Thinking Out Loud Thursday - January 9, 2020

Hey there!  How's your year going?  We are nine days in and how many resolutions are you still hanging on to?  When I was driving home from Kansas City on January 1, I was contemplating making January a "no spend month".  Then on January 2, I was lingering in bed when I woke up scrolling through my emails.  There it was - an email from Loft Outlet with sales I just couldn't pass up.  Three sweaters and a pair of tights later, I decide maybe February will be a no-spend month.  What can I say - I'm weak.

January is probably my very least favorite month of the year.  After the holidays, January comes in and just sits around.  Making everything cold!  I'm ready for it this year with a stack of books to read.  And that's what I'm thinking out loud about today.

Here are the books on my nightstand right now just waiting to be read ~

Successful Aging by Daniel J. Levitin
I'm aging and I want some insight into it.  This book is hot off the press and I'm very curious to see what I can learn from it.

Here's the summary from Amazon ~
Successful Aging uses research from developmental neuroscience and the psychology of individual differences to show that sixty-plus years is a unique developmental stage that, like infancy or adolescence, has its own demands and distinct advantages. Levitin looks at the science behind what we all can learn from those who age joyously, as well as how to adapt our culture to take full advantage of older people's wisdom and experience. Throughout his exploration of what aging really means, Levitin reveals resilience strategies and practical, cognitive enhancing tricks everyone should do as they age.

The book is packed with accessible and discussable takeaways, providing great material for reading groups and media coverage.

Successful Aging inspires a powerful new approach to how readers think about our final decades, and it will revolutionize the way we plan for old age as individuals, family members, and citizens within a society where the average life expectancy continues to rise.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This is the next read for my Kansas City book club.  I'm so intrigued by it and can't wait to dig in.  

Amazon is saying this ~

Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her—but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.

So begins an unexpected journey that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia’s proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the Deep South to dangerously idealistic movements in the North. Even as he’s enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, Hiram’s resolve to rescue the family he left behind endures.

This is the dramatic story of an atrocity inflicted on generations of women, men, and children—the violent and capricious separation of families—and the war they waged to simply make lives with the people they loved. Written by one of today’s most exciting thinkers and writers, The Water Dancer is a propulsive, transcendent work that restores the humanity of those from whom everything was stolen.

                           

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

This is the one I'll probably read first.  It's coming to me with a recommendation from a friend I trust.  Have you read it?

Synopsis from Amazon ~

Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be.

Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer – or should she run while she still can?

It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question.

Combining all of the hallmarks that have made her writing a go-to for anyone looking for wickedly smart, page-turning fiction that will make you laugh and gasp, Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers once again shows why she is a master of her craft.   

                              

These should get me through the cold, dark days of January.  What's on your reading list for this month?  

Now it's your turn.  What are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter