Things I Love Lately

 You Don’t Need An Extreme Bucket List to Find Happiness – I loved this piece by Mary Elizabeth Williams.  “I hope someday to see Machu Picchu. I fantasize about getting my master’s degree. There is a big world full of spectacular things, and I have so much I still want to experience within it. But today, I can make that fried chicken recipe I bookmarked three years ago…There is nothing standing in my way – no money to be saved up; no calendar to clear. Life is happening now, and the whole big lesson I got out of almost losing it far sooner than I ever planned is to not put off anything that catches my curiosity or moves my heart.”

A Year Without Oliver Sacks – Sacks is one of my favorite writers, and I think often of his legacy, share his writing, and return to his words myself.  This remembrance by one of his best friends made me ache for his loss, as well as swell with gratitude for his life.  His contribution was enormous (I also had no idea he knew Robin Williams, though it doesn’t surprise me, when I read it.  I hope they are together somewhere now, laughing hard).

American Crime.  I am not a huge TV watcher, but WOW.  I watched Season One over the summer and Season Two just a week or so ago while Matt was immediately post-surgery.  I loved Season Two even more than Season One, but found both incredibly riveting.  So, so, so good.

Matt has been reading a lot, since he’s mostly immobile.  He has recently read and enjoyed Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger, Valiant Ambition by Nathanial Philbrick, Chaos Monkeys by Antonio Garcia Martinez, and Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth.  These are somewhat different than the fare I usually write about here, but if you have any books that you think he might like, we’d both love to hear about them!

I read a lot this summer, and I shared the rundown with brief thoughts on each book last week.  I am interested to hear what you have been reading.

I write these Things I Love posts approximately monthly.  You can find them all here.

7 thoughts on “Things I Love Lately”

  2. I loved American Crime as well. I recently discovered Odd Mom Out and am absolutely addicted. Probably not the best show for your husband to enjoy while he’s recovering, but it might give you a laugh!

  3. It’s an undertaking, but the Chernow biography of Alexander Hamilton is wonderful and highly readable for something so dense. Also, I don’t know if Matt does fiction, but Phil Klay’s short story collection about the Iraq war (“Redeployment”) was fantastic.

  5. I’ve had an extraordinary reading Summer. Occasionally, when listing what I’ve been reading I worry there’s too much and it borders on overkill. That aside, here’s some of my favorites: To The Bright Edge of The World, Eowyn Ivey, also her 2013 Pulitzer Prize finalist, Snow Child, The Last Painting of Sarah Sarah De Vos, Dominic Smith, The Unseen World, Liz Moore(amazing and among my top 3), Dark Matter, Blake Crouch(one of the best math and science based sci-fi offerings ever), Under The Harrow, Flynn Berry(fabulous cover to cover thriller from an amazing new, young author), Rules of Civility and A Gentleman In Moscow, Amor Towles(brilliant prose,captivating storyteller), The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware, Valley of The Moon, Melanie Gideon, MidAir, Kodi Scheer, All Things Cease To Appear, Elizabeth Brundage(a fabulous discovery of an author new to us), Vinegar Girl, Ann Tyler(I love Ms Tyler’s slightly offbeat characters). We read a number of the same books you did, enjoying them all spare one.

    We’ve talked about a few new TV routines that would include catching up on the Americans and The Blacklist, then adding the newly created Berlin Station on Epix. ‘Cold War’ nostalgia seems somehow appropriate these days. I loathe commercial television in general. We watch a few shows and an occasional sporting event….The US Open Tennis, and generally avoid the rest. We opt for PBS, BBC or use our Amazon Video Library.

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