I read more in my 1.5 weeks of travel than I did in months. I'm trying to keep up that habit back home now, mainly by spending less time on the internet. And yes, I'm aware I'm saying this as I'm commenting on Substack lol. But that's a little different!
very relatable…"I'm not addicted to the internet!" I say, while avidly reading 1,000,000 different newsletters…
it's so nice to travel and lean into a slightly different set of habits (for me it's usually reading more, walking more) and then trying to incorporate those into ordinary life at home
I agree! I also used to find fundraisers to be silly and self-aggrandizing, but after having seen how the Ruby's fundraiser for Lamea created so much more community support and publicity, I'm like hmm...maybe there is something to the public-ness of the gesture!
yes! I am starting to be more open-minded about things that are, strictly speaking, inefficient…but have all these other useful qualities besides the raising-money parts
I also went to the Palestine march the first weekend I was in London—and while I do sometimes fear that showing up to a march/protest does nothing, it was also encouraging to see the huge range of people that showed up (different ages, ethnicities, etc)
I have tickets to see Didi at an independent near me in a few weeks and I’m v excited! I can’t wait to watch it, especially bc of your reflections. Evenings & Weekends is on my shelf so it is nice to read you speak of it so highly - it makes me more interested to read it soon! Hope you have enjoyed your time in London xoxox
Thank you Martha! I loved London so much—hopefully I'll be back soon
I'd love to know what you think of Dìdi! The protagonist, Chris, is almost painfully self-sabotaging (but in the usual childlike ways : he ignores his crush instead of reaching out; he's embarrassed by his mom instead of loving; he isolates himself from others out of shyness). But it also felt as if he couldn't be anything BUT that angry, resentful, naive, earnest kid as he tries to figure out what kind of teenager he wants to be. It was a really lovely film!
Also really think Evenings & Weekends is an ideal summer read, it's very breezy but heartfelt
Loved this, as always!! I am one of the people who brings a rather ambitious collection of books on vacation and then often reads 0 pages... I think that has to do with traveling to cities most of the time AND not having the habit of reading but rather that of listening to music while in transit. A vacation that consists mostly of lounging just is more conducive to reading, imo.
I always make a point of sharing your monthly posts with someone because there is, without fail, something that someone I know (usually my partner) is also fascinated by, this time your art and AI writing and the related essays you shared. I've also found that the concept of transformative epistemic experiences you wrote about some months ago has really lodged itself in my brain; I've told so many people about it (in an appropriate context, ofc lol). All this to say thank you for your invigorating and super thoughtful newsletters!!!
Completely relate to the ambitious packing! For this trip, I also brought Richard Rorty's Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity with me…AND this enormous Elsa Morante novel…I haven't actually read either of them! I'm also a city traveller, so there's really not that much downtime unless I'm taking a very long bus/train or lying on the grass in a park.
Also, it's so lovely to know that my posts have really resonated with you!! And that you're excited to share them with others! I'm really enjoying writing this newsletter, and will definitely keep on going…but it's extra encouraging to get feedback like this
The transformative experience post might be my favorite one that I've written; it felt like I was revealing something to myself as I wrote it (and thought about different moments in life where there was no way to change my concept of self, or how I approached the world, without plunging into totally unknowable and unpredictable situations). There are so many identity configurations (being queer/trans/an artist/a writer/athletic/charismatic/&c) that are usuallyf framed as…if you are this, you'll simply KNOW and everything will be AUTOMATIC! But for many people, it seems like there's a revelatory moment or epistemically transformative moment where they suddenly arrive at those identities—identities that seemed foreign and other in an earlier period.
hahah yes, that sense of preemptive despair—I feel like that is just the human condition, of feeling like you're running out of time and it's TOO LATE (when really there is so much possibility just around the corner)
preemptive despair is such a good term!! Society is so self-optimising that we race against this pervasive invisible clock. Why are people feeling pre-emptive despair in their 20’s!??
Londoner here, you're so right about both the accents (my northern one is slowly dissipating) and how joyous everyone is around a bank hol! Also been meaning to read Javier Marias for ages and this is the push I needed. I've picked that book up in my local bookshop so many times!
One of my favorite things about London is the huge range of accents—not just those from Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, &c but from elsewhere in the UK! When I was living there, it was so purely exciting to be on the street and catch stray bits of conversation.
