Books! We’ve got books on all sorts of topics as you perhaps are cozying in during winter’s performance. As well, a new French film that was just released here in the states that I cannot wait to watch, more films and television series to pique your curiosity about health, history and more, and with January comes the sales! I have clothing and décor finds to explore. Plus, much more!

Books

—Energy Rising: The Neuroscience of Leading with Emotional Power by Dr. Julia DiGangi

Released this past September, comprised of multiple studies and clinical work done at “Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown University, the University of Chicago, DePaul, and the University of Illinois Chicago. Dr. Julia DiGangi’s discoveries regarding neuroelectrical energy has helped business leaders, parents, couples, educators, and military leaders. Her work, rooted in resilience after extreme stress, will show you how to effectively deal with struggles you currently face. She tells the stories of business leaders, parents, couples—and even combat veterans and trauma survivors—who used the eight codes shared in Energy Rising to rise.”

What she shares in her new book is a pathway to reaching your full potential. “You can learn to recognize and harness the energy in your brain . . . teaching you how through eight ‘codes.’ Some of the codes will surprise you. All will fortify you. You will learn why these codes work and how to apply them to your own challenges through exercises and reflections.”

—Getting to Sorry: The Art of Apology at Work and at Home by Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy

Released earlier this month, Getting to Sorry “draws on a deep well of research in psychology, sociology, law, and medicine, [to] explain why a good apology is hard to find and why it doesn’t have to be. Alongside their six (and a half)-step formula for apologizing beautifully, Ingall and McCarthy also delve into how to respond to a bad apology; why corporations, celebrities, and governments seldom apologize well; how to teach children to apologize; how gender and race affect both apologies and forgiveness; and most of all, why good apologies are essential, powerful, and restorative.”

—The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living by Bonnie Wan

Being released this coming Tuesday on January 16th, The Life Brief is “a simple yet effective playbook for navigating life’s decisions, crossroads, and curve-balls. Modeled after the creative brief, a tool used by the most innovative companies in the world to unlock clarity and unleash action, The Life Brief carves a path for living with intention and imagination.

“Designed by leading brand strategist Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief is a practice in three parts: The first phase, Get Messy, is a set of open-ended writing prompts that cut through limiting beliefs and false assumptions about what’s possible. The second phase, Get Clear, offers prompts for finding clarity around what you truly, deeply want. The third phase, Get Active, catapults you into the steps to making those desires a reality.”

A how-to, concrete guide to living the life you might now only be dreaming about.

—The Longing for Less: Living with Minimalism by Kyle Chayka

A book that caught my eye purely out of curiosity as I am someone who while preferring my sanctuary neat and tidy, still needs substance and thoughtfully included pieces that perhaps to the onlooker is far from minimal. However, Kyle Chayka’s book which was released in 2020 “shows that our longing for less goes back further than we realize. His search leads him to the philosophical and spiritual origins of minimalism, and to the stories of artists such as Agnes Martin and Donald Judd; composers such as John Cage and Julius Eastman; architects and designers; visionaries and misfits.

“As Chayka looks anew at their extraordinary lives and explores the places where they worked-from Manhattan lofts to the Texas high desert and the back alleys of Kyoto-he reminds us that what we most require is presence, not absence. The result is an elegant new synthesis of our minimalist desires and our profound emotional needs.”

—Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge: A novel by Lizzie Pook

This book looks like a wonderfully captivating read. Set in two places, Victorian London and traversing the Northwest Passage bound for the Arctic Sea, Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge, the plot revolves around a sister seeking answers about her sister Maude Horton’s death. Justice and love, intrigue and mystery, look for this novel to be released on January 16th.

British Finds

—The King is Dead, Long Live the King: Majesty, Mourning and Modernity in Edwardian Britain by Martin Williams

Released this past fall, I learned of this book from a British interior designer on their IG feed who shared they were quite enjoying it, and as someone who enjoys British history, I quickly put it into my shopping cart. “In The King is Dead, Long Live the King! Martin Williams charts a period of tension and transition as one era slipped away and another took shape. Witnessed by a diverse but interconnected cast of characters – crowned heads and Cabinet ministers, debutantes and suffragettes, artists and murderers – here is the swansong of Edwardian Britain. Set against a backdrop of bereavement and parliamentary crisis overshadowed by the gathering clouds of war, we see a people caught between past and future, tradition and modernity, as they unite to bid farewell to a much-loved monarch who had personified his age.”

