Small Wonders: A Field Guide to Life’s Quiet Joys is a delightful little book of musings, observations, reminders, and other happy nonsense.
This nonfiction book is by Jennifer Shoop, who I’d never heard of but maybe you have. She’s the founder and author of the daily lifestyle blog, Magpie.
Despite being a blogger myself, I don’t follow too many other blogs. But I saw Small Wonders’ beautiful book cover on Instagram, then saw it was about finding “quiet joys” – and I decided to give it a read.
What’s Small Wonders about?
Small Wonders is meant to help you stop and take notice of the simple but often overlooked pleasures in life. It’s a small, square book – the perfect size to fit on your end table next to your candle, journal, and coffee mug, or to slip into your purse to read when you have a free moment in a waiting room.
Shoop’s book is filled with free verse poems (meaning, they don’t rhyme), brief essays, beautiful photography, lists of things Shoop loves and values, along with various other musings. Most entries are just one page long – perfectly digestible.
The author writes about her children, her husband, and her parents. She also writes about her love of books and her connection with writing and creativity. Other entries are about her home, and about the simple joys and small moments (small wonders) that make her stop and appreciate all she has.
What I liked about Small Wonders
Several of Shoop’s essays resonated with me, particularly those about marriage and about a friendship that has soured and fallen away. Unsurprisingly, the pieces about motherhood weren’t my favorite, but I’m sure they’lll resonate well with those who are parents.
My favorite entries in Small Wonders were Shoop’s “lists.” These are the pages that list items are separated by “/”. My least favorite entries were her poems. (Sorry.)
Here are some of my favorite pieces overall from Small Wonders:
- “Demeter”
- “Half of Me Walks Down Columbus Circle”
- “Places That Turn Into People”
- “The People Who Keep the Lamps Lit”
- “The Reasurance Library”
- “English and the Great or Maybes”
- “Make Bad Art” (shout out to Amie McNee!)
- “Write in Soft Pencil”
- “Anti Story”
- “Ex Libris”
Advice on how to read Small Wonders
I originally started reading the entries in Small Wonders one after the other, like you would read chapters in a novel. It’s a short book, so you feel like you can power through pretty quickly.
But, “powering through” isn’t the point here, is it? (Nope.) Shoop’s book is about leaning into moments, slowing them down, and allowing yourself to be present in the moment.
Instead of reading the book all at once, I recommend reading one page at a time, or one entry at a time. If you read the entries all in one sitting, everything kinda smushes together. The lessons get lost in their own shuffle.
When you slow down and read only one entry per day, you have time to reflect on Shoop’s words and lessons. And that’s when this book makes its impact.
Should you read Small Wonders?
Read Small Wonders if you’re looking for insightful and thoughtful musings on love, life, and appreciating what’s right in front of you. It’s a great companion read for books like Finding the Gift and Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Admittedly, some of the entries in Small Wonders irked me a bit. Shoop’s word choice isn’t always awesome; every few entries, she plucks a word out of the air that, I’m pretty sure, most people won’t know. It’s a little show-off-y. And, some of her musings read like self-congratulatory diary entries about how great her life has turned out.
But I think we should give Shoop the benefit of the doubt. There’s some real value and sense of peace from her writing.
Trigger warning: if you’re sensitive about pet death and/or don’t want to bawl your eyes out, skip the piece “In Memoriam, Tilly the Terrier.” Just trust me. Tilly’s referenced a few additional times throughout the book, but you won’t lose anything by skipping the saddest Tilly entry.
What’s the book-inspired recipe?
Check back in for the book-inspired recipe: Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies.
Although I received a complimentary advance copy of Small Wonders: A Field Guide to Life’s Quiet Joys from Kaye Publicity, all opinions expressed in this review are my own, and I was not compensated in any way for this review or for any other promotion/publicity I’ve done related to this book.
