Notes on reading/watching (12/28/24)
+ my most popular articles this year
I’ve been on quite a trip (13-hour drive, 8-hour drive, another 13-hour drive) this holiday season, with a funeral adding an extra leg that was unexpected.
But I spent the bulk of this Christmas break in Athens, Georgia and head back to NYC tomorrow.
I don’t have any fun pictures except I played pickleball with a group twice and that was really fun, better than I expected and I may be half-decent pickleballer even against my better judgment.
Reading
That said, I brought “Wise Blood” by Flannery O’Connor with me because I’m in Georgia and it’s the first thing I’ve read by her in awhile, I’ve never read this.
I’m liking it so far, for its simplicity in story, I always imagine her work like Faulkner’s whereas hers has so much more clarity, at least in this novel.
Fun fact: my grandmother-in-law went to college with Flannery O’Connor in Milldegeville, GA and Flannery drew a few pictures in her yearbook, my mother-in-law said she would dig them out for me sometime.
It’s also my semi-tradition to purchase a book from the Athens, GA Barnes and Noble when I visit during this time of year.
Last time I was down here during Christmas break, I bought “Ohio” by Stephen Markley which became one of my favorite books that year, and dang too bad The Deluge wasn’t as good.
Okay, anyway, this time around I bought the book “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray because it was on a table labeled “2024 Literary Heavy Hitters” and I’m not sure what it’s all about except it set in Ireland. Featured alongside it on that table was “Wellness” by Nathan Hill which I’ve already read this year and I checked out “The Bee Sting” from the library when I was reading “Wellness” but then both books were so thick and I was in the middle of “Wellness” and I didn’t have any time for another one, but now I’ve bought it, it was $20.
“The Work of Art” by Adam Moss also caught my eye and I finally flipped through it, it’s definitely a coffee table book but I told my wife she could buy it for me for my birthday as it has a ton of interviews with famous writers, designers, and artists about their artistic processes, from Adam Moss who was the former editor at New York magazine, one of my favorite magazines.
One I selected as an audiobook for the ride home is “Exvangelical and Beyond” by Blake Chastain, the Barnes and Noble had it on the shelf, I don’t put myself in that camp, but I know he’ll raise some issues I’m familiar with so I thought it would be a good listen for my long drive home tomorrow, a test to see what I think but not worth the purchase, not for me right now
My mother-in-law had “The Divine Conspiracy” by Dallas Willard (apparently $1.99 on Kindle) on her living room side table and I read the intro and acknowledgements to that, and I haven’t read it since college, but it’s a classic, and there’s a copy in my apartment that may be my Christian book for the beginning of the year.
Watching:
Finished with Season 1 of The Sopranos. It takes a minute for it to get going. I don’t feel like I know what’s going to happen, even though the show is 20 years old.
I’m looking forward to Squid Game, season 2 and will dive into that soon
My wife took my daughters to see Wicked. I didn’t go!
My most popular articles this year
Hey, you may be interested in the top posts from this year, in case you missed something or are just generally curious about these things:
BTW What have you been reading/watching this holiday break? Any recommendations?
Keep going-
Josh Spilker