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.
Seven Empty Houses
First book of 2023: FIN. (To be fair, I had literally 3 pages left when I put it down yesterday. What is my problem.) Seven Empty Houses, by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell.
Graywolf Press
Once in a while I post about the publishing industry. (Most recently Aug. 3, July 7, July 17, June 29…) To sum it up rather simplistically: There are 5 (maybe one day 4?) dominating publishing houses that put out so much of what we read. Publishing has a “diversity” problem. And there are definitely people trying to make things more accessible.
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
How often do you find yourself in an outsider’s role? There’s a certain degree of freedom (as well as a bit of awkwardness) in not knowing certain things, in being completely ignorant to “how it goes.” I think many of us could benefit from adopting this posture once in a while. (The flip side, I know, is that there are people who may *always* feel this way and what I personally might call “purposeful naivete” turns into something very exclusionary when pinned on someone else.)
Apeirogon
In college I took an art history class – for fun, I guess, since I don’t think it fulfilled any requirement. I traipsed over to the Museum of Fine Arts one Saturday with my friend Keith because I had to write a paper on Rothko. I did, and I managed to make it a 10-page paper. Not a BS paper, which I’m sure some would like to think. No, it was actually a magnificent afternoon at the MFA as Keith and I spent about an hour talking about just one solitary painting because nothing in this artist’s work is straightforward, despite surface simplicity. Rothko is tricky like that.
