I hopped onto Instagram for some pretty pictures this weekend and found a lot of melancholy. People were taking stock of their lives and feeling sad and discouraged. It seemed to be a theme.
It makes sense. It’s Labor Day weekend, and according to a book I just read, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, by Daniel H. Pink, we tend to assess where we are and make big changes on significant days in our lives.
For me, fall is a heavy hitter – it’s the beginning of the school year, Labor Day, and my birthday. Three opportunities to launch into a fresh start, or flop over sideways with a weak wave.
It was fascinating to be reading about this phenomenon of significant days in our lives being a catalyst for change while seeing the real-time effects of Labor Day weekend play out on social media.
I read the three titles featured here over the course of two weeks, and never felt sad to finish one because the next book was as enjoyable as the last.
I grew up listening to the folktale Tikki Tikki Tembo. In the story, the honorable first son of the family is given a very long name. When he falls into a well, his younger brother is forced to repeat the long name over and over in his attempts to get help for his brother, who then takes a very long time to recover after being submerged for so long.
It’s a good story with a silly moral (don’t give your kids pretentious names, because it could kill them). When we read it with our own kids, we turn the name into a rap with body percussion or tickles. We use the name as a family tongue twister.
The bigger point is that I’m kind of in the well. I’m doing OK, but I’m not feeling creatively inspired most of the time. My energy and mood have been low. It’s a vicious negative feedback loop.
So I’ve read several good books recently, but the thought of writing about them freezes my brain into a state of further inaction. My solution is one I’ve tried before: I’m just going to mash a couple of completely unrelated books together into one post and see what happens.
Maybe one will suit your fancy! And if you pass my well, throw a rope down. Or a good book. I also accept fudge brownies.
Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of Teenage Wizard, by Echo Brown, is a book I found in my 13-year-old’s stash of library books from our last pre-lockdown trip to the library. She admitted she hadn’t read it.
I have been missing having a good book to come back to in between all the “work” reading I’ve been doing, and a YA book was just the ticket.
You have seen How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi, recommended across social media and on every list of books about racism. In the weeks after George Floyd, it felt like reading Kendi’s book was the action point to start with.
