These Possible Lives – Fleur Jaeggy, translated by Minna Zallman Proctor (Italian 2015, English 2017) – Interesting prose poem bios (labeled “Essays”) of Thomas De Quincey, John Keats, and Marcel Schwob. A tiny book (hand-sized, 60 pages) that New Directions has the face to charge 12.95 for.
Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts—Becoming the Person You Want to Be – Marshall Goldsmith, 2015 – I love self-help but haven’t been reading as much of it lately (that’s a good sign). This came highly recommended by Trent Hamm of The Simple Dollar, one of my favorite bloggers, in a post where he specifically referenced the technique of setting a daily goal to “do my best” on some measure and then rating yourself at the end of the day. I’ve been doing that during the month of May (“Today I will do my best to eat and drink in moderation with maximum enjoyment”) and it hasn’t been nearly as helpful for me as it was for Trent. But doing anything at all for an entire month is an achievement for me, so that’s a recommendation of some sort…
James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl, 1961 – A perennial favorite.