My July reading list in 2024 was my most productive reading month this year in terms of the number of books read at six. The books I read in this July reading list include South and West: From a Notebook, The Old Man and The Sea, Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, and Ballistic (Gray Man). For all of the books I have read this year, check out my reading lists [HERE].
The list of book categories in my July reading list runs the gamut. South and West: From a Notebook, The Old Man and The Sea and Ballistic (Gray Man) are novels; Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness and The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom are philosophy books; and The Art of War by Sun Tzu is a leadership book that could also be a philosophy book. Each of these books offers tremendous value, however, I give the nod to Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness as my favorite book in my July reading list. Now, let’s get into each of these books.
South and West: From a Notebook
South and West: From a Notebook by Joan Didion are “two extended excerpts from notebooks she kept in the 1970s; read together, they form a piercing view of the American political and cultural landscape.” Didion takes a road trip with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The book is her observations about the small towns they pass through, “her interviews with local figures, and their preoccupation with race, class, and heritage.” I will be the first to admit this book is about as far from a book that I thought I would enjoy. It is not my favorite book, however, I loved the writing about the small towns she visits.
The Old Man and The Sea
The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway was the first of two books I read over the past week. Hemingway is a once-in-a-generation author and this book proves it. The Old Man and the Sea is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, Santiago, who is likely depressed, and his relentless battle with a giant Marlin in the Gulf Stream. The story captures the classic themes of “courage in the face of defeat and of personal triumph won from loss.”
Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness
Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness by Epictetus is Sharon Lebell’s retelling of Epictetus’ “influential school of Stoic philosophy” that “stresses that human beings cannot control life, only their responses to it.” I appreciate how elementary, in a positive way, this book allows us to tackle whatever life throws at us. The simplicity of Epictetus’ writing is what I most appreciate about him as a philosopher. I clobbered this book in a couple of hours. It’s that good of a book.
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz is a book about how our self-limiting beliefs take away our joy and create unnecessary suffering. The book is based on “ancient Toltec wisdom, and offers a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.”
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Art of War by Sun Tzu is a military treatise by a “military strategist and philosopher” that masks as a leadership book. The book was written around the fifth century BC (this is a very cool fact) providing “valuable insights into warfare and strategy.” One of the best aspects of this book is its simplicity in how it “emphasizes the importance of careful planning, understanding the enemy, exploiting weaknesses, and employing tactics to achieve victory. It covers various aspects of warfare, including tactics, intelligence gathering, leadership, and the importance of adaptability.”
Ballistic (Gray Man)
Ballistic (Gray Man) by Mark Greaney is the third book in the Gray Man series that follows the main character Court Gentry aka the Gray Man who “was betrayed by his compatriots and forced to take on a near-suicidal covert mission by the CIA.” Gentry, living in refuge in the Amazon rain forest, has his bloody past come back to haunt him “when a vengeful Russian crime lord forces him to go on the run once again. Court makes his way to one of the only men in the world he can trust—and arrives too late. His friend is dead and buried.”
