Got a free shirt! I often record my commute with the Charity Miles app, getting a corporate sponsor to pitch a few coins to Habitat For Humanity while I enjoy riding my bike. (The Hubski team has recorded 1790 miles so far and could use some help!) Now and then there's a promotion. The t-shirt is cool, but a free hormone test kit was an unexpected surprise. I haven't overcome my reluctance to jab four fingers with needles, but I'm curious to see my numbers. For the new year I am following veen's example, avoiding distractions and aiming to read more. First book finished this year was The News: A User's Manual, and was about as expected, though it got me to delete a bunch of apps, including some foreign newspaper apps that were supposed to help me practice language but just bugged me with headline alerts I had already seen in English. The Road to Wigan Pier is wholesome misery literature that makes frozen toes on the way to work seem like no big deal.
The Road to Wigan Pier is often overlooked and - as you say - a real snapshot of misery. All the moreso because it's nonfiction.