This was a month of rereading books in my personal library. My goal is to steadily reduce the number of books I own, both print and digital, from the more than 1000 titles I have now to a core library that has ongoing meaning for me. I’ll be keeping the bottom three titles in this list, but the rest can go. Success! #### An Unfinished Marriage by Joan Anderson February 27th I’ve figured out one of the reasons Joan Anderson’s writing no longer appeals. It’s that she doesn’t honour the first rule of memoir which is that the author can’t be the golden one and everyone else the villain. I got very tired of her whining about how her needs weren’t being met. When she did something egregious, like criticizing her son in front of his new bride, she claimed the criticism a mere ‘quip’ so that she could be wounded when the young woman jumped to her husband’s defence. #### A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an unfinished woman by Joan Anderson February 26th I so adored this book when it was published in 1999. It’s the memoir of a 50-year-old woman who leaves her stale marriage for a year of living in the family cottage at Cape Cod. I thought I’d never get rid of it, that it would always have something valuable to say to me. But that is no longer the case. Like many other books reread this month, I am beyond them now. They are speaking to a different me from the past. Rather than being a cause of sadness, this is a very good sign to me. #### Almost There: The onward journey of a Dublin woman by Nuala O’Faolain February 24th Part two of Nuala’s story after she has become famous with *Are You Somebody?* I really enjoyed this one, likely because Nuala is in her early 60s so she is discussing issues appropriate to my stage of life and she has some distance, and therefore clearer perspective, on earlier stages. There’s a lot of startingly brutal, and beautiful, honesty in this book. It was an impactful read, in no small part because Nuala talks at the end about being in fine health at 62 and hoping that she will have at least 15 years to enjoy the happiness she has finally found. She died six years later of metastatic cancer. When a journalist asked her if she had considered treatment in order to buy herself more time, Nuala said that she didn’t want more time; that the diagnosis had immediately zapped all beauty out of life. #### Are You Somebody? The accidental memoir of a Dublin woman by Nuala O’Faolain February 19th This book was published in 1996. I remember loving it when I read it around that time. Now I have no clue why, which just speaks to how much we change as readers, as people. Nuala was a somebody in Irish broadcasting and she makes a few interesting points about the stronghold that Catholicism had on Ireland in the 60s, and the changing acceptance of women in the workplace over time. But for the most part, the book is a litany of the men she slept with, the nonstop drinking she was doing, and the many famous somebodies she met in her career. #### Magical Journey by Katrina Kenison February 16th I didn’t particularly like this book when I read it for the first time eight years ago. Nothing has changed. It’s not the author’s fault. As a woman without children I found myself completely unable to relate to the author’s angst over her sons leaving the nest. Her discussion of the death of a close friend is more relatable but overall this wasn’t the read for me. #### The Gift of Our Compulsions by Mary O’Malley February 14th There are all kinds of compulsions from overeating to overworking, but the wise O’Malley suggests that the overall compulsion for all of us is feeling that struggle is the requirement for success. The book is filled with meaningful exercises that continue to serve me well. I absolutely loved this book. Read it is like the best of conversations with your wisest, most loving friend. #### Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman February 9th My feeling on my first read was that this book doesn’t have the 1-2 punch of *Four Thousand Weeks*. It’s an elaboration on that previous book and much of it simply offered confirmation of what I already know and am trying to practice. Nevertheless, there are a couple of meditations (think mini-essays, not the standard meditations) that were worth the price of the book. That’s what I wrote the first time around. This read was more meaningful to me. I guess I was in the right place to hear the messages again, plus I was no longer comparing it to his earlier work. #### Ongoingness by Sarah Manguso February 3rd A small book that packs an enormous wallop. It’s one of those rare books that gives words to a feeling you don’t know you have until you see those words and think, “Ah yes, that’s it exactly.” An excellent read for anyone who feels a somewhat obsessive need to document their life.