One of the things I like about George Saunders’s Substack is that he spends time examining the “how” of writing. I’m not a writer myself so I never thought much about craft before, but he’s quite incisive about examining the choices a writer makes and the effects of those choices.
One of the sections of my newsletter is a book recommendation - which is great on one hand, because I can recommend a lot, but on the other hand ... I find myself re-reading books as a result. So, my current list includes The Magus (John Fowles) and Endless Love (Scott Spencer), along with The Human Condition (Hannah Arendt) and Underland (Robert MacFarlane). And there are so many I want to read... How do you triage?!
The thing I like about reading, and most of the things I enjoy in life, is achieving flow state. For someone who gets bored easily, flow state is the absolute release from self awareness and the closest I ever come to peace. I think this is what people really mean when they say reading is an “escape”.
A list of activities that induce flow state (for me): reading (when it’s good), watching the show Evil, watching anything when I should be doing something else, lifting heavy weights, a really tough spreadsheet project, organizing, cleaning the house to rap music, a puzzle, anything crafty.
Thanks for a great column hope your booster symptoms have worn off ✌🏼
Reading relaxes me. I feel restless (and kind of cranky) if I'm between books and can't find just the right one. I am currently reading Oh, You Thought This Was a Date by C. Russell Price and listening to Empire of the Wild by Cherie Dimaline on audiobook. Just finished Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez and it was amazing.
Yes, as others have said, I like to get absorbed in the world of a book (achieve flow is another way to put it). Just finished The Sleeping Dictionary by Sujata Massey, a well written historical fiction about India between 1930 and 1947. Very rich in detail. Now reading Paradise Reclaimed by Halldor Laxness, which takes place in Iceland in 1874. This is part of my attempt to read as much as possible of Nobel Prize winners. I have a question for you, John, or anyone else who cares to answer. Do I NEED to read Infinite Jest? Just asking, because, as you know, so many books, so little time. Thank you very much for your work. 💖
Lovely piece. I absolutely agree about the "feel" thing -- for both writer and reader. Also agree that much of my literature degree was a blur. The best part was having a syllabus from which to pick and choose my favorite writing, regardless of what I was supposed to think. (Thank God for Prof Freilicher, who introduced me to Canetti. The lecture on the couple chapters he assigned were nice. The three volumes I read were life changing.)
Reading this made me think of a funny Bob Dylan anecdote told by his ex-gf.
He would write madly. She would say, "What the hell are you writing over there?" He would pull the page out of the typewriter, hand it to her, and say, "You tell me." As she read, she would interpret aloud. He would laugh at the wild -- but sensical -- way she put everything together, making it clear that even he hadn't thought of the story in that way (if at all).
If it does the thing, it does the thing. We are all better for it.
My favorite critics read not just with a thinking mind, but also with a caring heart. There are plenty of critics who are smart and sharp-eyed (like Lorentzen), but just don't seem to have an emotional connection to books or their readers. I've found that generosity of spirit in your writing, and that's why I'm a subscriber :). (And for the record, I'm a "pure nerd," and yes we're the worst, lol.)
I was a Russian major in college and had the same difficulty you describe. I thoroughly enjoyed most of what we read but had zero exposure to any kind of literary criticism. I struggled to write papers. Just wanted to get lost in the stories and feel the emotional response.
One of the things I like about George Saunders’s Substack is that he spends time examining the “how” of writing. I’m not a writer myself so I never thought much about craft before, but he’s quite incisive about examining the choices a writer makes and the effects of those choices.
One of the sections of my newsletter is a book recommendation - which is great on one hand, because I can recommend a lot, but on the other hand ... I find myself re-reading books as a result. So, my current list includes The Magus (John Fowles) and Endless Love (Scott Spencer), along with The Human Condition (Hannah Arendt) and Underland (Robert MacFarlane). And there are so many I want to read... How do you triage?!
The thing I like about reading, and most of the things I enjoy in life, is achieving flow state. For someone who gets bored easily, flow state is the absolute release from self awareness and the closest I ever come to peace. I think this is what people really mean when they say reading is an “escape”.
A list of activities that induce flow state (for me): reading (when it’s good), watching the show Evil, watching anything when I should be doing something else, lifting heavy weights, a really tough spreadsheet project, organizing, cleaning the house to rap music, a puzzle, anything crafty.
Thanks for a great column hope your booster symptoms have worn off ✌🏼
Reading relaxes me. I feel restless (and kind of cranky) if I'm between books and can't find just the right one. I am currently reading Oh, You Thought This Was a Date by C. Russell Price and listening to Empire of the Wild by Cherie Dimaline on audiobook. Just finished Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez and it was amazing.
Yes, as others have said, I like to get absorbed in the world of a book (achieve flow is another way to put it). Just finished The Sleeping Dictionary by Sujata Massey, a well written historical fiction about India between 1930 and 1947. Very rich in detail. Now reading Paradise Reclaimed by Halldor Laxness, which takes place in Iceland in 1874. This is part of my attempt to read as much as possible of Nobel Prize winners. I have a question for you, John, or anyone else who cares to answer. Do I NEED to read Infinite Jest? Just asking, because, as you know, so many books, so little time. Thank you very much for your work. 💖
Lovely piece. I absolutely agree about the "feel" thing -- for both writer and reader. Also agree that much of my literature degree was a blur. The best part was having a syllabus from which to pick and choose my favorite writing, regardless of what I was supposed to think. (Thank God for Prof Freilicher, who introduced me to Canetti. The lecture on the couple chapters he assigned were nice. The three volumes I read were life changing.)
Reading this made me think of a funny Bob Dylan anecdote told by his ex-gf.
He would write madly. She would say, "What the hell are you writing over there?" He would pull the page out of the typewriter, hand it to her, and say, "You tell me." As she read, she would interpret aloud. He would laugh at the wild -- but sensical -- way she put everything together, making it clear that even he hadn't thought of the story in that way (if at all).
If it does the thing, it does the thing. We are all better for it.
My favorite critics read not just with a thinking mind, but also with a caring heart. There are plenty of critics who are smart and sharp-eyed (like Lorentzen), but just don't seem to have an emotional connection to books or their readers. I've found that generosity of spirit in your writing, and that's why I'm a subscriber :). (And for the record, I'm a "pure nerd," and yes we're the worst, lol.)
I was a Russian major in college and had the same difficulty you describe. I thoroughly enjoyed most of what we read but had zero exposure to any kind of literary criticism. I struggled to write papers. Just wanted to get lost in the stories and feel the emotional response.