This week, in addition to being enormously thankful for my family and friends, I am also incredibly grateful for this community of readers. You all are just amazing and I can’t say it enough: thank you for your reading and giving this newsletter a slice of your attention.
Of course, I’m also thankful for books. A few that stand out, and why:
Holes by Louis Sachar. At least in my memory, this is the children’s book that first got me truly hooked on reading. I’ve read it a couple of times even as an adult and still enjoy it.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Every sentence of this book is perfect. This is the novel that got me out of exclusively reading thrillers and adventure stories.
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanathi. Possibly the best, most impactful book I’ve ever encountered. I’ve read it three times, each of those being shortly after the birth of my three kids. Life-changingly good, trust me.
Your turn. Which books are you most thankful for? The one that hooked you into the pleasures of reading, the comfort read you return to again and again, the book that fundamentally changed how you see the world?
All three of these are great, excellent choices. I choose: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (first book I cried real tears when it was over), East of Eden by Steinbeck (for obvious reasons: literary perfection), The Shipping News by Annie Proulx (the one I re-read once a year for guaranteed feel-goods) and, of course, Pride and Prejudice, which was the first “grown-up” book I ever read when I was a kid. It made me sense infinite possibilities in the written word.
Ah so tricky! There are so many! Dune maybe, which gave me so much pleasure as a teenager. Midnight's Children made me giddy with excitement for what words can do. Alan Garner's Treacle Walker, which taught me the value of reading slowly. And of course, War and Peace – for all the people I have met through reading it with them.