This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
In his 2022 essay on how to want less, Arthur C. Brooks recalls a line from Ralph Waldo Emerson about the dangers of thinking that a new shiny thing or place will fix life’s problems. “At home I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be intoxicated with beauty, and lose my sadness,” Emerson wrote in his essay “Self-Reliance.” “I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea, and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from.”
Staying home might not readily provide the intoxicating beauty Emerson describes. But once you give in to spending the day inside—with a good movie, or the right book, or just dancing around the kitchen with your loved ones—you’ll find that beauty exists there too. As those experiences add up, you may even come to see your everyday surroundings in a new way, as a place for adventure rather than just stasis. Today’s newsletter explores how to create joy, no matter how many or how few plans you have for the weekend and the summer.
Enjoying Home
Five Books That Will Redirect Your Attention
By Rhian Sasseen
When malaise strikes, a book can break the spell—if you choose the right one. (From 2025)
Read the article.
How to Want Less
By Arthur C. Brooks
The secret to satisfaction has nothing to do with achievement, money, or stuff. (From 2022)
Read the article.
Boredom Is the Price We Pay for Meaning
By Daniel Smith
When I became a father, I was forced to reckon with the emotion that consumed my days.
Read the article.
Still Curious?
Other Diversions
PS
I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. Carol G, 58, sent this photo of orchids at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.
I’ll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks.
— Isabel