The catalog

Short guides, plainly written.

Every title is a PDF and an ePub, delivered by email and kept forever. There is no subscription, no newsletter, and no cart — orders are placed by writing to the editor.

The Working Day

The Working Day

Guides on attention, meetings, correspondence, and the small architecture of an ordinary workweek.

The Working Day

A Plain Guide to the Working Week

MMXXVI · GI · 001

The Working Day

A Plain Guide to the Working Week

Attention, calendars, and the shape of five days

$18 USD·96 pp.

A short handbook on what a working week is actually made of — where the hours go, which of them are worth keeping, and how a calendar can be arranged so it answers to the work rather than the other way round. Written for the desk worker who has read enough on productivity and would like the shorter book.

To order: write to editor@lovegivers.org with the title above.

The Working Day

Meetings, Kept Short

MMXXVI · GI · 007

The Working Day

Meetings, Kept Short

Agenda, brevity, and the closing sentence

$14 USD·64 pp.

A very short book on holding meetings that finish on time and answer the question they were called to answer. Includes the agenda templates the editor keeps in a drawer, the two sentences that end a meeting cleanly, and a note on when a meeting should have been an email — which is more often than we admit.

To order: write to editor@lovegivers.org with the title above.

The Household

The Household

Reference reading for the running of a home — money, meals, maintenance, quiet Sundays.

The Household

The Household Ledger

MMXXVI · GI · 002

The Household

The Household Ledger

Money, meals, and maintenance — a keeping book

$22 USD·132 pp.

A single ledger for the running of a home: the standing bills, the weekly food, the seasonal maintenance, and the drawer of receipts everyone means to file. Written to be filled in by hand at the kitchen table, then consulted for the rest of the year. Not a system — a keeping book.

To order: write to editor@lovegivers.org with the title above.

The Household

The Sunday Book

MMXXVI · GI · 006

The Household

The Sunday Book

Household rhythm, dinner planning, and the week ahead

$18 USD·96 pp.

A short book on the hour before the week begins — a Sunday practice for planning the seven dinners, the two errands, and the one appointment that would otherwise be forgotten. Answers the small planning question and stops, so the rest of Sunday is free.

To order: write to editor@lovegivers.org with the title above.

The Civic Hour

The Civic Hour

Short plain-English primers on the paperwork of adult life: taxes, tenancy, small courts, letters to write.

The Civic Hour

Letters You May Need to Write

MMXXVI · GI · 003

The Civic Hour

Letters You May Need to Write

Complaint, notice, condolence, and thanks

$16 USD·84 pp.

Model letters for the four occasions a plainly-written note still does the work: the complaint that reaches the right desk, the notice a landlord will act on, the condolence that arrives on time, and the thanks that reads warmly without hovering. Each model prints on one page.

To order: write to editor@lovegivers.org with the title above.

The Civic Hour

A Short Primer on Small Courts

MMXXVI · GI · 005

The Civic Hour

A Short Primer on Small Courts

Filing, appearing, and finishing without a lawyer

$20 USD·108 pp.

A plain-English guide to the small-claims court: what it is for, what it will not do, how to file, what to bring, what to say, and how a case ends. Written for the adult who has a small dispute and would like to settle it without a lawyer or a weekend of legal reading. Not legal advice — the primer says so, twice.

To order: write to editor@lovegivers.org with the title above.

The Reading Room

The Reading Room

Essays and long notes — the sort of writing you keep in a folder and return to.

The Reading Room

Notes on Reading Slowly

MMXXVI · GI · 004

The Reading Room

Notes on Reading Slowly

An essay in six sittings

$14 USD·72 pp.

Six short essays on reading at the pace of a lamp — what a slow reader is doing that a fast one is not, why the notebook helps more than the highlighter, and why a book worth keeping is worth reading twice. Written for the reader who has more books than time and would like to enjoy the ones already on the shelf.

To order: write to editor@lovegivers.org with the title above.

Manuscripts

On manuscripts.

General Information takes manuscripts occasionally. Write with a paragraph on the guide you would like to see in the catalog — the shelf it belongs on, the reader it is for, and the shape of the book you would write. Expect a slow reply; every note is read by the editor.

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