Welcome to Litsy!

I know little of New Zealand, its culture, or its politics but was fascinated by Jacinda Ardern‘s account of what inspired her to become the leader of her country from in the tumultuous years from 2017-2023. I wish her goal to lead with kindness had inspired the world to adopt her paradigm.

This is a great look at Ardern's life to this point. Such a compassionate and thoughtful woman. It was interesting to hear how she overcame feelings of inadequacy and how she worked through so many life altering crises. I love QE2's advice to her when she asked about raising kids in the public eye and doing public work "You just get on with it."
I thought this was well written and paced, easy to read and relatable - she is quite funny

Calamity says "Men, ?"

Ardern says: Fl"For years, my love life, if you could call it that, had been beset by both minor humiliation and consistent failure [......] Or the lovely journalist who decided to move to Africa - or at least I think he moved to Africa."

Ardern is just as cheeky and relatable in this memoir as I had hoped

#weeklyforecast
Chipping away at Far From The Tree with mixed feelings, should finish this week.

Reading the tagged for a break from that. Hoping to get to Cheese War this week also. The stack behind is hopefuls for next weekend. I grabbed Frozen River on audio so might dive into that while on my walks (if I get walks it is insanely windy here!!)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was fabulous! Jacinda is an inspiration to what leaders could be, smart and kind. I do think that if the world had more women leaders the world would be in a much better place.
‘The difference between what we are and what we could be is the greatest waste.‘
Jacinda wanted to be remembered for kindness from her time as the Prime Minister of New Zealand. I think she nailed it!

8-9 Oct 2025 (audiobook)
Listening to this audiobook increased my admiration of Ardern. Throughout her political career, she maintained kindness and dignity in a world where they are not characteristics commonly associated with politicians. Her five years as the NZ PM were challenging, not least because she discovered her pregnancy whilst waiting to hear whether she would take government and then dealt with terrorist attacks, a volcano and COVID.

Listened to the audio book narrated by Jacinda. The book takes you on a journey of how a small town girl who learns to wrap a pumpkin in paper to get her first job ends up as PM running a country for nearly 2 terms. Through reading this you can‘t deny her authenticity and desire to do what‘s best for the greatest number of people. Hands down NZ‘s best PM. To all the haters… 🖕🏼

I really liked Ardern‘s approach when she was in office, so I was so happy to see she‘d written a memoir. I enjoyed this, though I did wish it was a little meatier in places, as I‘d like to know even more. But I‘m glad she shared her life so far with us and I‘m glad I read it.