Susan Cain published the extremely-popular Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking in 2012. For their April 2023 meeting, the Iron Book Discussion Group will read her newest book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Long Makes Us Whole.
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BOOK DESCRIPTION: 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.
If you’ve ever wondered why you like sad music . . .
If you find comfort or inspiration in a rainy day . . .
If you react intensely to music, art, nature, and beauty . . .
Then you probably identify with the bittersweet state of mind.
Susan Cain employs the same mix of research, storytelling, and memoir she did with Quiet 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. 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.
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Copies of Bittersweet can be picked up from the Book Discussion Shelf on our first floor. The book is also available to download through Overdrive/Libby as an ebook or an audiobook.
An in-person discussion of Bittersweet will be held at the library on Tuesday, April 11, at 7:00 PM.
And an online discussion of the book will be held via Zoom on Thursday, April 13, at 3:00 PM. Participants will receive an email with the login information for Zoom after registering.
Published on March 21, 2023.
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