The Smallest of Joys
Diane Shiffer
Not my kind of book
Diane Shiffer is someone I am personally close to. In fact, I received my copy of The Smallest of Joys: How to Create Your Own Magic, Let Your Best Be Enough & Find Contentment Exactly as You Are from her hands. I therefore will not be rating it.
She warned me when she gave it to me that it would not be my kind of book, She was right about that. It’s not that I disagree with anything substantive that she has to say. In general terms, I feel the same way about joy as she does. Her principles of individuality and self-care resonate. The problem though, is that general principles do not a satisfying book or a tiktok channel make. Shiffer knows this, of course. She illustrates her principles with lots and lots of examples.
And that is where the book failed to satisfy me. Here’s an example
But you and I both know that things do not have to be big or showy or expensive to be beautiful, my dear. The battered old ornaments, crafted and glued by tiny hands, are more precious than anything new or trendy. Paper chains, cranberry garlands, cut-out snowflakes . . . do those ever really go out of style? Even the simple, inexpensive things are lovely at Christmas. The plain old things still bring joy. The simple things are plenty. The simple things are more than enough.
Shiffer‘s joy is supported by things, material things, objects. Indeed, her short-form videos are largely concerned with the “vintage” objects she loves. She loves things, old things. Although she is the opposite of what is commonly understood by the adjective “materialistic,” she cares deeply for things.
I, myself, don’t much care about things. For me beauty and joy come from ideas. (For instance, unlike so many of you, I don’t care about the smell or feel of a paper book. For me a book is the words and pictures it contains. Whether they appear on paper or a screen is literally immaterial to me.) Thus, while I agree with every major value Shiffer shares, her examples largely fail to reach me.
Sounds like a very profound and heartwarming book, though I can see how some folks might resonate with the examples and some folks might not. ⚖️
One time someone who read a book of mine and liked some parts but was pretty critical of other elements of the book told me that he was deciding not to give my book a rating, and it seemed like it was probably because the rating wouldn’t’ve been high, lol.
I still appreciated him reading the book and sharing what he liked and didn’t like though, and I wouldn’t’ve minded if he had rated it, though his rating would’ve probably lowered the book’s average rating, lol.
I enjoyed reading your thoughts about The Smallest of Joys! 🙏💯
I feel the same about things. I got to the end of this and was disappointed because I wanted you to say more!