The Lazy Genius Podcast - #328 - My 10 Most Memorable Books

Episode Date: August 21, 2023

When we reflect on things from the past that have meant something to us, it’s good for us. It’s fun! And since books are fairly universal as a thing people love, I’m sharing my 10 most memorable books. They’re not necessarily my favorites, although some are, but these are books that I remember where I read them, how they made me feel, what they were about, and I still think of them often.   Helpful Companion Links The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry Sign up for the Latest Lazy Listens email. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi there. You are listening to the lazy genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 328, my 10 most memorable books. Most lazy genius podcast episodes are pretty practical, right? I like to share things that you can take with you into your own life. This is one of those episodes. It's just something a little different. When we reflect on things from the past that have something to us, that bring us joy, that are just lovely to remember. It's good for us. It's fun. And since books are fairly universal as a thing that people love, especially here, I'm going to share my 10 most memorable books. They're not necessarily my favorites, although some are. But these are books that I remember where I read them, how they made me feel, what they were about, and I still think of them often. So I hope this inspires you to either look back at your own memorable books, another memorable thing, or just use this episode to learn more about me. If you don't care about books, that could be a thing. All right, these books are in chronological order of when I read them.

So we're going to start with one of my first solo reading experiences that led me to discover that reading was more fun than just about anything else I could be doing. And that is the secret of the old clock by Carolyn Keen. This is the first novel in the Nancy Drew series. And when I got that yellow spined book from the library in the late 80s, it was like lifestyle. It was like life started. I remember loving the mystery aspect and mysteries and thrillers are still one of my favorite genres to this day. That book opened up reading for me and was my first real binge because I read every single Nancy Drew book in order multiple times during my tween and teen years. That first one, though, is still really special. I have a super old fabric hardcover of it, like one that's not with the

yellow spine. I found it at a book sale a couple years ago. It's one of my favorite books I own. It's so special. Next step is The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. I read The Good Earth as a homeschooled eighth grader, and I remember not wanting to. It was one of the first novels that I ever read that was old and four adults, and I was just not interested. But from what I can remember, I didn't act like I didn't want to to read it because like even as a homeschooler, I was an excellent compliance student. So I don't think I really complained a whole lot. You can ask my mom, maybe I'm wrong, but I did not want you inside. But I read The Good Earth and it got me. It got me. The Good Earth is about a family in a Chinese village where a man, he grows from being a peasant to being a landowner, basically. There's a lot

about love for the land and commitment to family. There's a lot about hardship. Frankly, it's not the kind of book I gravitate towards, like even now. But I remember reading that book like it was yesterday. I mean, I remember how it felt in my hand. I remember where I sat at the kitchen table. I remember looking forward to picking it up. I remember how I imagined the story to look in my head. You know, like there were lots of browns and yellows and oranges. I remember how it made me feel. I think it was the book that opened my eyes to the beauty of literature, which is what I went on to study in college. So the good earth was kind of a big deal. The third memorable book came when I was 15 or 16. I had already read The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. And of course, I loved it. But somehow I stumbled

across till we have faces by him. And I devoured that thing. This book to me is an absolute masterpiece. It is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. But you don't have to know that myth to enjoy the story. I did not know and I still don't really know the myth. I just know the story until we have faces. It's one of my favorite books of all time. It is about a royal family, a power hungry, King and his three daughters. And there's this pretty big situation with having to appease jealous gods with one of the daughters. And it's this whole dramatic thing. If the good earth was my gateway into classic literature till we have faces was my gateway into like atmospheric dark fantasy. It is a stunner. It's a stunner. And it will always be a favorite novel

forever and ever. We'll be right back. Aw isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life, whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art. I'm Dr. Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. So I discovered a love of reading, then a love of classical literature, then a love of fantasy literature. And this fourth book was one where I felt like I saw myself in a book for the first time in a really powerful way.

I was in high school. I think it was my junior, senior year. And reading this book, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, during that very formative time, was really special. The Glass Castle is a memoir following Jeanette's life with her parents who, were often without a home and struggled with various mental health issues. Her life was hard, but very normal to her. Her parents were unreliable, but loving in their own way. And she had to decide if she was going to live life the way they did or forge her own path. Now, while I did not grow up unhoused, I did grow up in chaos. There was abuse and mental illness, and it was my normal.

