3 books to read right now

+ links, links, links

January may be my favorite reading month. It’s cold, dark at 4 p.m., and tbh, there’s not much else to do. (Except go to the movies! And craft!).

There’s also the enticement of a blank slate, choosing books on a whim because why not? I have the whole rest of the year to get to my TBR.

So far, this year’s selections fall into two categories: experimental books I didn’t feel like taking on over the holidays or books that didn’t quite make the 2024 cut because of library waiting lists.

To my surprise, this accidental system has paid off handsomely. So far, three of January’s books are the best I’ve read in months. I’ll be thrilled if the rest of the year delivers like this. May this newsletter serve as a reminder to actually open the books you thought about last year!

Colored Television by Danzy Senna

This is a classic January book. I’d been on the Libby waiting list forever, and when I finally could borrow, I was already deep into three other books and it soon expired. I rejoined the waiting list, and it happened again. And again.

So when I saw a paperback copy in a bookstore after New Year’s, I bought it. And I am so glad I did.

Colored Television follows Jane, a biracial professor in Los Angeles struggling with her career, marriage, and slipping sense of relevance. Living in a rich friend’s home, she and her family cosplay as wealthy Angelenos, banking on her 400-page magnum opus (a self-labeled “War and Peace for mulattos”) to propel her to tenure and financial security. When that blows up, she enters into an uneasy professional relationship with a hotshot television executive who promises big dollar signs.

I fell in love with Senna’s writing when I read New People in 2017. All of her books discuss biracial identity, given her desire to “write myself into existence,” as she explained to NPR’s Terry Gross. While her husband’s National Book Award winner James got all the flowers this year, you’d be foolish to sleep on this one.

Read if you like: Tyler Perry discourse, The Vanishing Half, feeling ill over the price of an Erewhon smoothie but ordering one anyway.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

my heavily post-noted and annotated copy of Martyr!

(Hopefully) jinxing myself, but I would be genuinely shocked if another book this year comes close to Martyr! This is another classic January read, in that I was initially hesitant to pick it up given the unusual form and subject matter. I normally loathe dream sequences, and almost wrote this book off on that alone. Oh, silly Alli!

In the broadest strokes, Martyr! follows a young Iranian-American poet named Cyrus attempting to remain sober and finish a book about history’s various martyrs. Cyrus’ disposition is entwined with his orphan identity — his immigrant father recently died after working for decades in a poultry plant, and his mother was killed on an Iranian plane mistakenly shot out of the sky by an obtuse American military.

Struggling to find direction for his book and for himself, Cyrus travels with his best friend to New York to interview another Iranian artist, Orkideh, as she spends her last days answering questions about death in the Brooklyn Museum. Throughout the book, we meet various members of Cyrus’ orbit — both real and imagined.

If you feel overwhelmed, kindly ignore that feeling and pick up this book! I fear I’ve already said too much. Just READ IT. Please.

Read if you like: Ocean Vuong, A Visit from the Goon Squad, the scene in Deathly Hallows where Dumbledore meets Harry in imagined conversation at King’s Cross

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

I can’t believe The Safekeep is Dutch author Yael Van Der Wouden’s debut novel. Her writing is so practiced, so precise — and the plot is airtight. Even if you don’t like historical fiction, there’s something for you in this book.

Taking place in postwar Holland, The Safekeep follows Isabel, a tightly-wound woman in her late twenties who spends her time obsessively counting her family’s silverware and breathing down her maid’s neck.

When her errant brother dashes out of town and dumps his ditzy girlfriend Eva on the property, Isabel is livid. Eventually, however, the two form a close relationship, and sparks fly off the page. There’s a lot of superbly written sex in this book (a whole chapter!), but the best part is the ending — which sticks a perfect, gut punch of a landing. Five stars all around.

Read if you like: Virginia Woolf, The Dutch House, drooling over fancy furniture

via Book of the Month

📚 On my shelf

• I’m finally reading Intermezzo (I know, I know). It took me a second to get into it, and I still prefer the Ivan sections to Peter’s, but I think I’m getting the groove. No one writes the subtleties of relationship quite like Sally Rooney.

• I picked up two books at Saint George’s — Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and Minor Detail by Adania Shibli. Hoping to get to these soon!

📚 Links and things

• Self confirming what I already knew to be true: Doing nothing with your favorite people is really, really good for you 💗

• Kyra is the queen of YouTube videos, and while she was in Berlin, we spent a lot of time indulging in Timothée Chalamet fan edits and Jonathan Bailey interviews. But we also watched film critic David Ehrlich’s annual compendium of favorite movies from the year. Beautifully arranged and set to great music, this is a fantastic watch.

• 📺 Speaking of Jonathan Bailey… Have you seen Crashing? This 2016 sleeper hit about a group of friends squatting in a London hospital is perfect to watch in one sitting. When will Phoebe Waller Bridge bless us again!?

• You likely have already seen investigative reporter Lila Shapiro’s deep-dive into celebrated fantasy author Neil Gaiman. It’s a brutal read, and I think this Twitter user put it best: “Neil Gaiman is such a profound disappointment. He spent his life creating beautiful work for people who needed an escape all while secretly being exactly the monster so many of us needed the escape from. To me, that feels like a very specific, very sinister kind of betrayal.”

• This NYT visual piece on the world’s most famous nightclub, Berghain 🪩

Happy reading! 💛

XOX

Alli