Suspicious Minds
Currently reading:
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver [ongoing]
Extracting the Stone of Madness: Poems 1962–1972 by Alejandra Pizarnik [ongoing]
Books finished this week: 2
★★★★☆
Where this book came from: this year’s National Book Festival
Why this book: I read Edan Lepucki’s California a decade ago, I think right around when it was published. I remember thinking it was pretty good, so I figured I’d give this a try. Plus, given my love of The Ministry of Time, I can only assume I’m in my time-travel novel era.
Thoughts: Time travel! Cult vibes! Family drama! Not quite what I expected the book to be, but a great read nonetheless.
★★☆☆☆
Where this book came from: Kramers in DC!
Why this book: I don’t remember which list or BookTuber’s video I learned about this book from, but it sounded fascinating. I saw it on a table at Kramers and was doubly intrigued when I saw how short it was.
Thoughts: This book was the epitome of, “Yes, queen, give us nothing!!”
Library updates:
I am beginning to suspect that I have an actual problem: I genuinely cannot stop buying books. And I realized recently——today, actually——that if I keep buying books and reading books at the rates that I’m currently doing both of those things, I have absolutely no hope of ever reading everything I own. I do sometimes find myself paralyzed by the thought that one day, I will die, and I will not have read all the books I hoped to. Morbid, maybe, but true. And at this point, I’ve basically guaranteed that my future home will be full of books I have not read, and then cannot read because I’m dead. Unless I come back to haunt my bookshelves, I guess.
(No one take that idea, that’s really fun!!)
Anyhow, the whole reason I started this blog was to hold myself accountable. To read more, buy less, and really connect with reading and stories again. Yet, here I am, over two years later, and I’ve bought over two hundred books in that time. And I can’t stop. Books are so tied into my identity, how I socialize, the people, spaces, and activities that bring me joy. I spend a lot of time thinking and talking about books, writing, reading, publishing. If I have time to kill, I’m going to head to the closest bookstore. If I’m meeting a friend, maybe we’ll grab coffee or a cocktail and chat about the state of the publishing industry or what we’re writing. I fill my time with books and stories (and, let’s be honest, YouTube videos). I also know I have zero self-control. So maybe the Moratorium Library was doomed to fail from the start.
But we beat on, boats against the tide, rowing home again and again with tote bags full of new books that have very quickly overflowed any and all new bookshelves I’ve purchased in the last six years in my home.
Maybe it isn’t so bad to fail. Maybe it’s okay that I continue to buy these books. These are the things I’m telling myself right now. I don’t buy books to be home decor or status symbols. I buy them with every intention of reading them, and then passing along the ones that don’t resonate. They make me happy, as do the trappings that go along with them: coffeeshop visits alone and with friends, curling up in bed or on my couch to finish a story, sharing books that moved me with people so they experience the same excitement I felt. As long as all those things are linked for me, I will have a problem with buying books. I’ll just have to learn to be okay with that. (And maybe I can try a little harder not to buy books because I am still trying to exist on a publishing salary in New York!!)
Anyhow, on a silly and somewhat related little note, I bought a duplicate copy of a book this week (which I won’t be counting toward the count of purchased books, because I plan to give it away, donate it, or sell it ASAP). I came home Friday night——or early Saturday morning, more appropriately——with two books from the Strand, only to realize that one of them was already sitting on my shelf. The perils of building a library.
Closing thoughts:
Surround yourself with books at your own risk.
Total books read from the Moratorium Library: 98
So close to 100!!
(Total books added to the Library: 203)
I went to the Strand to kill time, because I’m a genius.
Also did a mini tour of Brooklyn bookshops today. Top two books from Liz’s Book Bar; middle two from Ripped Bodice; bottom two from the Center for Fiction.
