BONUS SECOND INTRO NOTICE: I will be at AWP! Please say hello if you would like, I would be stoked to talk to you. I am not scheduled to do anything, so if you have any open reading slots, holler. I\u2019m not really on Twitter but I check DMs<\/a> there, same with Discord (I\u2019m @chriscorlew). Hope to see you in KC!<\/em><\/p> It feels like there\u2019s been a lot of dialogue lately about whether or not people actually read books. I referenced Nicholas Russell\u2019s piece last week<\/a>, saw some pot-stirring on Bluesky about \u201cquit whining about your TBR list and just read,\u201d there\u2019s been some dismissive \u201cI\u2019m sure the good liberals will buy the right books\u201d stuff in things I\u2019ve read this week. <\/p> Having been a person who read a lot of books, then didn\u2019t read hardly any books, and now reads at least 50 per year because of an idiot blog, I will say: reading books is good. Reading books is also a time commitment. Reading books also changes you\u2014whether that\u2019s learning life-altering information or just brightening your mood because the author spun a good yarn or the poet tickled your brain just right. What I\u2019ve learned: sitting and spending all the time it takes to read a whole book (or actively listening, I guess) is a worthwhile endeavor for your brain. Being intentional and thoughtful with what you read is worthwhile, because even as the pace of life quickens, you never really get any faster at reading. And change can be subtle and subliminal or some sort of conscientious adaptation\u2014it\u2019s up to you. <\/p> Mostly, this stuff is supposed to be fun. Why do y\u2019all hate fun so much? <\/p> What I\u2019ve Been Reading This Week: <\/strong><\/p> Speaking of supposed to be fun, oh boy did I treat myself this week. After 1400 pages of US history for the last three weeks, I ran to poetry and horror fiction like they were Claudio the Tamale Guy walking into a bar at midnight. For the short fiction, I dug into an anthology. I love anthologies, but haven\u2019t been reading them too much since starting this blog. Part of the joy of an anthology is picking it up every now and again, reading a couple pieces, then setting it aside\u2014doesn\u2019t lend itself as much to what I like to do here, but is great when you have a newborn baby strapped your chest 10-12 hours a day (which was my life for a year). Anyway, after all that history, I picked up two books I knew would be fun, so of course I reached for The Bean Eaters<\/em> by Gwendolyn Brooks and Out There Screaming<\/em> edited by Jordan Peele.<\/p> From <\/strong>Out There Screaming<\/strong><\/em>: \u201cReckless Eyeballing\u201d by N.K. Jemisin, \u201cFlicker,\u201d by L.D. Lewis, and \u201cLasir\u00e8n\u201d by Erin E. Adams: <\/strong>Jemisin and Lewis are two writers whose online presence I like, but I hadn\u2019t dug into their work yet. It\u2019s great! And the Adams\u2014that story really grabbed me, reminded me of Jamaica Kincaid<\/a>. <\/strong>These three are varying degrees of high concept, creeping terror, and fable, and two of them made me go \u201coh dude that demon is coming for you, I\u2019m sorry, there\u2019s nothing you can do\u201d on the second page, then didn\u2019t disappoint. The third one told me running for my life was pointless. If these three stories are any indication, this is an anthology of stories I would like to see Monkeypaw Productions option and make into movies. That\u2019s not to say movies>books. Short stories\u2014talking 2,500-8,000 words here\u2014are a literary form that really lend themselves to movie adaptations, I think. Plus I want all these writers to get PAID paid. <\/p> The Bean Eaters<\/strong><\/em> by Gwendolyn Brooks: <\/strong>Last April was my first serious time ever reading Gwendolyn Brooks<\/a>, and I\u2019m thrilled to report that The Bean Eaters <\/em>is every bit as wonderful as A Street in Bronzeville<\/em> or Maud Martha<\/em>. The language games (rhyme comes in and out of these poems in interesting ways), the varied lengths, the community scope of subject matter, the joys, the people who turn away from joy, the indignities, the celebrations\u2014if Gwendolyn Brooks was a WNBA player, you\u2019d call her \u201ca bucket\u201d or \u201ca problem.