My journey to get back into reading physical books has felt futile, for the most part, but having three or four books in the mix has really lessened the burden. For the last couple years I’ve relied on audiobooks and they’re great for driving but actually reading the text and being able to stop and re-read a line that struck me adds a layer that audiobooks can’t duplicate for me. It allows me to pause, put the book down, think and actually digest whatever resonates. I can’t do that with audiobooks, I feel like it’s a race against time. If an audiobook is eleven hours long, I expect myself to finish it within a day or two and I sometimes gloss over lines or themes that would’ve hit me differently, had I read them.
Not a dig at audiobooks. I still enjoy them and think they’re a great alternative but most of the media or art I have been consuming lately just hasn’t stayed with me for long. It gets lost in the never ending cycle of whatever else is next. It adds to my battle of a shortened attention span and the need for instant gratification.
These are the three books in my rotation currently:
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus (rereading, haven’t read this since college)
An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures by Clarice Lispector (first time reading this one. About halfway through and it’s been an emotional rollercoaster so far.)
Famesick: A Memoir by Lena Dunham (pre-ordered and have been reading a few pages since it dropped. I was a huge fan of the HBO Girls series and I’m also rewatching it as I read through this. Lena is a great storyteller and she captures the 2010s millennial era so well. I’ll have more thoughts on this when I finish. I’m 1/4 of the way through it. The only downside is that it’s a hardcover and it’s heavy as hell to carry around.)
I’ve gone back to A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara a few times but keeping track of the characters was so tedious. Needed notes to remember each one’s back story. I marked it as DNF for now but maybe I’ll revisit it again someday.
Anyway, that’s it for now…
gummygunk
stormborns
origamiaround
areudirty
gamechangershow
vaporwave
germansingergirl
