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Getting ready for my weekly book discussion with a friend Monday morning. We've been reading a couple of good ones. Most recently, we've been reading Originals by Adam Grant and The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker. Both are beautifully written. Originals is more in line with my interests, and I enjoy following Adam Grant on social media. His posts are consistently worth reading. The Art of Gathering seems to have timeliness since we're only now more fully coming back together for face-to-face connection. How we learned to gather almost seems like it doesn't quite fit. I'm going to share some affiliate links for the titles mentioned here. Originals: How Non-Conformists Rule the World by Adam Grant https://amzn.to/3SLXRr7 The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker https://amzn.to/3SwEQZv Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose https://amzn.to/3C5pbsT The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie https://amz...

A few years ago, I was introduced to Susan Cain's first book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking , and was deeply affected by what she had written. She was describing my repeated experience in such accurate detail that I wondered if she'd been able to do a Google search of my thought banks. Turns out I'm just not as unique as I thought I was. My book group of two that I have enjoyed participating in for the past year has been reading Susan Cain's latest book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, and I'm having a stark sense of deja vu. She is putting my internal world on paper for the whole world to see. I've had a streak of melancholy as a feature of my existence since I was very young. I don't remember a time in my life when it wasn't nearby. It was never based on my circumstances; it was almost as if it was central to my worldview. And longing too has been a companion. I think this book will be an affir...