--- title: I Cannot Control Everything Forever: 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 description: Find out why "I Cannot Control Everything Forever" is on TIME's list of the must-read books of the year. canonical: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172938/i-cannot-control-everything-forever/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-11-13T13:12:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T00:42:44.782Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'I Cannot Control Everything Forever' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 og:description: Here's why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172938/i-cannot-control-everything-forever/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b6fe7daba1113f9/698a8d031868923dcb6cd8e4/I-Cannot-Control-Everything-Forever-Emily-Bloom.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'I Cannot Control Everything Forever' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'I Cannot Control Everything Forever' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 twitter:description: Here's why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b6fe7daba1113f9/698a8d031868923dcb6cd8e4/I-Cannot-Control-Everything-Forever-Emily-Bloom.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 13, 2024 # I Cannot Control Everything Forever by [Shannon Carlin](https://time.com/author/shannon-carlin/) ## Shannon Carlin Carlin is a contributor for TIME.  With unfettered honesty, literature professor Emily C. Bloom details her difficult journey to becoming a mother in her late 30s, which included a chemical pregnancy, a late-term miscarriage, and an abortion. She writes woefully of how the world will judge her daughter, who was diagnosed with congenital deafness and Type 1 diabetes. She writes of losing “the thread of connection” to the [life she had](https://time.com/5904575/motherhood-pandemic/) before having a baby, knowing she is not alone in feeling as if she has gained but also lost something in becoming a mom. She also details the ways in which parenthood has changed in the social media age, tracing the newest technologies that are supposed to make things easier but somehow make them harder. The result is a thoughtful reflection on the trials and tribulations of modern motherhood. **Buy Now:** _I Cannot Control Everything Forever_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781250285683) | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3Cg52UV) | [Barnes & Noble](https://fave.co/4fE0MwY) These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172938/i-cannot-control-everything-forever/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172938/i-cannot-control-everything-forever/"},"headline":"I Cannot Control Everything Forever","datePublished":"2024-11-13T13:12:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:42:44.782Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172938/i-cannot-control-everything-forever/","keywords":["Books","E-Commerce","list","franchise"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b6fe7daba1113f9/698a8d031868923dcb6cd8e4/I-Cannot-Control-Everything-Forever-Emily-Bloom.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shannon Carlin","jobTitle":"Carlin is a contributor for TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/shannon-carlin/"}],"creator":"Shannon Carlin","articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b6fe7daba1113f9/698a8d031868923dcb6cd8e4/I-Cannot-Control-Everything-Forever-Emily-Bloom.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172938/i-cannot-control-everything-forever/","name":"I Cannot Control Everything Forever"}}]}] ```