The In-Office Reading List: July
the start of a new, monthly venture
Peter Brown (British b.1967), Christmas, Combe Park, 2019, Oil
...And thus begins a shiny new Substack round-up, of a variety seen before but as brand new as it comes. Welcome to The In-Office Reading List.
The title for this round-up newsletter is inspired by my very real habit of sniffing around for articles online during my coffee and lunch breaks at work. The in-between moments of my 9-5, where I’m not chatting with a colleague or friend, are filled with this.
I began this habit when I was hired as a journalist at a very big, international newsroom. Every morning, the top editors in every beat would send out an organization-wide email with the stories their teams were working on for the day. I’d get a sizable helping of news ranging in topics from politics, crime and justice, environment, health, travel, culture, style, food, etc etc straight into my inbox. It was really cool. Still, to this day, I think that was the best part of the job. Getting an inside scoop of one of my favorite news outlets’ daily article output was like being a kid let loose at their favorite candy shop. It helped me ignore the slog of sorting through 2000+ emails daily.
With this round-up, I want to share with you the things that catch my eye and keep my attention when I’m in serious need of a pick-me-up or mind break at work.
So what can you expect in this newsletter? A varied array of, well, everything. I'm not a journalist anymore so I'm allowed to branch out. We’ll meet back here every first Sunday of the month, give or take (so you can expect the next round-up on August 3).
The lists I'll share with you will include:
writing that caught my attention: Including articles, interviews, essays, prose, and poetry that I've read that month. Each of these will be helpfully marked, so don't worry! I'm not throwing you to my metaphorical wolves and hoping you can find your way around.
books in my shelves: It's not just the books I'm currently reading that I'll share, but also the books I'm adding in my to-read stack. I'm a notoriously slow reader, so I'm constantly finding more interesting books than I can actually read.
artworks in my dream gallery: These will be the artworks I’m envisioning on the walls of my dream home, from paintings to mixed media to photography. I come from a family of visual artists, and although I’m not generally inclined to create art in that way, I love seeing it and connecting with it. When I was 21, still in college and very poor, I shelled out $1,000 of my money (hard-won through many an underpaid internship) to buy two paintings I still deeply love. My friends and family thought I was crazy for it, but I’ve never come to regret it. Nowadays, I’m a little more careful with my money — but that’s only because there’s so much more I’m finding that I love.
listens i'm playing in the car: I love music to the point of having an almost encyclopedic knowledge of movie scores and popular songs from the past three decades. Seriously. In this section, I’ll mostly be sharing some of my favorite albums, movie and TV scores, and DJ sets shown on YouTube. Every once in a while, I’ll share a podcast recommendation as well.
items currently on my wishlist: I am notorious for browsing online and shopping for absolutely nothing. Let’s be subjected to the very expensive beauty of the world together, because everything is better when shared.
Beyond that, to stay true to theme, I’ll share a little wrap-up of what’s currently on my to-do list. At the end of my work breaks, I always have to go over my list of yet-to-complete tasks to get me back into the groove of things.
Without further ado, let's get into this week's in-office reading list:
— writing that caught my attention
Articles
Starved in Jail: Why are incarcerated people dying from lack of food or water, even as private companies are paid millions for their care?
Prose
— books in my shelves
Currently Reading
As humans and godspawn reel in the aftermath of the citadel's near fall, a new foe shatters their fragile hopes, and the mysteries of the Mesarthim are resurrected: Where did the gods come from, and why? What was done with thousands of children born in the citadel nursery? And most important of all, as forgotten doors are opened and new worlds revealed: Must heroes always slay monsters, or is it possible to save them instead?
Review in Postscript: This is the concluding book in Laini Taylor’s duology of Strange the Dreamer. I don’t typically read YA anymore, but every once in a while, a YA fantasy book will take hold of me. Laini Taylor’s writing style is the true raconteur style — imagine a storyteller narrating a village’s histories to its people. This is what Taylor’s writing feels like. I also think she does a great job at capturing the perspective of what it is to be young, isolated, and in love. She tackles complex characters with great sensitivity, and I’m excited to see how this novel concludes a story led by such an amazing, fantastical journey.
Want to Read
When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood's only salvation is his friendship with fellow "delinquent" Turner, which deepens despite Turner's conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood's ideals and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.
Note in Postscript: Journalists talk. In my line of work, colleagues would often tell me their off-the-record reports on what was really happening in the prisons and juvenile detention centers of the southern US. The truth that a journalist comes to know is almost always harsher than what they can write down on paper. Given that this book is based on The Dozier School for Boys, a reform school in Florida that was revealed to administer brutal beatings on its students, I’m really interested in reading Colson Whitehead’s recounting of events.
A young man leaves behind more than he realizes to follow his passions in this major, luminous novel of friendship, family, and the unthinkable realities of exile from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Return.
Note in Postscript: I first heard of Hisham Matar’s My Friends around the time of his Pulitzer win, and since then, I haven’t been able to quite forget about it. I always open up its Goodreads page when I come across it. When I was a kid, my family lived in Libya, and when we had to flee the country during its civil war — at the time of the 2011 Arab Spring — I often wondered when someone would write Libya’s story of the revolution. I’m definitely reading My Friends this year.
— artworks in my dream gallery
There’s something I love about the bright colors, the ocean and mountains in the background, and the lively atmosphere of people gathered for a meal in the foreground.
It puts me in a pensive mood, but in a good way, I’d say. The colors are so varied that they pull me out of any melancholy that the artwork is hinting at. It strikes a good balance.
— listens i'm playing in the car
I found ackerlady completely by chance, stumbling into her Sade mix when I was (yet again) on a Sade kick a couple months ago. She’s a 9-5 worker by day, and a hobbyist DJ and mixist by evening. I’m in love with the work she’s doing and the music she’s putting out. It’s really been helping me get into an uninterrupted workflow both in the office and at home.
— items currently on my wishlist
Do I need a $32 soap holder? No, despite my obsession with ceramics. I also do not need the shell wall hook or the palm tree cocktail napkin, but I am seriously eyeing the buttermilk organic cotton duvet set. I’ve been looking for a new one for months now, and this one came at just the right time to tantalize me.
— to-do list
Creating a structured schedule for language classes with Pimsleur. I recently bought their 1-year subscription, and I love their audio-first teaching method because it’s what I’ve historically struggled most with. I started their Portuguese course, but I also want to get back into my Mandarin Chinese study — it’s been four years since I was in a formal class, and I can feel myself forgetting lots (except how to say 小兔子 and 很可爱 every time I see a bunny in my neighborhood).
Enrolling in a studio drawing class for the summer. My local museum was offering these at the beginning of summer, and although they’re relatively cheap, I still haven’t gotten around to reserving my spot yet. That’s definitely one of the first things I’m wanting to knock out of my to-do list.
Finishing this edX course from Brown University. Oh, how I have loved this little online course. I love the readings, and the professor’s insights. If you’re interested in the topic — the ethics of memory — I recommend it.
Until next time!
Thanks for reading <3