Stay True, Between Two Kingdoms, Group Living, American Bulk
Here’s Part 3 (of 4?) of a roundup of nonfiction I’ve read lately. Some of these I’ve read with an eye toward my own writing (style, subject, etc.), some were just for fun.
Stay True (Hua Hsu): I really, really (really) loved this memoir by Hsu, a staff writer at The New Yorker. My brother recommended it to me, and I immediately understood why he was drawn to it: 90s West Coast setting (Bay Area, but it nonetheless feels so familiar), hybrid cultural identity (my SIL was not born in the US), and (sadly) the shocking death of a friend. I would highly recommend Stay True for its exploration of genuine friendship, particularly when you feel like, culturally, you are very different from a friend. The book will also needle those who spent a lot of their youth trying to perfect an idiosyncratic-but-highly-curated cultural currency.
Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted (Suleika Jaouad): I’ve jumped on this bandwagon late. I admire Jaouad so much; her book felt like reading a series of old-school blog posts. (Which is fitting since her 2012-2015 NYT column “Life, Interrupted” was what kickstarted her writing career.) For a more “artful” examination of how to live in the balance of life and death, I’d recommend Zero at the Bone by poet Christian Wiman.
Group Living and Other Recipes: A Memoir (Lola Milholland): A reader recommended this one to me after my last nonfiction post! I adored this introspective look at community-building filled with lots of anecdotes (and some data) about communal housing. While I have zero interest in living with anyone I’m not related to, I share the underlying ethos. Btw, if you’re interested in “community” (beyond the buzzwordy-ness of it all), check out the Connective Tissue newsletter (via Substack).
American Bulk: Essays on Excess (Emily Mester): Yeah, it’s a lot about shopping (and how our society is genuinely addicted to it), but it’s also about the inertia we face going through the motions day after day. American Bulk is an indictment of American ennui, from hoarding to binge eating. No surprise, it’s hard to break habits of excess, even if not as extreme as these.
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