\u201d She writes poems the way you want someone to write poems. This Collected sure is awkwardly named, but damn, the book keeps on giving!<\/p> LINKS!<\/strong><\/p> New The Line Break<\/em> podcast! New year, nothing really new about my beloved Bob and me. We recorded late at night and our cats got in the way. Bob reads \u201cCommunity Check-In\u201d by Sam Herschel Wein, I read \u201cJohn Wayne Niles \u2026 .–\u2026–.- \u2026\/ – — Ermias Joseph Asghedom\u201d by Mahogany L. Browne (stayed my favorite poem in <\/a>Four Hundred Souls<\/a><\/em>), and then we both have a whole lotta egg on our faces\u2014that can\u2019t be the saying, can it?\u2014about how we didn\u2019t think Kawhi Leonard and James Harden would be awesome together.<\/p><\/li> To put a button on my project reading US history (Part One<\/a> | Part Two<\/a> | Part Three<\/a> | Part Four<\/a> | Part Five<\/a> | Part Six<\/a> | Part Seven<\/a>), this Daily Zeitgeist <\/a><\/em>interview with , author of <\/a>Be A Revolution<\/a><\/em>, is really great<\/a>. Dare I say inspiring? Individuals on their own cannot overcome systemic, structural problems. That said, between learning the quiet ways in which people have rebelled in the past and then hearing Ijeoma talk? Got my wheels spinning about individual choices that do<\/em> matter, like quiet quitting or composting. <\/p><\/li> Inquest<\/a><\/em> has an excerpt from Angela Y. Davis\u2019s new book about how abolition to help mend democracy<\/a>. Prison abolition was being talked about in 1943<\/em>. A better world is possible, the Establishment just works hard<\/em> to make sure we don\u2019t think that it is. <\/p><\/li> After leaving her publisher because of their silence on the genocide in Palestine, Bosnian-Serbian author Lana Basta\u0161i\u0107 was disinvited from a residency in Austria. The way Basta\u0161i\u0107 responded is blistering (with Dan Sheehan at <\/a>Lit Hub<\/a><\/em> reporting)<\/a>. Personally, I\u2019m not sure how I\u2019d recover after \u201cI do not know what literature means to you outside of networking and grants. To me it means, first and foremost, an unwavering love for human beings and the sanctity of human life\u201d or \u201cIt is my political and human opinion that children should not be slaughtered and that German cultural institutions should know better when it comes to genocide.\u201d<\/p><\/li> At Defector<\/a><\/em>, David Roth asks: \u201cHow Will The Golden Age Of Making It Worse End?\u201d<\/a> This mostly about Boeing\u2019s move from a company culture of \u201csafety\u201d to a company culture of \u201cfinancial bullshit.\u201d Those are real quotes from a former Boeing physicist<\/a>. Reminder: Boeing makes airplanes. A pull quote because Defector <\/em>is subscription-based (but worth it!): \u201c\u2026I\u2019d also submit that [Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci] and his cohort has <\/strong>no idea<\/strong><\/em>\u2014no idea how much anger there is about what he and his cohort have done to make every aspect of life flatter and crueler and riskier and worse, and no idea how lucky he is that all that rage is still being pointed in, and not up.\u201d<\/strong> <\/em><\/p><\/li> If you are of a certain age and read SLAM<\/em> magazine, Scoop Jackson is a legend. I mean, he\u2019s been at ESPN and the Sun-Times<\/em>, too. In my mind, though, Scoop\u2019s coolness and vibe always makes me associate him with SLAM<\/em>. Scoop\u2019s written George Gervin\u2019s new autobiography, and he sat down with Lee Edwards for an interview in <\/a>The Triibe<\/a>.<\/em><\/p><\/li><\/ul> What\u2019re you still doing here? Go watch one of the coolest hoopers of all time do one of the coolest moves in basketball over and over again. <\/p>![\"Blacks](\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/3cacd0fd-e29f-4223-b39d-41ee50e8dd20.heic\")
<\/figure>