Happy Friday,
Back when it used to snow, when I was a kid, our family car or truck would sometimes get stuck. Dad would get out in the cold and put a little gravel under the tires, giving the vehicle the traction it needed to get going again.
This week my husband and I realized we’re both in a bit of a rut. After all, it’s January in a ten-month-long pandemic. Of course, we feel stuck.
So this week, I resolved to find some gravel to give us traction. One part of the gravel, for me, is reading Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. It’s Morrison’s first novel and, for whatever reason, the only one of her books I never read.
If you’re reading this newsletter, you don’t need me to tell you that reading a book can help your mood. But let me suggest that sometimes the key is changing what you read.
Reading Toni Morrison is always a gift, but it’s all the more impactful now that I’m discovering one of her books for the first time during our pandemic winter.
If you’re in a rut, think about changing what you read. Try a new genre. Read about a topic of which you know little. Go back to an author you love but haven’t read in a while.
Switching-up what you read might be the gravel you need to get out of a rut and back on your way.
Keep your head up, and thanks for reading,
Nick
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2021 Book Lists
The 20 Best Books of 2021 For the Long, Cold Months Ahead (Esquire)
WIRED’s Picks for the 10 Books You Have to Read This Winter (WIRED)
10 New Non-Fiction Books to Escape With In 2021 (Cultured Vultures)
15 New Fantasy and Science Fiction Books to Read in 2021 (Winter Is Coming)
A Running List of the Best Books of 2021 (GritDaily)
Sign of the Times Book Lists
12 Books to Inspire a Movement (MLK50)
25 Underrated Recommendations If You Enjoyed These Popular TV Shows, Books, and Movies (BuzzFeed)
Best of the Rest Book Lists
7 Science Fiction Reads Recommended By the Tucson Festival of Books (Tucson.com)
10 New Must-Have Books for the Ultimate Race Fan's Collection (Autoweek)