Wild Mercy by Miribai Starr 📚

I ended my review of Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey like this: “Rest Is Resistance contains in it, I think, a particularly feminine kind of spiritual wisdom. Reading it made me reflect on the overwhelmingly masculine hue that my spiritual formation has taken on; due to my combination (doctrinally) Catholic and (culturally) Evangelical upbringing. I don’t have lots of concrete thoughts, yet, on the differences between masculine and feminine spiritual wisdom; except for that, as far as I’ve noticed, perhaps masculine spiritual wisdom tends to reach towards physical transcendence, and feminine spiritual wisdom tends to reach towards physical embodiment.

“I’m excited to continue exploring this female spiritual path. The next book coming from my mom is Wild Mercy by Miribai Starr - so expect a review of that book eventually.”

I ended up being right on the mark. On page fifteen, in chapter one, the author says “[I]f the feminine is all about incarnation and embodiment (which is what I am proclaiming in this book), then she rests squarely in the realm of the form.”

In many ways this book is similar to Rest is Resistance. The main lesson is to listen to the intuition of your mind and body, all the time, but especially when a greater structure asks you to ignore that intuition. Now: to “listen to” your intuition is different from “follow unquestioningly”, and one’s “intuition” is a more wholistic term than, say, “every impulse that arises”. But generally, the focus is on active mindfulness and presence. The fruit of this is attitude is that we can bring the divine into our every day lives. “God lives in the pots and pans,” as the author quotes. Prayer transforms from something that we escape our every day lives to do, or something that we do to escape our every day lives, into something that we do within our regular course of duty, rest, and celebration; a way of being that adds color and flavor to everything else.

I’m still processing the book (which I finished a few months ago) and figuring out how to integrate the wisdom into my life. One thing I know, is that it has helped me approach my yoga practice in a much more spiritual way; as a way of being with and working with my body, instead of a way to change or tame my body. Liz and I recently bought our first house, and so a regular chunk of time is spent doing chores in the kitchen or yard; bringing embodied mindfulness into my day-to-day has helped me become more engrossed in my activities… which mostly looks like sometimes choosing to focus on what I’m actually doing instead of listening to a podcast while I do it.

This is me sculpting the message of the book to my own situation, but I want to make sure I note that the book is supremely accessible, to people of any gender identity, despite the focus on the feminine. The author makes clear (and I agree) that, although we parlay in the archetypes of “masculine” and “feminine”, this sort of wisdom is not exclusively applicable or appropriately mapped to any one sex or gender identity. The book is also useful to people at any different point in their spiritual journey. It is accessible for me as a practicing Catholic, but the author pulls is wisdom across many religious traditions, and will be helpful for non-religious people as well. I was able to have a great discussion about the themes of this book with a friend of mine who is a practicing Buddhist; she independently brought to me the observation that, in her experience of Buddhism, there is too much focus on pursuing “insight”, which she referred to as the masculine strength, and not enough focus on pursuing “compassion”, which she saw as the feminine counterpart.

Maybe it’s silly to map these dichotomies (insight/compassion, transcendence/embodiment) onto gendered archetypes; if you think so, read the book and let me know! Regardless on how we abstract these difference spiritual emphases, I’ve found it helpful to articulate the distinction; so far it has helped bring me into better balance.

From the newsletter: ChatGPT and the End of Online Content world.hey.com/thom/chat…

Finished reading: Terraform by Propaganda 📚

I read this book in a day! It is about 250 pages, but it is about 40% poetry, very accessible, and very easy to read. 

I had not heard of this artist before, but will definitely be looking up his music.

This book is like a mix between Jesus For President by Shane Claiborne and Citizen by Claudia Rankine. It’s a ride through the (Black, Christian) author’s frustrations with American society, and the revelations, mindsets, and strategies he’s collected to change the culture.

It’s an inspiring book. Since I whipped through it over two sittings, I didn’t do any of the writing exercises that Propaganda ends each chapter with. But I’m looking forward to integrating those prompts into my prayer time.

I borrowed this book from a friend, but I think I will pick up my own copy! It was a fun and inspiring read. 

