What to Read When

I like books that mean something in and outside of their own narratives, impacting my worldview. The stirring can be felt in beautiful writing, or powerful concepts, deep analysis, or emotion that resonates off the page.

I wanted my novel, Lesser Ruins, to feel at ease getting lost, to relish in its obsessions and procrastinations, from long descriptions of electronic music to digressions about coffee to the strange, suffocating world of academia.

It takes a whole library to make a book...

Some of the work is simply slowing down visitors and sustaining their attention long enough for the pieces to click together, or for their perspective to shift, or for a light bulb to—literally—go off.

No one can do the hard work of leaving for you, but you can arm yourself with the stories of others—the closest I’ve come to finding a blueprint.

Sometimes, the phrase “formally inventive” ends up being used as a polite synonym for “highbrow, but boring” (or “man, I couldn’t really follow the narrative of this book at all”).

Crushes don’t have to be romantic, or brief. They are best when unrequited. 

In the last few years, audiobooks have helped me rekindle my identity as a reader.

If we can’t beat them—and the deck is stacked heavily against us—the least we can do is try to understand them as best we can.

Last year was officially the hottest year on record. Deadly wildfires tore through Maui and Canada. Orange skies hung over New York City full of smoke and ash. Extreme floods…