Every Sunday morning I wait for your email to hit my inbox for the lovely dose of humanity you offer, even when it kind of bums me out. Two things: I just turned 57 and I just finished my student teaching for secondary ELA certification, after many years in professional writing and editing. While popular wisdom says this is the worst possible time for such a quixotic pursuit as the teaching of reading and writing, I can offer the hard evidence of high school students who told me that my classes were their favorites because I was their most *human* teacher. This is what kids want.
I have a dozen books going all over the house at any given time, but right now I’m focused on Ron Chernow’s Hamilton biography. His Ulysses S. Grant bio literally brought me to tears multiple times earlier this year, so I’m sticking with the human theme into 2026.
I just finished A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine, her sequel to A Memory Called Empire. I just started Station Eleven by Emiky St John Mandel, which is one of the most interesting books I've read in a long time.
Thank you for this piece, John. I just retired, and have contemplating starting to write again. I greatly appreciate the motivation and reminder that it doesn't have to be published by a publisher to be considered writing and that writing for its own sake is sufficient reason to write.
As always, your newsletter provides me with much to think about. I live with my daughter and we are both voracious readers. We both love getting and giving books for Christmas. And it's always a problem to pick which one. This year we both had heard about a book called The Correspondent. I ordered one for her written by Virginia Evans, and she ordered one for me written by Peter Greste. Three separate times in the past 2 years we have ordered the same book. I also received a copy of The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong which I already owned. But I still love books as a gift.
I appreciate your work so much because I come away, always always, inspired. Not the encouraging kind--which is great, too-- but the filled-with-unfinished-thoughts kind. Not that yours are unfinished at all-- not saying that either :D-- but just that your posts set me off on a whole bunch of side trails. And I love that and am grateful.
These, linked above, are some of my favorite posts of yours-- the ones about writing/thinking/creativity.
One of those side trails....: Did you know-- you probably do -- that the Greeks divided the arts into thirteen types: theater, music, sculpture and the like? Well, what i find fascinating is that they thought that the highest arts were those that were performed only. Ephemeral. Existing in experience and memory, but no concrete form. And I think about that related to your post about AI and creativity-- about how the action is the art, not the product. Anyway... delights abound.
I just read Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane-- was blown away by his choices of just the right details and not too many (try that, AI) and now I have the flu and am ripping through Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy, which moves right along.
Thank you, John, for everything. Let's hope that 2026 finds us all in a better place than 2025. I just finished Pride and Prejudice, which I was inspired to read by The Novel Life of Jane Austen (both highly recommended) and am now reading Olga Dies Dreaming. 💖📚
We just passed Jane Austen's 250th birthday. I'll have to try out The Novel Life book! I am reading her not-so-popular books (Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park) in honor of the occasion.
Thank you so much for that book of stories! It'll be great reading to start the new year. I'm re-reading The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy, but this time reading it aloud to my kids. It's been wonderful so far. I've always felt that Tolkien intended The Hobbit to be read out loud, like a grandfather telling a fireside story to his descendants.
Thanks, John for a great close to the year. Someone (forget who) said that if you're thinking but not writing, you only think you're thinking. As you've noted before, it's the process of writing that's the most valuable to the author. With practice, the output is also worthy of our readers' time and attention.
I just finished Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen. Great book, even tho some of the examples are showing their age. I was excited to find a parenting book rooted in Adlerian psychology. I've been a fan of Adler ever since (and even sorta before, tho without a label) reading The Courage to be Disliked.
What a lovely surprise to read your short collection of fables! 😁 I really enjoyed How The Universe is Going to End--what an ending! You hooked me well, and the twist landed hard and sweet. *chef's kiss* I literally LOLed at the opening to Major Mike Mechanic Doesn't Save the World. My kind of humor, right there, but love the depth behind that absurdity, too. So many tales of love and loss in this collection, but ultimately hopeful. Very you.
In return, I offer you (and any of your readers that are comments junkies) my own fable, written a few years back:
I am hopeful that we are turning a corner back towards compassion, towards humanity, towards lifting one another up.
I read about the Waymo vehicles that couldn't navigate traffic signals that were out due to a power failure. Humans would know to treat such a light like a stop sign. Machines are stymied because their instructions fail. We need humans - for their ingenuity, their spontaneity, their humor. I'll take the slower line any day if it employs a human I can interact with.
I'm finishing The Boys in the Boat and also enjoying The Rivers of London as an audiobook. Got away from Middlemarch but plan to pick it back up in January. Also trying to work through the Federalist Papers to learn what 3 of our founders argued in support of the creation of our nation.
Every Sunday morning I wait for your email to hit my inbox for the lovely dose of humanity you offer, even when it kind of bums me out. Two things: I just turned 57 and I just finished my student teaching for secondary ELA certification, after many years in professional writing and editing. While popular wisdom says this is the worst possible time for such a quixotic pursuit as the teaching of reading and writing, I can offer the hard evidence of high school students who told me that my classes were their favorites because I was their most *human* teacher. This is what kids want.
