Consolations

By David Whyte,

Book cover of Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words

Book description

After many years of revising the essays, author David Whyte has published this revised edition of his well loved book. In addition to sharper versions of many of the essays, it contains an additional piece, CLOSE:

To consciously become close is a form of unilateral disarmament, a chancing of our…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Consolations as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I loved the magic of the words and how Whyte took ordinary every day feelings and made me reflect on them. The book felt like a friend on my nightstand that I could always turn to. It is simple and beautiful and brought me feelings of peace.

This was an enormously important read for me this year.

Whyte explores the deepest meanings of common words like anger, courage, despair, disappointment, forgiveness, joy, loneliness, regret, silence, and withdrawal. I read this one slowly, a word or two at a time, to digest and savor.

While I disagreed with the meanings he read into every single word, I found so much helpful wisdom and insight here that I have returned to it again and again, and I have shared bits with others.

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Book cover of Currently Away: How Two Disenchanted People Traveled the Great Loop for Nine Months and Returned to the Start, Energized and Optimistic

Currently Away By Bruce Tate,

The plan was insane. The trap seemed to snap shut on Bruce and Maggie Tate, an isolation forced on them by the pandemic and America's growing political factionalism. Something had to change.

Maggie's surprising answer: buy a boat, learn to pilot it, and embark on the Great Loop. With no…

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