It’s August. Also known as the Month of Summer’s Last Hurrah. Temperatures are cooling, and school bells are ringing. Students around the country are heading off to college campuses, and they will be doing plenty of reading. However, if you have a new college student in your life, encourage them to read for pleasure as well.
This month’s Book Notes features great (and short) books for you to gift your new college student with, and while you are at it, pick one up for yourself.
Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
Yes, it’s a children’s book, but Oh, the Places You’ll Go is also known as a great graduation gift and a great first day of school gift for students of all ages. Lines like, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose,” make the book a great and encouraging read. Besides, it’s Dr. Seuss!
Who Moved My Cheese: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson
If there is one thing that the young people need to know they won’t learn in school, it’s that the only thing certain in life is change. A classic used in business for years, Who Moved my Cheese is a reminder to all of us to not ever get complacent. Who Moved My Cheese is also a great investment for business professionals, entrepreneurs, and music artists.
They Don’t Teach Corporate in College: A Twenty-Something’s Guide to the Business World by Alexandra Levit
In college, you learn a lot about whatever subject it is you choose to pursue as a profession. However, you don’t really learn how to get a job, how to conduct yourself on that job, and how to advance in your profession. They Don’t Teach Corporate in College is an invaluable tool for young professionals who are just entering corporate America, and provides tips that help one avoid common pitfalls. The book is also great for people who have long been in a career, or who may be an entrepreneur and could stand to polish some areas of their work life.
Homecoming Weekend by Curtis Bunn
Black colleges are wonderful institutions. Full of a rich legacy handed down by our forefathers, they represent academic excellence, diligence, and a sense of heritage. They also know how to party! Homecoming Weekend captures the spirit of Black college life with characters who head back to Norfolk State University for a weekend that is full of drama. The book is a realistic look at life after graduating from a Black college.
H.B.I.C. by Caroline McGill
Sometimes, you want to take a break from classes or work, and just relax with a book that is full of hardcore heroin dealing chicks from Brooklyn. (I know I do.) McGill really nailed the trials and tribulations of aspiring drug dealers and aspiring recording artists, Elle and Twyla, growing up in the late ’80s and early ’90s in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood. The book is good, and it is a great break from the norm.
Kisses for Tati by Jay Fingers
The author of Guestlist, a fun behind-the-scenes glimpse into New York nightlife that we featured in the April edition of Book Notes, Jay Fingers return with a self-published novelette, Kisses for Tati. Growing up in the shadow of her beautiful, successful, older sister Jacqueline, Tati Corona was used to being in the background, until a random meeting with a handsome stranger tempts Tati to be the star of her own life. Will Tati find happiness? Or is she forever doomed to a life of loneliness and misery?