Hi Readers,
As we welcome fall, it is a perfect time to cuddle up and read. Today, I would like to share three books that make you feel good.
Happy Reading!
Feel Good Reading List
Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig (2018)
My Description: This book honestly and openly examines anxiety and the anxieties many of us feel in today’s world from constantly checking our phones to worrying about our planet’s well-being. Through the author’s own experiences readers gain a perspective on how to handle these anxieties.
My Take: This book and its short chapters more often feel like poetry instead of prose. The author’s honest reflection of his own experiences makes it feel warm, hopeful, and inspiring, just like listening to an old friend. It is one we keep on the bedside table and re-read chapters from again and again.
Bonus Fact: The Duchess of Sussex selected an excerpt from this book, a poem called “A Note from the Beach” for the issue of British Vogue that she guest-edited.
The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure by Caroline Paul (2016)
My Description: The author was one of San Francisco’s first female fighters, but started being an adventurer much earlier in life. This book is written for young women and not only recounts the author’s adventures but serves as field guide to charting your own adventure.
My Take: Caroline Paul is a badass. She tells enticing stories of paragliding, climbing the Golden State bridge, ice climbing, and so much more, while sharing her heroines and encouraging the reader to try out a small (or big) adventure of their own. This is a short and energizing read.
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (1998)
My Description: This detective series centered around Mma Ramotswe, a sleuth in Botswana’s capital, will warm your heart and entertain you with light crimes, descriptions of life in Botswana, and Mma Ramotswe’s life wisdom.
My Take: Mma Ramotswe is the kind of lovely, affectionate, and intelligent character that reaches out of the pages to make you feel warm and fuzzy and like you were a member of her motley family.
Bonus Fact: The Zimbabwean-Scottish author and renown professor not only founded the law school at the University of Botswana, he also created Botswana’s first center for opera training. (And bonus bonus fact, among his many other books is one titled The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs, and yes, I have read that one too).
Currently reading: Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith. The fifth and latest installment of the Strike and Ellacott detective series…and like the fifth Harry Potter this one is full of suspense and epically long. 560 pages down, 370 to go!
As always, thanks for reading. If you would like to share this newsletter with a friend, please feel free to forward it or direct them to this link to sign up. Have a fall-tastic weekend!