📚 January 2024's Reading Stack
a stunning norwegian novel, an abolitionist mystery, a vonnegut retelling, a stoic classic, a unique pulitzer winner
Here we are, well into Febrero, discussing books from a month ago…
I’ve been dialing in on my third novel, and first that’s not fantasy, so most of my writerly energy has gone there, rather than here. Still, I enjoy writing the Oldsletter, and at least a few of you find some good books here. So, nos vamos.
A Small Thought on Small Things
Seeds are singular, wise, curious creatures.
Over the past year, I’ve been thinking a lot about seeds, about the embryo’s of those timeless luxurious wondrous life giving giants we call trees. And generally, about growth.
A few weeks ago, one of my favorite people in Austin wrote about “seeds”in her newsletter.
January is like The Seed of the year to come. This is when we do our intention-setting, our planning for what the year will bring (hopefully). The Seed is a symbol of great potential, as every seed holds the entire future of the plant within.
Then I got curious. What happens the moment a seed is fertilized and begins to grow?
Intuitively I expected that at the moment of germination a tiny, near invisible sprout would begin its journey upward, toward the warmth of the sun, eventually finding its way into the light.
The truth, however, is that before a seed grows upward, it grows down.
It takes root. Grounds itself.
So that when the shoot does find the light, it can have a strong foundation for the rest its life.
Are people so different?
I’m not one for New Years Resolutions, but I do agree with Jessica that January serves as the seed for the rest of my year. I am my habits and January, when the holidays are over and I’m getting back to work, is when I decide what those habits are going to be.
We’re 36 days into what’s likely going to be a demanding, rewarding, year and I’m glad to have found some grounding this past month in a handful of excellent books.
Bueno, aqui estamos 📚✌️
Book #1 of 2024 - My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Just in case you aren’t fluent in both German and Norwegian, this book’s original title is Min Kamp . . . which may or may not translate to Mein Kampf in German. Yes, the book written by Adolf Hitler1. So, straight away, I’m guessing that some of this audacious Norwegian author’s chutzpah must have laughed slowly down the wall from Thor and Odin and the rest of the Norse Pantheon. And you know what? Homey delivers ✅.
My Struggle is a rare, salty, dazzling, intense and, frankly, irresistible 3,600 page Proustian masterpiece. Despite being just shy of 600 pages, each sentence was brutally self-reflective and original and never stopped pounding the blood in my face.
The TLDR: Knausgaard's introspective, autobiographical saga is unafraid of the big issues. Death, love, art, and fear. Fatherhood, meaning, addiction, and change. All while remaining committed to the intimate details of life as it is lived. It’s heavy and intense and likely skews toward ruminator types—like me.
For a taste, here’s a fragment from the opening paragraph:
For the heart, life is simple: it beats for as long as it can. Then it stops. Sooner or later, one day, this pounding action will cease of its own accord, and the blood will begin to run towards the body’s lowest point…as though life capitulates according to specific rules, a kind of gentleman’s agreement to which the representatives of death also adhere, inasmuch as they always wait until life has retreated before they launch their invasion of the new landscape. By which point, however, the invasion is irrevocable.
You can never predict what books from our time are going to be read 100 years from now, but if I had to choose a few, this would be on the list.
Book #2 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
Oh, Oscar.
My first go-round with this book was actually La Breve Vida de Oscar Wao—the Spanish version. Now having read the English version, I understand why that didn’t last. This is too smart a book to read in your second language. And on the whole, this Dominican born New Yorker is just plain smart. Diaz voice is singular—slangy, fantasy riddled, yet also sophisticated—and it immerses us in the strange and turbulent life of a reclusive, dungeons and dragons playing, unemployed, Oscar de Leon.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is an insight into La Republica Dominicana, the endless human capacity to persevere, and confirms that Junot Diaz as one of the smartest voices still doing it.
Here’s a taste, of how the book sounds:
GhettoNerd at the End of the World
Our hero was not one of those Dominican cats everybody’s always going on about—he wasn’t no home-run hitter or a fly bachatero, not a playboy with a million hots on his jock. And except for one period early in his life, dude never had much luck with the females (how very un-Dominican of him). He was seven then. In those blessed days of his youth, Oscar was something of a Casanova. One of those preschool loverboys who was always trying to kiss the girls, always coming up behind them during a merengue and giving them the pelvic
Book #3 - Song Yet Sung by James McBride
In the days before the Civil War, a runaway slave named Liz Spocott breaks free from her captors and escapes into the labyrinthine swamps of Maryland’s eastern shore, setting loose a drama of violence and hope among slave catchers, plantation owners, watermen, runaway slaves, and free blacks. Liz is near death, wracked by disturbing visions of the future, and armed with “the Code,” a fiercely guarded cryptic means of communication for slaves on the run. Liz’s flight and her dreams of tomorrow will thrust all those near her toward a mysterious, redemptive fate.
Much of the story is drawn from historical events and is told in McBride’s signature lyrical style. Song Yet Sung is a story of tragic triumph, violent decisions, and unexpected kindness.
Book #4 - Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
This was another book I started a few years ago, but didn’t finish—this time for different reasons. It was like rich cake—too decadent and layered to read in one go. Like Marcus Aurelius, the man had the world at his finger tips, and not becoming a despot was something they both worked on day in and day out. Seneca was a wealthy statesment, writer, and philosopher, serving as the Cardinal Richelieu to Roman Emperor Nero. Though Seneca’s time as tutor to the emperor was a black spot on the philosopher’s story the book is flushed with insights that call you to act in the way that was indicative for all the Roman Stoics. Writing to his nephew, Seneca's letters gave me perspective on some of life's timeless, fundamental questions. He is one of those quintessential sages whose wisdom coaxes us to stay grounded in the principles of righteousness, morality, honesty, and the meaning of life.
Book #5 - Sinbad by Kurt Vonnegut
Previously unpublished, brilliant and deeply personal, Sinbad is Kurt Vonnegut’s story of a young man who decides, against the wishes of his family, to leave home to pursue life as a painter. The result is a picaresque as bizarre and imaginative as any of Vonnegut’s most beloved stories, whimsically satirizing human nature. Kurt Vonnegut is a perfect reminder that truth can come by way of laughter, and an important way in for understanding the world. As always, I enjoyed his unique blend of humor and insight.
“I had an uncle who left his hometown and the family business there to become a fine actor. His talent was a minor one, but a pretty one. It lasted for fifteen years and was gone. He came home with the ashes of it and died twenty years later, poor and, as it happened, drunk.”
A Small Closing After Some Not Small Things
In my early twenties I committed to a life of books, and that choice led me to view reading as a privilege and a practice. It occurred to me that no matter how much time I dedicate to reading, I won’t come close to closing the cover on all the great writing out there. The realization freed me up to explore books of all kinds, not just the greats. Now, even as reading time grows more scarce, I pickup whatever sounds compelling, and write whenever I can free up a moment.
Ok friends. Go forth spend a few extra minutes this week with a good ole book
—J
Knausgaard actually wanted to title it Mein Kampf. His publisher, understandably, refused.