Art courtesy of the Boston Public Library
Sometimes I don’t give my dog enough credit. One on hand, she’s quite stupid. Her jaw force is equivalent to 250 pounds of pressure (according to some article I just looked up) and yet she is literally scared of flies and cowers in fear when the cat gives her a look of annoyance. Most people would describe her as sweet as pie and as bright as dark chocolate.
But when I take her on a walk in the morning, and she gets to sniffing, she really gets to sniffing. That’s good for dogs. I read in a magazine once that not only do they enjoy it, but it’s actually such good stimulation for them that the mental exercise makes them more tired than the physical exercise. Five minutes of focuses sniffing is better than 10 minutes of walking. So, when she walks by a new flower and locks the heck in (she loves new flowers), I’ll get a little inspired and think, “Wow, that was like a whole Colson Whitehead novel for her.”
I love reading Colson Whitehead novels. I love reading them, and I love taking the time to think about them. That has something to do with why this newsletter exists. Not Colson Whitehead specifically. But curiosity, and taking the time.
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There is a pretty intentional assault on our time at this particular moment. Social media and consumerism and AI and algorithms are essentially one collective at this point. How they affect any one individual can vary - some might debate that - but certain things are being stripped away from all of us. One of those things is cultural criticism (The Associated Press recently slashed book reviews from its offerings).
A newsletter isn’t going to save that - cultural criticism needs actual infrastructure with legitimate financial support. But when I think about how frustrated I get when I see people embrace things like AI despite the rot it is creating on our planet and our society’s collective willingness to consider what’s around them, I start to get hopeless.
Then I realize that I have a lifetime’s worth of work to read and consider and listen to and experience. For whatever state this world ends up, there is plenty for me to enjoy, and I might as well provide a little compendium.
So, I will review* a book once a week.
*Often, I will barely review the book. I very well might just write about what I was thinking about in that given week, probably influenced by said book. Some weeks, the book will be heavily featured. Some weeks, the book will barely be featured (but I reserve the right to claim that it was spiritually featured throughout)
Up top, I will provide you with an extremely specific genre that the book falls under. I will also provide you with an extremely specific person for whom I would recommend this book.
I will keep each post under 800 words.*
*I will break this rule more times than I will uphold it.
It will be from me, and it will be for you.
I love you.
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