Thanksgiving has come and gone. One set of holidays remain, the final gauntlet of this memorably tragic year. Many of us will spend the upcoming holiday as we spent the previous one: alone together, with virtual visits and imagined hugs, thinking about next year, or maybe the year after.
The good news, they say, is that there's a vaccine on the horizon. At the beginning of this thing, almost a year ago, now, I couldn't stop thinking about the novel Station Eleven. I could imagine, a little too easily, the dystopic stoppage of work, and then of electricity, and then of cars, and then of everything.
There's no question that I've read more books like this than is probably necessary, but it still feels like we're nearing that horizon. Like, yes, we will likely all be vaccinated and although hundreds of thousands of needless deaths occurred, most people will outlive this pandemic.
But something is coming next, it's at our heels, and what if we don't stop that one? What if the next thing is climate change, and we just let it keep killing us and the planet? What if it's an even more contagious disease? I used to laugh off the idea of a zombie apocalypse, but what if that's exactly where we're heading?
Here's hoping that the end of 2020 bring us out of this nightmare, and hopefully into an even marginally brighter future. I hope we get to hug in 2021.
|
|
|
|
|
We've been reading a lot lately as the weather gets colder and the days get shorter. Here's some of what I've liked recently:
People in the Trees, Hanya Yanigaraha: I did not think I'd like this novel, even though I positively WEPT reading A little Life. It's more of an adventure story, an entire new world made up. But wow. This one will stay with me for a long time.
Lost Children Archive, Valeria Luiselli: A novel broadly about the crisis at the Southern border, with a family drama mixed in? Yes please. Heartrending, well put together, smart, and written by a Mexican-American woman (unlike American Dirt).
The Way We Live Now, Susan Sontag: I finally bought myself the out of print, illustrated version of this story about the AIDS crisis. It's so beautiful and so extra difficult in this moment. For an excellent nonfiction look at the policy failures around AIDS, read the harrowing How to Survive a Plague, by David France—everyone's friend Dr. Fauci shows up from time to time.
|
|
 
Our living areas are almost done! I love them both so much, and I can't wait to be sitting with YOU on one of these couches.
|
|
|
As you read this: I've got my hiking boots on!
|
|
|
|
|
