My reading slowed this month, partly because I’m enrolled in a college course with some reading that won’t get tallied here.
Top picks: Never Search Alone by Phyl Terry. I’ve been recommending this book for months, based on a quick skim, but I finally gave it my full attention and now I’m even more of an enthusiast. This is a highly sensible approach to the job search. It addresses both the internal obstacles (loneliness, lack of structure, wobbly confidence) that accompany unemployment, and the external challenge of matching your background to the needs of the decision-maker at target organizations.
The Hunter by Tana French. What a terrific novelist. This is a sequel, so start with The Searcher if you haven’t already read it. Or pick up any of her others.
Happiness: A Very Short Introduction by Daniel Haybron. Manages to be brief without being reductive; a great overview on what’s well-understood about happiness, what we can influence through our behavior and choices, and where the mysteries and debates remain.
I’m cheating a little. I picked up The Artist’s Way again after more than a decade, so it’s both familiar and different than I remember, and I’m dipping in and out of it rather than reading it cover to cover. I recommend this book with some caveats. (The friend who first gave it to me said, “Read it as though you’re the manuscript editor, with a stack of post-it notes. Whenever you find something you think should be cut, just slap a post-it note on there with your criticism. That way, you can focus on the good stuff without getting distracted by the dumb stuff.”)
We’ve begun A Poem For Every Night of the Year, and it’s already a beloved part of our family’s bedtime routine, but we won’t finish it for another 11 months. But I recommend it nonetheless.
The Wandering Mind is delightful, but I haven’t quite finished it. It’s about monks and the beliefs and strategies they used to stave off distraction and keep their attention on what was their top priority. I keep repeating to myself, “Guard your mind,” because I think the monks were right to recognize how very difficult this is to do. Surprisingly funny and relevant, for a book about the practices of monks many centuries ago.
Why We Work is another re-read. Spoiler alert; it’s not for the money. Or not solely for the money. But you already knew that, didn’t you?
The Prosperous Coach — also a re-read. There are things about this book I find silly and off-putting, but there are also some gems about the coach-client relationship and what’s possible within it. It was helpful to revisit it with more experience under my belt than when I was just launching my practice.