Finished reading: The Pale King by David Foster Wallace 📚

Infinite Jest, also by David Foster Wallace, is one of my favorite books of all time. It holds a special place next to a few others (Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac, White Noise by Don DeLillo) that both a) make me, Thom Behrens, feel particularly and wholly understood, while also b) blowing off the roof regarding what I thought a novel could be. Infinite Jest is one of the only books (beside’s bell hooks’ All About Love) that I’ve read more than once; and at over 1,000 pages, taking the time to read it again is a statement.

Probably because I hold IJ in such high regard, I was pretty disappointed when I read The Broom of the System a few years ago. It was a fine enough story; but I just never clicked with it. But given that DFW has only three novels… once I finished Broom, I knew the third one had to be conquered eventually.

So I’ve just finished The Pale King, and - I liked it a lot. I wasn’t convinced it was a good book the whole way through; certain parts of it are absolutely monotonous. However, monotony is demonstrated to be one of the topics the author is exploring. This is clear in the books subject matter (the onboarding of new IRS agents), as well as themes revisited throughout the book (literally, he discusses character’s ability to read boring material for long periods without losing focus). Since DFW died before he published this novel, some of his margin notes are also published in the back, and one of the themes of the book is listed: “Paying attention, boredom, ADD, Machines vs. people at performing mindless jobs.” The monotony of the book, then, is palatable insofar as your willing to be a subject in the theme the author is exploring. It’s an interesting structure, this way: it leaves you no way to read the book without engaging in it.

I also feel like it’s important to mention that this book isn’t really a novel. It’s fiction, and… it’s stories. But most of the stories are actually just vignettes, which never really cohere around a central narrative with any driving action. This, too, is explicitly laid out in DFW’s notes: “Plot a series of set-ups for stuff happening, but nothing actually happens.”

Stepping back: the book is a wonderful exploration of the dehumanization inherent in what we now call “knowledge work”. But at the same time, it articulates and elevates the strange emotional closeness people develop with their abstract, bureaucratic jobs… I described one chapter to Liz as “If The Seven Story Mountain was about becoming an accountant.”

One theme not listed in the back of the book was the exploration of masculinity. It’s not quite as severe or heavy-handed as Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, but still insightful. And takes the same dual-perspective approach that it takes with bureaucracy: it is all at once satirical and  impassioned. 

It’s also laugh-out-loud funny: the characters find themselves in absurd situations, the author makes sharp observations. And, as always, DFW is constantly doing barely noticeable experiments and gymnastics with his word choice, sentence composition, etc. 

This book won’t be for everyone! It was weird, and took a non-trivial amount of persistence to get through. But it was a ultimately satisfying experience. If you’ve already read Infinite Jest and Brief Interviews and liked them - you’ll like this. If you haven’t read those two… I think they’re more interesting reads 🙂. I’ve read reviews saying The Pale King is more accessible. That may be true in terms of format, but not necessarily in terms of engagement. 

Finished reading: Thrawn Treason by Timothy Zahn 📚

The conclusion to the trilogy! (I’ve already reviewed the first two.) This was another good read. It serves as both a good self-contained novel, and a satisfying wrap up to all three books. I will say that, by the time I got halfway through this third book, I was a little burned out on the pulp sci-fi. Even so, the narrative was well thought out, and the characters new and old were well written as usual. I will be taking a break from Star Wars books for a while, but will definitely try again in the future.

Finished reading: Thrawn Alliances by Timothy Zahn 📚

This was the second book in the Star Wars Thrawn trilogy - here is my writing on the first.

The second book was very different; whereas the first book described the tactical political maneuvering of the characters, this book was an exercise in narrative maneuvering, with the author jumping between three different plot lines, and intersecting them at different points of space and time. At times it was hard to keep track of exactly who said what, to whom, and when… I ended up “letting go” a little bit to just let the narrative wash over me, and it was still a good book, even without me tracking every thread.

Finished reading: The Need to Be Whole by Wendell Berry 📚

In my review of Race: Challenge to Religion, I mentioned a thought project I’ve been undertaking with a friend, around how to build up a positive model of patriotism. This book, subtitled “Patriotism and the History of Prejudice,” tackles those questions directly.

I’ve read Wendell Berry before; his book Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community is on my list of all-time favorites. If The Need to be Whole continues to stick with me as it has in the few weeks since I’ve finished it, then it might end up on that list, as well.

