California State University Dominguez Hills’ R+J (2023)

It was always my intent to incorporate theatre and film reviews to Read House Review. While I could go back and begin with my very first film experiences as a child – which are already covered in my original teaching philosophy – or my first theatre experience with UCSB’s She Stoops To Conquer, I decided

Karma Lekshe Tsomo’s Buddhist Feminisms and Femininities

Language is powerful and can express more than mere concepts. My Buddhist studies were limited to one course back in the early 2000’s, but I never looked at religion the same since. It completely changed my POV of Catholicism and Christianity. And, it also surprisingly shifted my thoughts on feminism. It totally gave me this

Lindsay C. Gibson’s Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

The ability to feel mixed emotions is a sign of maturity. I’m sure that I’ve read Lindsay Gibson’s Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents twice now. Many of the trauma books explain very similar concepts. Gibson is particularly good at providing facts and details. Due to current personal reasons, I am finding it challenging to

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

In the beginning, nearly fourteen billion years ago, all the space and all the matter and all the energy of the known universe was contained in a volume less than one-trillionth the size of the period that ends this sentence. I had the pleasure of visiting the American Museum of Natural History in New York

Carol Mitchell’s Breaking Through “Bitch”

Both executive men and women have told me that if women do not find that perfect balance of sex stereotypic behavior (femininity) and professional leadership behavior, they are judged more harshly. A part of me expected this book to wow me, but I didn’t quite get that impression from Carol Mitchell’s Breaking Through Bitch. The

Collective Trauma, Collective Healing

Jack Saul’s Collective Trauma and Collective Healing aims to give health professionals – and anyone really – an insight into how to create community based assistance programs after traumatic events. Since I work in the English education field, it’s a little outside of my area of specialization. Yet, I read this on the sheer respect

Carl Sagan’s Cosmos

Hands down one of the most influential books for me in the past 5-6 years! Carl Sagan’s Cosmos is an absolute diamond in the sand. I cannot rave about it enough, honestly. There also happens to be a show Cosmos with a more revamped version released in recent years. The edition that I read had

Stephen King’s On Writing

One of my favorite books to recommend to writers and reader is Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. The books reveals details about his early life, struggles with alcoholism and drugs, a severe accident that changed his life, and his writers journey. This particular book, though short in comparison to so many

Ken Robinson’s Finding Your Element

“It’s about doing something that feels so completely natural to you, that resonates so strongly with you, that you feel that this is who you really are” (ix). In his first book, Sir Ken Robinson said that not everyone may find their element. I get that, but I also thought it was a shame because

Ken Robinson’s The Element

I can’t remember exactly when I was introduced to Sir Ken Robinson, although I am rather sure it was after 2016 via his TED Talk on Youtube, which I happen to believe is slightly better than this book. I had a lightbulb moment where I went: Aha! I found a credible resource that says so