In her beautiful, poignant memoir, Brennan-Jobs recounts her experiences of living with a caring, depressing mother and a cold, cruel father who happened to be Steve Jobs. Despite all the turmoils between the two parents, Brennan-Jobs turned out to be a resilient individual. Even in her young age, she was smart and compassionate. She can also write. Although the book is almost 400 pages, it is such a breezy read. Not only we get to know Steve through the intimate lens of his daughter, but we also get to know his wife Laurene. Small Fry is a page-turner. I definitely recommend it. In addition, the book is set in Adobe Caslon Pro, by Carol Twombly. It is georgous and highly readable.

In his gut-wrenching memoir, Laymon reveals the painful truth of his childhood. Through his raw-yet-refined prose, he reflects on the struggle with his weight, the complicated relationship with his mama, and the racism growing up black in Jackson, Mississippi. This is indeed a heavy read, but I love it.

In hindsight, I picked up this book because it was designed by Michael Bierut and Britt Cob. The layout and the typography are superb. From white space to large type treatment, the design has Bierut’s signature style all over it. The actual writing, however, is quite shallow. Timberlake only gives super short highlights of his life. Yes, he’s a superstar. Yes, he has super connection. Yes, he is super privileged. Even though I am not a fan of his, I already know the power of a white male celebrity. He has Sandra Bark ghostwrite his book and Pentagram design it. I am not knocking on his accomplishment. I just want to hear the real story that has not already displayed in public.

Even though I still have a week left in 2018, I know for sure that I won’t be able to finish Jill Lepore’s These Truths: a History of the United States before the New Year. The book is almost 1000 pages and I only just got started.

Still, 2018 sets a new record for the number of books I have read. This year I read 92 books—two more than last year, according to my reading history.

This year, I continued to switch between English and Vietnamese. In English, I read mostly non-fiction. I only read a few books on design, typography, and technical. In Vietnamese, I read mostly collection of essays because those are the ones that are available in the new-release section at the libraries. I was getting weary of them.

I also had an issue with too many books and too little time. I was overwhelmed with the number of books and started to lose my concentration. At some points, I simply just returned all the books and only kept one or two I really want to read.

In 2019, my goal is to focus on what I read. I will choose books that are at least 400 pages. I will read slowly to soak in rather than to speed through the content. I will give myself as much time as I need to read them; therefore, I won’t pay attention to the number of books.

With the lightning speed in this new digital age we are living in, reading thicker books will train me to be more patience. I will spend less time reading online and checking social media. At least that is my hope for 2019.

Of course I have heard of Bruce Lee, but I didn’t exactly know about his life. I am so glad I picked up Polly’s book, which is an impressive, definitive, 500-page biography of Bruce Lee. With deep research and thorough interviews, Polly sheds a light on Lee’s short, accomplished life and the cause of his death. As a kung fu practitioner himself, Polly explains Lee’s contemporary techniques, which combined kung fu with street fighting, with engaging details. If you want to learn the comprehensive story of Lee’s life, this book is the one to read.

From historical background to character detail, this book focuses on every aspect of the letterforms. With clear visual illustrations and concise explanations, Samara provides insights into the process of type design. If you are interested in type study, this book is for you.

An inspiring resource for grid-based design, Layout Now is uniquely bounded into four sections. Each section is divided up by different paper size. The first three parts provide basic principles for making a solid layout. The last part shows real examples with deconstructions to demonstrate how the layouts are built. Even though I wish it has more text explaining the concept behind each layout, the book is good to flip through for layout ideas.

A breezy overview of type design from theory to history. Rich visual examples and beautiful typesetting make it a perfect gift for students as well as anyone who would like an introduction to the world of typography. A delightful read.

The authors take a weird approach to explain colors. Yellow, for instance, is about the skin color of Asian people. At first, Asians were seen as white, but then perceived as yellow over a period of time. On green, the authors delved into political colors. If you want to learn about color theory for graphic design, this book is not going to teach anything. It’s not an exciting read.

This is another informing book on grammar from Casagrande. She explains syntax in a clear, comprehensible, and joyful writing. Her examples help seeing how sentences are constructed. Although I know most of the rules, I still trip up grammar when I write. Here are a few guides I have noted.

On page 42, Casagrande shows the apostrophe-less adjective:

Often, the implied word for comes into play. If it’s a policy for homeowners, the apostrophe is commonly omitted: homeowners policy. If it’s a massage for couples, you’re likely to see it written couples massage.

On page 91, she explains be:

So be is a base form. You’d use it to replace is, am, or are when employing the subjunctive mood.

He is here.
It’s crucial that he be here.

You are nice.
It’s crucial that you be nice.

I am ready.
It’s crucial that I be ready.

On page 92, she shows how the verbs don’t change in the subjunctive form:

He walks. — It’s crucial that he walk. (Note: No s)
He is. — It’s crucial that he be. (Present tense)

On page 93, she demonstrates the contrary-to-fact meaning:

If Mary were alive
(The speaker knows Mary is not alive.)

If Mary was alive at the time
(Mary may have been alive.)

On page 169, she explains the use of the singular they:

Singular they, them, and their fill a need in the language. English has no designated third person singular personal pronoun that isn’s gender specific. He and she are third person singular, but you’re assigning a sex to someone when you use one of these.

On page 170, she provides some examples:

Everyone should keep their car locked.

Anybody caught out after 11 p.m. knows their movie privileges will be revoked.

Someone who loves me said they will come to my defense.

I highly recommend this book for a crash course on grammar.