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 want to find a book that will give me hope.”
I’m rounding out my bi-monthly volunteer shift at my local Habitat ReStore, where I shelve books in the adjacent used bookstore/cafe. Those words stream quietly — and maybe even apologetically — from someone who, I could tell, has been treated very unkindly by this world.
Connected. Curious. Good.
From Newsletter Issue No. 20:
“Reading deepens. Social media keeps you where you are. Reading makes your mind do work. You have to follow the plot, imagine what the ballroom looked like, figure the motivations of the characters—I understand what Gatsby wants! All this makes your brain and soul develop the habit of generous and imaginative thinking. Social media is passive. The pictures, reels and comments demand nothing, develop nothing. They give you sensations, but the sensations never get deeper. Social media gets you stuck in you. Reading is a rocket ship, new worlds.” — Peggy Noonan
Past the Present
I keep a 65-pages-and-counting Word doc where I jot down notable quotes from books I’m reading. It’s only for library books — otherwise, I’m a write (right?)-in-the-book annotator. (Sorry, not interested in apps that claim to make this process easier, esp if there’s a “social”/sharing component.)
Reading is Grounding
Until we moved, we were daily newspaper subscribers — meaning actual, physical papers. (We’ll get back to it!) I have a hard time keeping up digitally (we have a handful of digital news subs) partly for the reasons that Cal Newport discussed in a newsletter about unplugging (for a bit) after you vote: “I suggest you switch to a slower pace of media consumption. Don’t laugh at this suggestion, because I’m actually serious: consider picking up the occasional old-fashioned printed newspaper (free from algorithmic optimization and click-bait curation) at your local coffee shop or library to check in, all at once, on anything major going on in the world.” Personally, I like to see the news laid out in one place, not click around on some rabbit trail.
The Ease I Feel
“And so the days pass. I keep waiting for something to happen, for the ease I feel to end.” These are the words that Claire Keegan gives to the narrator — a young Irish girl sent to live with distant relatives — in Foster. The girl is in the middle of a gaggle of siblings, and the reader guesses that it is the imminent arrival of yet another baby that prompts the girl’s migration from a chaotic home with hints of trouble to the tidy, childfree Kinsella home where she is told to “make [herself] at home.”
Practice
What is it like to go through one’s day without analyzing every facet of one’s most basic routine? Darned if I know… (🫥)
Yaa Gyasi in Charlotte
The other week, I got to see Yaa Gyasi at the closing event for a NEA Big Read event, coordinated by the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture. Hooray for a new friend who knew about it and invited me! (Too bad I didn’t know about the initiative until the end of it and too bad that I never finished Homegoing when my book club in Dublin read it just as we were preparing to move back to the US. Guess life got busy, but I will rectify that soon especially now that I have a signed copy…)
A State of Becoming
“We carry around ideas of people in our heads, fixed ideas of their character and firm predictions of how they’ll behave, what they’ll say before the hour is up and the facial expressions they’ll make that will unaccountably get under our skin. We tell stories about them that never vary, never improve, then confirm that our ideas are accurate every time we get reacquainted.” – from A Calling for Charlie Barnes, by Joshua Ferris. (I read this book at the very end of 2021 and I think I’d add it to my “gobble up” list too. I’ll share my wayback post about it in stories..)
Walking With Alanis
“To each of our children
I wish to bequeath two characteristics:
The capacity for independence.
The ability to love.
Much of life is lonely.
Most decision-making is lonely.
Independence of mind is the best
Insurance for a rewarding journey.”
— Rolfe Neill, former Chairman and Publisher of the Charlotte Observer, as quoted on the sculpture “The Writer’s Desk” outside of ImaginOn, a children’s library and the home of the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte.
Recreating
I’m enjoying a Thai rice and tofu salad by myself. I think Matt would probably like it, but he is traveling so I see this as an opportunity to experiment with recipes from The Happy Pear, a pint-sized vegan restaurant in Greystones, Co Wicklow where I would often stop with my “hill walking” friends. “A lifetime ago,” we like to say. Meanwhile, Spotify’s Natalie Merchant playlist streams through the speaker. From recalling my “discovery” of 10,000 Maniacs in middle school to easing into the softer melodies of her solo career, my mind’s eye looks through a make-believe pinhole and sees a different me. But still the same…you know what I mean. It’s hard to hold hands with a 10- or 20- (or, yikes, 30-)-years-earlier version of oneself, much less give her a high five. But I’ll always try!