I have a dozen books going all over the house at any given time, but right now I’m focused on Ron Chernow’s Hamilton biography. His Ulysses S. Grant bio literally brought me to tears multiple times earlier this year, so I’m sticking with the human theme into 2026.
I want to be hopeful for 2026 and think it has to be better than 2025, but it's hard.
I am reading The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn.
“More Than Words” is excellent, and it helped me approach the fall semester with confidence and determination. Thank you.
I just finished A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine, her sequel to A Memory Called Empire. I just started Station Eleven by Emiky St John Mandel, which is one of the most interesting books I've read in a long time.
Thank you for this piece, John. I just retired, and have contemplating starting to write again. I greatly appreciate the motivation and reminder that it doesn't have to be published by a publisher to be considered writing and that writing for its own sake is sufficient reason to write.
Best wishes for a lovely 2026.
As always, your newsletter provides me with much to think about. I live with my daughter and we are both voracious readers. We both love getting and giving books for Christmas. And it's always a problem to pick which one. This year we both had heard about a book called The Correspondent. I ordered one for her written by Virginia Evans, and she ordered one for me written by Peter Greste. Three separate times in the past 2 years we have ordered the same book. I also received a copy of The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong which I already owned. But I still love books as a gift.
I appreciate your work so much because I come away, always always, inspired. Not the encouraging kind--which is great, too-- but the filled-with-unfinished-thoughts kind. Not that yours are unfinished at all-- not saying that either :D-- but just that your posts set me off on a whole bunch of side trails. And I love that and am grateful.
These, linked above, are some of my favorite posts of yours-- the ones about writing/thinking/creativity.
One of those side trails....: Did you know-- you probably do -- that the Greeks divided the arts into thirteen types: theater, music, sculpture and the like? Well, what i find fascinating is that they thought that the highest arts were those that were performed only. Ephemeral. Existing in experience and memory, but no concrete form. And I think about that related to your post about AI and creativity-- about how the action is the art, not the product. Anyway... delights abound.
I just read Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane-- was blown away by his choices of just the right details and not too many (try that, AI) and now I have the flu and am ripping through Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy, which moves right along.
Thank you, John, for everything. Let's hope that 2026 finds us all in a better place than 2025. I just finished Pride and Prejudice, which I was inspired to read by The Novel Life of Jane Austen (both highly recommended) and am now reading Olga Dies Dreaming. 💖📚
We just passed Jane Austen's 250th birthday. I'll have to try out The Novel Life book! I am reading her not-so-popular books (Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park) in honor of the occasion.
I love them all, but Persuasion is my favorite.
Thank you so much for that book of stories! It'll be great reading to start the new year. I'm re-reading The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy, but this time reading it aloud to my kids. It's been wonderful so far. I've always felt that Tolkien intended The Hobbit to be read out loud, like a grandfather telling a fireside story to his descendants.
Thanks, John for a great close to the year. Someone (forget who) said that if you're thinking but not writing, you only think you're thinking. As you've noted before, it's the process of writing that's the most valuable to the author. With practice, the output is also worthy of our readers' time and attention.
I just finished Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen. Great book, even tho some of the examples are showing their age. I was excited to find a parenting book rooted in Adlerian psychology. I've been a fan of Adler ever since (and even sorta before, tho without a label) reading The Courage to be Disliked.
What a lovely surprise to read your short collection of fables! 😁 I really enjoyed How The Universe is Going to End--what an ending! You hooked me well, and the twist landed hard and sweet. *chef's kiss* I literally LOLed at the opening to Major Mike Mechanic Doesn't Save the World. My kind of humor, right there, but love the depth behind that absurdity, too. So many tales of love and loss in this collection, but ultimately hopeful. Very you.
In return, I offer you (and any of your readers that are comments junkies) my own fable, written a few years back:
https://open.substack.com/pub/entelechy/p/the-sedra-uyo?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=17gex3
I feel it's also, at it's core, a hopeful tale, and one that continues to reveal its depths the more often it's read.
Happy New Year!
(P.S. I also subscribed; been lurking too long. 😅)
I am hopeful that we are turning a corner back towards compassion, towards humanity, towards lifting one another up.
I read about the Waymo vehicles that couldn't navigate traffic signals that were out due to a power failure. Humans would know to treat such a light like a stop sign. Machines are stymied because their instructions fail. We need humans - for their ingenuity, their spontaneity, their humor. I'll take the slower line any day if it employs a human I can interact with.
I'm finishing The Boys in the Boat and also enjoying The Rivers of London as an audiobook. Got away from Middlemarch but plan to pick it back up in January. Also trying to work through the Federalist Papers to learn what 3 of our founders argued in support of the creation of our nation.
Thanks for sharing your early work. It adds an interesting dimension to my understanding of you as a writer.