On the second-last page of A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders explains that writing the book turned out to be a chance to ask himself “again” and “at length” this question: “Do you still want to devote your life to fiction?” Spoiler: he does.
Abi-Nakhoul, Atwood, Brinkley, Graves, Kemick, Nunez, Segal Short Stories in October, November and December Whether in a dedicated collection or a magazine, these stories capture a variety of reading moods. This quarter, I returned to three familiar writers and also explored four new-to-me story writers.
In addition to the general hopes for my reading this year, which I wrote about yesterday, I have one specific and measurable 2025 goal as well. In response to the current political shift in the United States: I’m planning to read 21 Latin-American books (by Latin-American authors or set
Some people put a lot of stock into their first read of the year, selecting it as a reflection of the coming year’s goals, like other people choose a word (or words) to represent the year ahead. Partly because I’m a moody reader, with an unwieldly stack including many
Simmering beneath all my 2024 goals was the idea of choosing to begin again, and choosing goals that mattered for ages—didn’t dissipate in an instant of good intentions. Reading lists I’d excitedly assembled decades ago, with specific books or authors scribbled into notebooks, were neglected. Often I no longer
