Qian Julie Wang decided that she would become a lawyer. An avid reader, Wang explains, “I had come upon and gulped down condensed biographies of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Thurgood Marshall. Ruth and Thurgood showed me that lawyers didn’t have to be men, and they didn’t have to be white.” Wang, author of Beautiful Country, […]
Good company
by resolutewoman on May 13, 2023 in book, friends, reading, Uncategorized
I am watched the movie Persuasion—based on the book by Jane Austen, of course. The movie was delightful, and I am going to read the book again. Jane Austen writes: “My idea of good company…is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.” […]
Fake news?
by resolutewoman on August 20, 2022 in reading, wisdom
‘”Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it,” Jonathan Swift once said. The author Jonathan Swift was born in 1667. Amazing! Fake news has been around for a long time.
My brain dried up?
by resolutewoman on August 9, 2022 in fitness, health, reading, Uncategorized
It’s summer in Dallas. It’s hot. Maybe that’s why I’m a bit lethargic and my brain is a bit foggy. At least, my brain hasn’t dried up completely?! Cervantes writes about Don Quixote: “Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.” –Joy
Candy corn, not vegetables
by resolutewoman on August 21, 2021 in book, reading
We all need to read more. Tracy Dahlby, a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin, argues, in an article in The Dallas Morning News, that this country needs a better literary infrastructure. In his article, Dahlby says that, according to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Americans invest 16 minutes a […]
A little TV in your head
by resolutewoman on April 1, 2021 in children, reading
I remember when my daughter Mary Elizabeth read lots of Beverly Cleary books. I was sad when I heard that Cleary died recently, but I smiled when I read an obituary that mentioned a letter one girl wrote to the author. Reading, the girl wrote, is “like having a little television set in your head.” […]
Read a poem
by resolutewoman on January 7, 2021 in happiness, health, reading
“To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June,” Sartre once said. And, it’s is lovely, too, to go for a walk in January. And, it is lovely, too, to read a poem in June.
Enlarge your world
by resolutewoman on October 13, 2020 in book, happiness, reading
I just visited Washington, D.C., with Bob Woodward when I read Rage, and, before that trip, I visited the forests of California with Robert Powers when I read The Overstory. I am thankful for books during this pandemic! “There are many little ways to enlarge your world. Love of books is the best of all,” Jacqueline […]
Summer reading
by resolutewoman on August 1, 2019 in reading, thankfulness, Uncategorized
Summer is a wonderful time for reading a good book. Henry Stevens once said, “Books are both our luxuries and our daily bread.” We found that quote in the Interabang Books online newsletter.
We need silence
by resolutewoman on November 6, 2018 in book, peace, reading
We live in “an oversaturated culture,” says David Ulin in his book The Lost Art of Reading—Books and Resistance in a Troubled Time. We “skitter across the surface.” We are “awash in distraction…What we need is silence.” And books! And time for reading.
What’s this site about?
We wrote our book and we’re writing our blog because we were frustrated. We were frustrated with experts who try to tell people how to lose weight, raise their children and improve their marriages—and be a success—in 10 easy steps. In three weeks. In one book.
Our self-help book and blog are for grownups—for women who know that there are no easy answers to life’s complex problems—that finding solutions requires some self-knowledge and self-searching and hard work.
We want to help women discover their own answers and live with them as their guide. We want to help you and other women Help Yourself!
We write about making changes and also about many other issues important to women, including families, friends, work and food.