These 3 books will give you a chance to slow down and practice gratitude
By Megan Collins, Founder of @themanicuredshelf
It’s no secret that gratitude and family are connected in our collective cultural consciousness. Like family, gratitude is a very complicated concept that seems straightforward: gratitude is deeper than appreciation, oscillates between joy and sorrow (both can teach you invaluable lessons) and is one of the truest expressions of love.
I’ve gathered three families at the center of three novels to further explore the dynamic between family and gratitude, just in time for the holidays!
THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU by Jonathan Tropper
Jamie said this was a time to “step into your gratitude and linger” and I find this beautiful turn of phrase the perfect way to describe this book. In it, Judd Foxman returns to his childhood home to sit shiva following the death of his father. There, he spends time with his family (arguably lingering) and they confront some of the things in (to be honest, white) families that get swept under the rug. Laugh out loud funny, it will help you find the authentic gratitude for your own messy, complicated and sometimes toxic family that will make you excited for spending the holidays with them OR grateful that you don’t have to, a win win.
Cultural themes: Family, marriage, divorce, parenthood, death & grief, psychology
Read Speed: Fast
LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND by Rumaan Alam
I tried my best to avoid the cautionary tale route to gratitude but here I am recommending you read this tense pseudo-thriller to kickstart your appreciation for…. well... everything. Without giving too much away, LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND follows a family whose relaxing Long Island vacation is interrupted by vague news of a mysterious event from their NYC hometown. Cutoff from the world they’ve known and forced to consider the possibility they cannot return gives them a new perspective on what matters the most and just how far they are willing to go to protect it.
Cultural themes: Family, parenting, human nature, climate crisis, race
Read speed: Medium
CHRISTMAS SHOPAHOLIC by Sophie Kinsella
On the opposite end of the spectrum tonally is Christmas Shopaholic, the literary equivalent of a Hallmark Christmas movie in the best way possible. The 9th book in the Shopaholic series (yes 9 and I have read them all) follows Becky Brandon (neé Bloomwood), the Amelia Bedelia-esque protagonist with an addiction to retail, trying to host her first Christmas. As with all of the Shopaholic books, Becky manages to make a comedic mess of the situation but eventually finds a heartwarming solution. If you’re looking to counteract the doomsday feelings from LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND or simply want to find the laughter in her all too familiar brand of holiday-induced anxiety, Christmas Shopolic is a surprisingly tender quick read that reminds us about the reason for the season: expressing our gratitude for the ones we love most with presents.
Cultural Themes: Family, Christmas, Motherhood
Read Speed: Fast
Happy Reading!