The author asserts thats racism is the founding sin of the United States, and that a culture of slavery still pervades our exploitative economic system, and also that b) a proper rooting out of that sin requires us to engage with, and have compassion for, confederate citizens in the slave-owning south whose home was invaded by the U.S. Army. This was a tough pill to swallow when I opened the book; but Wendell Berry’s shockingly good writing and excellent ability to navigate nuance brings his perspective into full comprehension over the course of the book.

It’s an extremely “offline” book; in that it does not fit neatly into the sides drawn for common online arguments. Last year’s New Yorker piece on Wendell Berry, posted in advance of the book’s publication, described it as “contains something to offend almost everyone.”

My experience of the progressive movement (currently as an employee of the Sierra Club ), has involved participating in a lot of societal critique, and critique of the structures which maintain the unjust status quo (namely, the United States government and economic apparatus). As such, I’ve at times found taking pride in my country to be at odds with my desire to change it. In this book, I find the proper articulation of what it means to do both:

“The right motive for work, as I believe I know also from experience, is love. Love, to begin with, clears the mind of the oversimplifying, mind-destroying emotions that prepare us to make war. When our minds are clear, out eyes are free to look around and see where we are, and who all and what all are there with us. We then can see both the damage we have done to our country and its remaining great beauty. We can see that we are not on “the planet” but in one of its places that, with care, can be intimately known. Love for that place shows us the work that it asks us to do in order to live in it while seeing to its need, and ours, to be whole.”

This idea of “oversimplifying” ourselves is a concept the author introduces on the preceding page and returns to throughout the book. I think there is something to be argued here in favor of the “offline”-ness of the book, that in rejecting the oversimplification inherent in the type of communication that happens online, the author and the reader are able to cultivate the love and nuance necessary to rebuild, in intimate relationship, our exploited land and communities.

Finished reading: Thrawn (Star Wars) by Timothy Zahn 📚

During the summer I try to read a few lighter fiction books. Last year a read some Vonnegut, as well as a few Star Wars novels from the new High Republic publishing initiative. For those of you who don’t know: there is a large and quickly growing world of novels, produced by a book publisher in conjunction with LucasFilm, based in the Star Wars universe but not necessarily an adaptation or novelization of what has appeared in the movies. Although there are many character overlaps and tie-ins. The books I read last summer were an ok beach read, but so vapid that I couldn’t bring myself to review them.

This book, Thrawn, is the first book of a trilogy written by Star Wars fiction veteran Timothy Zahn, and it was… very good. Not good “for sci-fi”, not good “for a Star Wars book” - it was just a really fun read. Not going to win any philosophy prizes, that’s for sure. But I found relatable elements in all the major characters, and found the plot smart and thrilling the whole way through.

Finished reading: Xenogenesis by Octavia E. Butler 📚

This book, Xenogenesis, is actually a collected trilogy, one hardcopy book containing the novels Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago. The trilogy is still in print but is now called “Lillith’s Brood"; I thought Xenogenesis was a much cooler name so I tracked down an old hardback copy of the trilogy with the original name.

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but to put it in broad strokes: these books tell the story of humans encountering an alien species after an apocalyptic event on Earth, and explore the two groups decide to approach a mutual interdependence. There are no metal spaceships, no lasers, no advanced computer technology; just humans and aliens working and living together in close proximity. The alien species has a third sex in addition to male and female, and all three sexes are critical to reproduction. The book is sexually candid and very weird in places, but extraordinarily written. Butler does such an incredible job creating these species that she makes the three-sex model seem appealing!

I mentioned in my review of Rest Is Resistance that I’m keen to expose myself to a spirituality that embraces physical embodiment instead of physical transcendence, and that perhaps the former could be considered a more “feminine” spirituality. This trilogy further supports my thinking. In addition to the deeply embodied nature of the narrative, I found these books to conform to what I recently heard described as the female story arc.

I cannot find the podcast to link here, but I know that the host and guest were talking about this profile of Céline Sciamma by Elif Batuman when they discussed how the male storytelling model (a linear story wherein a conflict is presented, escalates, then breaks) differs from the female storytelling model (wherein a situation or set of circumstances swirl, swell to a higher frequency, and then comfortably descend). When I talked about it with Liz, she confirmed that this is a pretty standard understanding within Gender Theory.

