Artificial Condition, The Murderbot Diaries #2, Martha Wells
The Future of Another Timeline, Annalee Newitz
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
Light from Uncommon Stars, Ryka Aoki
A Minor Chorus, Billy-Ray Belcourt
America the Beautiful?, Blythe Roberson
All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks
The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller
Yellowface, R.F. Kuang

as part of my effort to remove my participation from any commercial Amazon property, I migrated my reading list to The Storygraph. I was very excited about it this spring and summer and read a lot of books, but fell off at the end of the year. I feel like I should maintain a list myself, but these websites makes it much easier for me to keep track of what I want to read. maybe I need to embrace communicating with booksellers more and forgo the websites all together.

over the past handful of years, I've come to the realization that I don't want to be a maker of new things. I am talking specifically about digital products, how I approach jobs and working, but it's more than just how to engage in my vocation. I am more interested in fixing things that are broken or improving things that aren't cutting it anymore. I try to purchase new (to me) goods at thrift stores, via eBay, Craigslist, or a buy-nothing group.

I'm incredibly drawn to artists who have incorporated some of these anti-consumer ideals in the artwork: almost all of Mierle Laderman Ukeles work is about this, Agnes Denes' Wheatfields for Manhattan feels apt, and Tehching Hsieh's work is so anti-making anything that it goes past the idea of care taking and into (imo) questioning everything we do.

in 2024, I read Blythe Roberson's America the Beautiful? and was reminded of all this. while driving to a national parks that she's never been to, and running into the same folks in different parts of the country, she starts to question what the hell are we doing? even trying to enjoy the outdoors turns into a capitalist nightmare. so I guess I'm asking, how can we better do nothing? or change our thoughts on non-payable work that we consider chores or caretaking?

At the end of 2023, I went to the Seattle Art Museum to see the Alexander Calder exhibition Calder: In Motion and as expected, I really enjoyed myself. Seeing the work in motion is really something else.

One unexpected thing was seeing this photograph of Alexander Calder taken by Gordon Parks:

First, I don't think I had ever seen a photograph of Calder before? I don't know what I was expecting, but it probably should have been this, and second I didn't know who Gordon Parks was, and I didn't really think about it.

But at the library a week or so later, I pulled out a book that I thought seemed interesting, and opened it up at random. And guess what, there he was again. Gordon Parks. Alexander Calder.

Life is a little funny. It wanted me to know Gordon Parks and now I do.

Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky #2), Rebecca Roanhorse
The Sophie Horowitz Story, Sarah Schulman
Girls, Visions and Everything, Sarah Schulman
Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh
Piranesi, Susanna Clarke
My Rock 'n' Roll Friend, Tracey Thorn
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1), Martha Wells
Beverly, Nick Drnaso
The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth #3), N.K. Jemisin
Small Game, Blair Braverman
The Lying Life of Adults, Elena Ferrante
Severance, Ling Ma
Shadow & Claw, Gene Wolfe
Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
Second Place, Rachel Cusk
Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel

Notes:

I really love Sarah Schulman's fictional work, and I keep reading it instead of her non-fiction. I've had Conflict is not Abuse on my to-read list for a long time, but I haven't felt the pull quite yet. Maybe 2024 is the year.

I started the Broken Earth trilogy in 2022 and finished it this year. While frustrating at times, I thought the world building was incredible and I picked up Shadow & Claw per recommendations to fill the void. The void still exists.

A couple of themes came up: love (romantic, platonic, self), pandemics, time-travel. I read more than one time-travel pandemic book this year which is odd, considering I had read zero before.

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange—
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—
They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.

— Wendy Cope

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