Small Joys

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It’s a by-product of escapism from Eva’s very palpable loneliness perhaps, though Richards doesn’t render her a hopeless victim. Instead, her story is one of underlying optimism, most obvious when she counts the things she would like to experience with her baby, like walks in the pram or the making play-dough. Simple moments, Eva calls them, while also lamenting that the space adults make for sharing such joys – because they’re not as big as career prospects or romantic relationships – is limited. In a culture where the value of the team supercedes the individual, Japanese workers are driven by being useful to others, being thanked, and being esteemed by their colleagues, says Toshimitsu Sowa, CEO of HR consulting firm Jinzai Kenkyusho. As secrets and jealousies endanger all that Harley has come to depend on, he finds himself faltering once again, even though he finally has something—and someone—to live for. Soul-stirring and witty, full of hope and peopled with characters who feel like close friends, Small Joys explores a young man’s turbulent journey toward happiness and announces the arrival of an exciting voice in fiction. Elvin James Mensah's Small Joys is breathtaking and heartrending, by turns hilarious and devastating and surprising and wild. Mensah's prose makes the intangible deft and tremendous — from the balm of friendship, to the beauty of queerness, and the all-encompassing elixir of community. Tender, thrilling, and honest; Small Joys is a beam of light.' Bryan Washington, author of Memorial Small Joys of Real Life is an easy, pleasurable read with surprising depth. There is doom in this life, more than we possibly realise, but there is also promise and hope; not just in new life that grows within us, but in our little moments of living, breathing joy even as we stare down the barrel of certain, unpredictable death.

Muddy was another character I loved, the way he spoke about birds and his granddad (especially his dementia) really tugged at my heartstrings as my eighty-year-old mother loves watching the birds at her feeders in her yard. This is the type of book you think about long after you finish reading it. What a beautiful debut. Small Joys was a big joy to read. Filled with excellent pop culture and music references of the time, brilliantly memorable characters, lots of laughs and a few tears, it really did give me everything that I wanted. I feel that Finlay deserves a special mention, initially a bit of an eye roll character but he really grew on me and he was just completely believable, I feel like I’ve met Finlay a few times in my life. It’s hard to notice the simple joys in life when you’re too busy to slow down and look for them. Set aside time to reflect There are many things to be thankful for, particularly those oft overlooked positives in what seems like an otherwise boring or difficult day. A Few Of My Small JoysWatching a movie and eating pizza in bed on a Saturday night – One of my personal favorite joys of life! An unexpected friendship saves a young man's life in this moving, utterly charming debut about chosen family, the winding road to happiness, and the grace of second chances. Honestly, it is quite hard to describe Small Joys by our guy @elvinjamesmensah, though I suppose its title really is the perfect summary of feelings lingering here. This is an incredible story about caring for others and finding a place where you are wholly accepted. Harley's internal dialogue was familiar to me, and that definitely helped my enjoyment. It’s difficult to express just how much I loved this book but the one thing that I constantly tell people is that reading it felt like being enveloped in a hug.

That's a bad way of putting the matter, because it flattens Muddy out. He's lovely, and his affection for Harley helps Harley open himself to friendships with Chelsea's BFF Noria and Muddy's abrasive, obnoxious, but ultimately decent best friend Finley. You know that feeling when you’re laughing so hard it hurts, tears are streaming down your face, and you’ve stopped making any sounds? That! We love that. 16. Ice-cold water on a hot day. A great way to do that is to use your phone (since you probably have it with you 24/7 anyway!). Simply try to snap a picture each day of something that gives you a sense of joy or peace. Something that you normally wouldn’t give a second thought. It could be a picture of your morning coffee or the fresh blooms on the peonies in your front garden.This funny and bighearted debut is an ode to queer friendship and chosen family. . . . A tender and generous novel about finding your people, getting vulnerable, and celebrating every joy—big or small.”— BuzzFeed Related Reading : 4 Things To Remember When Pacing For Chronic Illness, Fatigue or Pain Small Joy Inspiration

Compliments are great and make most people feel pretty good about themselves. Whether they come from a colleague after a big presentation or a friend on your latest outfit, they’re a good confidence boost. 19. Listening to the rain while you’re warm in bed. For a book that started out so heavy and dark it was quite beautiful in its own way. This is a book about friendship, family and not fitting into your parent's expectations. I loved Harley's friends, he is one very fortunate young man to have them. I especially liked his new friendship with Muddy, everyone should have a friend like that in their corner. The book was uplifting in the way that I was cheering Harley on throughout. There are many serious topics covered like suicide, homophobia, racism and mental health issues but the author did it in an informative and sensitive manner and did not use them in a gratuitous way. The act of writing down your simple joys in life helps to solidify those thoughts in your brain. It also gives you a written record for reference later. Here are some of the benefits I experienced from creating that list of simple joys. Get out of the comparison trapAs you practice looking for simple joys and writing down what you’re grateful for, it will increase your happiness.

Shortlisted for the Richell prize for emerging writers and the Victorian premier’s award for an unpublished manuscript, the novel charts the monthly happenings in Eva’s life (and by extension, that of her friends, Annie and Sarah) over the course of her pregnancy. In between, there are heartfelt conversations she will never have with the father of her baby: intimate revelations of how buoyed she felt in the aftermath of their one-night-stand; a dwelling on what could have been; an indulgence in the fantasy that she could have stopped him from taking his own life. There’s an implicit, perhaps unconscious, resentment for the novel’s boomer couples. From appreciating the pretty hues at sunrise to spending precious time with loved ones, people who choose to live simplyknow that the small moments add up to create a beautiful life. Read on to find out more! ☕️ What does embracing the simple joys of life mean?I also struggled with the mental health stuff, mostly because it continually leads Harley to make poor decisions and, as a reader, that's frustrating to repeatedly read. I too have depression and anxiety, and thought his bottoming out and slow road to recovery was handled well, I just had a hard time toward the end of the book when Harley was still keeping secrets and sabotaging relationships. I found myself highlighting passage after passage, until the whole book almost seemed highlighted. It’s beautifully written, told with a brutal honesty and carefully chosen words. And while it would probably be considered a slow-paced novel, I didn’t want to set it down, desperate to know if Harley would be okay. Propping up in bed with my legs out to alleviate the pain, taking my painkillers and putting on the heat pad when I get home from errands or an appointment How satisfying, I had thought, how reassuring, to know you could save your own life from loneliness. Abdurraqib’s writing is an antidote to the arched eyebrow of most music journalism. He writes with a sincerity that makes his subjects fallible. He writes as if music matters. For him, it is a metaphor for human suffering, for race and class, for what it is to be American. In one of his interludes dealing with the impact of Marvin Gaye, he writes: “To bear witness to so much death that could easily be your own is to push toward redefining what it is to be a patriot in this country.”