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.
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.
Let’s Start Assigning the Hard Reading Again
The Brick came up in conversation with friends the other night. You know, this thing (?) that is heavily advertised as a way to curtail phone use. (Cue all the Brick ads in our feeds, starting now.) It was relayed that “I have my life back!” was the refrain from a person in his 20s who used a Brick. (Wow?)
We Need Some Wendell Berry About Now
Lordy, I feel like we all need some Wendell Berry about now.
Some Little Free Library Love Letters
Two notes addressed “Dear stewards of little free libraries”
Building Thoreau’s Cabin
Front page of Sunday’s NYT: “They’re Not Alone in Copying Thoreau’s Cabin in the Woods.” Henry David Thoreau and his Walden cabin are as American as it gets. Rugged individualism? Check. Pioneering spirit? Check. Having to tell everyone about it? Check. (Just kidding…maybe?)
The Debut of a New Little Free Library
Stick Season is the worst. (Apologies to Noah Kahan, but it’s true.) But thanks to Matt, something cheery popped up in our sparse-looking yard today.
Snowy Day Book Club for 1
Snowy Sunday Book Club: “En Sueño” by Sandra Dooley, featuring a pensive + relaxed woman looking up from her book and staring right back at me as I do the same.
On Social Captal & AI
From Newsletter Issue No. 23:
On New Year’s Eve, we got together with friends. Aside from the general joviality of a post-Christmas catch-up with some of our favorite people, we played a game called Priorities. It’s fast and easy, and the basic gist is that one player at a time is given five cards, each with a very specific “thing” on it, and then proceeds to prioritize them in order of how much they value/like these things.
How Fashion Embraced the Book Nerds (and why?)
Reading is cool. The fashion world can’t get enough. This is what GQ says, and the rag would like to know why. I admit I wanted to hate this article that was fed to me by way of Algorithm (this would be a good name for a print pub, btw), but it turned out to be pretty good! (It’s free to read here.) Sorry to come in so preemptively annoyed and jaded, but a lot of discourse around books is as trite as those “reading socks” that B&N sells. (I do have a pair. But I just call them…slippers.)
Surrounded by Books: The Victory Book Campaign
The other day I posted some stories wherein I made brief mention of moving into our house — which *also* means eventually getting all our books out of storage and onto this beaut of a book wall — and included this pic with some text like “Me being distracted by unpacking my books.” Which is very true because packing or unpacking usually results in me reading my 4th grade journal, playing around with (re)discovered drum sticks, and laughing/getting mushy over some of our kids’ old school work. (One favorite = daughter’s 2nd grade story “Pick Me Out of Sixty” which boasts the first line “Stacey is getting lonely and bored in prison.”)
Let’s Tax About It: Denmark Wants Kids to Read More
What we choose to spend our money on is what we value. In Charlotte, election day revealed that more people than not value a multi-pronged transportation plan that aims to alleviate car traffic and expand public transportation via a one-cent sales tax increase.
Reading Got Matt a Job
Here’s a little story about how a book played a part in my husband’s career trajectory. Yes, my husband MATT who doesn’t read books. (Except for RAWTS and btw, we have a new selection but it’s gonna have to wait until 2026: Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris.)
New Words Coming Soon
I hadn’t walked this part of First Ward in a while; last time that I recall, this building was adorned with “New Words Coming Soon!” So, I guess the words have come — and they are good.
Robert Munsch, Not Celebs
What makes a good children’s book?
Shelfies: My Mom and Dad
From Newsletter Issue No. 22:
I’m not on TikTok (thankgoodness) or on this particular “side” of Instagram, but I know that “Day in the Life” content is popular. Everyone likes a good, soup-to-nuts look at the benign details of someone’s life, because — let’s face it — it’s the supposed “benign details” that provide the structure for everything…
John Green Should Have Consulted Me
You know, I’m reading Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green. And it’s as fascinating and engrossing as everyone — including Ann Patchett — says. I’ll include some notes on it in a nonfiction roundup, which I haven’t done for ages. I will!
I Have a New Website
From Newsletter Issue No. 21:
About seven months ago, I was sitting in my parents’ living room and pounded out the following statement on my laptop…
Special Books
What makes a book (meaning, the object itself) special?
A Parlor Read
Have you noticed publications (Atlantic, NYT) touting the benefits of reading aloud? I’ve enjoyed seeing these headlines because the first community literary event I produced in 2019 was just that: a read-aloud. It was called Book Covers (like a cover band, but “cover readers”), and there was a theme and a panel discussion following the readings — which were done by prominent community members and authors — + a run sheet + a sound system + press releases etcetcetc.
The Secret Apartments Hidden Above Carnegie Libraries
What does it mean to live in a library? There’s sort of a cachet to co-habitating with so much art, culture, and knowledge, á la From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, isn’t there? In the 21-st century this would take the form of a quick-edit video posted to social media: “Come with me as I tour a library-turned-apartment!” Or “POV: You live in an old library.” (And then cue all the book-lovers responding with 😍😍😍 [🙄])