These books certainly fit the latter model. Readers in search of a climactic ending of the third book will be disappointed; in fact Butler at one point intentionally lets a previously central conflict walk away while she decides to develop a smaller, more relationally involved story. Because there was no satisfying resolution, I do think the story has stuck with me longer.

These books are very weird, but I enjoyed the strange places it took me. I think I’ve now read over half of Octavia Butlers oeuvre!

Finished reading: Evicted by Matthew Desmond 📚

My Aunt Beth gave me this book! I remember when it came out in 2016; the reporting is done in Milwaukee and I had friends from Milwaukee who were very struck by it when it came out.

None of the observations are specific to Milwaukee, though - it’s a book about the United State’s housing crisis, in general. Actually, it’s more accurate to say this book is about how the United State’s current economic and political incentive structure is a source of deep injustice, and stacks the odds very, very heavily against those trying to climb out of poverty.

It’s not written in a wonk-y or political science-y way, though. The author makes his argument by profiling the successes and struggles of several families in the Milwaukee area: some tenants and some landlords. The book is masterfully written and made for a very quick read; it definitely deserved the Pulitzer prize it received.

Liz read the book right after I did, and we immediately ordered Matthew Desmond’s recently released second book, Poverty by America. It feels like a good time to be reading these books: as Liz and I will be trying to leave the rental market and buy a house in the next year or so, these books have inspired good conversations about what we value, what we aspire to, and how we want to build a sustainable and socially integrated life.

I highly recommend this book!

“When we place a rhetorical premium on words like confidence or creativity or passion, larger structural problems and their solutions become depoliticized and reduced to the level of the individual.”

Neoliberal Keywords: Creative, Passionate, Confident - Public Books

Finished reading: The Return Of The King by J.R.R. Tolkien 📚

Darn - I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I thought it would engage my imagination more than the first two, since I’ve seen this movie fewer times than I have The Two Towers or The Fellowship of the Ring. And it’s definitely true that I didn’t have as many cinematic tableaus to rely on… but that may have been a detraction, because I found this book boring almost all of the way through.

I was a big fan of the chapters with Sam and Frodo, but I really had to struggle to make it through the rest. Conversations felt repetitive, descriptions felt flat, and relationships didn’t feel alive. The one exception to this is Faramir and Éowyn - I loved both of these characters individually, and loved when they got together.

I don’t have much more to say, here… overall, This series just isn’t for me. My friend Josh, hearing my complaints, still made a compelling argument that I might still enjoy The Silmarillion, so that may yet be in my future.

Finished reading: Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosley 📚

I picked this book up totally at random, after reading an article announcing the release of the sequel. I had heard Walter Mosley’s name before but did not know anything about him, or that he wrote detective fiction. But a few days after I read the article, I stumbled across this title in a Half-Price Books, so I decided it was a sign.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a detective novel before. But now that I have, I absolutely see the appeal of the genre. There’s some element of continuous suspense that the author layers in that I am not used to seeing elsewhere; a thrill that compels you to keep reading the book.

That sensation was notable in this book because since I didn’t really like the protagonist – or, really, any of the characters – at all. Everyone in the book felt grizzly and crass, almost in a pathetic way… but this was probably by design. It was hard to inhabit the perspective of the main character sometimes, but the author kept pulling me along … this book was 336 pages and I read it in four days!

I definitely have plans to pick up more detective fiction sometime soon! But I am undecided if it will be more Walter Mosley or not.

Finished reading: Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey 📚

I got this book as a Christmas gift from my mom. Thanks so much, mom! This book was great.

Rest Is Resistance is a meditative thesis on the healing and transformative power of giving yourself enough time to rest. Where the “resistance” part fits into this book is with the authors insistence that our practice of rest cannot be truly transformative if it is aimed at making us more productive at work, or better able to serve the demands of capital. The point of rest is to spend time not serving capital. And the more we refuse, the more deeply we prove that we can survive without it.

The point from this book that has most stuck with me is the contrast the author makes between the concepts of “Freedom” and “Liberation”. She describes “Freedom” as a state of being unencumbered and unburdened, by either internal or external limitations. We become quickly frustrated by Freedom, she writes, because we mostly only see the ways in which we are not free, and we tend to panic, strain, and overexert ourselves to chase after a state of Freedom.

