Readings for December 4, 2022

I am barreling toward the end of the fall semester, with an Old English translation, a short presentation, an essay, and a final all due in the next two weeks. Also, I just sent a pretty long, in-depth essay on Thursday. (Thanks for reading that, everyone!) So recommendations are short but, as always, sincere this week.

I gave my overheated brain a treat by reading All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. It’s sci-fi, it’s magic, it’s AI, it’s friendship, it’s true love, it’s very good and satisfying.

If you’re looking for a new podcast about old books, listen to Backlisted, which has the tag line “giving new life to old books.” There are two regular hosts who invite usually two guests to read a book from years past — often decades past — then discuss it with intelligence and wit. They all also talk about what they’ve been reading recently, so it’s a great place to get new recommendations.

Sure, school is taking up a lot of my brain space, but I’ll be honest. I’m also watching at least one World Cup match a day. My sentimental favorite Wales is out, and now the US is out too. My prediction for a winner is France, but I’d like to see Japan joyfully take down all the soccer giants in the world too. Either way, I’m watching games and doing grad school until mid-December.

I’ve been thinking about this review in The Atlantic by Sophia Stewart about the more nefarious, cynical uses of narrative on the internet. If you also find yourself thinking about it, I’ve enabled chat for Useful & Strange. If you have the Substack app, it works like a semi-private social network. We’ll keep it focused on literature and reading and books for now and see where it goes.

I am tired. So is this cat.