Today I'm sharing the best book I read in August.
Of the 8 books I read this month, I didn't have any 5-star reads, but I had three 4.5-star reads:
The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center by Rhaina Cohen
Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
This was a hard decision! As often happens when I feel similarly about multiple books, I'm choosing for my Best of the Bunch the one I'd like to recommend most widely.
The Other Significant Others was such a needed book, and I'm so grateful it exists. It was validating to see multiple examples of people who have dared to imagine how non-romantic relationships could become central fixtures in their daily lives (sometimes instead of, and sometimes in addition to, a romantic relationship). I thought Cohen did a fantastic job of organizing the book, highlighting a specific friendship pair within each chapter and using that to illustrate a specific theme, like co-parenting with friends, friends being each other's caregivers in old age, or grief from the loss of a friend. I especially appreciated the chapter about legal structures, giving readers a clear idea of what public policy changes could make a difference for a multitude of family structures, including close friends who want to be each other's caregivers, beneficiaries, etc. I hope that the popularity of this book will push more people to rethink what the relationships in their life "must" look or feel like, leading to more visibility and acceptance of non-traditional relationship structures. For all the reasons Cohen lays out in this book, society would be much better off in so many ways with this expanded perspective.
What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!
Looking back:
One year ago I was reading:
You Know, Sex,
Dracula,
Master Your Attachment Style,
How to Keep House While Drowning, and
Out of My Heart
Five years ago I was reading:
Strange the Dreamer,
Womanist Midrash, and
The Sun Is Also a Star
Ten years ago I was reading:
The Martian and
A Prayer for Owen Meany
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