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.
O Caledonia
I read O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker, and, well I think the main thing I need to say about this is that teenage protagonist Janet is maybe, probably, definitely, for sure an Enneagram 4 (but notch it waaaay up to 11 — or more).
North Woods
A bit of …
Lincoln in the Bardo (George Saunders);
The Overstory (Richard Powers);
Hamnet (Maggie O’Farrell);
Her Perfect Symmetry (Audrey Niffenegger);
Swann (Carol Shields)…
The Marriage Portrait
I was an English major in college, but I have not read a text with the same intense scrutiny as I did then since…then. (That would be 1998 for purposes of tabulation and judgement.) Well, maybe I did back in 2019 when I (haphazardly?) decided to read one Shakespeare play per month. I mean, I do think I read carefully and with a critical eye and all that jazz, but it’s still different. Who has time to consider and then write 10-page papers about the meanings and various uses of “the”? (Just to exaggerate a tiny bit…)
Booth
If I had to do a mash-up style quickie summary of Booth by Karen Joy Fowler, I’d say this novel about Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth and his famously theatrical family is part Hamnet (Maggie O’Farrell), part Shadowplay (Joseph O’Connor), part Lincoln in the Bardo (George Saunders). Stylistically, it reminded me most of Hamnet. (Plus it’s full of Shakespeare references). But Shadowplay is about Victorian theater and Lincoln in the Bardo is about President Lincoln’s grief for his son, so we’ve got points for thematic overlay there.
