My favorites on the bookshelf of 2024

I decided to continue summarizing the year in books, but motherhood adjusted my plans, so I am reviewing my books now. Oh, yes, I became a mother for the first time at the end of last year. ??

So, let the first favorite on the list of books be related to newborns.

Breastfeeding Made Easy: A Gift for Life for You and Your Baby by Carlos Gonzalez

Oh, this is not only a textbook on how to properly feed a baby. The book teaches you to trust yourself, your body, and nature. Listen to yourself and filter the opinions and advice of the outside world during a sensitive period. Well, the book can be read not only by young mothers.

By the way, I am now reading another book by the author about raising children with love, in which Carlos talks about obvious things, but they are surprising. He defends children and proves that they are kind, honest, sympathetic, and brave. But why are there so many opinions in society about children as manipulators, deceivers, and harmful creatures?

In general, motherhood is a complex and, it seems, a slightly taboo topic in society. In the post-Soviet space, in my opinion, ideas about new mothers are firmly rooted: a new mother is only engaged in household chores and a child for a long time. Maybe many mothers themselves do not believe that it can be otherwise. You can do what you want. You can organize your motherhood as you want.

I became a developer on a new project while pregnant, interrupted my work for two weeks after giving birth, and am trying to combine part-time remote work and full-fledged parenthood. Perhaps the reactions of others, my impressions, and the assessment of the effectiveness of such work deserve a separate article if you are interested ??

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

I've heard about this book for a long time and finally read it. The author's own story is inspiring and sets you up for change. But the main idea for me is that habits need to be formed based on what you want to become, what your desired identity is, and not what you want to achieve.

The book is well-structured and easy to read. By the way, it's a great book to start with to form a reading habit!

My beloved Jane Austen...

"Wherever you are you should always be contented, but especially at home, because there you must spend the most of your time."― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

I read three of her novels last year (Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion) and, as always, I enjoyed them very much. Some say they are women's novels, but what does a novel mean for women? Jane Austen makes great jokes and describes human relationships beautifully and wisely. Isn't that interesting to everyone?

James Allen, Erich Fromm, Viktor Frankl

In the last couple of years, I have become fascinated with philosophy. When you turn to this genre, you see especially clearly how we from generation to generation ask the same questions and seek answers to them. However many topics have already been discussed more than once and were researched from different angles. The soul, morality, life and death, love, the meaning of life...

James Allen's book As a Man Thinketh has been popular for over a hundred years. James is a pioneer of the self-help movement as it is noted in various sources. Indeed, after reading it, I found familiar thoughts from various motivational books, only in a more organized, simple, and clear form.

"A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life. And he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a means of the hidden powers and possibilities within himself."― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

The Art of Loving by Erich From is one of the most sticker-covered books in my library last year. There were a lot of smart words there: palliatives, perseveration, aberration... ?? I think this book is worth reading for anyone starting out in life and for all of us to reread. It is capable of forming a strong moral mindset for maintaining and improving relationships with loved ones, with yourself, and with the world.

"Paradoxically, the ability to be alone is the condition for the ability to love."― Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving

Viktor Frankl lost his family in the concentration camps. He worked with people with suicidal tendencies and developed Logotherapy based on the human desire to find the meaning of life. I read several lectures he gave in 1946, but I think their content has become even more relevant.

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way."― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson

A book that helped me cope with the losses of the past year. The author considered it one of the most important in his career because it helps people to be less afraid of death. The characters are fictional, but in general, everything is based on scientific research, which is presented in the book.

"Not only did I rediscover every experience of my life, I had to live each unfulfilled desire as well—as though they’d been fulfilled. I saw that what transpires in the mind is just as real as any flesh and blood occurrence. What had only been imagination in life, now became tangible, each fantasy a full reality. I lived them all—while, at the same time, standing to the side, a witness to their, often, intimate squalor. A witness cursed with total objectivity."― Richard Matheson, What Dreams May Come

New year, new books. Frankly, I'm already anticipating how many children's books I'll read and reread. And I just wonder why I didn't return to my bookish childhood earlier. ??

What books impressed you last year or in general?