If you ever fall into a funk with reading—like I do!—it helps to find a book that is enjoyable, light, and easy to read. Here are some books I’ve enjoyed recently:

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing: A working memoir of a man’s working life in China, told through dozens of odd jobs and gigs. Very interesting to read. If anything, it’s a reminder that there are many incredibly creative people working regular jobs.

Change Your Questions, Change Your Life: A business fable that starts with a CEO introducing her business advisor to a struggling CTO she hired. The advisor teaches the CTO a new way to think: before you can find better answers, you need to start asking better questions. This book was extremely rewarding for me to read, not the most fun though. I have gotten a lot of mileage out of it already, and I know I will get even more. I plan to re-read this soon.

How Starbucks Saved My Life: A man nearing retirement deals with the consequences of his decisions, which lead to divorce as well as losing all of his income. With very few options left, he comes across an opportunity to work as a barista at Starbucks and says yes. Through this job—the first one he’s had to interview for—he reflects on the privileges he took for granted, makes peace with his mistakes, and learns more about other people’s lives as well as his own.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: A boy born into a family of farmers in Africa teaches himself how to build a windmill to generate electricity to help them. This book felt very energizing, it was a picture perfect definition of “high agency.” 

Misunderstood: Allen Iverson’s memoir. This was such a fun read. I only wrote about it once, I did get a lot out of it though.