Reading list inspired by intention

M.T. DECO x @TheManicuredShelf

By Megan Collins, Cultural Insights Analyst & Founder of @themanicuredshelf

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I met Megan Collins, Cultural Insights Analyst & Founder of @themanicuredshelf, late last year and I very quickly realized that she is incredible to work with, so funny, SMART, amazing at book recs and is my fellow Virgo friend for life. Hope you love this collab, leave a 📚 if you’re joining our reading club. xo, Melissa

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When Melissa asked if I would curate a list of books around the theme of Reading with Intention: The Opposite of Escapism, I got excited to share some of my non-fiction favorites. I’ve only recently started branching out from fiction in the last few years --  so this is by no means an exhaustive list--  but rather a reflection of some of my personal recommendations. I was also able to squeeze in a few novels that explore what I consider to be under-discussed emergent themes in culture. 


NON-FICTION

MINOR FEELINGS by Cathy Park Hong 

The poet, essayist, and artist reflects upon her personal experience, joy, and struggle as an Asian person in America and in the context of reckoning with the emergent discourse around racial justice. 

  • CULTURAL THEMES: Race, Psychology, Mental Health, Politics, Art

  • READ SPEED: Somewhat fast 


PRETTY BITCHES edited by Lizzie Skurnick

Every single chapter features a different author drawing on their personal experience to essentially conduct a cultural analysis of a singular word (ex. bossy, shrill, sweet) and the ways that it is used in a loaded way against women.

  • CULTURAL THEMES: Gender, Protest, Reclaiming the Narrative 

  • READ SPEED: Slow (I only would read one chapter a day as a sort of daily meditation in feminism) 


HOW TO DO NOTHING by Jenny Odell 

As an extremely online person, I highly recommend this to anybody who is into activism, social media or wants to really think about their relationship to digital technologies and forms of communication. 

  • CULTURAL THEMES: Psychology, Mental Health, Protest, Social Media 

  • READ SPEED: Somewhat slow 


THE UNDOCUMENTED AMERICANS by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

“In a sea of wide-eyed, inspirational, immigrant stories that subscribe to the myth of the American dream, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s UNDOCUMENTED AMERICANS is a refreshing reality check.” —excerpt from full review on @themanicuredshelf

  • CULTURAL THEMES: Omniculturalism, Politics, American Decline 


MEMES TO MOVEMENTS by An Xiao Mina

An incredibly fascinating deep dive into digital communication, how it’s changing, and the ways it is influencing the way we think, our politics, and therefore humanity at large. 

  • CULTURAL THEMES: Omniculturalism, Politics, Memes, Protest, Social Media 

  • READ SPEED: Somewhat fast 


TRICK MIRROR by Jia Tolentino 

The first book of essays from the prolific and insightful New Yorker staffer who is the Joan Didion of my generation is a delightful, harsh but loving examination of our internet addled culture. 

  • CULTURAL THEMES: Identity, Social Media, Capitalism, Millennials 

  • READ SPEED: Somewhat slow 

FICTION

WEATHER by Jenny Offill 

A mother working in academia in New York City grapples with the ethical tension she feels while trying to reconcile the realities of the climate crisis with the hope needed for parenthood 

  • CULTURAL THEMES: Optimism x Nihilism, Climate Anxiety, Parenthood

  • READ SPEED: Very fast 

BREASTS & EGGS by Mieko Kawakami 

A newly successful author’s desire to pursue single motherhood via in-vitro fertilization leads her to question everything in this introspective novel translated from Japanese. 

  • CULTURAL THEMES: Gender, Destigmatizing Women’s Bodies, Mental Health 

  • READ SPEED: Somewhat fast (once you get into it) 

THE PARTY UPSTAIRS by Lee Conell

This highly psychological novel about the realities of class and how it manifests in both reality & psychology is a modern-day version of the classic upstairs-downstairs trope. 

  • CULTURAL THEMES: Class Warfare, Privilege

  • READ SPEED: Fast 

I hope this list inspires you to find your next read -- full of intention and inspiration. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

SeriesMelissa Blum