Books and the Design of One’s Life: Feature Interview With Colorado Architect Kaci Taylor
The outdoor patio at Denver’s Aviano Coffee offered an ideal spot for a socially distanced conversation. With our beverages on the table and the din of chatting coffee enthusiasts in the background, we began our interview discussion.
My guest was Kaci Taylor, an urbane, intellectually sophisticated individual who is one of only 18 Black architects working in Colorado. Sadly, she is the only woman among that group, a trend that Kaci hopes will change someday.
Kaci is also a voracious reader, possessing a “no holds barred” attitude in her pursuit of new books. When I inquired about her love of reading, she admitted to me that this wasn’t always the case.
“As a kid, I really hated reading --absolutely hated it. But my mom who was a school psychologist for L.A County was really into reading. So we’d read together every night”.
Kaci says her biggest early challenge was reading comprehension.
“I was just really bad at it for a time. And my mom was always trying to get me to read all of these different types of books. I just wasn’t going to do it.”
She says that it wasn’t until, probably about 5th or 6th grade while reading the “Sweet Valley High” senior year series that things began to click in.
“For some reason, it was hard for me to put those books down. I think I ended up reading like 36 books -- I read them all. From there I started discovering other genres to read and things just took off from there.”
Kaci says that as a kid, she was a pretty shy child:
“I was in the corner reading books all the time so I wouldn’t have to talk to people. So that’s how it kinda all started.”
Besides her mom, she notes that both her dad and sister are also really big readers.
“I definitely come from a family of people who are obsessed with books,” she says laughing while taking a sip of her drink.
In terms of what she has discovered about herself over the years from her reading habits, Kaci had this to say:
“ I think books for me have always been a really good way of escape, a way to explore different worlds and cultures and learn more about people, and how they think and function. It’s always been a comfort for me.”
She notes that whenever she’s feeling stressed or sad, reading a book that allows her to turn off her brain and decompress.
“Reading is a really good way for me to be present in my life. For me, it’s very relaxing, kinda like yoga in a sense.”
When I asked Kaci what genres she has found interest in, she paused for a moment before responding:
“So I used to really be into young adult series, young adult romantic stuff in the beginning. That then translated into more fiction in general. But recently in the past couple of years, I’ve been reading more non-fiction and historical fiction kind of stuff.”
She cites “The Body” by Bo Bryson as a book that has really captured her attention of late. Books like this, she says, are part of her recent quest to increase her knowledge base on a wide variety of topics.
“For example, I recently read a book called The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest predator. And it was all about Mosquitos and how they impacted our entire world and how we live our lives. So stuff like that has been really fun to learn, something completely random, something outside of what I’m focusing on in my day-to-day life as an architect.”
Speaking of the architectural world, she says that her work requires one to have a diverse understanding of people — how we experience spaces and their intricate connection to all aspects of our lives.
“It’s really important to have a broad understanding of how that’s the case. I think that’s part of the other reason I’m attracted to so many kinds of books.”
She says that she often gets her book recommendations from friends.
“I’ll have a friend who reads a book and they’re like, ‘this book is really amazing, you need to read it.’ And I’m like ‘sure, why not.’”
Kaci admitted to having discovered a number of new books this way.
“I think that being open to different types of genres is important. It’s a really great way to kind of expand one’s own boundaries. For example, while I’ve never really been a big sci-fi reader although I do like sci-fi movies. But for my book club, we just read The Three-Body Problem which was really a great introduction to me in terms of sci-fi. It was written by a Chinese author, written in Chinese and then translated into English. It was very interesting.”
She said that she liked it way more than she originally thought she would.
“It has been fun trying to branch out and learn new things, seeing what I like and don’t like.”
Kaci says she joined her book group when she first moved to Colorado.
“It was like the first community I had in Colorado. We were like oh my god, we could become friends over books. We meet once a month, having read a book so that we can discuss it at someone’s house over wine. It offers a great opportunity for social connection, something I look forward to every month. Some of my closest friends in Colorado are a part of that book club. It’s been fantastic.”
Pivoting the conversation a bit, I then asked Kaci whether the covid pandemic and the racial justice movement have impacted her reading habits and interests. She had this to say:
“Being at home has certainly given me so much more time to read. I‘ve always been a big reader and so I started reading even more. Having the time and the space to do more of this has been fantastic.”
The library, she says, has been her go-to spot for books.
“What I particularly like about the library is that you never know what you are going to get because of all the holds. You might have 200-400 people who have reserved a book that you’re wanting to get. So for me, it’s always kinda fun having the library dictate which book I’m going to read next based on due dates.”
Kaci admits that when covid hit and the libraries closed, she started purchasing a bunch of books via the internet in order to keep herself entertained.
“Honestly, I ordered a lot of pandemic related books along with books by authors who I’d read before and wanted to support. I also found books from local, small independent bookstores that I wanted to support.”
She says that a few of her friends suggested that she download e-books on a Kindle or Nook, a suggestion that she stubbornly resisted.
“I’m like, I could. But I love physical books. There’s something for me about opening up a book and turning the pages that you don’t get from reading digitally.”
She continues:
“I don’t even comprehend the stories as well as I do when I’m reading a physical book. I can’t skim that quickly digitally whereas when I’m reading a book, I’m really reading.”
