Yesterday I worked at the library. I’m reviewing two books and wanted a quiet place to read.
I’m fortunate to have a DC library branch five minutes from home. I’m there every week to take out books. I also order audio books online. Since the pandemic, audio books have become a regular part of my reading life. It feels like anything I want to listen to is available at the library. Astonishing.
I found an easy chair in front of a big window and spent the day reading. It was wonderful. I wish everyone had the chance to do this. Libraries are oases of calm. They contain worlds upon worlds.
Libraries are temples. While we were in London, we saw Shakespeare’s first folio on display at the British Library.
I just listened to Percival Everett’s ERASURE (borrowed from my library of course), the story behind American Fiction. Everett is a fantastic writer, a skewer of stereotypes, and a first rate humorist. If you work anywhere near the book industry, there’s a lot to laugh (or cry) about in this book.
Here’s my interview with Judith Lindbergh about her Central Asian epic, AKMARAL, coming May 7. AKMARAL [also discussed here], grew out of a capacious imagination and dogged curiosity.
I enjoyed the THE SKIN AND ITS GIRL, a debut novel by Sarah Cypher, nominally about a girl born with blue skin, but really about prejudice, queer love, family love, and life in the Palestinian diaspora.
I hope spring is blossoming wherever you are.
Love, Martha
ICYMI, here’s a link to last week’s newsletter: New creative writing; travel notes
Thank you so much for the interview and the shout out, Martha!
Martha, I'm sharing this with my 24 year old daughter Olivia. She is currently a CPA and her plan for a future "mommy job" when her potential kids are small is to get her Masters of Library Science and work in her favorite place in the world: a cozy, comfortable, well-stocked library.