The 2025 reading list (so far)
I wanted to share with you some books I have been reading. I can't say “books I've read” because I'm yet to finish one, but I hope you can take that as a healthy reminder that we don't need to finish every book in order to learn something or take something of value away!
In fact, for one of the books on this list, Hair/Power, I took more value from the first two pages than from the rest of the book. I dipped into this book for the first time last year whilst sitting in the Lush Hair Lab waiting for my appointment. They've sort of accrued a little library there to complement the cafe they have. I remember starting this book and feeling inspiration wash (*cough cough*) over me. I bought this book for that feeling: the feeling like I could write something like this. It's a series of essays by activist, Kajal Odedra, looking briefly at the history of hair and its role in culture and society. To be honest, the best thing about this book is its front cover (sorry, to be a harsh critic, but it's not very well written!). I'll keep it, though, for those first two pages where I felt capable and hopeful that one day I might write essays of my own.
The second book on this list is Less by Patrick Grant, or rather its full title: Less: Stop Buying So Much Rubbish: How Having Fewer, Better Things Can Make Us Happier. I stumbled across this by happy accident whilst discovering that my Spotify account included audiobooks. Now, I don't love an audiobook: I find them too slow, I'm very visual so I prefer to see words written down, and often I can't get on with the narrator's voice. Mr Grant narrates this book himself and he has a very pleasantly dull reading voice. I mean that in the best way. It borders on the monotonous in a way that makes it actually very calming to listen to. Perhaps this is deliberate since the contents of the book are pretty hard-hitting. But as much as this book is sobering, it is ten times more inspiring.
This is my book of 2025 (so far) in that it is the one I want everyone around me to read and which has got me itching to go and lobby outside Zara. Please read. The history of our relationship with commerce, consumerism and the impact of living in a capitalist society is so important for us to be aware of. Since starting this book, I've also bought E. F. Schumacher's Small is Beautiful (1973) and Galbraith's Affluent Society (1958), so watch this space…I think there's nothing like a bit of mindful activism (or perhaps just 'intentionalism' at this point) to kickstart a new year onto a trajectory of value-based action.
I don't want to bore you silly with my list of unfinished books, so I'll stick to exploring just two more. (P.S. I am aware there is an argument that I should probably just focus my attention rather than refracting it across multiple genres…)
Now, I'm somewhat late to the party on this one. It's Breath by James Nestor. I would imagine that a proportion of you will have read this, or at least be familiar with James Nestor. I remember first hearing James talk on Dr Chatterjee's podcast back in 2021. Anyway, I was in Waterstones picking up Hair/Power and I spotted this and took it straight to the till. I'm literally only 20 pages in but honestly I can feel its potential bubbling away already. I've got that slightly heady feeling of anticipation and I know it's something, like Less, I'll be begging everyone around me to read also - and which I know will make me a better doctor.
I started Orbital, by Samantha Harvey, on Christmas Day, after opening it as a Secret Santa gift - thank you Maisie! It won last year's Booker prize and it is so obviously deserving of this accolade. Mark and I are in a bit of a space phase (well, I think for Mark it's never been just a phase) and we recently watched Apollo 13. (We've also been in a love affair with Tom Hanks since about September last year.) There's nothing like expanding your knowledge of space to give you perspective here on Earth. It actually ties in beautifully with Patrick Grant's urging forward of our awareness around the impact of consumerism on our environment: when we appreciate the beauty of the universe, it gives us something to want to protect. Orbital is a beautifully-written and short novel following six astronauts who are orbiting Earth. I highly recommend.
Perhaps you are someone who never gets beyond page 20 of a book or doesn't feel reading is for them. I would say two things to this: I didn't read much last year. Really, I think I've read more in the past four weeks than in the last four months of 2024. Reading actually requires us to be quite relaxed. We have to drop our awareness into something in front of us which requires us to be in a safe, calming environment without a racing mind that wants us to do a gazillion other things. When I am anxious, I can't read. So notice if that's the same for you, and if reading requires you to find other ways to quieten the mind first. Secondly, you perhaps just haven't found the right book. You might consider the fact that I've got six books on the go as a tangible symbol of my ever-changing moods; a book for every season! Keep picking things up and putting them down, and picking something else up.
Mindful moment: Books can be stopped, started, loved, hated, given away, held tightly to or forever unfinished. You don't need to finish something to learn from it; one page might be all that is needed for you to feel inspired. Between you and me, I wrote entire, multiple essays on Beloved by Toni Morrison for my English A-Level and never once read it through. Sorry, Mrs McDonald, but I hated it! But don't the things we dislike teach us something about the things we do? Keep learning; keep inspired.
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Welcome to the Community.
I'm Laura, a yoga teacher and NHS doctor. With this weekly newsletter I aim to help you incorporate mindful moments into your week. I want you to feel inspired, empowered and creative. I promise to always be authentic; to only include content that speaks to me and which, therefore, I hope will do the same for you.
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