ATLANTIC 57 SUMMER READING LIST
Greetings! To celebrate the Fourth of July, we’re taking a break from our regular programming for a special edition. Instead of our usual “if you read one thing,” we’re suggesting, “if you read five things.” Members of the Five/Seven newsletter team are sharing personal book picks as summer reading inspiration.

KAREN
Do you know your Dosha?

One of the world’s oldest health systems to treat the mind-body connection is called Ayurveda. In her book, Eat Feel Fresh, Sahara Rose Ketabi takes a modern approach to Ayurveda and helps you identify your “mind-body type,” or Dosha. Once you know your Dosha, you can identify the foods that will best support you being your most energetic and vibrant self, both physically and mentally. In the forward of the book, Deepak Chopra writes, “The foods we eat become the very foundation of our bodies, seeds of our thoughts, and essence of our consciousness.” 

-Karen Houston, Copy Chief, Editorial

ANGELA
All about the al fresco life
  There’s nobody who makes me want to be outside—and enjoy the seemingly endless summer days—as much as Mary Oliver. Her words inspire me to wander, to pay attention, and to be where I am. See if this passage from her essay “Upstream” will do the same for you.

 “When the chesty, fierce-furred bear becomes sick he travels the mountainsides and the fields, searching for certain grasses, flowers, leaves and herbs, that hold within themselves the power of healing. He eats, he grows stronger. Could you, oh clever one, do this? Do you know anything about where you live, what it offers? Have you ever said, ‘Sir Bear, teach me. I am a customer of death coming, and would give you a pot of honey and my house on the western hills to know what you know.’”

- Angela Wu, Marketing Manager

LIZZY
Tales from a South African childhood

Trevor Noah has made me laugh countless times with his comedy, but never before had he made me cry. In his deeply touching, but still lighthearted memoir, Born a Crime, Noah weaves together historical context with personal anecdotes from his childhood growing up in post-apartheid South Africa. 

“Language brings with it an identity and a culture, or at least the perception of it. A shared language says ‘We’re the same.’ A language barrier says ‘We’re different.’ The architects of apartheid understood this. Part of the effort to divide black people was to make sure we were separated not just physically but by language as well. … The great thing about language is that you can just as easily use it to do the opposite: convince people that they are the same.” 

-Lizzy Raben, Insights Editor, Marketing

RUSSELL
A fun summer read for your time out of office

If you’re looking for a perfect summer read for that rare moment you’re not in your office, I recommend Buzzfeed writer Doree Shafrir’s Startup: A Novel. It perfectly encapsulates both startup and journalism culture—everything from how communications happen in Slack, random office dynamics, and some scathing commentary on our social media obsession.

“At exactly 9:00 a.m., the music stopped, and the dancers cheered again. They held their phones up to record this moment. … They posted this moment on Snapchat and Instagram, on Facebook, anywhere that their message can be loudly, clearly received. … They needed to see how many people had liked their Instagrams, if anyone had viewed their Snapchat videos, how many likes and comments they'd gotten on Facebook, how many people had re-tweeted their observation about this being the best party ever.”

- Russell Vea, Senior Developer

MIKHAIL
For all the failsons Reading about nice people is overrated! If you're looking to read something about a protagonist who is absolutely spiteful (but also hilarious and clumsy in his monstrosity and lack of self-awareness), I can make no better recommendation than John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. The plot is impossible to describe—check Wikipedia; there's no summary, and for good reason—but if you're intrigued, I'd suggest you read about the novel's tumultuous path to publication, which involves a smeared manuscript, the author's persistent mother, and a reluctant college instructor.

"'You got a job?'
...
'I dust a bit,' Ignatius told the policeman. 'I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip.'” 

-Mikhail Klimentov, Associate Editor

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