If you have a curious mind and a searcher's heart...8 recommendations.

Plus, our next Candlelight Chat is tomorrow, Tuesday!

“Woman Reading”, by Frederic Forest. This is today’s first recommendation: you can follow Forest’s Instagram page here.

Dearest You,

Today, I’d like to share with you eight recommendations of artists, writers, and thinkers - any one of whom might bring you delight and illumination:

If you have a searcher’s heart: may I introduce the bestselling author, Pico Iyer, who’s been described as “one of the most soulful and perceptive writers of our time” (The Marginalian) and “a secularist with a searcher’s heart” (Lit Hub). Pico will be our guest, THIS TUESDAY, for a Candlelight Chat: June 25, at 7 pm Eastern, on Zoom! (Log-in details will be sent to Quiet Life members, this Monday.) We’ll talk about Pico’s forthcoming book, AFLAME, in which he chronicles three decades of transformative stays at a tiny monastery high above the sea; other monastics he’s known, from the Dalai Lama to Leonard Cohen; and Pico will explain how sitting alone in a small cell can somehow train us in connection and compassion.

Pico Iyer. Photo by Brigitte Lacombe

If you love great recommendations from a curious mind: My friend, the brilliant author Gretchen Rubin, is one of the most genuinely enthusiastic and curious people I know. If you have lunch with her and mention that you’re thinking of writing a book on such-and-such topic, her face will light up and she’ll joyfully recommend four or five relevant books that you really must read right away. If you’d like to receive such recommendations, check out Gretchen’s “Five Things Making Me Happy” newsletter.

If you’re a quiet leader, or a champion of quiet leaders (including quiet leaders to be): Here’s a treasure trove of video interviews with quietly powerful leaders, conducted by Megumo Miki, all of them available on this website.

If you’d like to learn more about Stoicism, the Ancient Greek school of philosophy that focuses on reframing the mind to not react to what we can’t control: The bestselling author, Ryan Holiday, has been teaching Stoic doctrines for years, via his Daily Stoic newsletter and many books; his latest book, Right Thing, Right Now, is just out now.

To be honest, I’ve no idea if this glorious photo, by Maaike Dirkx, depicts the busts of any of the great Stoics. But this is the Capitoline Museum in Rome, as the sun sets, in all its splendor. And I follow Maaike on X via the handle “@RembrandtsRoom”, and you should too!

If you enjoy warm and wise writing on the subjects of work, wellbeing, and creativity: A few weeks ago, my friend Cali texted to say that she’d just met the novelist

Emma Gannon

, whose newsletter, The Hyphen, covers these topics, and who’s a self-described introvert, and that clearly we would get along and how is it possible that we didn’t know each other already? And indeed Emma and I have been in touch, though perhaps not as much as we should be! In the meantime, you can read Emma here.

If you’re looking for a riveting, unexpected read that happens to illuminate the global turmoils of the early 20th century (not to mention the early 21st one): I really can’t recommend this book enough: The Orientalist, by Tom Reiss. I brought it on vacation last year and think about it constantly, still.

As always, I’d love to know what you think:

Which of these recommendations strikes your fancy (my husband Ken says I speak like a 19th century duchess, so yes I just asked you about fancy-striking)?

Please leave a comment below. And, we invite you to share these recommendations far and wide!