READ ALL ABOUT IT
Since 2012, I’ve been writing about books. And the act of reading. And the importance of story and narrative. But, mostly, the underlying theme of all I write is how taking a moment to stop and digest some longform text — instead of scrolling, instead of watching a video, instead of multitasking — can be one of the most grounding things we can do for ourselves. Here’s the one-stop online home for all this writing.
You can read more about me and my work by moseying over here. Want to peruse periodic “essay drops” — excerpts from my work-in-progress essay collection about Homesickness? Here ya go.
I Heart Gish Jen
Last year right around July 4, I posted a picture of Gish Jen’s novel Typical American with the caption “We’re all typical Americans.”
Homesick
Homesick is a memoir by the writer and translator Jennifer Croft. (She won the Man Booker International Prize in 2018 for her translation of Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk.) If I had to use just two words to review it I’d say, “Mic drop.” (Alternate reasoning: If I were Michael Scott and tasked with reviewing books.) I’m not trying to be glib, but if ever there were a time to use “mic drop” in full sincerity, it would be in reference to this book, a memoir/”real-life novel” with photographic elements. I’m truly amazed by it. (As is the pooch, apparently.)
Can Books Start a New Chapter?
Excellent cover story in Sunday’s NYT Magazine. “Can Books Start a New Chapter? For generations, America’s major publishers focused almost entirely on white readers. Now an effort is underway to open up the industry.”
Homesick
Oh, this one was really, really good. Carmen Maria Marchado’s praise adorns the cover (of course with this library copy, it’s obscured…), and it’s true: If you like her work, I think you’ll like this one.
Mixing Culture and Politics
“They think you cannot mix culture and politics. I said: Maybe *you* cannot. I can!” – Andrey Kurkov
We Are Not Ourselves Was My Night Book
Maybe this is odd to many of you, but I generally don’t read in bed before falling asleep. I think this may be atypical for “readers” – after all, during my Covid isolation in May, I started re-watching Little House on the Prairie (hey, it was what I was in the mood for!), and I noticed that even Pa read in bed before reaching peak shut-eye mode. While Ma munched on popcorn. Btw, my family will tell you that I enthusiastically embrace both reading and nightly popcorn, ergo I am clearly an Ingalls at heart…aaaaand now my childhood dream has come true.
Preserving the Books in Trinity’s Old Library
One of my favorite things to see in Dublin is the Book of Kells, which is housed in the library at Trinity College Dublin.
The Candy House
I’ve thought a lot about Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House in light of news stories that have popped up this year. If you know Egan’s brilliant A Visit From the Goon Squad, you’ll catch on quickly with The Candy House and its thinly interwoven storylines and exploration of technology, socialization, and human behavior/motivation. Whereas Goon Squad was very much about the music industry, The Candy House is more or less about the tech industry. Everything is subtle and clever and pretty much mind-blowing with her work, and what The Candy House spends a lot of time focusing on is authenticity and memory. (Just some ✨light topics.✨)
It Appears That Celebrities and Wedding Guests Love Books
Is giving books out as wedding favors an awesome idea? Yes, yes, it is. (Thanks, Holly, for sharing this article with me!) Couples having a “book bar,” couples creating book centerpieces, couples giving out books to each guest. I love it all. Especially because — to paraphrase the subhed — if books appeal to celebrities, then they will certainly appeal to your wedding guests. 😎🤔
Homesickness
I’m trying to read as many books as I can with some variation of “homesick” in the title. So, ta da, this is Homesickness, a short story collection by the Irish writer Colin Barrett.
Plagiarists Keep On Keepin’ On
We heard about this on ‘Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!’ yesterday while driving, but here’s a screenshot of a blurb about it from the New York Times.
You Never Get it Back
You Never Get It Back by Cara Blue Adams is a stunning collection of interwoven short stories that was recommended to me by my friend Bethany. She texted, “I think you’d like this.” She was correct.
Mercy Street
I used to have #FictionIsRelevant in my bio because, well, even something wildly “made up” reflects real life. So how appropriate (nay, #Relevant) that my library copy of Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh became available this week. The novel is about abortion (but like any good novel, is about so much more); the protagonist works at a clinic and another character is a creepy protestor and I think you get the gist. I whipped right through it.
Bright Lights, Big City
Let’s talk time capsules.
Measuring the Wrong Things: Machine Learning, Human, Learning, and AI
What do you think? This morning, my husband sent me this article that posits that “male characters are four more times more prevalent in literature than female characters.” (As an aside, Matt’s commentary with the link was “Ironic since men don’t read books.” He’s being funny. But let’s for sure save space for a post about how reading is seen as a “women’s activity” for another day!)
Passage West
While we were living in Ireland, I met a Taiwanese-American woman who was married to an Irish man. She had grown up some in Taiwan, but mostly in California and when she realized that I was also originally from the West Coast said something along the lines of, “People are different on the West Coast. It’s the whole ‘pioneering spirit’ that has evolved into innovation.”
On Homesickness
It’s a beautiful spring day in Boston. Finally! Finally? Everywhere I’ve lived, the air feels different and the seasons emerge differently, yet except for North Carolina — where we lived for five years — spring has never been an “early” season. So I don’t know why it continually surprises me when it shows itself so “late.”
Margo Jefferson and Guilty Pleasures
I always love the “By the Book” column in the Sunday NYT. And I especially love the question “Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?” This past week, Margo Jefferson, literary critic and author of the memoir Constructing a Nervous System, had a zinger answer:
Good Company
I’m reading a new genre
Plainsong
Plainsong by Kent Haruf is the book I chose for my book club. “Happy ending needed!” was the charge. Not sure I delivered according to those specifications in the way people wanted…