—A London Bookshop Affair: A novel of the Cold War by Louise Fein

From the bestselling author of Daughter of the Reich, Louise Fein has a new historical drama set in London about a bookshop involved in an espionage network. The story centers around two different times in the twentieth century – London 1962 and Paris 1942. Learn more here.

Cookbooks

—Vegetable Simple by Eric Rupert

This past fall French-born Michelin-star chef who is behind one of the most well-loved French restaurants in New York City, Le Bernardin, released his cookbook Seafood Simple (included in this This & That), and after perusing his many cookbooks a bit more, I wanted to share with you Vegetable Simple as well.

A New York Times Bestseller and named one of the best cookbooks of the year when it was released in 2021, “Ripert turns his singular culinary imagination to vegetables: their beauty, their earthiness, their nourishing qualities, and the many ways they can be prepared. From vibrant Sweet Pea Soup to Fava Bean and Mint Salad, from warming Mushroom Bolognese to Roasted Carrots with Harissa, Eric Ripert articulates a vision for vegetables that are prepared simply, without complex steps or ingredients, allowing their essential qualities to shine and their color and flavor to remain uncompromised.”

Films

—Ferrari

A movie I am becoming more and more curious to watch. Starring Adam Driver as Enzio Ferrari, the movie captures the events taking place during “the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, ex-racer Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife, Laura (Penelope Cruz) built from nothing ten years earlier. Their volatile marriage has been battered by the loss of their son, Dino a year earlier. Ferrari struggles to acknowledge his son Piero with Lina Lardi. Meanwhile, his drivers’ passion to win pushes them to the edge as they launch into the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia.”

The film opened on December 25th and is likely still in theaters. Have a look at the trailer below.

French Finds

—Driving Madeleine

And without question I cannot wait to watch Driving Madeleine! Line Renaud stars as 90-year old Madeleine, and Dany Boone stars as the taxi driver Charles. When Madeleine “leaves small suburban to join a nursing home, on the other side of Paris. Charles, a taxi driver, comes to pick her and in no hurry to reach, she asks him to go through places of the capital, which have counted in her life.” This film was released in 2022 in France and is just now, this weekend, becoming available in the states. I believe it is already available to stream on Max and Amazon Prime for those who live in the UK and will soon be there for US viewers as well. In the meantime, look for it in theaters.

Shopping

—&Daughter cable-knit wool sweater

Sweater season is definitely in full throttle! And this sweater from &Daughter looks classic and cozy.

—Everlane Essentials Sale, 30% off

Sales are happening, and one for essential shopping is taking place at Everlane. I have done some shopping below.

Clean Silk Short-Sleeve Knot Shirt, (multiple colors), b&w polka dot seen here

SHOP THE SALE:

—Joseph wool-cashmere blend stitch ribbed v-neck sweater (two colors), 50% off

I highly recommend sweaters from London designer brand Joseph, and when they go on sale, as they are here at Outnet, pouncing is best. Having this sweater in blue, but in turtleneck form, the fabric is soft and warm, and the blue hue gentle and cool with a little bit of a warm undertone. All sizes are still available in the blue and only a few are available in the beige. Let the pouncing begin!

—One Kings Lane Sale, up to 50% off everything

As I mentioned above, sales are happening in many online shops throughout January, and if you know what you are looking for, you will save wonderfully. Be sure to use the promo code WINTER10 to save up to 50% off everything at One King’s Lane. I have shopped a few items below.

SHOP THE SALE:

—Serena & Lily Sale, up to 35% off everything

One more sale of note for the home!

Awning Stripe Tablecloth (two color ways)

~SHOP THE SALE:

Television

—After Midnight, CBS

After listening to the spotlight interview of CBS’s new Late Late Night host Taylor Tomlinson, I am definitely going to keep her name on my radar. Be sure to get to know her by watching the segment below, and perhaps you too will want to tune in. Her new show premieres the night of January 16th or the morning of January 17th after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

—The Empress, series, Netflix

I have to give a big shout-out Thank You to long-time reader of TSLL Judy M. for sharing the recommendation of the series on Netflix The Empress. While it debuted in 2022, I neglected to include it in a This & That post on the week of its premiere and want to make sure you know about it just in case you haven’t already watched it. Set in the Viennese court, rebellious Elisabeth (the Empress) falls for Emperor Franz and becomes his unlikely bride. Begin the tension and the intrigue. Have a look at the trailer below.