“Liberation,” by contrast, is the process of freeing yourself, over time, slowly and well. Doing the careful work to untangle yourself from your confusion and burdens. If we think of our journey of self-discovery in terms of Liberation instead of Freedom (just as Black Americans and other marginalized groups must conceive of their collective struggle), we are left with the energy and discernment to bring the long, necessary project to eventual conclusion.

Rest Is Resistance contains in it, I think, a particularly feminine kind of spiritual wisdom. Reading it made me reflect on the overwhelmingly masculine hue that my spiritual formation has taken on; due to my combination (doctrinally) Catholic and (culturally) Evangelical upbringing. I don’t have lots of concrete thoughts, yet, on the differences between masculine and feminine spiritual wisdom; except for that, as far as I’ve noticed, perhaps masculine spiritual wisdom tends to reach towards physical transcendence, and feminine spiritual wisdom tends to reach towards physical embodiment.

I’m excited to continue exploring this female spiritual path. The next book coming from my mom is Wild Mercy by Miribai Starr - so expect a review of that book eventually (I actually read Rest Is Resistance back in February… I’m lagging a few months behind on reviews!).

Finished reading: Race: Challenge to Religion by Mathew H. Ahmann 📚

I got dinner with a friend the other month to talk about comic books - he and I both have an affinity for Ta-Nehisi Coates' volumes of Black Panther and Captain America. During our conversation about the core of national identity and what constructive patriotism looks like (standard comic book conversation), we decided to do some more reading together on how to answer those questions.

This book was the first part of that project - and was a hard book to find. My friend saw it referenced in a book called Black Religion and Black Radicalism, which he read based based on a reference in a book called The Cross and the Lynching Tree. Race: Challenge to Religion is a compilation of transcriptions from essays delivered at the 1963 National Conference on Religion and Race. That conference was a meeting of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish leaders, held in commemoration of the centennial anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Martin Luther King Jr. is among the speakers/authors.

There were a few things that struck me about this book. The first is how connected these authors felt to the founding of America, and to the conflict and decisions of the civil war. To me, those events seem like ancient history, but these priests, pastors and rabbis talk about them as if they are recent historical events. It helps inform their work as part of a larger project, of which much progress has been made, instead of starting from the narrow view of today’s current injustices (without discounting the pain of those injustices).

Another thing that struck me was how proud the speakers are to be American! My experience in America is that the very religious as well as those on the political Left have a tendency to denounce national allegiance, or at least not include as part of their in their core identity (this is very distinct from people in America who are a little bit religious, who tend to have national allegiance at the center of who they are). But these progressive religious leaders talk with zeal about love of America and wanting to guide her towards moral virtue and a well-treated citizenry. I found that inspiring.

Lastly, I was struck by how the Black Church sees history as something still being written. I think in my White Catholicism (which also has a heavy dose of Evangelicalism), we treat the bible and our faith as the study of something that has been finished. The books of the bible are all written; the saints are all dead and buried. But these speakers intertwine the journey of the church, the nation, and the people - as a political and moral liberation that is still unfolding.

This obscure book would make an interesting read for those interested in how American Christianity (and to a lesser extent Judaism) see themselves in relation to the larger culture of the nation. While I don’t necessarily think it qualifies as a page turner for everyone, it was thought provoking, and my reflections on this book have helped me see racial justice as an important element of my faith.

Finished reading: The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty 📚

One of my favorite books of last year was White Noise - after finding out that it won the National Book Award, I’m trying to read more Book Award winners. This book made for an especially easy resolution, since the author grew up in – and based the city in the book on – my hometown of South Bend, Indiana. Tess Gunty also went to Notre Dame (in South Bend) for undergrad, just like me - we overlapped for a few years and sounds like we had mutual friends, but we never met.

With the book based on my hometown, I came in with the understanding that I was going to be very critical of the portrayal - and I thought the portrayal of the city was awesome. Not glamorous, but realistic and well-presented. I have a deep love for South Bend, and this book stirred my heart in that place.

