Each year, you make resolutions with the best of intentions. But then there are leftover holiday cookies that beg to be eaten, a sofa that needs to be held down, and words you shouldn’t say right there on the edge of your lips. Your resolutions can hardly compete with real life, so maybe you need help through one of these great books …
Be a Healthier You: Is it possible to grow younger? Not exactly, but why would you want to feel your actual years when you can read “How Not to Age” by Michael Gregor, M.D., FACLM (Flatiron Books, $39.99) and enjoy life?
Aging is not a disease. It’s something we all do, if we’re lucky, but Gregor says that changing your diet, exercising, altering your lifestyle and paying attention to your body can help you get older in a healthy way. Based on the lives of some people living in a “Blue Zone” like the one that’s been in the news lately, you can use real science to live longer and love it.
Even if you’re already Over a Certain Age, there are plenty of sidebars and short chapters that are perfect for browsing and making small changes.
Be a Better Parent: You love your kids. You do. But why do you sometimes feel so trapped and angry? You feel awful about it, too, and in “Mom Rage: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood” by Minna Dubin (Seal Press, $29.00), you’ll read a provocative, possibly controversial book about mothering, childcare and expectations, and ways to stop your feelings. This book addresses all the myths you’ve heard and destroys them, it helps you ask for the things you really need, and it break any cycle you may have inherited. This is a feel-better book for any mother who needs it now, or might in the future.
Be a Better Person:
Chances are, you just spent a season opening your heart, your calendar and your wallet. Do you know where your dollars and your time went? In “ The Price of Humanity: How Philanthropy Went Wrong and How to Fix It” by Amy Schiller (Melville House, $29.99), you’ll see, and you might not like it.
In order to shed light on this subject, author Schiller first needed to take a deep look at what’s wrong with philanthropy today, and why its downfalls have happened over time. She looks at various kinds of giving and their effectiveness, and why this new year is the time for us to look into philanthropy to make it better. This book isn’t just for foundation chairpeople or leaders. It’s also for anyone who fundraises, for philanthropists, and for the generous person who wants to do better, effectively.
If these great books don’t address the ways you want to have a new you this New Year, head to your favorite bookstore or library. The staffs there can help you decide what’s doable, what’s challenging, and what’s changeable. Diet books, break-that-habit books, stop smoking books, they’ve got what you need. You bring the intentions.
— The Bookworm Sez
