1 . Recently I’ve been drawn to books which motivate me to look at myself, and hopefully make me a better “me”. The Courage to Be Disliked, by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koya, has a title I just can’t go past.

The book has taken Japan by storm, using the theories of philosopher Alfred Adler to create conversations between a fictional philosopher and a young man. The conversations cover many broad, interesting and sensitive topics. The philosopher character sticks by the theories of Adler, and explains how we are competent to determine our own lives, and be free of the influence of past experiences and others’ expectations. It’s a way of thinking that allows us to develop the courage to change and to ignore the limitations placed on us.

These often complex topics are played out in a conversational style between the two men. While it’s easy to follow the conversations, the topics will knock around in your own head as you work out whether you sit on the side of the philosopher, the young man, or somewhere in between. The book is well-received by readers primarily owing to the fact that it presents two well-balanced viewpoints in the arguments. You’ll find yourself doing household chores, or at your keyboard, unpacking all the information in your mind and coming to your own conclusions.

You will wholeheartedly agree on some points and want to throw the book at the wall at others. Its content is polarizing (两极分化) and I certainly don’t agree with everything the philosopher or the young man says, but I think that’s the point. The Courage to Be Disliked is there to start a conversation with yourself and do some slightly uncomfortable soul-searching.

3 . This year the annual reading challenge has been upgraded to the Reading Rush. The most important idea is to read seven books in seven days while hitting other specified challenges, and it has a website where you can track your reading: www.thereadingrush.com.

The Reading Rush takes place from July 22nd through the 28th. For more details, check out the site.

This will be my 5th year in this challenge, and I've even managed to pull in a few friends and family members to join me. Here's my current to-be-read list:

No.1 A book with purple on the cover

Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

No.2 A book in the same spot the whole time

Of Thee I Sing: A letter to my daughters by Barack Obama

No.3 A book you meant to read last year

57 Secrets for Organizing Your Small Business by Julie Bestry, CPO®

No.4 An author's first book

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

No.5 A book with a non-human main character

Animal Farm by George Orwell

No.6 A book with over five words in the title

Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker

No.7 Read a book and watch the movie adapted from it

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (an audiobook which we can hear the content)

If you try to read seven books in seven days, you are guaranteed to read more than you would have otherwise, which is a success in its own right. If you've never tried the Reading Rush before, this could be the year you start!

5 . The most gorgeous NYC libraries

Attractions     Libraries, archives and foundations       Midtown West

This impressive location, proudly guarded by royal-looking marble lions, is among the city’s most splendid public spaces. Of course the Rose Reading Room — who wouldn't be inspired by all those crystal chandeliers? But if you're here for the books, you won't be disappointed either: there are some 50 million items spread out across these shelves.

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Things to do             Talks and lectures            East Harlem

Established in 1847 and opened to the public in 1878, this library holds a thorough catalogue of medical journals, documents and other materials. The library subscribes to more than 1,000 journals, and there are more than 800,000 issues. Its historical collections even contain documentation about an 18th-century smallpox outbreak in the U.K.

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Museums        History             Murray Hill

Originally the private library of none other than John Pierpont Morgan—this amazing building was first intended for bookish pursuits in 1910. In 2006, a massive redecoration brought more natural light into the building and doubled the size of the exhibition space. Today, the museum welcomes visitors to see collections of original Michelangelo drawings and its theater regularly hosts recitals and concerts.

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The Center for Fiction recently opened a new location in Downtown Brooklyn that brings the old-world charm of literature together with more modern rooms with a bar/cafe, a bookstore, writing space, and yes, a library. While membership is required to take advantage of its co-working spaces and upstairs library, the public is free to check out the ground-floor where a part of its library sits as well as its bookstore, bar-cafe and event space. Members can out books and get discounts on reading groups, writing workshops, events, and bookstore, and more. It's a beautifully quiet space for literature lovers to sit and read.

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7 . Scientists, psychologists and English academics at Liverpool University have found that reading the works of the classical writers like Shakespeare and Wordsworth has a great effect on the mind, catches the reader’s attention and triggers moments of self-examination.

Using a special machine, they monitored the brain activity of 30 volunteers as they read works by William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot and others.

In the first part of the research, the brain activity of 30 volunteers was monitored as they read passages from Shakespeare’s plays, including King Lear, Othello, Coriolanus and Macbeth, and again as they read the text rewritten in a simpler form or modern language.

While reading the common texts, normal levels of electrical activity were shown in their brains. When they read the works of Shakespeare, however, the levels of activity jumped because of his use of words which were unfamiliar to them. The result of the test showed that the more challenging passages cause a greater degree of electrical activity in the brain than the common ones.

Scientists went on to study the brain activity as it responded to each word and recorded how it lit up as the readers came across unusual words, surprising phrases or difficult sentences in the classical works. As a result, this lightening up process of the mind lasted longer than that when volunteers read common texts, encouraging further reading.

The research also found that reading poetry especially increases activity in the right hemisphere (半球) of the brain, an area connected with “autobiographical memory”, driving the readers to think carefully about their own experiences based on what they have read. The academics said this meant the classical works of literature are more useful than self-help books.

Philip Davis, an English professor who has worked on the study in the university’s magnetic resonance center, announced this week: “Classical literature acts like a rocket-booster to the brain, which provides extra power for the brain. You may never imagine how powerful it is. The research shows such kind of literature can create new thoughts and connections in the young and the old.”

8 . My motivation for starting our family tradition of reading in the car was purely selfish: I could not bear listening to A Sesame Street Christmas for another 10 hours. My three children had been addicted to this cassette on our previous summer’s road trip.

As I began to prepare for our next 500-mile car trip, I came across a book Jim Trelease’s The Read Aloud Handbook. This could be the answer to my problem. I thought. So I put Roald dahl’s James and the Giant Peach into my bag. When I began to read aloud the tale of the boy who escapes the bad guys by hiding inside a giant peach, my three kids argued and wrestled in their seats. But after several lines, they were attracted into the rhythm of the words and began to listen.

We soon learned that the simple pleasure of listening to a well-written book makes the long miles pass more quickly. Sometimes the books we read became highlights of the trip. I read Wilson Rawls’s Summer of the Monkeys as we spent two days driving to the beach. We arrived just behind the power crews restoring (恢复) electricity after a tropical storm. The rain continued most of the week, and the beach was covered with oil washed up by the storm. When we returned home, I asked my son what he liked about the trip. He answered without hesitation, “The book you read in the car.”

Road trips still offer challenges, even though my children now are teenagers. But we continue to read as we roll across the country. And I'm beginning to see that reading aloud has done more than help pass the time. For at least a little while, we are not shut in our own electronic worlds. And maybe we’ve started something that will pass on to the next generation.