Recommendations you can check.
Author of Quiet and Bittersweet; writes The Quiet Life newsletter on introversion and sensitivity.
5 things
Fern HillOther Dylan Thomas
Today, I want to share with you one of my favorite poems: "Fern Hill", by Dylan Thomas.
A newsletter post sharing a poem in full; she notes she gets no commission from the artist whose work illustrates it.
2026-09-01·susancain.substack.com ↗
The Hedge CutterOther Arabella Shand
who has such lovely work. If you fall in love with it as I have, note that she sells greeting cards on her site. (Just fyi, no commission to me.)
A newsletter post sharing a poem in full; she notes she gets no commission from the artist whose work illustrates it.
2026-09-01·susancain.substack.com ↗
Sacred Therapy: Jewish Spiritual Teachings on Emotional Healing and Inner WholenessBook Estelle Frankel
This book is so full of wisdom and insight. I pulled down my copy just now and it's filled with underlines and margin notes.
A newsletter post sharing favourite books from her home library alongside tips for reading more instead of doom-scrolling.
2026-04-07·susancain.substack.com ↗
The Power of MythBook Joseph Campbell
I discovered Campbell's work during that great transitional period of my life (in my early 30s, when I left the wrong career and the wrong relationship, and set sail into the unknown) and it has been a mainstay ever since.
A newsletter post sharing favourite books from her home library alongside tips for reading more instead of doom-scrolling.
2026-04-07·susancain.substack.com ↗
Gone: A Girl, A Violin, a Life UnstrungBook Min Kym
This is one of the most extraordinary memoirs I've ever read.
A newsletter post sharing favourite books from her home library alongside tips for reading more instead of doom-scrolling.
2026-04-07·susancain.substack.com ↗
Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.
The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.
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The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Fully green is recent. It drains a quarter at a time as the post gets older, and is empty once it reads as dated.
What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The shading is gone after about:
Stripes mean the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no shading.