From Burnout to Books
Updated: Oct 26
I've been struggling with burnout for the last year officially, and God knows how long unofficially. It's only been recently that I've been able to sit long enough and concentrate well enough that I could get back into reading for pleasure, and I dove in head first. These are the books I've read over August and September for both self-improvement and entertainment. I hope you find a title or two that looks interesting for your own TBR list.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
One of the go-to books over the last decade to help people improve themselves and spur better habits. Clear argues that to make true change, we shouldn't focus on the outcome itself (e.g., read more books) and instead on our identity (someone who loves to learn). All habits, good or bad, follow a similar loop of cue, craving, response and reward. Through this framework, Clear lays out how you can help yourself make better habits or break bad ones.
The irony for me is that creating good habits from the Four Laws of Behavior Change is, itself, a new habit. I loved the principles of this book but am still working on putting them into daily practice.
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and pioneer of logotherapy, was a holocaust survivor who during his time in concentration camps was able to persist even under the most horrific conditions. This book explores how even in circumstances like his, we get to decide what becomes of us, "mentally and spiritually." Giving oneself a purpose, even if that purpose is to die with dignity, is our ultimate savior. One of my favorite quotes from Man's Search for Meaning is:
"Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answers to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."
AKA, the meaning of life is to live, shit sandwiches and all. I found this very empowering as I struggle with unemployment and continue on my journey of sobriety. This isn't a light read but highly recommended for anyone going through it.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
I took this recommendation from a TikTok video from Ryan Holliday, having only known Didion by name. Going in totally blind and starting with her later work made me an instant fan. This book is good for anyone going through a loss and works through the experiences of grief, of wishing our loved ones would (impossibly) return to us physically, and how time doesn't necessarily heal all wounds, but makes them at least marginally bearable.
This was a real carpe diem book for me. It made me think of all the small things I take for granted and how:
"Life changes in the instant.
The ordinary instant."
The way Didion writes about her life with her husband and the health struggles of her daughter made me feel like she'd been writing about my own life in some respects. Deep devotion to a level of enmeshment, fear and wonder if things will all turn out ok, the reality that, "Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it." A great cathartic read that reminds us to live to our fullest.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Fact: I've always been scared of the apocalypse and living in the middle of it has been oddly calming and unsettling all at once. I wasn't able to read this until confronting a lot of my own fears around death, fatherhood, capitalism, and the world at large, and goddamn am I glad I did.
I started crying within the first 11 pages of The Road. If you're a parent, this book will absolutely hit different. It follows a father and son as they make their way across post-apocalyptic America in search of food and basic survival. They face the elements, starvation and cannibals as they make their way to the coast, an arbitrary destination that's better than just staying put and waiting to die. The sacrifice, hope and love that permeates the suspense (and at times terror) of this book made me go out and buy a copy as soon as I returned mine to the library. I've started re-reading it, marking up my favorite passages, and reminding myself that all we have is love and hope, and that's enough.
The Quiet American and Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
I picked up The Quiet American because it was allegedly on Anthony Bourdain's favorite books (RIP Anthony). While at the library I grabbed Our Man in Havana too, recognizing it by name.
Greene's characters spring to life from the page as they navigate their own little worlds of warfare, spying and love. The Quiet American focuses on a love triangle between Fowler, a British journalist, Pyle, an American diplomat with a not-so-secret side gig, and Phuong, a local Vietnamese woman. Pyle's idealism ends up causing more harm than good, and the dialogue between him and Fowler is thought-provoking and riveting. Proof that there is no such thing as being uninvolved.
Our Man in Havana similarly follows a man caught up in espionage and intrigue in pre-revolution Cuba. Vacuum salesman, NAME, gets recruited as an MI6 agent, falsifies an entire spy ring and their reports, and ends up getting the girl and even being rewarded with a job in the end. Greene's British humor is even more abundant in this one, with caricatures like Hawthorne that practically reek of tea and proper manners. Another humorous but cautionary tale that there are no innocent bystanders in war.
Though both are historical fiction their international dealings, commentary on imperialism and capitalism, and well-intentioned but inept characters resonate deeply with today's geopolitics.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
As everyone says, I found it fascinating to read an emperor journaling about everyday things as mundane as struggling to get his ass out of bed. Marcus Aurelius dwells a lot on death in this one, but mostly to drive home the point that while we can't control of what happens to us, we can control how we react to it. Case in point:
"When you start to lose your temper, remember: There's nothing manly about rage. It's courtesy and kindness that define a human being–and a man. That's who possesses strength and nerves and guts, not the angry whiners."
With thoughts on everything from what makes an object beautiful (it's beautiful because it exists) to the definition of goodness (whatever nature dictates), this Aurelius' Meditations is a handbook for anyone trying to concentrate on the right things and let go of the noise.
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
Another Stoicism classic, Letters From a Stoic is also expansive and applicable to daily life. By the second letter, Seneca recommends against multitasking and trying to be everywhere all the time, "To be everywhere is to be nowhere." He warns against being used, "A person adopted as a friend for the sake of his usefulness will be cultivated only for so long as he is useful." Seneca covers the virtues of friendship, the equality of man (albeit through the lens of slavery), and the benefits of self-restraint.
What are some of your favorite books that have inspired you recently?
-JB
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