Marías is so so interesting—his stream-of-consciousness approach (in this novel, at least; I haven't read other ones) seems to focus a lot on imagined conversations, and the protagonist responding to/rebuffing/contradicting other people. It's funny to read these long dialogues and then realize that it's all what the protagonist WANTS to say…or she's preparing for the POSSIBILITY that a certain topic might arise…but what actually happens is totally different
His diaries are so fun!! Eno's keen intelligence and curiosity just come out so clearly, and the way he talks about the things he's reading, the topics he's interested in…it all feels very youthful and fresh and jubilant. Reading his diary actually made me very excited about getting older—it really showed me the kind of vigor and excitement that's possible well into middle age. He doesn't seem like he's set in his artistic habits at all, but is always trying out something new
I'd like to think I'd have learned a little foresight on this front by now, but more often than not selections for vacation reading usually take place in a panic, at the airport - while I still have wifi to make some last minute e-book purchases. This time it was..
Deep Utopia - Nick Bordstrom
The Crisis Of Narration - Byung-Chul Han
Piraensi - Susanna Clarke
Morphotrophic - Greg Egan
Feeling you on the location of a read permeating the text. Piranesi is forever linked going to linked to Greece in my brain. The architecture mentioned in the book, all of it built from marble - is already morphing into the angular white buildings of Milos when I think back on the work.
wow, this is a great vacation lineup! I really love Piranesi (imo a masterclass in creating extremely absorbing suspense/uncertainty…definitely one of the best novels I've read in the last few years). Reading it in Greece, around all the ruins, sounds perfect.
also very curious about Byung-Chul Han's The Crisis of Narration (right now I'm torn between really loving plotless/fragmentary novels, and wishing that people would just shape their prose up into a coherent thread!!)
Echo everything you've said about Piranesi. All points. It made me feel the way I felt the first time I read House of Leaves. Eerie, creeping, horror-not-horror. Impossible architecture. I feel lucky to have read it.
'Crisis' was the first piece of Han's writing that I'd read. I'd bookmarked a few bits of Han critisism (the most noteworthy/talked about, bits?) before I read it, and dove into those bookmarks immediately after finishing 'Crisis'. Actually felt like a nice way to go about it. Conclusion was that many of the critisms of his writing are quite hollow, and many sound simply..jealous. I like him.
Really dig your 'everything I read' missives. Please keep them coming : )
I love visiting design/applied art museums when I travel, and MAK might be one of my favorites…I went when there was a really comprehensive exhibit of Thonet bentwood chairs, and it really made me appreciate the technique and all the different aesthetic possibilities it offers!
I hope you have a lovely trip back to Vienna—Loos might be a perfect companion (almost hilariously opinionated and snobbish about his design tastes)
You've inspired me to give kierkegaard another chance by your footnote. I couldn't get into his writing on anxiety, though I wanted to. I'll try Either/Or.
Also, I recently watched Old Fox (2023) (老狐狸) and I really, really enjoyed it. It came to mind as a beautiful taiwanese coming of age film that has a more nuanced ending than most in the genre in general.
ETA: oh oh! edited to add! in 2019 I finished my first ever read through of the odyssey while on holiday on the island of naxos. banging.
I am also trying and failing to get into Kierkegaard's writing about anxiety…Either/Or was more interesting to me because it felt more literary than philosophical, and there's so much stylistic range in it! (and it still does have Kierkegaard's ideas on what makes for an ethical, meaningful, virtuous life, where you take yourself seriously instead of frittering away existence with self-denial and frivolous concerns)
I'll have to look for Old Fox—I'm intrigued, especially because my girlfriend really didn't like Taipei Story's ending (she found it too didactic/moralising, since it's very clear who ends up better off/worse off)
reading the Odyssey on an island, surrounded by water and Grecian architecture, really seems ideal…this makes me want to plan a more island/beach/tropical holiday next year!
I really want to watch all his films—such beautiful composition in each shot (love the domestic scenes especially), and he does such a good job of moving between multiple characters and their separate/intersecting dramas
Definitely bring books on holiday - one of the things I look forward to the most! It ends up being the moments in between (airports, long train rides, moments just before bed) that provide the most time to read but the great joys of a holiday I find is always a slow breakfast/lunch/afternoon tea or time lounging on the beach with a book. I usually bring a longer book with me that I've trying to get through but highlight of the vacation is usually going to the local indy bookshop and picking up a fiction (set in the city/country) and a non-fiction that covers the city/country and its current sociological, sociopolitical or historical climate that I can then enjoy over the course of the holiday. Really adds to understanding the place I'm in.
yes, the slow lunch/afternoon tea with a book is so perfect…I used to travel alone a lot, and my favorite thing to do was have a luxuriously long lunch and just sit for ages in the same place, reading and occasionally peoplewatching
it's actually very rare for me to buy books ON the holiday and read them during—but I really like your approach of picking something from an indie bookstore and using it to inform the trip!
