Things I Love

14 Books that Connect Students With Valuable Scientists’ Struggles – I absolutely love this list (and On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein is one of my all-time favorite picture books).  Some of these are known to Grace and Whit, and others are on order.  I love the notion that kids learn from hearing tales of others’ struggle, endurance, and success, and agree entirely that there’s broader applicability beyond science.

It’s been an honor to be published a couple of times on Susan Cain’s gorgeous Quiet Revolution.  I love her work (and Matt finally read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking and really liked it a lot) and find it tremendously resonant.  The two pieces that I’ve been fortunate to share on Quiet Revolution are Together For N0w and We Never Talk.

Age of Consent – I devoured Leimbach’s new novel in a day.  It is compulsively readable, combining two of my favorite things – courtroom/legal drama and the mother/daughter relationship.  As I read I could imagine the movie this might get made into.  Thoughtful, entertaining, vaguely disconcerting: I highly recommend this story.

Feynman – This book, by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick, is my new favorite childrens’ book.  A graphic novel about the life of Richard Feynman, physicist par excellence.  Whit is obsessed and so am I.

I am listening to : H.O.L.Y. by Florida Georgia Line and On Being podcasts (pro tip: I listen to them on 1 1/2 speed on my iphone when I run).

I write these Things I Love roundups approximately monthly.  You can see them all here.

I love commencement speeches.  Some of my favorites are classics and others are new.

Lin-Manuel Miranda at Penn, 2016 – “There will be moments you remember and whole years you forget.”  I had goosebums and tears in my eyes reading Miranda’s evocation of the years after college.  Oh, yes.

Sheryl Sandberg at Berkeley, 2016 – ” I mean live with the understanding of how precious every single day would be. How precious every day actually is.”  This is a powerful piece about loss and perspective and what really matters in life.

Steve Jobs at Stanford, 2005 – “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”  This whole speech is quotable, so I urge you to read (or, more likely, re-read) it.

JK Rowling at Harvard, 2008 – “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”  Also, a joke about gay wizards.  I love this speech more every time I read it.

Admiral McRaven at U Texas, 2014 – “Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core.”  Matt loves this speech and the four of us recently watched it.  We were all rapt.  Full of inspiration and wisdom.

I write these Things I Love roundups approximately monthly.  You can see them all here.

Becoming the Person You’re Meant to Be – I love this round-up of quotes (all by women) on Cup of Jo.  I love what Dani Shapiro has to say about practice, Stevie Nick’s observation on the primacy of grace, and Patti’s Smith’s reminder that it’s good to be alive.  (thanks to Amanda Magee for drawing my attention to this list).

The Gift of Presence – This piece, by Parker Palmer, asserts (far more beautifully) something I’ve been saying for a while: sometimes the truest manifestation of friendship and love is simply abiding.  Staying near someone. Offering our presence, and our attention, and our love.  Not our advice or our attempts to fix (as well-intentioned as those usually are).

To Insist That Sorrow Not Be Meaningless – I read and love everything Dani Shapiro writes, but this piece struck a particular nerve. Maybe it’s because right now feels like a somewhat sorrowful time.  Maybe it’s because I’m keenly attuned, right now, to meaning in all its forms.  Maybe it’s because it’s gorgeously written. No matter.  Read this.  Twice.

I’m coming to the end of a relentless Linda Fairstein binge (I really can’t get enough of the Alexandra Cooper series – for example – Death Dance: A Novel (Alexandra Cooper Mysteries – it hits the precise same part of my brain that loves Law & Order SVU).  I’m reading Peggy Orenstein’s bracingly-named (and -written, frankly – scary, and powerful!) Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape now.  Next up is Katherine Ozment’s Grace Without God: The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging in a Secular Age and Katherine Wilson’s Only in Naples: Lessons in Food and Famiglia from My Italian Mother-in-Law.  (disclosure: these are Amazon affiliate links).

What are you reading, thinking about, and loving lately?

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

I have read some great books recently, and so this month’s Things I Love is about them.  What have you read and loved lately?  I’d love to hear.

Catastrophic Happiness– I love, love, love, LOVED Catherine Newman’s new memoir.  I was honored to review Catherine’s book for Brain, Child, and that review is here.  I’m an unapologetic Catherine Newman fangirl and have been since, oh, the beginning of time. This book is just so wonderful.  I’m giving it to everyone I know.  I underlined basically the whole thing, and can’t possibly give you a favorite quote, so here are just two I adore: “I don’t always understand my own sadness. Me and my Achilles heart.” “Loss is ahead of us, behind us, woven into the very fabric of our happiness.”

In Twenty Years – Allison Winn Scotch’s new novel, out this summer, is flat-out marvelous.  No doubt I related particularly intensely to this story because Allison’s protagonists and I are the same age, and the details in their college flashbacks are incredibly resonant for me.  Beyond my personal identification, though, this is a poignant story about the formative friendships that stay with us, in ways difficult and wonderful, as we grow into adults.  It’s about the people who stood next to us as we became who we are, and the ways that history is braided throughout the present.

The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New – Annie Dillard’s book of essays is as spectacular as you’d imagine.  I love what Marilynne Robinson says (talk about one idol blurbing another) on the inside flyleaf: “Annie Dillard’s books are like comets, like celestial events that remind us that the reality we inhabit is itself a celestial event.”

Grace, Whit and I enjoyed a couple of new picture books recently, also:

Very Last First Time (Jan Andrews) – a reader recommended this book and I was worried it would make me incredibly sad because of the title alone.  But we finally read it and it was marvelous. A bittersweet story, for sure, but also one that explores a world I didn’t know about.  The story and the pictures are gorgeous.

Iggy Peck, Architect (Andrea Beaty) – we already love Rosie Revere, Engineer. In Beaty’s trademark lighthearted poetry and wonderful illustrations, this story talks about another resourceful, determined child.  It is inspiring and fun.  We are all looking forward to Ada Twist, Scientist.

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

Dive Into Poetry – Jena Schwartz is one of my favorite writers (my review of one of her books of poetry, Don’t Miss This, is here) and in April she’s leading a month-long dive into poetry.  I cannot think of a better way to have poetry be a part of our life for a month.  I highly recommend Jena’s group!

Reshma Saujani TED talk – “We’re raising our girls to be perfect, and we’re raising our boys to be brave.”  This TED talk gave me chills and made me cry.  This is a topic that is very close to me, and I find Reshma’s comments inspiring, motivating, galvanizing, and uncomfortably true.

40 over 40 – I love this project and everything it represents: celebrating women’s achievements, and upending the notion that being over 40 is being over the hill.  As I personally get older I feel both more conviction that 40 is not “over” and awareness that many in the world think it is.  I’m 41 and I’m just getting started.  The honorees are fascinating, impressive, varied.

Nick and Tesla’s Robot Army Rampage – Whit is currently reading this book and loving it.  I got it out of the library on a bit of a whim, swayed by the subject of robots and the fact that the protagonists are 11.  He is way into it.

Currently listening to on repeat: One Call Away by Charlie Puth, I Lived by One Republic, and Life is Worth Living by Justin Bieber (I never claimed to have sophisticated musical tastes).

What are you reading, thinking about, and loving lately?

I write these Things I Love Posts approximately monthly.  You can find the rest of them here.

This is a bit earlier than usual, because I won’t be here next week because children are on break from school and we’re off.  I look forward to seeing you when I’m back!