Sept + Oct 2024 📚 Reading Stack
mccarthy, everett, yarros, easton ellis, king, fosse, goggins
Yikes. No, not a political yikes. I’m here to talk about books, those mysterious things made of words and ideas, that outlast any human and our silly political games. I love the USA and have faith in our institutions so, at the risk of sounding dismissive: there will be none of that noise here. Here is for an escape into books.
Some Writing on Writing
I said yikes because, somehow, September and October were filled with me not writing on Substack.
Lately, all I’ve had time to write is the novel and grocery lists. And not enough of the former. Whether you enjoy being bombarded with books or not, I apologize—if not to you then to myself.
I started writing on Substack because people who read (you! right now!) are the best, because it helps me organize my thoughts, and because I like doing it.
The challenge with writing a novel, however,1 is that it is all consuming. What I’m thinking critically about finds its expression in a piece of dialogue, a moment of reflection, an interaction between two characters.
Still, I see no reason other than my own laziness not to explore an idea both in a fictional story and here on Substack. Is there?2
Priorities
I promised two important people in my life that I would make a conscious effort to identify—and clarify—what my day to day priorities are. What we repeatedly do shows what matters. And writing to you all y’all has always been high on my priority. I can and will do better.
As penance for skipping two months on here, I’ve got far too many books for you.
If I was a rich man, I’d send you all a cookie. Oatmeal chocolate chip? Butterscotch? I am on the hunt for the best cookie. Whilst this man searches, he thought books were the next best thing. Maybe? 3
Appreciate you all! Books, en route 🫡 📚
—Jeremy
#31 The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy is, without question, one of my favorite authors of all time. Mount Rushmore, Olympus, Asgard. Never have I read such a brutal, gripping, roaringly alive love story as All the Pretty Horses. And Blood Meridian, maybe the darkest and most philosophically dense novel ever written. McCarthy died in 2023, making The Passenger (2022) the last of his oeuvre. Some people called it a departure from his normal brutalist, dense, darkly southwestern, gothic style, but I wouldn’t. I would say you should read and find out for yourself.
Lakes deep in the stone coulees white with ice. The western mountains burning. The portside navigation lights came on. The starboard lights were green. As on a ship. The pilot would turn them off in the clouds because of the reflection. When he woke later far to the north a desert city was passing under the wing and sliding off into the darkness like the Crab Nebula. A cast of stones upon a jeweler’s blackcloth. Her hair was like gossamer. He wasnt sure what gossamer was. Her hair was like gossamer. It was cold in Chicago. Raggedy men standing around a steam grate in the dawn. She had nightmares as a child and she would crawl into bed with her grandmother and her grandmother would hold her and tell her that it was all right and that it was only a dream. And she said yes it was only a dream but it was not all right. The last time they went to Mexico City he had left her in the hotel while he went to the airline office to confirm their reservations. When he came back to the hotel he had to tell her that the airline office was closed and that the airline had gone out of business and that their tickets were worthless. They went to El Paso on the bus. Twenty-four hours. The smoke from the Mexican cigarettes like a burning landfill. She slept with her head in his lap.
#32 James by Percival Everett
If you haven’t heard of Percival Everett, you may know American Fiction, which is a film adaptation of his best known novel Erasure. He flamed onto the scene last year, and sold a ton of copies of this novel James (2024), which is a retelling of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
I’m a huge Mark Twain fan—so is Percival Everett—so stepping back into this narrative was a delight. Like Madeleine Miller does in her reclamation of a greek myth in Circe, Percival Everett gives integrity and spine and chutzpah to a character that didn’t get much page-time or credit. The novel is named after him, and deservedly so. James escapes slavery and, with the help of the industrious and wily Huckleberry Finn, manages to stir up a whole mess of trouble, freeing slaves and burning down plantations and getting plucked up as a lead singer for the traveling band, the “Virginia Minstrels.”
Everett writes with a mixture of wit and humor that’s hard to put down.
Loved it. Read it. You won’t be disappointed!
#33 Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
My partner got me to read Fourth Wing. But Iron Flame I chose to read on my own. If you haven’t heard of the series, I can almost guarantee you’ve seen the book cover at a local bookstore or airport or otherwise. Yarros romantasy series is everywhere, and I have to say I get it. Usually romantasy is smut-fueled garbage, but Violet Sorrengale and Xaden Riorson are the real deal. The magic system is original and inventive, the dialogue is solid enough, and the balance of political to otherwise is pretty good. I tend to glaze over the action sequences—they’re not super crisp to my eye—but the books are largely well written.
All that said, this sequel was not as good as the original, though still enjoyable. I’ll read the third one when it releases in January.
#34 Letting Go of Nothing by Peter Russell
I was enticed by this one because Eckhart Tolle wrote the forward. I’d need to read more Tolle to call myself a fan, but the idea that he would write a forward for another felt like a vote to Russel’s talent. Verdict: it was pretty good.