Get ‘Er Done
I posted this picture — taken almost 19 years ago — on my personal Instagram on Sunday, Mother’s Day in the US. I love being a mom for the reasons that everyone always talks about, but I also love it because being a parent really requires you to dig within to uncover some sort of super strength that feels otherworldly. Like, I have no idea why I look so chipper sitting this way with a 21-month-old and a newborn, but there I am, reading a A Fly Went By to my two loves. Truly, how did I muster the wherewithal?! I write that not to conjure any sort of accolades (like omg look at meeeeee!!!), but to document that it happened because it’s a good reminder (mostly to myself) that there’s always a way, somehow, to get the job done.
Memory Piece
I checked out Memory Piece by Lisa Ko because I have an interest in collective memory and nostalgia — particularly about places. In fact, I am currently trying to refine one of my essays that uses those early-days “Remember when?” or “You know you’re from…” Facebook groups as a framework. The novel is fine — not my favorite, but of course that can’t be the standard for every book — but what I’m particularly intrigued by is Ko’s exploration of how technology mediates our memories and what changes more…a person or the place. In other words, when people like to bemoan “the way things were” especially in light of the structural development of a location, has the place truly changed demonstrably? Or as we age are we more apt to feel out of sync with our memories? (Just some light thoughts to start off your day…)
Unstuck
A question from a couple of people IRL lately: “How’s the writing going?”
“I’m at a point where I can’t get my arms around what I’ve got” has been the reply. (Often accompanied by me gesticulating as if I am literally trying to get my arms around something and then me feeling inwardly frustrated because yes, this is a different and bigger project that other things I’ve undertaken, but I feel like I shouldn’t be as stuck as I am.)
Steps to Nowhere
These Steps to Nowhere, spotted on a walk, reminded me of a childhood friend because there was part of her street where a sidewalk just…ended. And she once told me that EXACT SPOT was the inspiration for Where the Sidewalk Ends, and I was like “Shel Silverstein has never been to your street,” and then we got in a spat. Which isn’t that unusual for kids, you know? (That said, I may have been a bit of an instigator because another time I told this friend that Santa wasn’t real after an assembly featuring a jump roping “team” as we were all outside trying to do our own tricks with those beaded ropes. She was so upset, and I probably did deserve one of those things whipped my way…)
American Fiction
Is the novel always better than the book? This could easily have been a question cleverly slotted into the movie American Fiction — and it is, kinda, in a meta sort of way — but the film also does an awesome job addressing: book festivals, literary awards (and their judges), what constitutes a “Black book,” and the marketing/pandering-to-audience/money rigmarole of the publishing industry.
The Future is Just Around the Corner
“This is the present…the future is just around the corner.” A good message for a new year, yes?
People in Their Privacies
So much happens when we’re not looking. We’re unaware, tucked in, oblivious to life that is churning outside our door.
My parents were once discussing doorbell cameras with friends and someone said, “I’ll just say that maybe you really don’t want to know who’s wandering around in the middle of the night.” Yikes, but true…
Salute
‘Salute’ by A.R. Ammons…
Keep Going!
“A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return.” This is one of those reading and writing quotes that gets bandied around — this one’s attributed to Salman Rushdie. From a writing perspective, yeah, that’s great inspiration and advice. From a reading perspective, eh…
Machine Dreams
I’ve muddled through this novel — Machine Dreams, by Jayne Anne Phillips — for the past three or four weeks. It’s not the book’s fault; it’s just been a really busy three or four weeks what with moving our children back to school and then moving ourselves about 850 miles away. This is Phillips’ debut novel, and although I had never heard of Phillips until about two months ago, she was apparently once associated with “the girls of Knopf” or a female version of the “literary brat pack” which included excellent company: Lorrie Moore, Louise Erdrich, Mona Simpson.
