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.
On the Calculation of Volume (IV)
Group dynamics;
Figuring out what makes a person a part of a larger categorization…
The Things We Never Say
The Things We Never Say…because those things are nestled deep (perhaps really, really deep) in our hearts. And they say the heart doesn’t lie. But also that the heart can be deceitful. So that’s where those things — the things we never say — remain because how they will be received is unknowable.
Flesh
Over a year ago, I read this news story about two Vermont lawmakers — one of whom, over the course of four months, poured a tiny bit of water in the other’s bag. It’s so juvenile. But it also hearkens a bit to torture à la waterboarding: slow and slithering and sanity-impairing. Anyway, consider me fascinated.
Go Gentle
So much Yesteryear commentary in my feed. (😒) I still contend this whole thing is a publishing psyop where supporters use a whole lotta 4D chess to explain what the heck is going on with that book. But we bravely move forward!
On the Calculation of Volume (I-III)
It’s not Groundhog Day…although the basic gist of the seven-volume On the Calculation of Volume — these slim novels by Solvej Balle and translated from Danish by Barbara J. Haveland, Sophia Hersi Smith, and Jennifer Russell — is that a woman named Tara Setler is stuck in a strange time loop where every day is November 18.
Birthday Book Recs 42/50 : Who’s Irish? by Gish Jen
Birthday Book Recs: 42/50
Who’s Irish? by Gish Jen
Kin
Shine all the spotlights on Tayari Jones for gracing us with another masterpiece.
Hospitable Books
From Newsletter Issue No. 25:
I’m a fan of Will Guidara, former owner of the NYC restaurant Eleven Madison Park, author of Unreasonable Hospitality, and — apparently — cameo-achiever on The Bear. (Haven’t watched the third season yet!) I get his periodic Pre-Meal email dispatches, and they are simple, short, catchy — and pretty darn edifying.
House of Smoke, Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, The Score, Strangers
Here’s a roundup of nonfiction I’ve read in the last few months:
Lost Lambs
Distance makes the heart grow fonder. Or allows us to forget. Somewhere in the middle is just “there” — out in the ether, summoning no strong opinions one way or another.
Trip
“I was more a trampoline park kind of mom.” So said my extremely awesome + adventurous friend this weekend when we were somewhere where it seemed like it would be utterly exhausting — albeit très hip — to have a kid with you. I loved her even more for that comment. You gotta bend when you have kids — it doesn’t mean you’ve forfeited your entire being.
Birthday Book Recs 41/50 : Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Birthday Book Recs: 41/50
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Wreck
I finished Wreck by Catherine Newman and Season 3 ofShrinking in the same week and what that means is that I feel like pulling a Roberto Benigni and running up and down my street screaming “Life is Beautiful!” while simultaneously crying my eyes out.
Birthday Book Recs 39-40/50 : Erasure and The Trees by Percival Everett
Birthday Book Recs: 39-40/50
Erausre by Percival Everett
The Trees by Percival Everett
Flaubert’s Parrot
A book is this inflexible thing. What’s on the pages, what’s in the pages — it is what it is? No matter who wrote it? Or where they wrote it? Or why?
Long Island Compromise
I had bought this book — a used copy of Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (of Fleishman is in Trouble fame) — to put in our Little Free Library. (It’s now there.)
10:04
10:04 is a hard book to take a picture of because the cover art is a somewhat indecipherable/inverted dark image of Lower Manhattan with part of the electric power grid out. Also, it’s sporting a plastic library dust jacket. (If you saw all the pics where you could see me in the book’s reflection…) But if you viewed this book IRL, it would look essentially the same as what you’re seeing here — it’s not as if this image is some massive distortion. It’s the same even if you’re looking at it through a different lens.
Reading = Humanly Possible
From Newsletter Issue No. 24:
“Helena Kim, a stay-at-home mother in Chula Vista, Calif., decided that when she turned 59, she no longer wanted to cook. ‘I was getting groceries delivered anyway,’ she said, ‘so if I am going to order groceries I may as well order the whole meal.’ She tips well and gives drivers high ratings… Ms. Kim, now 60, adores her automated life. ‘I get Amazon delivery, I get food delivery, I get grocery delivery, I get pet food delivery,’ she said. When she does leave the house, ‘I drive a Tesla and I use self-driving mode. If I could get a robot housekeeper, that would be perfect.’”
Beep-boop, beep-boop, let’s hear it for an automated life.
Birthday Book Recs 38/50 : Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
Birthday Book Recs: 38/50
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
Departure(s)
When it comes to the snooze button (which, have you noticed, is ginormous on the most updated iPhone OS?), here is my philosophy, at least with my own snooze button activity: The point is not so much to get more sleep; the point is to have an awareness that I am getting more sleep. I think that fundamentally, humans want to actively know that they are receiving or experiencing a benefit. Is being granted a bit of extra sleep without being alerted to it the same as actively choosing to get that extra time? I don’t think so. (Stay tuned for my exhilarating dispatches on my philosophy of laundry.)
