When it feels like the world is ending, read a book
(And other sage advice, but also, a couple of epic summer reading recs)
When a friend popped by for dinner last night, we quickly got lost in a conversation about the upside-down state of the world.
We see it in our social media feeds and we feel it in our neighborhoods. We can’t hide from it on a Sunday morning, or frankly, when we’re sitting across the table from one another sharing some food (or in our case, when I’m standing on one side of the kitchen counter and she’s sitting in a stool on the other side).
If you’re anything like me, it’s exhausting. It makes me want to shut down — and actually, I do shut down. I doomscroll endless loops of online content, caught in a rabbit hole of homesteading reels and updates about Catherine, Princess of Wales and conversations about the future state of our democracy. (Do we have room for chickens?1 Should we get bees?2 Will the princess be okay? Will Joe Biden actually step down from running again?3 I must know, and I must know now!)
Perhaps worst of all, at least to me, it makes me feel stuck, particularly when it comes to my writing. As much as I process by churning through my words, when it all starts to feel like it’s too much, I just stop. I have to stop.
But also, and also, when that point of realization comes — when I snap out of the foggy, scrolling stupor and remember that the gods of Instagram don’t really care whether or not I get a fair-weather chicken and name her Catherine — I also realize that it’s okay for me to stop creating for the present moment.
It’s more-than okay for me (and certainly for you as well) to take a break from wrestling with my words. Sometimes, or so the story often goes, it’s important for me to fill up the tank with some words that aren’t my own.
Because when it feels like the world is ending, sometimes the best thing4 you can do is read a book.
As it goes, here are ten books (from ten women writers, no less) that I’ve loved diving into this summer.5 Perhaps one of them will speak to you as when it feels like everything else has been shaken and violently turned upside-down.
Nonfiction:
Devotion (Dani Shapiro): I just don’t think it gets much better than Dani Shapiro in search of a little bit of wholeness and devotion.
When Religion Hurts You (Laura E. Anderson, PhD): The book I wish I would have read 10 years ago …although would I have been able to receive it then?
The Comfort of Crows (Margaret Renkl): Well, yes please Margaret Renkl. Nature writing might just be my new fave.
The Kneeling Man (Leta Seletzky): I only wished we would have seen more of a juxtaposition of Leta’s own story. Otherwise, exquisite, thought-provoking, and necessary for history buffs!6
The Exvangelicals (Sarah McCammon): I am currently reading this right now, so I can’t fully give a recommendation …but based on the 121 pages I’ve read thus far, if this was once your world, please, pick this puppy up.
Fiction:
Tom Lake (Ann Patchett): That was a whole lot of Our Town. But also, was it just me or was the back and forth nature of telling her daughters a story not evident right away?
Mad Honey (Jodi Picoult): Honey + young love + an element of the story I do not want to give away, but, whew.
Maizy Chen’s Last Chance (Lisa Yee): From the resident 9 year old, post reading it together: “I give it a 10.” “Out of 10?” “Out of town.” “Why?” “Because it was just that great.” So there you go.
Bright Young Women (Jessica Knoll): Whew. 4.5 stars. Sometimes the ping ponging between the different narrators threw me for a loop, but as per the usual in this type of narrative, it all came together in the end (as much as it can when it comes to a serial killer’s destruction).
Olga Dies Dreaming (Xochitl Gonzalez): More Olga, please.
There you have it. Go, get lost in a book. Then, wake up and rally and fight for good. Cling to hope. Love like it’s the only thing that matters.
Because it is.
No. Chickens are not in our future.
No, I need not keep bees.
Yes, Mr. President. It’s time.
See also: the only thing
Every sentence that follows comes from my Very Official and Important Goodreads reviews.
You might recall that I featured Leta earlier this year, right here on Substack. Read the interview with her if you haven’t already!