Books and weather

The Good Life ~ by Erin McGraw, 2004, stories, 208 pages

These stories feature characters battling daily demons of envy, fear, and disillusionment while somehow maintaining an abiding optimism.  They are trying to weather the confounding people of the world — the chronically successful, the lucky in love, the athletically gifted — clinging to their cynicism while admitting that hope and passion demand a suspension of skepticism.  (This is one of the 28 books I got on sale back in February and wrote about HERE.  I'm finally reading it.)

The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much? ~ by Leslie Bennetts, 2007, feminism, 380 pages

Women are constantly being told that it's simply too difficult to balance work and family, so if they don't really "have to" work, it's better for their families if they stay home.  Not only is this untrue, Leslie Bennetts says, but the arguments in favor of stay-at-home motherhood fail to consider the surprising benefits of work and the unexpected toll of giving it up.  It's time, she says, to get the message across — combining work and family really is the best choice for most women, and it's eminently doable.

Bennetts and millions of other working women provide ample proof that there are many different ways to have kids, maintain a challenging career, and have a richly rewarding life as a result.  Earning money and being successful not only make women feel great, but when women sacrifice their financial autonomy by quitting their jobs, they become vulnerable to divorce as well as the potential illness, death, or unemployment of their breadwinner husbands.  Further, they forfeit the intellectual, emotional, psychological, and even medical benefits of self-sufficiency.

The truth is that when women gamble on dependency, most eventually end up on the wrong side of the odds.  In interviews with women from a wide range of backgrounds, the author tells their dramatic stories — some triumphant, others heartbreaking.  This book will inspire women to accept the challenge of figuring out who they are and what they want to do with their lives in addition to raising children.  Not since Betty Friedan has anyone offered such an eye-opening and persuasive argument for why women can — and should — embrace the complex lives they deserve.

Farmers' Almanac winter 2023 predictions

"Winter arrives this year on December 21, 2023.  On the winter solstice, those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere are tilted as far away from our Sun as possible.  Winter brings cooler weather, the joy of winter sports, curling [up] by the fire, and the holiday spirit.  It also brings shoveling, snowblowing, dealing with bad roads, and sometimes unbearable temperatures.  What will winter bring this year?  A Winter Wonderland!"

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

hosts The Sunday Salon.