on my recent trip, i realized i'd packed poorly—in relation to my books at least! lol!! i had about 4-5 books with me and none of them gripped me! i'm still trying to figure out the right balance of books to bring on a trip but i do find it fun to read books from the country i am visiting before the trip as it helps me contextualize the city/country once i am there.
this is very relatable (sadly!) I've made this mistake so often—if I pack ONE book, somehow it usually turns out okay…but if I pack multiple options, it's so easy to feel a bit unhappy with all of them
and yes, there is something nice about a vaguely directed reading list—I actually don't spend too much time learning about other cultures/histories when I'm at home (I'm usually myopically focused on my own), so vacations force me to broaden that a bit
Your reflections are always lovely to read!! I especially enjoyed your concept of reading as a way of remembering a city, or seeing it from a new vantage point. Since I arrived in Buenos Aires a year ago, I've sought out a few of these experiences with books and essays. My favorite has been Optic Nerve by María Gainza, which I read in Spanish. It's a short story collection (sort of) with elements of autofiction and art criticism, in which the author in each chapter (or story) seeks out a piece of artwork found in Buenos Aires and dives into its history as well as how it affects her, or who in her life it reminds her of. From Toulouse-Lautrec and Courbet to some lesser-known Argentine artists, it's intimate and poignant and delightful, and I've enjoyed going to some of the museums to see those artworks after the fact. (I think you'd like it, Celine!)
oh, Optic Nerve sounds great—I love autofiction, art criticism, and very personal/subjectively situated criticism (people narrating their own experiences of encountering a work, so that you can slip into it and imagine how your encounter would feel…)
really want to find a copy of this now, thank you so much for mentioning!! it seems so lovely to read that book as a kind of tour guide–y experience to Buenos Aires's museums
Lots of great stuff here Celine. I took several books with me on our summer trip to Italy. However, other than the plane ride I never read. It was fine though as we stayed plenty busy and I have time on my hands to read now but I always think vacation is going to be a great chance to read and then for some reason I don't get around to it.
I read more in my 1.5 weeks of travel than I did in months. I'm trying to keep up that habit back home now, mainly by spending less time on the internet. And yes, I'm aware I'm saying this as I'm commenting on Substack lol. But that's a little different!
very relatable…"I'm not addicted to the internet!" I say, while avidly reading 1,000,000 different newsletters…
it's so nice to travel and lean into a slightly different set of habits (for me it's usually reading more, walking more) and then trying to incorporate those into ordinary life at home
I agree! I also used to find fundraisers to be silly and self-aggrandizing, but after having seen how the Ruby's fundraiser for Lamea created so much more community support and publicity, I'm like hmm...maybe there is something to the public-ness of the gesture!
yes! I am starting to be more open-minded about things that are, strictly speaking, inefficient…but have all these other useful qualities besides the raising-money parts
I also went to the Palestine march the first weekend I was in London—and while I do sometimes fear that showing up to a march/protest does nothing, it was also encouraging to see the huge range of people that showed up (different ages, ethnicities, etc)
I have tickets to see Didi at an independent near me in a few weeks and I’m v excited! I can’t wait to watch it, especially bc of your reflections. Evenings & Weekends is on my shelf so it is nice to read you speak of it so highly - it makes me more interested to read it soon! Hope you have enjoyed your time in London xoxox
Thank you Martha! I loved London so much—hopefully I'll be back soon
I'd love to know what you think of Dìdi! The protagonist, Chris, is almost painfully self-sabotaging (but in the usual childlike ways : he ignores his crush instead of reaching out; he's embarrassed by his mom instead of loving; he isolates himself from others out of shyness). But it also felt as if he couldn't be anything BUT that angry, resentful, naive, earnest kid as he tries to figure out what kind of teenager he wants to be. It was a really lovely film!
Also really think Evenings & Weekends is an ideal summer read, it's very breezy but heartfelt
Loved this, as always!! I am one of the people who brings a rather ambitious collection of books on vacation and then often reads 0 pages... I think that has to do with traveling to cities most of the time AND not having the habit of reading but rather that of listening to music while in transit. A vacation that consists mostly of lounging just is more conducive to reading, imo.
I always make a point of sharing your monthly posts with someone because there is, without fail, something that someone I know (usually my partner) is also fascinated by, this time your art and AI writing and the related essays you shared. I've also found that the concept of transformative epistemic experiences you wrote about some months ago has really lodged itself in my brain; I've told so many people about it (in an appropriate context, ofc lol). All this to say thank you for your invigorating and super thoughtful newsletters!!!