Kaci then expressed something that I find quite noble
“I’ve actually gotten into the habit of purchasing from independent bookstores across the country. While I continue to get books from local Colorado bookstores, the whole Black Lives Matter movement spurred me to change things up a bit. Because there are a number of black-owned bookstores becoming very well known, I decided that I wanted to support them as well.”
All of this led her to pursue the cool aim of ordering from a wide array of different bookstores:
“My boyfriend’s sister actually lives in Washington state where they have a bookstore called Pelican Bay Books. It’s a used bookstore where their entire catalog is all digitized and all online. So you can purchase used books through their website and then have them shipped to wherever you are. What’s cool is that they individually wrap each book and adorn it with a stamp -- it’s the cutest little thing.”
She says that ordering this way brings an extra level of excitement that she doesn’t feel when going the Amazon route:
“With the Amazon option, I know that I’m going to get them in two days. Me, I like having to wait a little bit more for it. This anticipation which I know seems weird to some, gives me a little bit more to look forward to. There is something about this anticipation that makes it really fun.”
So what is her favorite bookstore? Kaci took another sip of her beverage before jumping right in:
“Growing up in L.A. we always would go to Barnes and Noble in Marina Del Rey. Me, my mom and my sister would go and we would stay for hours. I was definitely the type of person who would attempt to read an entire book while at the store [laughter].”
She continues:
“Every time I go home to L.A. I still enjoy going to that bookstore and spending time just perusing. And so I would say that that’s my favorite bookstore only because of the history that I have with it. But also do like the Bookshop BookBar here in Denver. They have a great selection as well as a bar where you can go, sit, have a drink, and read a book. It's a fun little community.”
Kaci, in fact, acknowledges to me that she has a wide collection of spots where she likes to read:
“Usually outside as much as possible these days. I like sitting out in the morning especially before it gets too hot. There’s nothing like reading while having some tea and eating breakfast.”
When she first moved to Denver, Colorado, says Kaci, she made it a habit of finding different cafes nestled through the city to hunker down for a bit and dive into a book.
“I like Amethyst Coffee on 44th. It’s a beautiful space. I live like 10 minutes from there so I like to go there and have a day or an afternoon of just reading. When I was living in Denver’s Capital Hill neighborhood, there was this little coffeehouse on 6th that used to be a gas station. I enjoyed it because they have a dog friendly patio which was perfect for me and my four-legged creature. It was within walking distance of my apartment. They have good sandwiches and no one is ever there. It’s always super quiet.”
Curious about what Kaci is reading at present, I ask her about what books have her attention at present. She ponders for a moment before turning to the Goodreads app on her phone for help in jogging her memory. Another minute or so goes by while she scrolls through her list. Finally, she looks up at me and offers a response:
“This is a very hard question. Um, I’m trying to think. I could say that of the books I’ve read in the last two years, Freshwater is a good one. It’s one of those books that you're reading and you’re like holy, omg. It was a different kind of book that I had ever read before.”
She says that the author takes you down a path of discovering different things about the characters as you read more. Kind of confusing at first and a little hidden, says Kaci. But as you learn more about the characters you really get sucked into it.
Kaci looks down again and continues scrolling through her Goodreads app before responding again:
“I recently read The Nickle Boys. This was the first of Colson Whitehead’s books that I’ve read. For me, it was a very fast read. I read it in like two days. But it definitely affected me in a “this comes a little too close to home” sort of way. And the twist at the end was interesting. So that was a recent one.”
She scrolls again
“Such A Fun Age by Kelly Read, that one, too, is a really good book. Uh, what else have I read recently? Uhhh, there’s a lot. I could be like, “all of them are great.”
“Oh, yea, there’s another book called ‘How To Be Black’ that was quite interesting. Actually it’s a very funny read. I resonate very much with what the author Baratude Thurston talks about and how he discusses it. It’s a book I highly recommend to anyone and everyone. The book makes some amazing points to where you are kinda like, ‘WOW!’”
Kaci then reveals a habit of hers with books that she says is an annoyance to some, namely her boyfriend.
“There are a lot of books that I read where I’m very big with the highlighter [laughter]. I like to underline stuff and take notes. My boyfriend actually hates it because he hates reading books that have markings in it. So we end up getting two copies of books, my copy and his copy.”
In terms of her list of reads for the remainder of 2020, Kaci rattled off a few:
“In addition to ‘The Body by Bo Bryson’ which I’m currently reading, I have “If I Had Your Face: A Novel” by Francis Cha which is on the list. Another one is ‘Untamed’ by Glennon Doyle. I’m trying to picture what’s on my bookshelf right now. Oh yes, ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ by Celeste Ng which is part of Reese Witherspoon’s book club. I also have -- what was it, its actually a book that I’m really excited about -- um, um [jogging her memory] Oh yes, “The Vanishing Act” by Mette Jakobsen. That one looks very interesting as well.”
It’s now time for Kaci to run to a meeting, to her other life as an architect. So she puts her sunglasses back on and grabs her bag before offering this.
“What’s so exciting is that with some of the covid restrictions having been lifted, I have library book options again. I already have like seven books checked out and four more that I’m picking up tomorrow. So it looks like I’ll have quite a bit to focus on before the end of the year.”