I didn’t open The Life That’s Waiting expecting to be moved. I opened it the way you open a window at dawn—carefully, unsure whether the air outside will soothe you or make the ache more obvious. Brianna Wiest has a way of meeting readers exactly there, in that fragile moment when holding it all together starts to feel heavier than falling apart. This book didn’t rush me forward. It sat beside me. Quietly. Patiently. Almost insistently.   Wiest has always occupied a curious l

I didn’t pick up The Art of Focus on a calm morning with incense burning and soothing flute music in the background — although that might have made me look more aligned with the title. Instead, I opened it on a messy weekday evening, surrounded by half-finished tasks, buzzing phone notifications, and a mind that felt like 37 browser tabs open at once. Ironically, I reached for a book about focus while being the least focused version of myself.   And maybe that’s exactly why t