Great New Books – As you may or may not know, I write occasionally for Great New Books, reviewing a book I’ve loved. At the end of the year we always publish a series of group posts, which I really love. We shared our Best Books of 2016, our Favorite Book Quotes from 2016, our Favorite Book We Finally Got Around to Reading in 2016, and our Most Anticipated Books of 2017. There are some great books mentioned here, and I hope you’ll check it out.
The Invisible Workload – Oh, wow. This article from Time made me cry. It’s so true, every word of it. I’ve said before that the primary work of motherhood is the remembering work. It’s the mental space that juggling all the details takes up that I’m most aware of and that, lately, feels heaviest. I don’t mean to complain – I’m grateful and most of the time, I choose the role of Rememberer in Chief – but I appreciate hearing from someone outside that I’m not crazy to feel this as a heavy responsibility.
Be A Creature of Freshness – I love in particular what Lauren has to say about “trimming the fat.” I’ve had several conversations with friends in the last year about not wanting to focus, at this point in our lives, on friendships that don’t fulfill us. I think of Anne Lamott’s story of shopping with her friend Pammy, who was facing terminal cancer, and stressing about how clothes made her look. Pammy said, “Anne, I really don’t think we have that kind of time.” I feel the same way about friendships that aren’t mutual. I also relate to what Lauren says about putting her dislike of the phone on her voicemail. Amen to that.
Women Leaders, Relying on their Peers’ Power and Their Own – I was thrilled to see who women I view as role models and inspirations, Sheryl Sandberg and Gloria Steinem, together in this short interview. My favorite comment is Steinem’s answer to the last question, where she talks about listening as much as talking, and about the ways that both boys and girls are forced into boxes that they’d benefit from escaping.
What are you reading, thinking about, listening to, and loving in this new year?
I write these Things I Love posts approximately monthly. You can find them all here.
I love Great New Books which I found through your blog. I love that you all have different books that resonate for you. I have found so many books I enjoyed through GNB recommendations. I read a lot of books in 2016 and loved most of them but decided to start the year fresh by taking books I started and didn’t love off my currently reading section on Goodreads and just letting them go. I want to be more choosy about where I spend my reading time. I lousy read and loved News of the World and I imagine you would too if you haven’t already read it and I am thrilled that a new Cormorant Strike book is in the works. They are amazing on audio. Next up: A Manual for Cleaning Women for book group. Happy reading!
Love these articles and I’m so glad to be on the team with you at GNB. I just heard an On Being episode that knocked me over with how gorgeous it was – Krista Tippett talking to Irish poet Michael Longley about the beautiful vitality of ordinary things. So good. And I just finished reading Dinner with Edward, which was lovely.
I’ve enjoyed reading the end of year posts at Great Reads. One of my goals for this year is to read more, 2016 was an off year for me, book-wise. Currently, I am LOVING The Crown on NetFlix.
Oh my goodness spellcheck turned “recently” to “lousy” which is a word I don’t think I have ever typed on my phone! LOVED News of the World. Nothing lousy about it!
Always love these!