00:00Hey friends, it's Cody Reevesby and today I'm giving Marie Claire a look into my private
00:05book collection.
00:07Because today, and today only, the library is open.
00:10This is Shelf Portrait.
00:17I'm not going to try and act like I am a bougie rigger.
00:20I like everything and anything.
00:22I like lowbrow.
00:24I probably can't even read highbrow.
00:26But let's take a look at what I've got going on.
00:28I do love, let's just like first stop at this Britney Spears moment.
00:32Someone, a fan of mine, sent me this from some school library.
00:38So Cumberland, Sunnyvale, California public school system.
00:42If you're missing this, I didn't steal it.
00:45Somebody stole it for me.
00:46I do like a wide variety of things.
00:48We love fiction.
00:49I'm not going to act like I'm above the Hunger Games series.
00:53Love them.
00:54Love the movies.
00:54I remember reading these books when I first moved to New York City.
00:57It's what I read on the subway to and from work.
01:00It kept me very occupied.
01:01I do have some of my colleagues books here.
01:04We've got Emma Lovell's book.
01:05We've got Tude Oyene's book.
01:07I even have a book from my college professor, Marita Sambi.
01:11I also really love a self-help advice book.
01:17That's why we've got The Power of Now.
01:20We've got The Four Agreements, Tiny Beautiful Things.
01:23It's almost like a text of Cody where people send him questions and she answers them.
01:27Love it.
01:28And of course, you know, a book that I live by is The Ethical Slut.
01:32Because if you're going to be a slut, do it with consent and be ethical about it.
01:38How you live your life is okay, but this is almost like a sex bible, really, honestly.
01:44Not featured in the library at the moment because we took them out are five of my favorite books.
01:49They are a wide range.
01:51We're going to go through them one by one.
01:52And we're going to start off with Oprah Winfrey's What I Know For Sure.
01:56I think it's, we go through a lot in life and there's certain lessons that we learn.
02:01And when we know things for sure in our foundation, our heart,
02:05we can like live by them and really learn from our experience.
02:08And this is just such a wonderful book.
02:10I was going through a horrible breakup probably like seven years ago.
02:13And my friend Corey told me to read this book.
02:16And it's just been a classic that I absolutely love.
02:19Oprah goes through a lot of her life and stories and the lessons that she's learned from them.
02:23And I think we can always learn something valuable from the one and only Oprah Winfrey.
02:29All right.
02:30Second up, we've got The Mindful Athlete by George Mumford.
02:35Okay.
02:35Listen, I'm going to be honest with you.
02:37This is not an easy read.
02:39This is sometimes a dense read, but it's something that you want to bite off little
02:44by little because there's a lot to take from it.
02:46But most importantly, what I learned from this book is how to take my mindfulness practice
02:52and put it into my workouts and how we are so present when we're in our body
02:58and when we are performing our best that it's almost like euphoric.
03:02It's almost like you allow yourself to be so present and be the best version of yourself.
03:07So I really love this book, but I warn you, it is not an easy read.
03:11Also not an easy read, but a great thing to read and reflect on and take in over time is
03:19Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach.
03:21I think what this book really taught me is accepting the world as it is and not trying
03:28to change so much.
03:29I think when we try to hold on and change something, we're really resisting what is meant for us.
03:37And I think this has a lot of great stories, just teaches you how to accept and let go.
03:42And I think it's a great, it's a great jumping off point to a journey of self-love.
03:49All right.
03:50This is my absolute favorite book of all time.
03:53Dancing from the Dance by Andrew Halloran.
03:55You can see from how beat up it is, how much I love it.
04:00I've read it multiple times.
04:01This book really feels like somewhat of a biography of my own life.
04:06It's messy.
04:08It deals with queer love and losing love and finding love and also being a free ass bitch.
04:16And what I love about this story is that it was written before the AIDS crisis.
04:22So you really get a view of what New York City life for a gay man felt like before then.
04:28I feel like a lot of the stories, queer stories that are told about gay men really are about trauma
04:34and dealing with the HIV crisis.
04:39And this is just such a great book.
04:41Any gay man living in New York City should read this and you will see a lot of yourself in
04:46it.
04:46This one is great for your kids.
04:48This one is Shel Silverstein's The Missing Piece.
04:52I think it just reminds us to be ourselves that what is meant for us will come at the right
04:59time.
05:00Yes, it's a kid's book.
05:02Yes, it's simple, but it's a delightful read.
05:07I love a self-help book or an advice book.
05:11If I can finish that book and take something and have that light bulb go off in my head
05:16and I've learned something impactful, it's my favorite book.
05:19And I've read a bunch of them, as you can see.
05:21Okay.
05:22I'm not going to lie.
05:22I do order a lot online.
05:24I love instant gratification from Amazon,
05:27but McMally Jackson in Lansbury is a great book story that I frequent often.
05:33If you're in the neighborhood, check it out.
05:36Becker told The Power of Now.
05:39It really got me into my mindfulness practice, really learned how to be present.
05:43I feel like it helps people unlock their superpowers.
05:47Not an easy read.
05:48Also take your time with it, digest it once again, but good book.
05:53Okay.
05:54Embarrassing Jacob from Twilight.
05:56I just think he could really like throw you around in the bedroom,
06:00but I kind of changed my mind on the whole Twilight series.
06:03Once I like read it and figured it out, it was like purity culture propaganda.
06:07Cause if you know me, I'm a slut and I'm not waiting until marriage.
06:11I love reading a book on the subway because nobody wants to make their commute
06:17and you just get into your own little world.
06:19You forget what's going on, but make sure you're paying attention enough that you don't miss your
06:24stop.
06:24Cause I've been so into a book that I'm like three stops away from where I was supposed to get
06:29off.
06:29And then I messed up my whole morning.
06:31Why don't you ask?
06:32My book, XOXO Cody, an opinionated homosexual's guide to self-love relationships and tactful penniness
06:40comes out September 12th.
06:42I loved this process.
06:44It almost felt like therapy.
06:46You go into it.
06:47You dig deeper into your life stories.
06:49You recollect things that happen in your life.
06:51And it almost feels like you're letting go of all the BS and kind of celebrating the amazing
06:56things about your life.
06:57Thank you so much for watching Shelf Portrait.
07:01Make sure you ordered my book, XOXO Cody.
07:04And don't forget to subscribe to Marie Claire.
07:08Bye booze.
07:15Bye booze.
07:15Bye booze.
07:15Bye booze.
07:17Bye booze.
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