—Stutz, documentary, Netflix

I recently began reading a book that was released back in 2012, The Tools, and look forward to watching a new documentary inspired by one of its co-authors. Jonah Hill produces and stars in Stutz as Phil Stutz’s therapy patient in a documentary that sounds like nothing else I’ve watched. After reading and learning about the first of the four tools in the book (seen below), I look forward to continuing to read the rest. Good advice so far.

The book The Tools: 5 Tools to Help You Find Courage, Creativity and Willpower -and Inspire You to Live Life in Forward Motion by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels (2012)

—You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment, Netflix

A series that was just released at the top of this year, You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment studies identical twins and the diets and lifestyles they adopt for 8 weeks to see how food impacts the body. Have a look at the trailer below.

The snow arrived! And then it just kept on coming! In a matter of 36 hours Bend proper ended up with over a foot of snow, and it doesn’t look like it will be going anywhere for the foreseeable future

Norman and Nelle were outside helping me shovel, and as it was a snow day for the local schools, our neighborhood streets were filled with smiles and laughs as sledding took place and even shoveling the snow a treat to give a go. With very little traffic and many neighbors clearing their walks and driveways paired with the blue sky on Wednesday after all of the snow arrived, it was a day to savor. By the end of it, when we took our evening stroll, every house and their sidewalk were bare with the help of some very kind neighbors who had snow blowers. So grateful as there is just something magical about such strolls during the winter.

The weather has been inclement for many of you as well around the globe, so sending well wishes that you are able to cozy up and be warm and savor this winter weather. For us here at Le Papillon, a special delivery arrived from England yesterday that I have been eagerly anticipating since October and is the finishing touch to the kitchen as well as the rest of the main living area – lampshades from a very special British design house (check out IG for a bit more specific detail). Look for a tour of the kitchen later this month as quite a few details have been added and having been cooking in the remodeled space since 2020, it has certainly taken on a more cozy vibe as I tailor it to what works best (explore becoming a TOP Tier Member so you can explore the new tour as well as all of the previous tours of TSLL’s home).

The weekend will be full of French homework, reading a couple of new books that just arrived and perhaps venturing out to see one of the films above or mentioned below. Oh! And if the wind isn’t too much, up to the mountain we will go! Also, I had the opportunity to watch Nyad and Good Grief over this past week, and thoroughly enjoyed them both for different reasons, so if you are looking for even more films to snuggle up and watch this weekend, these two, while mentioned in previous This & Thats are definitely ones to consider.

I hope your week has gone well and you are settling into 2024 with optimism, determination to make it quite amazing and also a gentle everyday rhythm that both soothes and piques your curiosity and wonderment. Thank you for stopping by and below are a few links and videos you might enjoy. Until Monday, bonne journée !

~Well, this just sounds like the perfect treat in the winter, Baked Camembert with Oven-Roasted Grapes by David Lebovitz.

~Favorite read this week: For happiness in the new year, stop overdoing everything [WSJ, subscription may be required]

~What to do in January in the garden [Gardeners’ World]

~Julia Roberts is the covergirl of Vogue UK’s February issue and she’s talking Notting Hill, aging gracefully and more.

~100 Simple ways to immediately improve your life [Becoming Minimalist]

~7 Great ways to explore Normandy in the winter [Frenchly]

~12 Winter decor ideas to get your home ready for hibernation season [Homes & Gardens UK]

~Something I have a feeling many TSLL readers already know and with each year I know it to be true as well!: our future will be better than our past – How to be happy growing older [The Atlantic]

~Many of you shared you enjoyed this new film directed by George Clooney and in this interview he talks about the true story behind it, Boys in the Boat. [PBS Newshour]

~And for a fun laugh, watch Kristen Wiig and Will Farrell present the award to the Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical at Sunday night’s Golden Globes. For context, there are subtle (and not so subtle) allusions to their presenting of an award that the duo paired up for in 2013 (you can watch that here – it is even more funny than their 2024 presentation).

~Explore last week’s This & That: January 5, 2024

Wonderful new films – one set in England, one in France and an English film set in Paris! As well two new series I highly recommend – again, one set in Paris and one in Victorian England. And most definitely there are oodles of books on topics wide-ranging – reading, reducing the busy, art, mythology, style, and navigating the pivot year. Oh! And the sales continue, for our wardrobes and our pups to keep them warm, and still there is much more.

~~Please note: TSLL is supported by you, readers who take the time to stop by (merci!), peruse and sometimes welcome into your life mentioned and recommended finds. Affiliate links are present in today’s post and may earn commissions for TSLL when you purchase. View TSLL’s full Privacy Policy here.