Happy Thursday! I’m still unable to understand how today is only Thursday after the hard week we’ve had, but apparently it is, so here we are for another edition of TBR Thursday.
TBR Thursday is my (semi) weekly column where I feature a book from the TBR. This week’s pick is…
Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain
Synopsis:
Bittersweetness is a tendency to states of longing, poignancy, and sorrow; an acute awareness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy at the beauty of the world. It recognizes that light and dark, birth and death–bitter and sweet–are forever paired.
With Quiet, Susan Cain urged our society to cultivate space for the undervalued, indispensable introverts among us, thereby revealing an untapped power hidden in plain sight. Now she employs the same mix of research, storytelling, and memoir to explore why we experience sorrow and longing, and how embracing the bittersweetness at the heart of life is the true path to creativity, connection, and transcendence.
Cain shows how a bittersweet state of mind is the quiet force that helps us transcend our personal and collective pain, whether from a death or breakup, addiction or illness. If we don’t acknowledge our own heartache, she says, we can end up inflicting it on others via abuse, domination, or neglect. But if we realize that all humans know–or will know–loss and suffering, we can turn toward one another.
Bookshop.org synopsis
Why It’s On My TBR
I never actually read Cain’s well-known book about the power of introverts, Quiet, but I always liked that it existed. As someone who loves reading about how people process grief and sadness, this book definitely stuck out to me as one I needed to read.
What about you, book friends? Is this one on your list?
Your Book Friend 
I hadn’t heard of this book before, but I can certainly see why it’s on your TBR. I look forward to reading your review.
It sounds like a very helpful book. I’m fascinated by the book Quiet, as I”m a bit of an introvert.
I’m an introvert as well! 🙂