Reading Stack for January 28th 2025
a new favorite, maas destruction, vonnegut, schopenhauer-ish, a suburban novel
Usually,
this is where I philosophize or reflect or explore an idea. This month, however, I need your help with some housekeeping.
Back when I started this Substack in 2020, I mostly wrote what I’ll call “blogs”—stories like Austin’s snowpacolypse, reflections on getting rejected from a dream grad program, ideas like the triangle of fire, and so on.
Then, around 2021, I decided to start sharing thoughts on the 3-5 books I read per month instead. It’s a way for me to process what I read more fully, as well as recommend some damn good books for you all.
Now what I call the monthly stack is a blend of the two.
And now that we’re in The Oldsletter’s fifth year, I’m wondering what you all prefer:
I’m always experimenting how to best serve the people who read this newsletter (and/or listen to the pod). So I want to here from you. It’s all anonymous, by the way, so I won’t know who voted where.
Anyway, now for the stack.
The Books
Book #1 - Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
“This is a book about Heaven,” says Jayber Crow, the novel’s protagonist, “but I must say too that . . . I have wondered sometimes if it would not finally turn out to be a book about Hell.” It is 1932 and Jayber has returned to his native Port William to become the town's barber. Orphaned at age ten, Crow’s acquaintance with loneliness and want have made him a patient observer of the human animal, in both its goodness and frailty. Seen through the eyes of a small, rural town in Kentucky during the early-mid 20th century, Wendell Berry’s clear-sighted depiction of humanity’s gifts―love and loss, joy and despair―is nothing short of phenomenal.
I first learned about Wendell Berry from none other than Nick Offerman. The writer/ actor of Parks & Rec fame, who now narrates some excellent audiobooks, has frequently praised Wendell Berry as one of the great American writers, capturing the 20th century experience in much the same was as John Steinbeck and William Faulkner. Damn, did that recommendation hold up.
It’s always a delight to find a new favorite to explore, and I’ve got that in Wendell Berry. More about the book on the forthcoming episode of Good Scribes Only.
#2 - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
Another stop on the Jeremy-investigates-the-romantasy-phenomenon-express. Today, an author who is so popular that she takes up whole walls at bookstores. Here’s a rundown of the first installment in A Court of Thorn’s and Roses (ACOTAR, as the kids call it):
Nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods. Terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Feyre is dragged to a dark magical land she knows about only from legends, discovers her captor is not really a beast. He’s lethal, immortal, and once ruled her world. Slowly, she adapts to her new home and, eventually, falls in love with said beast (Tamlin). But something is not right in faerie land! An ancient evil is growing. It’s up to Feyr to stop it or her lovely Tamlin—and his world—are goners.
So far, I’ve noticed that these are much less smutty/romance than their rep. They’re just fantasy books with female protagonists, in generally interesting cosmeres. It’s worth admitting that I only listen to these romantasy books. The audiobooks are good; it is, however, to be seen whether I would enjoy reading them in physical form.
#3 - God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
We needed a book for Indiana on our “road trip” season of Good Scribes Only, so of course we returned to an old favorite from the Hoosier state. I’ll begin by saying this was not near my favorite Vonnegut, but it was still entertaining and quite funny. I laugh in self-defense.
Eliot Rosewater—drunk, volunteer fireman, and President of the fabulously rich Rosewater Foundation—is about to attempt a noble experiment with human nature. With a little help from writer Kilgore Trout, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is another on the long list of Kurt Vonnegut’s dark comedic satires. It’s an etched-in-ice portrayal of the greed, hypocrisy, and follies of the flesh we are all heir to, trashing the ultra wealthy and shedding light on the deep ironies enveloped in charity and philanthropy.
We’ll be discussing this one on the podcast in a few weeks.
#4 - Decoding Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics by Bernardo Kastrup
I don’t doubt that Arthur Schopenhauer is one of the smarter philosophers we have, and that his ideas can be refreshingly interesting, but I didn’t mine deeply enough through the morass to feel it. I mostly listened to this book on runs and walks, which probably was a mistake: something this rich requires hard, eyeball engaged thought.
The book promises answers to the paradoxes of quantum mechanics, modern philosophical dilemmas like the hard problem of consciousness, and the challenges in panpsychism. It’s a succinct entryway into Schopenhauer, but I didn’t read closely enough to call it accessible. Perhaps when I am an older, more patient man.
#5 - Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Enter: Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, where everything is planned—from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. When an artist with a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo threatens to upend this carefully ordered community, problems follow. The story follows a handful of teenagers—which were actually my favorite sections—and their mothers. A custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town. Little Fires Everywhere was a midweight novel about secrets, art, identity, motherhood, and the danger in following rules dogmatically.
We’ll be discussing this one on the podcast in a few weeks. It’s also a miniseries with Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon, so some people really loved it.
📚 Years ago,
I committed to a life of books, and that choice led me to view reading and writing as a privilege and a practice. No matter how much time I dedicate to reading, there will always be great books I’ve missed. So I read what I want, what’s interesting to me at the time, and put down whatever isn’t. Books are magic. Learning is magic. And my biggest wish is that you treat your mind with the books it deserves.
See y’all next month ✌️
— Jeremy
Austin, TX, 1/29/2025
Heavy Hitters Next Month:
Suttree by Cormac McCarthy
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas
(Something by William Faulkner)
