Little Victories: Perfect Rules for Imperfect Living

An Amazon Best Book of November 2015: Jason Gay, a popular and funny columnist for the Wall Street Journal, was driven to write Little Victories after his father s diagnosis of cancer. But Little Victories isn t just another treacly exhortation to enjoy this precious existence or else. It s a curation of snapshots of Gay s many life mistakes, demonstrating that life s little victories are made up of small, perfect moments, even or perhaps especially when we ourselves are not perfect. Anxious parents in particular will benefit from Gay s philosophy, whether it s his thoughts on youth sports to how to set limits on kids usage of digital devices: If it means a peaceful cross-country flight without dirty stares from every other passenger, I will let a two-year-old watch Scarface. Some chapters are laugh-out-loud funny (the family Thanksgiving chapter should be required reading at this time of year); some are poignant. All are self-deprecating and wry. There are a lot of books out there on how to stop and smell the roses. This is a crowning addition to that genre, making us laugh at our ridiculous human self-importance and showing us how to savor the everyday little victories. Adrian Liang