If you’ve dipped any of the proverbial toes into eastern traditions, you’ve heard about “letting go,” or “surrender,” or “non-attachment.” Russel went to India as a young man where he trained as a teacher of under the well known Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He also has a post-graduate degree in Computer Science from Cambridge, so he has a bit of real-world in him, which I often appreciate. His tack: the thing people get stuck on are not tangible: they’re thoughts, feelings, interpretations, beliefs, and expectations. It’s not real but artifacts of the mind, which can be stripped down to its nothing-ness and removed of its power.
It’s free on Audible, and Russel has a great British accent, so it’s worth a flyer.
#35 Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis
Fear and Loathing in Vegas meets A Secret History, maybe? A little? Bret Easton Ellis wrote American Psycho, the book and movie starring Christopher Nolan as Patrick Bateman. One of the three main characters of Rules of Attraction is Sean Batemen, Patrick Bateman’s brother, and though he is serially insecure, he’s not a murderer. Just a sorry college kid.
I described this book as somewhere between Hunter S Thompson and Donna Tartt because Easton Ellis went to college with Tartt, and both of them wrote novels that take place at a small liberal art school in New Hampshire. Unlike hers, Easton Ellis novel takes place in the 80s when, apparently, all they did at college was take drugs, sex, and party. Literally. At least at a tiny nowhereville liberal arts school like “Camden.”
I wanted to like the book more than I did. It’s fun and hilarious and, as we talk about in the forthcoming podcast episode, there’s something mysteriously alluring about the “college novel.” Many have tried to to write it, and probably thousands more unfinished by ambitious college students. Dan and I both have theories, but I’ll leave those for the podcast episode.
If you’re looking for an entertaining, raunchy book about sexually fluid college kids, this is it.
#36 Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Somehow, this is my first Stephen King book. For whatever reason, i’ve never been particularly interested in horror, especially in books. People rave about Shirley Jackson, Lovecraft and, of course, Stephen King and, on a sentence level, I know they’re all great writers,4 but I’ve never felt the draw.
Bag of Bones follows Mike Noonan, a B-list novelist who falls into a deep four year bout of writer’s block and semi-depression after his wife suddenly dies. At his western Maine summerhouse, Mike plays hero, father, and almost-lover for a twenty year old widow and her daughter, who are the targets of a family conspiracy. It doesn’t sound like horror, and for the most part it’s not. But the story is laced with Mike’s nightmares, which end up manifesting in reality.
It was a good starting point for Stephen King, and I would recommend it if he’s been a gap in your reading, like me.
Jon Fosse A Shining is as far flung from The Shining by Stephen King as they come.
Man starts driving, does not know to where. Turns right and left, finds himself stuck on a forest road. It’s dark, snows. But, instead of seeking help, he goes out into the dark forest. He’s lost, cold, tired, dying? He encounters a glowing being—a shining presence. Haunting, bizarre, dreamy, A Shining (2023) by National Book Award-finalist Jon Fosse, who some call “the Samuel Beckett of the twenty-first century,” is a short and odd. This was my first read by the author best known for Septology, which is praised by some of my favorite writers. I’m not sure I would recommend starting with this one: I’ve heard it makes a lot more sense if you’ve read his other books first.
#38 Never Finished by David Goggins
I agree that most people are capable of more than they give themselves credit for, but David Goggins is superhuman. Running a 200 mile race on a torn up knee, finishing an ultra marathon with a shattered leg, pullup/pushup challenges beyond what I care to think about. I love to work hard, and will likely run my fourth marathon in 2025, but this man is a machine. What’s more, he’s a great storyteller and a good writer. To write his books, he teams up with Adam Skolnick, a journalist and contributor for the New York Times, BBC, ESPN, and Lonely Planet. Together they write damn good books.
Is he sometimes reductive, telling you to go further and maybe risk injury. Sure. Is he a badass savage who is getting you to do more than you want to (but should do?) Sure is. Goggins does more good than harm, and the audiobooks are tremendous.
Cultivating a willingness to succeed despite any and all circumstances is the most important variable of the reengagement equation. Your willingness to succeed builds self-esteem. It broadens your concept of your own capability, yet it is the first thing we lose touch with when things go bad. After that, giving up often feels like the sanest option, and maybe it is, but know that quitting chips away at your self-worth and always requires some level of mental rehab. Even if what forces you to quit is an injury or something else beyond your control, you will still have to bounce back from the experience mentally. A successful mission seldom requires any emotional maintenance.
All I know is this: I am David Fucking Goggins. I exist; therefore, I complete what I start. I take pride in my effort and in my performance in all phases of life. Just because I am here! If I’m lost, I will find myself. As long as I’m on planet Earth, I will not half-ass it. Anywhere I lack, I will improve because I exist and I am willing.”
📚 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 ✌️
—J
Next Month:
Determined by Robert Sapolsky
The Master and his Emissary by Ian McGilchrist
The Heart of Understanding by Thich Nhat Hanh
The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
A Little History of the World by EH Godrich
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
Making Friends With Life and Death by Edith Lief
A Little Book of Life and Death by Douglas Harding
(time to close these unfinished/loose ends..)
Especially a novel that takes place in the normal present day world
Harumph! (is that you you spell this?)
Pling! If you were wondering, that’s the sound a question mark makes.
Which means, if I am on a quest to read and learn from the best, maybe I should?
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