Completely relate to the ambitious packing! For this trip, I also brought Richard Rorty's Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity with me…AND this enormous Elsa Morante novel…I haven't actually read either of them! I'm also a city traveller, so there's really not that much downtime unless I'm taking a very long bus/train or lying on the grass in a park.
Also, it's so lovely to know that my posts have really resonated with you!! And that you're excited to share them with others! I'm really enjoying writing this newsletter, and will definitely keep on going…but it's extra encouraging to get feedback like this
The transformative experience post might be my favorite one that I've written; it felt like I was revealing something to myself as I wrote it (and thought about different moments in life where there was no way to change my concept of self, or how I approached the world, without plunging into totally unknowable and unpredictable situations). There are so many identity configurations (being queer/trans/an artist/a writer/athletic/charismatic/&c) that are usuallyf framed as…if you are this, you'll simply KNOW and everything will be AUTOMATIC! But for many people, it seems like there's a revelatory moment or epistemically transformative moment where they suddenly arrive at those identities—identities that seemed foreign and other in an earlier period.
Virginia Woolf's decrying "August has been wasted" in the dead centre of the month (the 18th) is so funny to me and unfortunately deeply relatable
hahah yes, that sense of preemptive despair—I feel like that is just the human condition, of feeling like you're running out of time and it's TOO LATE (when really there is so much possibility just around the corner)
preemptive despair is such a good term!! Society is so self-optimising that we race against this pervasive invisible clock. Why are people feeling pre-emptive despair in their 20’s!??
Londoner here, you're so right about both the accents (my northern one is slowly dissipating) and how joyous everyone is around a bank hol! Also been meaning to read Javier Marias for ages and this is the push I needed. I've picked that book up in my local bookshop so many times!
One of my favorite things about London is the huge range of accents—not just those from Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, &c but from elsewhere in the UK! When I was living there, it was so purely exciting to be on the street and catch stray bits of conversation.
Marías is so so interesting—his stream-of-consciousness approach (in this novel, at least; I haven't read other ones) seems to focus a lot on imagined conversations, and the protagonist responding to/rebuffing/contradicting other people. It's funny to read these long dialogues and then realize that it's all what the protagonist WANTS to say…or she's preparing for the POSSIBILITY that a certain topic might arise…but what actually happens is totally different
Thank you for this post and for saying about that Brian Eno book! I'll have to get that from the library as I really like his work
His diaries are so fun!! Eno's keen intelligence and curiosity just come out so clearly, and the way he talks about the things he's reading, the topics he's interested in…it all feels very youthful and fresh and jubilant. Reading his diary actually made me very excited about getting older—it really showed me the kind of vigor and excitement that's possible well into middle age. He doesn't seem like he's set in his artistic habits at all, but is always trying out something new
You make me want to read them even more now! Annoyingly, my library didn't have it but I will definitely be keeping a look out
I'd like to think I'd have learned a little foresight on this front by now, but more often than not selections for vacation reading usually take place in a panic, at the airport - while I still have wifi to make some last minute e-book purchases. This time it was..
Deep Utopia - Nick Bordstrom
The Crisis Of Narration - Byung-Chul Han
Piraensi - Susanna Clarke
Morphotrophic - Greg Egan
Feeling you on the location of a read permeating the text. Piranesi is forever linked going to linked to Greece in my brain. The architecture mentioned in the book, all of it built from marble - is already morphing into the angular white buildings of Milos when I think back on the work.
wow, this is a great vacation lineup! I really love Piranesi (imo a masterclass in creating extremely absorbing suspense/uncertainty…definitely one of the best novels I've read in the last few years). Reading it in Greece, around all the ruins, sounds perfect.
also very curious about Byung-Chul Han's The Crisis of Narration (right now I'm torn between really loving plotless/fragmentary novels, and wishing that people would just shape their prose up into a coherent thread!!)
Echo everything you've said about Piranesi. All points. It made me feel the way I felt the first time I read House of Leaves. Eerie, creeping, horror-not-horror. Impossible architecture. I feel lucky to have read it.
'Crisis' was the first piece of Han's writing that I'd read. I'd bookmarked a few bits of Han critisism (the most noteworthy/talked about, bits?) before I read it, and dove into those bookmarks immediately after finishing 'Crisis'. Actually felt like a nice way to go about it. Conclusion was that many of the critisms of his writing are quite hollow, and many sound simply..jealous. I like him.
Really dig your 'everything I read' missives. Please keep them coming : )
Yes, MAK was wonderful. We plan to return to Vienna in the next year, so thank you for the book recommendation.
