Ensights Magazine

faculty bookshelf Summer 2022

Faculty Bookshelf — Summer 2022

Editorial Staff
What did the Ensworth faculty read this summer?
Whitney Johnson
Chief Financial Officer
By Amanda Montell

"Montell uses macabre humor and intriguing storytelling to explore what makes 'cults' so intriguing and frightening. She defines the verbal elements that are consistent among communities with 'cultish' behavior: from religious cults to social media influencers, political extremists, exercise gyms, business start-ups, multi-level marketing companies, and more. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. We're influenced by cultish language, in both positive ways and shadowy ones, every day through a variety of media. For those that enjoy a good documentary binge on Netflix, this book is a fascinating take on the social science of power, dogma, and belief that will make you acutely aware of the 'cultish' language you hear throughout your day-to-day life."
Gloria Maas
Facility and Risk Analyst
By James Patterson and Mike Lupica
"The Horsewoman is a fun sports thriller surrounding a unique mother-daughter relationship. While they share the same passion for horses and jumping, they take very different approaches to pursuing their love and goals - making it on the US Olympic Equestrian Team. This book shows how love and understanding (and some thick skin) can keep a meaningful bond between two very different people. Not your typical James Patterson read, but excellent!"
Sukey Johnson
Kindergarten Teacher
By Katharine Gregorio

"The Double Life of Katharine Clark is a true, Cold War adventure tale of risk, spies and secrets against insurmountable odds. It's also a story about a loyal friendship dedicated to making sure all sides of the story are heard. Katharine Clark is an American journalist behind the Iron Curtain in 1950s Yugoslavia. When high-ranking Communist leader Milovan Djilas goes on trial, stripping him of his leadership and power, Katharine knows he has more to say. Her pursuit of the story begins an unlikely friendship that spans decades and changes both her and history. History buff or not, you will enjoy this heroic true story about an amazing woman who was ahead of her time!"
Greg Vance
Head Chef at Red Gables Campus, SAGE Dining Services
By Malcolm Gladwell

"Outliers is an incredible piece of work with studies that show that your household-name 'outliers,' such as billionaires, sports stars, rock stars etc., are not outliers because of anything they possess that your average person doesn't. It’s that they worked to put themselves into the right place at the right time, took advantage of opportunities, and were able to identify amazing prospects as they came. It's a highly motivating book, and I felt I benefited greatly from reading it. It's one of those pieces that puts a pep in your step, while also helping you identify potential opportunities."
David Chanaca
High School History Teacher
By Kate Quinn

"The Huntress is a historical fiction that is set in the 1950s as part of an attempt to uncover some Nazi conspirators from WW2. It is a complex story that follows a female Soviet pilot named Nina Markova, a Nazi hunter named Ian Graham, and a seventeen-year-old photographer named Jordan McBride in their search for an ex-Nazi female killer known as the Huntress. It is a well-written, tense novel that involves intrigue, mystery, and romance. It shows the lengths some individuals are willing to go to undo a wrong and find justice no matter what the consequences. It is a fast-paced, well-written story that will appeal to a variety of audiences."
Kevin Brown
High School English Teacher
By Amy Bloom

"In this memoir, Bloom explores her and her husband’s marriage and his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s. She ultimately helps him travel to Switzerland, the one place he can legally end his life before his disease progresses. Her work shows that her action is rooted in love for helping him live and end life the way he chooses."
By Tajja Isen

"This collection of essays explores race on a personal level, but Isen always connects her experiences to broader, more systemic problems of race in a wide range of areas, including voice acting (which Isen does), law, the literary canon and publishing, protest, affirmative action, and nationality (she’s Canadian)."
By Rhea Ewing

"Ewing’s graphic novel approach to exploring gender works well to explain their story of processing gender, as they interview almost sixty other people to gather background on how people view and experience gender. It’s one of the most wide-ranging, yet accessible books on gender I’ve read."
By Kate Murphy

"Murphy talks about the steep drop-off in how we listen to one another, as our culture has shifted to more and more technological use. She goes beyond that to talk about loneliness and the lack of true connection, but also how we can improve our listening abilities and overcome these problems. Given our focus on listening at the Harkness table, this book is rather timely and appropriate."
By Emily St. John Mandel

"This novel moves throughout time, ranging from 1912 to 2401, with characters who somehow interact with one another across that great expanse of time. St. John Mandel is raising a number of questions (there’s a pandemic in the novel, as there was in her previous one, which was published before the Coronavirus hit), but she’s mainly concerned with time and reality, considering whether we all live in a simulated reality."
By Oliver Burkeman

"Four thousand weeks is the average time most of us will have to live. Burkeman presents his book as a time management work, but he’s much more interested in reminding us of our mortality. He argues that so-called “life hacks” are just a way of denying that mortality. We’ll never have the time we need to accomplish all we want to, so we should admit that, then figure out what’s really important to us. We should then use our four thousand weeks to focus on those few things instead of trying to accomplish everything, which just leads to unhappiness."
By Katherine May

"This quiet, reflective book talks about those times in life where we have to literally or metaphorically withdraw from something, as life seems to withdraw during winter. May highlights the importance of rest and recovery for people, just as the Earth also needs times of abundance, but also times of decay and dormancy."
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Red Gables Campus (K–8)

Nashville, TN 37205
(615) 383-0661

Frist Campus (9–12)

Nashville, TN 37221
(615) 301-5400
Ensworth is a coeducational, kindergarten through twelfth grade, independent day school.