The whole ‘New Year, New Me’ thing never really lasts long, does it? Promising yourself that you’ll tune into Yoga with Adriene every day isn’t for everyone, so why not avoid the short-lived resolutions and learn how to implement sustainable changes instead? If you like the sound of that, we’ve collated a list of our new book recommendations for changing your mindset and bettering your life in the long term… And also for learning to speak like a Gallagher (because any new talent counts as personal growth, right?).
Less - Stop Buying So Much Rubbish: How Having Fewer, Better Things Can Make Us Happier by Patrick Grant, HarperCollins
Need to cleanse yourself of the post-Christmas consumer guilt? Well, just make this one final purchase, and then start learning how to appreciate a back-to-basics wardrobe. Clothier and clothes-lover Patrick Grant has turned his state-of-the-world despair into a careful consideration of how we can make ourselves happier by rediscovering the joy of living with fewer, better-quality things. | £22
Ebb and Flow by Tiffany Francis-Baker, Bloomsbury
Tiffany Francis-Baker is stripping the wellbeing question right back to its core with a guide to seasonal living. We’re all guilty of complaining about the price and quality of strawberries in November, but Francis-Baker is teaching us how to roll with the punches and live as the earth intended, to improve mind, body and soul.
Her efforts are helped by the fact that the book is beautifully illustrated and extremely aesthetically pleasing, of course. | £20
How to Think Like Socrates by Donald J. Robertson, Macmillan
What did the Romans (and Greeks) ever do for us? If looking forward isn’t working, try turning back to advice from ancient thinkers. For anyone who’s read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, you’ll know that the old guys had some pretty good points. Cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist Donald J. Robertson’s new book is a comprehensive guide to Socrates, and effectively modernises the Athenian philosophy to teach us how it can continue to guide everyone to this day. | £22
The Twenty-Something Treatment: A Revolutionary Remedy for an Uncertain Age by Dr Meg Jay, HarperCollins.
Larkin said it first: “I feared these present years, the middle twenties,
when deftness disappears, and each event is freighted with a source-encrusting doubt, and turned to drought.” And that was in the 1940s. God, imagine if he’d had to contend with TikTok and Trump as well?!
Dr Meg Jay provides practical solutions for an age-old range of problems, as she expertly guides readers through finding purpose and embracing uncertainty without unravelling. So, whether you know someone going through them or you’re knee-deep in the middle, take this as a survival guide for the young and fearful. | £16.99
How to speak Oasis by Professor Mads Forrit, HarperCollins
If you’re looking for a slightly less existential New-Year read but still want to change a habit, why not put down the Duolingo and instead learn to speak like our most famous marmite-flavoured Mancs? Take ‘New Year, new me’ to different regions, eh our kid. As you were. | £8.99
