issue #25 - the one with fall on the horizon

Rho’s back in school in a week. Rhaki’s got a music class starting this fall.

And once the Sundara gala is over (get your tickets here!), my life goes back to normal. Normal-ish.

If this is your first e-mail from me, welcome! In addition to writing the book How To Pack, I'm an entrepreneur and angel investor, an avid reader, and a mom of two boys (a 4 year old and a 3 month old).

Every Saturday, I share the 25 best reads from the Internet (culled from the daily shares on my Instagram), the books I've read that week, and things I'm generally loving at the moment. You can join the conversation on all these articles - and more! - in my Facebook group.

Looking for my packing list template? Here you go!

#ThingsILove This Week

• I don’t remember where I discovered this plate, but we now own 3 because it’s the only thing that has gotten Rho to try new foods. I don’t try any new foods for breakfast, but I’ve been filling 2 of the sections at lunch and dinner with different vegetables and foods. And he actually tries a bite. VICTORY!

• I keep this toy in my purse for Rho at all times for when we go out to eat (which we’ve done a lot this week). It keeps both of us entertained and off my phone.

• If the summer was all about the #amazonnightgown, this fall is for skinny denim and oversized button downs. These jeans are still my favorite, and I love button downs from Shop BURU and Grayson. Shoes? These Birkenstock clogs until it gets too cold...

• This playlist is one massive throwback and I can’t stop listening to it. It’s a much needed break from the Descendants soundtracks.

• Podcast episodes I love - Lauryn Evarts’ productivity hacks, Mom Brain’s interview with Elizabeth Chambers Hammer, Ezra Klein’s interview with Raj Chetty, and Amy Nelson’s episode on Why Not Now?

• Things I love and am frequently asked about on Instagram - the caftan I’m always wearing (also known as the #amazonnightgown), my favorite vitamins (both their pre-natal and their essential one for women), my Amazon shop, the app to save #5SmartReads to read later, the marriage check-in my husband and I do every single week, and my favorite produce delivery company. Small Packages (one of my portfolio companies) is the curated gift box company I’m always talking about - get 15% off your order with the code HITHA.

What I read this week:

• When Women Ruled The World - I’d love to have dinner with Kara Cooney, the author of this book. She brings the women pharaohs of Egypt ALIVE, while providing necessary (and highly opinionated) commentary on women and power today and in other historical times. This is definitely a book for history lovers, but Cooney writes in such a compelling way that you can’t put the book down. If I lived in LA, I’d be auditing one of her classes in UCLA in a heartbeat.

• The Gifted School (gifted from Penguin Random House) - this book received a lot of acclaim, and I see why. It’s got all the hallmarks of a juicy summer read - ambitious parents, the competitiveness of a new school, very real and deeply flawed characters. I think the book hit too close to home for me (I babysat for a lot of families like this book in high school - in Colorado, no less) and it all felt uncomfortably familiar. It’s a very good book - strong writing, a solid pace throughout, excellent character development.

Current book reviewshere,every bookI’ve read this year, and all myAmazon favorites.

The Top 5

1. Meet the Unfluencers (The Cut)

2. My Child Can’t Get Vaccinated. Here’s What Life Is Like for Us. (SELF)

3. Always Have Three Beverages (The Atlantic)

4. Why the U.S. Has Long Resisted Universal Child Care (New York Times)

5. Céline Dion is Everywhere (The Walrus)

The Catch Up

Monday

• Slavery's explosive growth, in charts: How '20 and odd' became millions (USA Today)

• CDC "concerned" about drug-resistant Salmonella (Axios)

• Nuking Hurricanes: The Surprising History of a Really Bad Idea (National Geographic)

• How K-pop is luring young North Koreans to cross the line (Washington Post)

Tuesday

• How The World Is Moving On From U.S. Leadership (Deadline | MSNBC)

• Hope for breakthroughs on Iran, global trade at G7 summit (Al Jazeera)

• Sold Back Into Slavery, She Sued for Restitution — and Won (Zora)

• Allison Esposito Medina On The Perks Of Confronting Failure (The M Dash)I’m an investor in MM.LaFleur

Wednesday

• Stacey Abrams Is 10 Steps Ahead Of You (Isn't That Great?) (Bustle)

• SpaceX's Starhopper completes final test (Axios)

• Two Sisters And The Terrorist Who Came Between Them (Elle)

• Meek Mill’s decade-long probation showed how broken America’s justice system is (Vox)

Thursday

• Are reasonable restraints on drug price increases doomed by pharma lobbying? (STAT)

• Leaning In to Your Authenticity with Keisha Smith-Jeremie (The Cru)

• How little we know about Puerto Rico's economy (Axios)

• Toni Harris made history by getting a football scholarship. Now she needs to make tackles. (The Undefeated)

Friday

• This monthly subscription box wants to get you pregnant (Fast Company)

• America's worker deserts (Axios)

• Dee Poku-Spalding Turned Her Passion Into A Paycheck — & She Wants To Help You Do The Same (Refinery 29)

• Boris Johnson just suspended Parliament over Brexit. Here’s what’s going on. (Vox)