notes:
This is where I attempt what Derek Sivers does (at 1% of his volume): a commonplace book of highlights pulled from books I’ve read.
bird by bird | anne lamott
the southern book club’s guide to slaying vampires | grady hendrix
now is not the time to panic | kevin wilson
tunneling to the center of the earth | kevin wilson
nothing to see here | kevin wilson
I haven’t laughed this hard at a book since Hitchhiker’s Guide. I loved this so, so much.
the game | neil strauss
I read this for character research, calm down.
tender is the flesh | agustina bazterrica
Heads up: you will not be able to unsee the images in this book.
milk fed | melissa broder
eileen | ottessa moshfegh
the talented mr. ripley | patricia highsmith
Very uncomfortable being in this man’s head, especially when she starts convincing you to agree with him.
the lion tracker’s guide to life | boyd varty
Short, sweet, and excellent. “I don’t know where we’re going, but I know exactly how to get there.”
my sister, the serial killer | oyinkan braithwaite
The prose was so clean with its crisp rhythm and clear text. Far from lacking beauty in its simplicity, it allowed the poignancy to shine through even more for being so gorgeously unadorned. It makes sense that the murders were not described by gory messes, but by meticulous cleanup. (I am also encouraged by how quickly a third act can wrap up and still be satisfying!)
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lamb | christopher moore
I came for the gloriously stupid humor, which flowed in abundance, and I stayed for the moments of equally hilarious profundity. Besides winning candy during Bible trivia night, my bygone years of Christianity have never served me so well as in the laugh-crying that came from getting all these jokes. Truly, this was the Gospel that I’ve been missing, and I am well pleased to have this new perspective on Josh.
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yellowface | r. f. kuang
Topical issues and breezy, fast-paced reading aside, this book was a surprisingly vulnerable look into the lonely rat race of the publishing world. The ups and downs of writing—or any creative process—are intimately documented: this is the best work in the world and we are lucky to do it, not least because we’d lose our minds otherwise. Of course, that comes at a price: anything you care about this much could easily kill you.
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wild swans | jung chang
This book changed my life. I was born in China and grew up in Canada an only child. Jung Chang’s Wild Swans helped me better understand my mother, my family, the country we are all from, and ultimately myself. This, my favorite passage, revealed to me how profoundly not-alone I was: …
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janet change 