The narrative is engaging, funny, and deeply weird. I loved how the author weaved spirituality into lots of different elements of the narrative, while always keeping it at arms length. This strategy felt very “South Bend” to me - a city that both relies on, and is suspicious of, the rich Catholic university at one edge of town. It’s pride comes from both it’s association with and independence from the university.

That being said - you don’t need to have grown up in South Bend or gone to Notre Dame to read this book. It’s impressive as hell, and I think lots of people will like it. I totally think it deserved the National Book Award it received!

Finished reading: The Recovering by Leslie Jamison 📚

I finished this book, subtitled “Intoxication and it’s Aftermath”, as I crossed the one year threshold of my own journey to sobriety. I’ll use the word “sobriety” because it’s accurate, but it’s a little intense for my situation. Last year, I found myself wondering if things would be easier without alcohol in my life - I decided to give it a real try, and it stuck. Sobriety makes it much easier to go to bed and wake up when I want to, it allows me to make healthier choices about what I eat, and I’ve become a better listener in social situations.

This book is great - Jamison is a phenomenal writer. This book is a mix of memoir and literary criticism: the process of Jamison folding in the story of her recovery in with the stories of other writer’s recoveries.

One great aspect of this book is how the author tackles the addict/victim dichotomy we see in drug and alcohol abuse, and how society sticks different people with different labels. Addicted artists can be seen as troubled by their own genius, while addicted mothers are seen as disgraceful. This idea has stayed on top of mind as I read Jia Tolentino’s latest New Yorker piece on Ozempic and the new wave of weight loss drugs, which are helping us see obesity as a treatable condition, instead of a moral failing.

And, related to food, another striking idea that Jamison captures is how the repeated consumption of any given thing can become it’s own form of addiction, apart from chemical dependency or mood altering affects. I’ve experienced this as a former cigarette smoker, as someone who is evolving into a healthier relationship with food, but also as a “consumer” in the general sense - I’ve found it deceptively easy to pour one’s hopes and aspirations into a certain clothing brand, or tech company, or fictional Cinematic Universe, or social media niche, to the point where your thoughts are constantly revolving around it. At moments while reading, I felt invited to observe the similarities between this sort of fandom obsession with traditional addiction. The latter is obviously more pernicious and destructive, but both have the ability to consume you.

In general, this was a thought-provoking and engrossing book.

Finished Reading: Marvel Comics The Untold Story by Sean Howe 📚

This book chronicles the history of Marvel comics from the formation of Timely Comics in 1939 to the time Marvel became a household name alongside the release of the Avengers movie and the company’s purchase by Disney.

I’ve been reading comic books for about two years. I started reading them digitally when I decided to read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther comics, and I started buying them physically last year as a replacement hobby when I quit drinking.

I’ve read issues of Captain America and Avengers that date back to the mid-2000s, but besides that I’ve only read very recent books. It was fun to get exposure to older story arcs and characters, and to learn about the creative process of different books over time.

However: this isn’t a history of the Marvel Universe, but of Marvel, the company. And as it is told in these pages, Marvel has indeed acted like a corporation over the years: it’s jerked around it’s employees, employed hostile marketing tactics, and been subject to the dubious financial maneuvers of it’s various owners over the years. It was entertaining to read about the great culture that certain Marvel bullpens garnered, but this book also included lots of minutia about business plays, which I found pretty boring.

By now it’s well-known how Jack Kirby and other early comic book creators were not compensated proportionally for their contributions to the Marvel canon, and a large part of this book focuses on the various attempts over the years by creators to retain the rights to the creators they made while at Marvel, and how Marvel worked to protect its IP. I think this book does a good job at showing both perspectives to the argument - if anything, I came away from this book with more sympathy for the practical realities that Marvel has to consider.

I enjoyed this book… but it’s not one that I’d necessarily recommend to others unless you’re an invested reader of Marvel comics.

My vintage comic book reading list is now a mile long… and I’m excited to dig in!

Finished reading: How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell 📚

This was a reread for me! And, not actually a read: I listened to it on audiobook.

Liz and I have greatly pared down our library over the last few years, but this is one book we’ve kept on our shelf. Partly because the cover is so darn pretty, and partly because this book is part of a spiritual trilogy we read in 2020, alongside The Longing for Less by Kyle Chayka and The Grace of Enough by Haley Stewart.