I also knew from going to friends' houses and hearing my peers talk about their families that my normal was not everybody's normal. And for a while, I felt pretty alone in how I grew up. Most stories I read or saw were either fantasy stories or Disney movies or honestly, like more than that, it was actually like Alfred Hitchcock movies, which were my favorite as a kid. So when I read the Glass Castle and I read about someone else's actual lived experience, not a made-up story. And it felt like mine. It really did something to me. It helped me feel seen and less alone. And it was a turning point for my healing for my own story. It truly was. Plus, it's

like beautifully written and it's captivating and propulsive in its own way. It's a very memorable book for me. Next on the list is the Harry Potter series. I did not read these when they came out. In fact, I had a little bit of that like wizards or evil messaging in my conservative Christian water. And even though my mom and my sister both read the books, I did not. I don't know that I actively chose not to. You know, I think there was a little bit of it, but honestly, I just never cared. I mean, like a kid wizard, okay. But when I was in my late 20s as a first time mom with a brand new baby and a brand new neighborhood where I did not know anybody, I was lonely. I was really lonely. I have mentioned this before, probably quite a while ago,

but I had a really hard time connecting with the moms who lived near me in this house that we lived in when I had had my first kid when I had Sam. They just didn't seem to like me very much. Even going inside when I walked down the street towards them, it was like a really tough season for me. And if you have been home alone with a new baby and feel like you don't have any help or any community and even like going to get the mail feels kind of isolating, you know how horrible that feels. And that's when I started reading Harry Potter. I thought, well, I mean, now's as good a time as any, you know, I'm home with this baby with little to do, no one to really see. So let's try the series. I read the whole thing in one fell swoop,

because of course I did. And those characters were my friends. I was so lonely every day. And they kept me company. I felt like we even kind of grew up together a little bit, which is, you know, a lot of the way that people feel about that series when they read it as like a 10. year old and I read it as like a 28 year old and it was the same. Harry Potter is memorable for a lot of people and maybe even low hanging fruit on like a memorable reads list. But it was memorable for a very tender reason for me. I was lonely and Harry made me feel less lonely. Plus the books are, I mean it's Harry Potter. So they're ridiculously good, obviously. The next book is an everlasting meal by Tamar Adler. I read this in my late 20s and it was a transformative book and how I saw food and

cooking. There are recipes in it, but really it's a philosophical book about the kitchen, about the soul and the beauty of things like leftover pasta water. It's kind of like a meditation on waste, but not in a guilt-trippy way. Actually, now that I think about it, it has some Laura Engels Wilder vibes. Remember reading Little House in the Big Woods? which also could have been on this list, honestly, and loving the simplicity of, like, how they harvested food and cured meats in the cellar. I loved the meats in the cellar.

And they lived in abundance, even when our definition of abundance now is so different. That's how an everlasting meal feels. It's like the grown-up version of Little House. But it's not a story. It's essays and instructions and thoughts and a few recipes. It really surprised me, and it sparked something in me that has never gone away.

Next up is in the top three memorable books of this list for sure. You've heard me talk about it before if you've been here for a while, and that is The Night Circus by Aaron Morgan Stern. Y'all, the Night Circus is the avatar for my favorite kind of book ever. And that is basically like a creepy circus book. I love circus books. I've read most of them. But this book is also imaginative and weird and beautiful and has a magical competition with a love story. And obviously there's a weird circus because of course it's called the night circus. It's just everything. Now, you know, like I said, I had already read Narnia. I'd read Harry Potter. I'd read till we have faces. My foray into fantasy and magical stories. It had already very much begun. But this

book just knocked it out of the park. And it was also the first book like this I'd ever read. I had not read any Neil Gaiman, who actually, shockingly, is not on this list, even though some of my books of his or my favorites of all time. That's kind of weird, actually. But the night circus, it was like my gateway to Neil Gaiman. It opened the doors to this genre of weird magic books that I will devour for the rest of my life. It is gorgeous. Okay, three more to go. We'll be right back.