I love visiting design/applied art museums when I travel, and MAK might be one of my favorites…I went when there was a really comprehensive exhibit of Thonet bentwood chairs, and it really made me appreciate the technique and all the different aesthetic possibilities it offers!
I hope you have a lovely trip back to Vienna—Loos might be a perfect companion (almost hilariously opinionated and snobbish about his design tastes)
OMG we saw the chairs, too!
You've inspired me to give kierkegaard another chance by your footnote. I couldn't get into his writing on anxiety, though I wanted to. I'll try Either/Or.
Also, I recently watched Old Fox (2023) (老狐狸) and I really, really enjoyed it. It came to mind as a beautiful taiwanese coming of age film that has a more nuanced ending than most in the genre in general.
ETA: oh oh! edited to add! in 2019 I finished my first ever read through of the odyssey while on holiday on the island of naxos. banging.
I am also trying and failing to get into Kierkegaard's writing about anxiety…Either/Or was more interesting to me because it felt more literary than philosophical, and there's so much stylistic range in it! (and it still does have Kierkegaard's ideas on what makes for an ethical, meaningful, virtuous life, where you take yourself seriously instead of frittering away existence with self-denial and frivolous concerns)
I'll have to look for Old Fox—I'm intrigued, especially because my girlfriend really didn't like Taipei Story's ending (she found it too didactic/moralising, since it's very clear who ends up better off/worse off)
reading the Odyssey on an island, surrounded by water and Grecian architecture, really seems ideal…this makes me want to plan a more island/beach/tropical holiday next year!
Love it. Edward Yang is one of the true masters.
I really want to watch all his films—such beautiful composition in each shot (love the domestic scenes especially), and he does such a good job of moving between multiple characters and their separate/intersecting dramas
Definitely bring books on holiday - one of the things I look forward to the most! It ends up being the moments in between (airports, long train rides, moments just before bed) that provide the most time to read but the great joys of a holiday I find is always a slow breakfast/lunch/afternoon tea or time lounging on the beach with a book. I usually bring a longer book with me that I've trying to get through but highlight of the vacation is usually going to the local indy bookshop and picking up a fiction (set in the city/country) and a non-fiction that covers the city/country and its current sociological, sociopolitical or historical climate that I can then enjoy over the course of the holiday. Really adds to understanding the place I'm in.
yes, the slow lunch/afternoon tea with a book is so perfect…I used to travel alone a lot, and my favorite thing to do was have a luxuriously long lunch and just sit for ages in the same place, reading and occasionally peoplewatching
it's actually very rare for me to buy books ON the holiday and read them during—but I really like your approach of picking something from an indie bookstore and using it to inform the trip!
on my recent trip, i realized i'd packed poorly—in relation to my books at least! lol!! i had about 4-5 books with me and none of them gripped me! i'm still trying to figure out the right balance of books to bring on a trip but i do find it fun to read books from the country i am visiting before the trip as it helps me contextualize the city/country once i am there.
this is very relatable (sadly!) I've made this mistake so often—if I pack ONE book, somehow it usually turns out okay…but if I pack multiple options, it's so easy to feel a bit unhappy with all of them
and yes, there is something nice about a vaguely directed reading list—I actually don't spend too much time learning about other cultures/histories when I'm at home (I'm usually myopically focused on my own), so vacations force me to broaden that a bit
Your reflections are always lovely to read!! I especially enjoyed your concept of reading as a way of remembering a city, or seeing it from a new vantage point. Since I arrived in Buenos Aires a year ago, I've sought out a few of these experiences with books and essays. My favorite has been Optic Nerve by María Gainza, which I read in Spanish. It's a short story collection (sort of) with elements of autofiction and art criticism, in which the author in each chapter (or story) seeks out a piece of artwork found in Buenos Aires and dives into its history as well as how it affects her, or who in her life it reminds her of. From Toulouse-Lautrec and Courbet to some lesser-known Argentine artists, it's intimate and poignant and delightful, and I've enjoyed going to some of the museums to see those artworks after the fact. (I think you'd like it, Celine!)
oh, Optic Nerve sounds great—I love autofiction, art criticism, and very personal/subjectively situated criticism (people narrating their own experiences of encountering a work, so that you can slip into it and imagine how your encounter would feel…)
really want to find a copy of this now, thank you so much for mentioning!! it seems so lovely to read that book as a kind of tour guide–y experience to Buenos Aires's museums
Lots of great stuff here Celine. I took several books with me on our summer trip to Italy. However, other than the plane ride I never read. It was fine though as we stayed plenty busy and I have time on my hands to read now but I always think vacation is going to be a great chance to read and then for some reason I don't get around to it.