Relax with our staff’s favorite reads this year
The holiday season can be a busy time, filled with business, family and social obligations, guaranteed to keep your calendar full.
But, tucked away amidst the hustle and bustle of it all, are those cherished quiet moments. Settled in with a cozy fire, a warm drink and soft music. The ones where you get to pick how you spend your time.
Studies show that about a quarter of American adults don’t read one book a year. Those that do read for pleasure average about 12 books a year. Whether you’re an avid reader or picking up your first read for 2022, our team has page turners they recommend during your coveted holiday downtime.
2022 READING LIST:
“Upgrade” by Blake Crouch, Fiction
Recommended by:
Hunter Satterfield, Partner, Chief Investment Officer
Synopsis:
Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, this thriller is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.
Why He Chose This Book:
“This author has become the king of the techno-thriller with his last three books and is able to take science fiction concepts that do not seem so farfetched in today’s world and extrapolate those out to their inevitable end,” Hunter said. “It reads like the Bourne Identity meets Limitless.”
“How I Invest My Money: Finance Experts Reveal How They Save, Spend and Invest” by Joshua Brown and Brian Portnoy, Nonfiction, Finance
Recommended by:
Regan Stephenson, Financial Advisor
Synopsis:
This compilation of 25 financial experts shares how they navigate markets with their own capital. In this honest rendering of how they invest, save, spend, give, and borrow, this group of experts detail the "how" and the "why" of their investments. They share stories about their childhood, their families, the struggles they face and the aspirations they hold.
Why She Chose This Book:
“Although I don’t have much time for personal reading, this one piqued my curiosity,” she said. “It shares personal stories from different investment managers, discussing not only their approach to investing their own funds, but how their behavioral bias based on their past brought them there.”
“The Athenian Series” by Conn Iggulden, Historical Fiction
Recommended by:
Darrell Cain, Founding Partner
Synopsis:
When Sparta and the Persian Empire go to war, it will end in the fall of a dynasty. This trilogy takes readers through the momentous 27-year struggle between Athens and Sparta as rival powers and political systems.
Why He Chose This Book:
“Did you know that Athens not once but twice was evacuated, sacked and burnt to the ground? The politics and the first democracy in our world were as brutal and fickle as today,” Darrell said. “Persia’s multiple defeats and failure to subjugate Greece is told with a captivating narrative.”
“American Dirt” by Jeanine Cummings, Fiction
Recommended by:
Christy Ratcliff, Managing Partner, NDP
Synopsis:
This New York Times Best Seller is a novel about the journey of a Mexican woman who had to leave behind her life and escape as an undocumented immigrant to the United States with her son.
Why She Chose This Book:
“This is a beautiful story of love and hope,” Christy said. “The author develops incredible characters and takes a divisive subject and humanizes it through the story of a mother and son on the run. It’s suspenseful, joyous, heartbreaking and as a parent and human, pulled on every emotion.“
“The End of the World is Just the Beginning” by Peter Zeihan, Nonfiction
Recommended by:
Brad Sanders, Managing Director, Tectonic Advisors
Synopsis:
Geopolitical strategist Zeihan maps out the next world: a world where countries or regions will have no choice but to make their own goods, grow their own food, secure their own energy, fight their own battles, and do it all with populations that are both shrinking and aging.
Why He Chose This Book:
“The book illustrates how the rapid movement towards low-cost production and the exponential push of overconsumption in the west has instituted a level of fragility to the globalized economic system that cannot be ignored,” he said.
“Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt, Fiction
Recommended by:
Erin Jeffries, Chief Marketing Officer
Synopsis:
An elderly woman recently lost her husband and works nights cleaning at an aquarium. It helps mourn the loss of both her husband and her son, who mysteriously disappeared on a boat in Puget Sound over 30 years ago. Unlikely new acquaintances offer friendship, reckoning and hope.
Why She Chose This Book:
“This story held all of the makings of the type of book I typically gravitate to,” Erin said. “A beautiful coastal setting, an unsolved mystery and a quirky cast of characters. While I usually enjoy books written from different points of view, one from a giant pacific octopus kept me pulled in.”
CWA would like to wish you a holiday season filled with good books, great memories and close friends. Happy Holidays.
