
  • The Inward Morning by Henry Bugbee (Rating: 3.5/5)
  • The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (Rating: 3/5)
  • All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Rating: 5/5)
  • If It’s Not Impossible… the Life of Sir Nicholas Winton by Barbara Winton (Rating: 4/5)
  • The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller (Rating: 3/5)
  • Chasers of the Light: Poems from the Typewriter Series by Tyler Knott Gregson (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel (Rating: 4/5)
  • Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (Rating: 5/5)

— 2017 —

  • Words Can Change Your Brain by Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Robert Waldman (Rating: 3.5/5)
  • Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers into Fanatics by Jackie Huba (Rating: 3/5)
  • The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (Rating: 5/5)
  • Drive by Don Tassone (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • Write Like Hemingway by R. Andrew Wilson, PhD (Rating: 5/5)
  • Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (Rating: 3/5)
  • What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles (Rating: 3.5/5)
  • Firefly Summer by Maeve Binchy (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (Rating: 5/5)
  • The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath, Edited by Karen Kukil (Rating: 3.5/5)
  • Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (Rating: 4/5)
  • Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • All Our Worldly Goods by Irene Nemirovsky (Rating: 4.5/5)
  • The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran Rating: 5/5)
  • Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Rating: 5/5)
  • Suite Français by Irene Nemirovsky (Rating: 5/5)

2019 Favorites

2018 Favorites

To Read

  • Dinner with Mr. Darcy: Recipes Inspired by the Novels and Letters of Jane Austen by Pen Vogler
  • Crystallizing Public Opinion by Edward Bernays
  • Poems of Sleep and Dreams collected by Everyman’s Library
  • Manners Begin at Breakfast by Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece
  • On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker by A’Lelia Bundles
  • Joy at Work by Marie Kondo
  • The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
  • Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
  • Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
  • The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
  • The Liars’ Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr
  • The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  • The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
  • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
  • The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
  • On the Road by Jack Kerouac
  • Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
  • Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
  • Emma by Jane Austen
  • Beloved by Toni Morrison
  • The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle
  • The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams
  • Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption by Daniel Jones
  • A Testament of Hope by Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie
  • Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
  • The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker
  • The Makioka Sisters by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki
  • Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni
  • The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
  • The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni
  • The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni
  • Writing that Works by Richard Anderson
  • The Givers and the Takers by Cris Evatt and Bruce Feld
  • Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
  • The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
  • Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
  • Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies by June Casagrande
  • The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Steven Pinker
  • Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Conner
  • You Are What You Speak by Robert Lane Greene
  • ‘Cherry’ Ingram: The Englishman Who Saved Japan’s Blossoms by Naoko Abe
  • No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani
  • The Immoralist by Chloe Benjamin
  • The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
  • A Call to Mercy: Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve by Mother Teresa
  • How to Dress for Success by Edith Head
  • The Little Pink Book of Etiquette: A Civilized Guide to Getting It Right by Ruth Cullen
  • The Little Dictionary of Fashion by Christian Dior
  • Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris by Jennifer L. Scott
  • Polish Your Poise with Madame Chic: Lessons in Everyday Elegance by Jennifer L. Scott
  • All in Good Taste by Kate Spade New York
  • Emily Post’s Etiquette: The Definitive Guide to Manners by Peggy Post
  • Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
  • Proper, Poised and Polished by Patricia Napier-Fitzpatrick
  • Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies by Ross King
  • 100 Years of Fashion by Cally Blackman
  • Empress of Fashion: A Life of Diana Vreeland by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart
  • The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking
  • The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan
  • The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont
  • Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder by Arianna Huffington
  • The Spy Wore Red by Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones
  • The Spy Went Dancing by Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones
  • The Spy Wore Silk by Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones
  • 1984 by George Orwell
  • The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Anne-Marie O’Connor
  • World Without End by Ken Folloett
  • Anatomy for Runners by Jay Dicharry
  • Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
  • Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams
  • A Writer’s Guide to Powerful Paragraphs by John Walsh
  • The Art of Readable Writing by Rudolf Flesch, PhD
  • Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks
  • Over to You by Roald Dahl
  • Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill
  • The Boat People by Sharon Bala
  • A Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure
  • Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
  • All You Could Ask For by Mike Greenberg
  • The Girl Who Wrote in Silk by Kelli Estes
  • A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner
  • Tribe by Sebastian Junger
  • Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
  • The Soloist by Steve Lopez
  • Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce
  • Words that Work by Dr. Frank Luntz