Things I Love Lately

Do Not Go Gentle – this New York Times op-ed by Roger Cohen made me weep.  As in big, fat tears bouncing off my desk as I read it. His writing is glorious, but his point also resonated with me in a deep way.  I had been thinking about how I feel both sorrowful and beaten down by this year, but also a strange, sturdy sense of joy as an undercurrent underneath all that grief.  His piece helped me understand why.

Hillbilly Elegy – I finally read this book, about which I’ve seen rhapsodic reviews.  Matt just read it over Thanksgiving.  Super interesting, and the second half in particular riveted me.  I’m reminded that the United States is a vast and varied place, and that I live in one small (blue) corner of it.

I Won’t Let Cynicism Win – This piece by Mary Elizabeth Williams gutted me.  Yes, yes, and yes.  Amid all the wreckage of this year – and she describes her family’s personal challenges, as well as the ones in the larger world – there is so much grace.  I love this piece, which brought me to tears.  I won’t let cynicism win, either.

Best Books of 2016 – I love this site by NPR for its easy navigability as well as for the ways it lauds some of my beloved books of this year (Lab Girl, The Underground Railroad, Ada Twist, Scientist, The Girls).  A wonderful way to poke around some of the best reads of this past year.

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