LISC Lending took some inspiration from NextCity’s top podcast recommendations to share our very own summer reading list. Read on to see the books we’re excited to read next, from medical mystery to cultural history. Happy reading!
Earlier this summer, we asked the LISC Lending team what books they have queued up to read next. Here is the list they shared-- from medical mystery to cultural history, these books cover a little bit of everything. Wishing you happy reading, wherever your summer takes you!
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
By Heather McGhee
Last year, LISC Lending began meeting as a team for regular conversations with a racial equity strategist, Dr. Darnisa Amante-Jackson, to further build our commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity in our work. In a recent meeting, she recommended The Sum of Us as a resource for staying hopeful. Though looking at nearly anything in American society today – the student debt crisis, pandemic, or the housing shortage for starters – McGhee identifies racism threaded throughout our society as designed and upheld by politics and policy decisions. However, as “fundamentally a hopeful person... [the author] knows that decisions made the world as it is and that better decisions can change it.”
The book reads more like a novel than a textbook, though it covers a lot of history. McGhee draws out a narrative of what we all lose in our current paradigm, predicated on the false idea that some must lose out in order for others to win. Moving through a deeply personal journey, McGhee reaches the concept of the “Solidarity Dividend”—the collective gain when folks come together across backgrounds, larger than what we gain when we stay divided. And, that it is possible!
From Kelly Theofanis, Charter School Finance Loan Officer
The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
By Anna Malaika Tubbs
The title itself says why I’m excited to read this book (moms; important political, social, and cultural figures/leaders … sounds fascinating to me!). Then on top of it all, the author, Anna Malaika Tubbs, seems like the coolest person in the world.
Sociologist and author Anna Malaika Tubbs has a viral TED Talk titled How Moms Shape the World, reminding us of how often mothers shape history, and yet, how often their stories are also brushed over if mentioned at all. Through The Three Mothers, Tubbs tells the story of the women behind three figures we all know: James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. She drives home the importance of telling the stories of mothers and reminds us that our mothers help create each of our histories and the stories we tell.
This recommendation might just inspire a LISC Lending book discussion at the end of the summer!
From Norman Trepner, Director of Credit
Nightcrawling
By Leila Mottley
This novel is based on a true crime in 2015 involving institutional exploitation, brutality and corruption in the Oakland Police Department. It’s the story of 17-year-old Kiara Johnson, who, after her father’s death and mother’s detention in a rehab facility, becomes a sex worker to pay for rent hikes. She also needs to look after her older brother and a nine-year-old left behind by a neighbor.
I finished this book last week and highly recommend it. It was also recently recommended by another fan of the book, Oprah Winfrey, who called it, “A dazzling novel about a young Black woman who walks the streets of Oakland and stumbles headlong into the failure of its justice system—the debut of a blazingly original voice and "a soul-searching portrait of survival and hope.”
From Norman Trepner, Director of Credit
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family
By Robert Kolker
This definitely isn’t your typical beach read, but it’s hard to put down! On the outside, the Galvin family seemed to embody the American Dream. Even with 12 children, Mrs. Galvin baked pie or cake every night for the family. However, the reality was anything but. By the mid-70’s, half of the Galvin children were diagnosed with schizophrenia in rapid succession.
Kolker chronicles the medical shock, mystery and research on the Galvin family that helped the medical field better understand and diagnose schizophrenia. Already read the book and want more? You can also watch a 2020 conversation between Oprah and the Galvin siblings.
From Jessy Hanmer, Economic Development Lending Manager
Are We There Yet? The American Automobile Past, Present, and Driverless
By Dan Albert
Having read Dan Albert’s work on American car culture and the future of electric cars in n+1 (a great read), I’ve had Are We There Yet on my list for a while. I’ve had the topic on my mind recently, especially after learning that an everyday American SUV today is roughly the size of a WWII tank: how did America’s car culture get here?
Starting in 19th century France, Albert gives a glimpse of the more practical, pragmatic, and resource-wise electric car culture we could have started building over a hundred years ago, if gas combustion cars hadn’t been so freeing (read also: impractical, dangerous). Pit stops along the way include the development of the national highway system, the reminder that everyone in traffic is traffic (yes, including you!), the normalization of buying a car with credit, and a deep dive into the history of American car manufacturers.
Other reads that I wanted to give an honorable mention are: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (both recent reads from the LISC AAPI Affinity Group), The Love Song of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers and City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert.
From Alyssa Alfonso, Economic Development Lending Program Officer
The Knowledge Project: The Science of Small Changes with Dr. Andrew Huberman
This is a bonus podcast recommendation! The Knowledge Project is a podcast dedicated to sharing lessons and insights from experts that you can incorporate into your own life, on anything from leadership to parenting to decision making.
This episode is a conversation with neuroscientist and Stanford University School of Medicine professor Dr. Andrew Huberman. If you enjoy books like Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, you are sure to find valuable and actionable tidbits to apply in your own life! Give it a listen to hear how attention to small influences (like light levels) can have outsized effects on your health.
If you like this one, you might like Every Little Thing with Flora Lichtman. Every week, Flora talks with experts to answer listener questions on anything you’ve ever wanted to know but haven’t gotten to the bottom of.
From Chris Tan, Asset Management Analyst