Is it just me or did April go by extremely fast? I don’t know how it’s May in two days. I’m not complaining—I have many exciting things happening in May, including the release of Ways the World Could End on May 10!
Quote of the week:
“We wouldn’t need books quite so much if everyone around us understood us well. But they don’t. Even those who love us get us wrong. They tell us who we are but miss things out. They claim they know what we need, but forget to ask us properly first. They can’t understand what we feel—and sometimes, we’re unable to tell them, because we don’t really understand it ourselves. That’s where books come in. They explain us to ourselves and to others, and make us feel less strange, less isolated and less alone. We might have lots of good friends, but even with the best friends in the world, there are things that no one quite gets. That’s the moment to turn to books. They are friends waiting for us any time we want them, and they will always speak honestly to us about what really matters. They are the perfect cure for loneliness.” –Alain de Botton
What I’m reading:
I’ve got a few books going: Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding; Madness, Rack, and Honey: Collected Lectures by Mary Ruefle; and All About Love by bell hooks.
What I’m listening to:
I just finished Sally Hepworth’s The Younger Wife today and really did not like it. I usually love her books, but I found this one so problematic. If you’ve read it and want to discuss, message me. Next up on Audible: The River by Peter Heller.
What I’m watching:
I’ve been keeping up with the new season of The Flight Attendant, but haven’t been getting into much else.
Writing news:
Less than two weeks until Ways the World Could End is out in the wild! I’ve been so touched by the early reviews. Thank you to everyone who reaches out on Instagram or email. It really makes my day.
What I’m talking about:
- Elon Musk buying Twitter. I think he could have spent $44 billion on something more useful like, say, climate change, but whatever
- COVID-19 vaccines for kids under age 5. It looks like it might be happening in May. It’s about time!
- Intentional community living. My third book, Tiny, explores this a bit (characters live in a community of tiny homes). I’ve been thinking about this more and plan to read some books on the topic
Interesting things I learned this week:
- A top Italian court ruled this week that, by default, all newborns should have both their parents’ surnames, not just the father’s. This makes total sense and I have no idea why it isn’t the norm everywhere
- President Obama is an ENFJ on the Myers-Briggs (I am an INFJ, though I used to test as an INTJ)
- When Buzz Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface of the moon, his first words were: “Beautiful, beautiful. Magnificent desolation”
- The sense of hearing is the first we acquire (in the womb) and the last we lose
- Human beings, guinea pigs, and some bats are among the few animals that cannot synthesize vitamin C
- There is a theory that partners in a couple tend to look more like each other over time because of empathic mimicry—that is, through empathy for one another, they may feel similar emotions and make similar facial expressions, leading, over time, to similar facial musculature, wrinkling, and aging patterns
- In a famous 1987 study, when researchers presented brand-new mothers with undershirts worn by three babies, every single one of the women could identify their child’s clothing by smell after spending only an hour with them
- A study of 11,000 people ages 18-39 in the US found that 10% of them didn’t know if the Holocaust actually happened. Uh…what?
- Madrugada is a Spanish word for the moment at dawn when night greets day (I love learning words in other languages that articulate specific things like this. Language really does shape how we think and see the world)
- A miniature book containing 10 previously unpublished poems by 13-year-old Charlotte Brontë sold at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair for $1.25 million (read here). This is believed to be the biggest sale ever for a female author
- The world’s largest wildlife crossing began construction in Southern California this week (read here)
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“Who invented the semicolon?” Turns out it was a Renaissance invention. It first appeared in 1494, in a book published in Venice by a guy named Aldus Manutius (Interesting read here).
What I’m grateful for:
- My first post-marathon run today—an easy 3 miles that felt great
- Live theater! I took my mom to see “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” at a playhouse near us last weekend. Tomorrow, I’m taking her to see “For Better or Worse: Tales of Marriage” at the Barclay Theater
- Hitting 75,000 words on my new novel (today!). My books are usually around 90,000 words so I’m getting close to having a first draft complete!
- My health. I’ve been testing us every few days since we got back from Boston and we have remained negative for Covid!
- Fun plans coming up next week—a quick trip to Denver (I’m seeing Elizabeth Gilbert’s event there!) and then a little trip to L.A. later in the week
A few snapshots from this week:
