Book of the Month Plus What’s Bree Reading (WBR)?
I don’t have one book that’s helped get me through the month because July has truly been a doozy, but I do have little worlds that I’ve been able to escape to that have helped me through. These worlds don’t only include those told via manuscrupt but also via feature-length script! So, without further ado, here’s what I’ve been reading:
Outliers: TheSecret to Success by Malcolm Gladwell
This book was suggested to me about a year and a half ago by one of my therapy patients and I just couldn’t get into it. There was simply too much hockey and too many numbers — mind you, it was suggested by someone in fintech so I immediately assumed that it was over my head.
Picking it up this time, however, allowed for something new to click into place. I legitimately grabbed it off of my bookshelf and said, “Let’s try this again.” Next thing you know, I’m done and have ordered too other books by Mr. Gladwell!
Outliers is a book that I’m certainly not afraid to mark up the margins with. It’s a book that truly has you consider the greats and the not-so-greats in a way that you wouldn’t have before.
It truly looks at proof of time (as a main variable) being a predictor of future success and the truths behind simply being born at the wrong time.
Many of us say that in passing: “Oh, I was born during the wrong timeframe. I’m so old school.” Blah, Blah! But we have no clue of the true implications of that particular instance (of being wrong at the wrong time). This book gives us glimpses at exactly that. Being an educated lawyer 10 years ago meant way more then than it does today where people watch The Lincoln Lawyer and think that because they’re “good at arguing” they have what it takes to be a lawyer (post-COVID, relaxed standards and all).
I was born at the wrong time and feel those effects constantly. This book helps to explain why which I love because sometimes we just need a label for our experiences that actually fits the lid that we're trying to close.
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
I picked up this book, and the next one, off of the strength of Malcolm Gladwell and how good reading Outliers made me feel (although there were discouraging parts to consider, like think of when I was born… ). I love how Outliers managed to challenge me, inspire me, teach me, upset me, and motivate me. Any author with that much latitude deserves my read, for sure.
This book has been an insane journey and I can only wonder what preparation to write this book looked like beyond life’s experiences… Because I can tell you that I’ve also experienced a lot of life via music and my recollection looks nothing like this.
I love that it starts with a disclaimer that Amir isn’t an expert and then goes into expert-level analysis of an over-the-decades look at music, history and the overall effects of good music over time.
This is definitely a must read if only for the history! You have to pick it up and I’m certain it’ll get you for the nostalgia and entertainment as well.
The Year of Yes: How To Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
Hands down, one of thee best and most well written shows to ever have done it. This show was only made better by the casting: the perfect Olivia Pope, Papa Pope, Huck, Cyrus and Fitzgerald Grant made this writing all-the-more better. This book, however, while pieces of it resonate, much of it was written for experience that’s not my own and from a perspective that I’ll likely never know… what a privilege. While I like being let into different worlds, I believe that I chose a terrible time within my own life to pick this particular book up.
Scripts on Tap
If you know the screenwriter side of me then you know that I’m always reading scripts, working on scripts or thinking about scripts. One of the best ways that I’ve learned to write my television and film scripts has been by reading other people’s. In addition to this, it’s also nice having screenwriting software like FinalDraft to assist with formatting and industry standards, but nothing beats reading a script, seeing the transitions in action, and reading action lines of a film or television show that you know well! It just feels like an interactive experience.
So, here are some of the scripts that I’m currently reading:
Best,
Bree 🩵
