I wrote about this yesterday: I can’t decide how I want to write about the books I read. This has been an ongoing issue. I’ve tried listicles, tried one-offs, tried month-in-review recaps and I often find a hard time making time. One of the issues is that I always find myself writing about books a few weeks after I read them—and then the weeks turn into months and suddenly it’s the end of the year and I’m trying to write about every single book I read. 

So here’s a new one. It’s January 10th. It’s a new year. Time is a construct. I haven’t finished reading a single book yet in 2022, but I’ve read bits and pieces of many. This is how I operate. One of the blog posts I’ve considered writing for a long time and have never written is “How Many Books Should a Person Read at a Time?” For me, the answer is somewhere between three and seven at any given moment. 

So, let’s take a look at what content I’ve consumed so far this year—books (paper, digital, audio), movies, television, articles, et cetera et cetera—and some notes on all of them. 

Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler; Translated by Shaun Whiteside

Status: Halfway through

Medium: Audiobook

After reading When We Cease to Understand the World, I wanted to read more like it. I don’t know if there’s a single book that resembles When We Cease to Understand the World. It’s a unicorn. The first chapter of WWCtUtW concerns the use of Pervitin by soldiers and Nazis and basically every German in World War II, while Blitzed is an entire book of that first chapter. I have still not finished The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich but I do appear to be teetering on the edge of becoming one of those middle-aged white guys who only reads books about WW2.

The Seventh Function of Language by Laurent Binet, translated by Sam Taylor

Status: 60 pages in

Medium: Hardcover

One of my favorite books of all time is HHhH by Laurent Binet. I’ve read it twice and expect to read it more. The Seventh Function of Language is the second novel by Binet, a mystery where Roland Barthes (of the internet’s beloved “Death of the Author” and more) is the victim. 

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

Status: A few chapters in

Medium: Audiobook

If you read my 2021 reading list, then you know that I cannot stop reading page turners and thrillers, even when I don’t enjoy them. I’ve previously only read one book by Moriarty. Truly, Madly, Guilty, a book whose central thrilling moment is so borderline irrelevant that the novel starts to melt into existential absurdism or social satire. Maybe that was her intention. Either way, I liked it. I tried reading Big Little Lies but realized about 100 pages into it that I don’t need to read a book that has been adapted into a television show I watched and enjoyed. This one seems to be more of a conventional thriller, one with a missing woman at the center of it. 

Little Drummer Girl by John le Carré

Status: Just reached chapter three

Medium: Kindle and Audiobook (synching between)

I can’t stop reading le Carre. This is his novel around the Israel-Palestine conflict. Excited to see how it develops.

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

Status: Just started

Medium: Hardcover

I read the first five pages of this. I got it for my wife for Christmas. It’s good. It’s about social media. I don’t know if I’ll prioritize it. It felt a little too real. 

The Americans (TV show)

Status: Somewhere in season 1.

Medium: Streaming

The TV show. I watched half an episode when it was really cold out and then decided to go for a walk instead, during which I listened to Apples Never Fall. It’s a good show though. 

The first sentence of Stupeur et tremblements by Amélie Nothomb, in French

Status: Read a sentence, unable to continue before learning French

Medium: Paperback

I found this in a little free library on a walk. I am trying to learn French on my phone through one of those apps. I was able to read the first sentence. Not the second. I was able to grasp the general idea of the back of the book cover with no specifics. I would have failed a test on it. 

Yellowjackets

Status: Watched seven episodes

Medium: Streaming

Showtime show. Good. Watch it. Like Lord of the Flies meets Stephen King’s IT meets the real-life rugby team that crashed in the mountains and resorted to cannibalism. We’ve watched 7 episodes so far; 8 have been released, and there will be a total of 10. I assume this is a one-season show but I haven’t googled it out of fear of spoilers. 

StartUp (TV show)

Status: Somewhere in season 2

Medium: Streaming

This show is pretty nuts. It’s not the best show I’ve ever seen but it’s an entertaining, enthralling watch. In short, it’s “Breaking Bad in Miami with crypto instead of meth.” 

Sibelius’s 2nd and 7th Symphonies

Status: Experienced

Medium: Live at the Minnesota Orchestra

We saw a few of his symphonies at the Minnesota Orchestra on New Years Day. It was beautiful.

Thief (1981 film)

Status: Watched

Medium: Streaming, rental

Michael Mann’s first film. Great. Pairs well with Heat. James Caan is incredible. His wild performance, including screaming “I’M A THIEF” in a car, is on par with Pacino’s most unhinged moments. (See: “IN A GARBAGE BAG” in Insomnia)  

The Hunt (2020 film)

Status: Watched

Medium: Streaming

This movie was at the center of some sort of controversy I never paid attention to. Now it’s available to stream on HBO. It was pretty good! A little more violent than I expected. I’d recommend it over Don’t Look Up; more nuanced, funnier, less predictable.

LinkedIn and Twitter

Status: Ongoing

Medium: Themsevles

I looked at each of these social media platforms every day, several times a day. I did not look at either of them on my phone; I have managed to avoid social media on my phone so far this year, unless you count texting (which maybe you should.) I also use each of these for work-related activities.  I did not look at Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or any of the other ancillaries.

The News

Status: Ongoing

Mediums: Apps on my phone, websites, paper magazines (GQ and The Economist specifically)

Various articles on various online platforms, mostly Bloomberg and The Economist and The New York Times and Gizmodo and GQ and Clickhole and The Onion or whatever. None of the individual articles are worth listing here, as none of them loom in my brain right now. 

Wait, this Economist article about Trading Places.

Status: I read the entire article

Medium: I read it on my phone

Here is is. You should read it.

EDIT: I forgot I also saw The Matrix: Resurrections. I’ll have to write more about that in the future.

So, how many books should a person read at a time? And it this a good style of blog post that I should do again?

Stay tuned for the answers! Will this be my format moving forward? I don’t know. I also didn’t include music in here because that would be way too much, but I’m listening to Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your Man as I write this. Also, The Waterboys. (Band, not movie.)

And yes, it is an ongoing goal of mine to write one blog post a week, something I am never able to sustain. Let’s see if this is the year I change it.