1. Coming Up Short, Robert Reich
2. Honor, Kristen Proby
3. [Never the Roses, Jennifer K Lambert]
4. Who Is Mr. Satoshi?, Jonathan Lee
5. Why We Love, Helen Fisher
6. Polysecure, Jessica Fern
7. What a Duke Dares, Anna Campbell
8. (The Well at the World’s End, AJ Mackinnon)
9. How to Change, Katy Milkman

These are the books I have consumed in the past two weeks. (This one is ongoing) and [this was a repeat listen]. As usual, bold indicates favorites.

I’m still processing this new empty nest experience; suffice it to say for now, it’s a mild emotional roller coaster with a net very positive effect on mood and well-being. Kids are both well and communicating enough (they are merciful on their anxious mom), which is all I need to feel liberated and joyous. I can now find my way in this new life phase of long, loose, still secure tethers. So exciting!

Wanna know about the books? They have all been worthy companions on the road, in the hotels, and in my now very quiet house.

Coming up Short, Robert Reich
Mei and I saved this for the two day road trip to New York, and we loved it. We have both admired both Robert Reich and his son Sam, CEO of Dropout TV, which Mei introduced me to a few years ago. The elder Reich’s memoir is funny, heartfelt, honest, vulnerable, and instructive. To hear inside stories from various arms of government in every administration since Ford, from the perspective of one who has always championed causes and positions to protect people against bullies, inspires and agitates. Highly recommend.

Honor, Kristen Proby
Fun, small town romance with Florence Nightengale x bodyguard vibes–sexy. Listened to this one in preparation to meet Kristen as well as narrators Shane East and Andi Arndt at an upcoming event in Proby’s home state of Montana. I’ll be back in the Rockies this autumn, my friends–life is good.

Never the Roses, Jennifer K Lambert
This may be my favorite book of the year so far; I almost wrote a whole post about it. This is Lambert’s debut novel and narrators Shane East and Chloe Campbell take it and run. The rivals to lovers, slow burn, low spice romantasy captured my attention with intellectual intrigue and exquisite literary writing style, as well as clever humor and characters whose vulnerability and power juxtapose in the most delicious ways. Both sides of my brain would have lit up on fMRI while listening, I’m sure. Hero and heroine’s mutual respect, ethics, self-restraint and finally abiding love and loyalty just wring me for everything I love about romance. GAH!

Who Is Mr. Satoshi?, Jonathan Lee
Narrated by Steve West, a novel about a son’s journey of self- and family discovery after his mother’s death. The characters are lovable in their quirky ways, and I learned things I never knew about Western occupation of Japan after the Second World War. Not a romance, but I consider it a love story. In the end, it’s our relationships that save us. No question.

Why We Love, Helen Fisher
Love is a drive, not an emotion! This revelation and the science behind it continues to fascinate me, and I admire teachers like Fisher and Esther Perel who explain it all so well! Romantic love, lust, and attachment: The book describes these three aspects of human love relationships in a way that makes sense, but doesn’t diminish the mystery and awe of the lived experience. May Fisher’s memory be a blessing on all of us who wish to understand ourselves and one another better!

Polysecure, Jessica Fern
I listened to this one at 1.75x after the library notified me that it was due in three days and I had not started! Highly recommend. Fern explains social, emotional, psychological, and operational foundations of polyamory and other forms of consensual nonmonogamy. Much of the book delves deeply into attachment theory, and I learned how much more complex it is than my prior, superficial understanding. This book helped reassure me, possibly more than any other objective source, that I have probably been a good enough mom.

What a Duke Dares, Anna Campbell
From 2014, narrated solo by Steve West. I forewent writing and sleep for this story, which is my highest sign of audiobook engagement. Something about strong willed and irreverent heroines maneuvering rigid, patriarchal social norms, their heroes finding ‘safe’ ways to defy the same toxic societal constraints to discover and express their own emotional vulnerability, the pairs overcoming it all to finally secure their mutual love despite all the forces that oppose it, and in every instance with the help of loyal family or friends, just makes me melt. And Campbell’s writing style, like Lambert’s, elevates the intellect! Highly recommend.

How to Change, Katy Milkman
It’s not just about habit change, my friends. It’s about systems. Our brains, our environments, our behavior patterns are all overlapping and nested systems with mechanics, levers, frictions, triggers, and keys. A competitive tennis player, engineer, and now professor of behavioral economics at Penn, Milkman expertly explains how these systems work and how we can work with rather than against them to make change both easier and sustainable. I don’t see it as just a self-help book, though. The attitudes and skills she describes apply to leadership. Of course they do. Because nobody lives or operates in a vacuum. We all lead one another by example. For those familiar with concepts from Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein and Mindset by Carol Dweck, this audiobook can easily be absorbed at 1.5x speed.

Up next: Moral Ambition by Rutger Bregman and A Scoundrel by Moonlight by Anna Campbell. The list of pending books grows by the day, and I maintain both hope and conviction to plow, absorb, and integrate my way through it with tenacity and enthusiasm!

Hope you all had a great weekend, friends. Onward through the chaos in courage and connection!! [fist bump and praying hands emojis]