I wanted to do a reread of this book now, since Jenny Odell is coming out with a new book in 2023. Second time around, I can re-affirm that the book is well worth a read. Maybe because I had already read or maybe because I was listening to it, but I found myself a little less engaged than I was last time. But it was still nice to revisit the topics that the author covers.

The book orbits around the question of how to resist capitalist co-opting of the self. ”How To Do Nothing” might be more verbosely put “How To Fill Your Life With Joy Outside of What is Valued by Algorithms, Advertisers, and Economists”. The chapters examine the who’s-who of social ills: corporate work culture, social media, ecological devastation.I admire the author’s expansive view when analyzing these cultural phenomena, and resisting the urge to suggested quick technological or pop-psychology fixes for our societal dilemmas.

I listened to the book mostly while running, and enjoyed that experience - the broad scope of the conversations in the book are conducive to expansive thinking, so it was nice to be out in the open, and exercising, while I did my thinking.

Finished reading: Provocations by Søren Kierkegaard 📚

This book is the first thing that I’ve read by Kierkegaard. It’s more of a “Kierkegaard for Dummies”, since it’s excerpts from his various books, collected and retranslated.

All the rumors are true: Kierkegaard is dense, and intense! His writing is challenging, but very inspiring.

In the introduction, the author explains how Kierkegaard’s goal was not to lay out a moral path for his readers, but instead to point out moral contradiction, and force the reader to make decisions as to what it is she truly believes.

It’s a badass approach that I think works well - this book challenged me, personally, to think critically about how I live out the spiritual dimensions of my life.

Where as the first half of the book is a selection of standalone essays, the back half has the subheading “excerpts and aphorisms”, and reads like a series of disjointed paragraphs (organized into loose topics). I don’t think the reader is best served by reading this part of the book serially (I couldn’t make it through this way), but instead treat it like an index, whenever you’re interested in reading Kierkegaard excerpts or perspective on the given topics.

Overall, this book is worth a read. And one I’d like to return to again at some point in the future. At the same time, I don’t think it has inspired me to dig deeper into Kierkegaard’s other books. If this is meant to be an introduction, then an introduction may be all I need.

Finished reading: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien 📚

The Two Towers was great. I enjoyed it much more than Fellowship of the Ring. The pacing felt better, and the characters (both major and minor) seemed more distinct in voice and personality.

This book is also benefits from the massive world-building Tolkien is known for. Since Fellowship follows the linear path of one group of people, all the talk of history and legend and foreign people can come across as superfluous and boring. But in this book, with the gang split up, traveling long distances, and meeting all sorts of different folk, the lore transforms into something that ties the narrative together.

This book also had a very strong theme of ecological awareness. The race of the Ents speaks clearly to beings existing One with nature, and they decry ecological devastation in their words:

“It is the orc-work, the wanton hewing without even the bad excuse of feeding the fires, that has so angered us; and the treachery of a neighbour, who should have helped us.”

And apart from all the tree love, I really enjoyed the passage of Gimli praising the beauty of caves, and expressing the Dwarves' balanced approach to resource extraction:

“My good Legolas, do you know that the caverns of Helm’s Deep are vast and beautiful […] one of Durin’s race would mine those caves for stones or ore, not if diamonds and gold could be got there. Do you cut down groves of blossoming trees in the springtime for firewood? We would tend these glades of flowering stone, not quarry them. With cautious skill, tap by tap – a small chip of rock and no more, perhaps, in a whole anxious day – so we could work, and as the years went by, we should open up new ways, and display far chambers that are still dark, glimpsed only as a void beyond fissures in the rock”

The language of ecological plunder is also used to describe Frodo and Sam’s journey: “They had come to the desolation that lay before Mordor: the lasting monument to the dark labour of its slaves that should endure when all their purposes were made void; a land defiled, diseased beyond all healing – unless the Great Sea should enter in and wash it with oblivion”.

So, anyway - people say Dune is an environmentalist book… I’m here to put The Two Towers into the ring (ha) as well.

There are several surprising ways in which the book series differs from the movies, but I’ll hold my tongue until after I read Return of the King to see if those differences bear out.

Looking forward to seeing how this series ends!