Okay, this next book is one that I think every human should read, and that is just a good. Mercy by Brian Stevenson. I read just mercy in April of 2019 and it undid something that needed to be undone in me. I'm a pretty just person. I like rules. I like fair consequences. I always thought that if you did something bad, you should pay for it. I also thought that if you were in the justice system, if you were in prison, you deserve to be there. There's no way that you would be imprisoned for something you didn't do or that the system would be biased against certain people. So when I read Just Mercy, it opened my eyes to how narrow I had seen the justice system for my entire life. This book, along with the work of Shannon Martin, which had already started changing my mind about people

who are incarcerated, it softened my heart even more for the humanity that should be honored in all of us. I had already been reconsidering how I saw and felt about crime, justice, and consequences for years at that point. But this book was like, it's like my wings to fly away from that. It is just beautifully written by a lawyer who had seen things I had never seen, who had changed his own mind about how we saw the justice system, and who helped me realize that mercy and justice go together. It's just a truly incredible, incredible book. Just a couple months after this, I read the art of gathering by Priya Parker. I've always loved gathering. I throw parties. I invite people over for casual dinners. I like being part of the planning for like larger gatherings at churches and

businesses and stuff like that. I just love bringing people together. It's like my favorite thing. And honestly, I always felt a little weird about it. I had such strong opinions that I usually kept them to myself about like how gathering should go and how important it was to set the tone and like I would put so much energy into the details of my parties. I just always felt a little silly doing it. I would still do it, but I felt a little silly. And I recognized group dynamics. I knew that not every gathering was for every person. I had all of these thoughts, right, and how I moved forward with my gatherings, but not a lot of language around it. And I just sort of kept those thoughts to myself. And then I read The Art of Gathering. And it was like this

little flame in me got brought into the light and just like got like enormous. It was a huge fire. Priya was saying things that I had been thinking with real words and actual data and the kindest of voices. It's just like it took these things that were floating around in me and was like, oh, no, no, this is real. Let me communicate this with like actual facts. It validated who I was in many ways. And it inspired me to move even more intentionally into the gatherings that I'm part of. Like I still flip through this book years later. It was just a really special reading experience for me.

And finally, Jaber Crow by Wendell Berry. I read this in 2020 during the pandemic. And I am not sure there's ever been a more appropriate book for a more appropriate season. it's not the kind of book I generally read. It's a slower read. It's way more character-driven than plot-driven. And it's beautiful language. And honestly, I don't usually care about beautiful language. Like, I just want a good story that's going to keep me going. Like, again, I like circuses. I like dragons. It's like, I like murders. I don't usually read thoughtful prose. But this book, along with Wendell Berry himself, honestly, who's just really something. It's just really

special. Reading about this lonely man who slowly tried to find community and purpose during a time in my life where I did not have a lot of community or purpose, none of us did. It was really special. I read it during actual lockdown, like early on in those days. So there just wasn't much to do other than sit on my porch or on my couch and read, right? So I read this. And it will go down as probably the most perfect memorable reading experience of my life. And those are my 10 most memorable books. I hope this episode has been a fun, inspiring detour to the episodes we normally do. And I hope even more that it inspires you to think about the importance of not just your

own reading, but your own activities and conversations and ways you spend your time that have been turning points to who you most deeply are. All right, before we go, let's celebrate the lazy. genius of the week. This week is Laura Deary who sent me this message on Instagram. As much as I love a totally clean fridge, a complete clean out only happens once or twice a year. So in the meantime, whenever I end up with an almost empty fridge drawer or shelf, I clean just that part of the fridge. Spray it down, wipe it sparkling clean. I like to think this helps keep the fridge cleaner than waiting for a time when I can tackle the whole thing. What a great reminder this is, not just for the fridge,

but for a lot of tasks that feel too big. Make it smaller, right? Pick one shelf when it's almost empty and just do it. This idea can be applied to so many things, and it's great permission to start small and do whatever you can whenever you're able. It doesn't have to all happen at once to count. So thank you for sharing this, Laura,

and congratulations on being the lazy genius of the week. Okay, that is it for today. Before we go, if you enjoyed this episode about books, about memorable books. You would love getting my latest lazy letter. It is a monthly newsletter that I send out on the first Wednesday of every month. So it'll be coming out in another week and a half or so. And in it, along with a lot of other things, I include book reviews for the month of all the things that I've read. And I usually am reading six to ten books a month. So there are a lot of reviews to choose from. And many of you, I was stopped in church a couple weeks ago by a friend who was like,

my TBR loves and hates you. Because I do share, I read. I read. a lot and I share the thoughts and y'all really like to get them but also you're mad at me because I am saturating your bookshelves. But if you love books, you would love getting the latest lazy letter for multiple reasons, but especially for getting this book reviews. And that's the only place I put them. So if you would like to do that, you can go to the lazy genius collective.com slash join and join that mailing list. And you will get the next issue of the latest lazy letter and just another week or two. So thank you so much for listening. And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't.

I'm Kendra. I'll see you next week. Have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch.

I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.