A Dream Come True
Dear Readers,
Before I turn on the faucet and gush, let me remind you that you're getting this newsletter because you expressed interest in boring things, and specifically in a book just published called DEMOCRACY'S DATA. You can always unsubscribe here.
If, on the other hand, you cannot get enough, then I invite you to join me tomorrow at 6pm ET for an online talk hosted by the New England Historic Genealogical Society. This is my first time trying to distill the entire book down to a 30-minute spiel. Register here and tell me if it works!
Now commences the gushing.
Yesterday, this happened.
Upon seeing it, my mom texted me: "May I say I told you so?!!!!"
Indeed, she had told me so.
The review was a total surprise. A friend alerted me that it existed, at around 8 in the morning. Once I read it, I felt such extraordinary relief.
A bone-deep relief.
My local branch of the New York Public Library has two copies of DEMOCRACY'S DATA. But I have yet to visit them. I thought about going on Saturday, or I considered sending my child to confirm their existence while I was at work. Something stopped me, though.
I have discovered so many books at the NYPL, in that very branch---books that have influenced me deeply, books that I love.
For example, one day, a few years ago, I was sitting in the Inwood NYPL writing, when out of the corner of my eye a spine caught my attention. It read "The Beautiful Burea" and then the rest of the title was obscured by a library call-number sticker. The final word could only be "Bureaucrat." This I instantly and correctly surmised. Soon I discovered the book inside, by Helen Phillips, was compelling, elegant, and profoundly strange, in the best way. There's so much to recommend this book, but I think it's crowning achievement is the way it evokes the visceral reality of bureaucracy---in Phillips' hands, office work takes on bones and blood and skin. (I should also remark here that Phillips' next novel, The Need is even better---it manages to transmute the ordinary, exhausting tasks of parenting young children into a page-turning thriller.)
Reader, as I thought about my own book sitting there on an NYPL shelf where someone like me might someday discover it, well...
...I guess I panicked.
Where did I get off, importuning my neighbors with this book?
What if every person who picked it up found it lacking?
I guess I held off on visiting the book in the library because I was afraid of seeing it there on the shelf, afraid it would be like that forever, gathering dust, growing mold. And even more afraid that someone would pick it up and say "ugh, why?!"
Then Alexandra Jacobs, a book critic for the New York Times called the book "endearingly nerdy," as well as "ruminative and rich." Fittingly the review ended with a pun: "it makes the dull old census a feast for the senses."
The thing I like most about Jacobs' review, though, is that she treated DEMOCRACY'S DATA like literature, noting "a poet's flair for wordplay," and wrote her review in the same playful and poetic spirit. Please take a minute and read the entire thing.
My Mom had told me she thought people would read it. She told me just to wait and see: the Times would review it, and like it.
Mom, I know you're reading this: you were right!
And now I feel ready. The next chance I have, I'm heading over to the NYPL to visit my book, unless someone else gets there first.
Before I go, I should note another familial reaction.
I told my partner Lucas about the review, and after he congratulated me, I added that the review mentioned him too.
"Oh," he said, "I had better make sure my website looks good."
Reader, you can decide for yourself, but I love it: those colors, those clean lines, that photo!
For those of you in or near Colorado: you can see Lucas perform on September 24. The opera is As One, a piece that features two singers, a mezzo soprano and a baritone, bringing to life together one person's story. Lucas will be accomplishing a frankly amazing feat: after performing the mezzo role multiple times, he'll make his debut in the baritone role too!
That's all for now.
Thanks, as always, for reading!
Dan
p.s. If you have purchased DEMOCRACY'S DATA and want a signed bookplate to adorn its flyleaf, just reply to this e-mail with your address.