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