Well, I’m no closer to a full-time podcast comeback, but I thought I’d send out an end-of-month update.

I’m supposed to record a remote podcast tomorrow, so there should be a new episode out soon. The guest & I were planning for an in-person two weeks ago, but it didn’t pan out.

I’m still posting at my Patreon occasional (free!) updates about progress on my GUEST/HOST Instax photo book (the main reason I’m taking this pod-hiatus), so I won’t go into the writing weeds with you here, except to note that I’ve discovered new ways of procrastinating and psyching myself out about writing. (Writing this newsletter is not a new way of procrastinating; it’s a time-tested way.)

For this installment, I thought I’d fill you in on what I’ve been reading this year. I’ve been wondering for a long time what I’d be reading if I wasn’t reading for the podcasts; only one of these has been for a pod-guest (unless Pynchon returns my invite haha).

Books I’ve Finished

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead – Olga Tokarczuk (tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones)

Shadow Ticket – Thomas Pynchon

H Is For Hawk – Helen MacDonald

Departure(s) – Julian Barnes

The Dark-Robed Mother: A Memoir – Rachel Tzvia Back

Selected Poems – Frank O’Hara (ed. Mark Ford)

On the Calculation of Volume (Book II) – Solvej Balle (tr. Barbara J Haveland)

Books I’m Meandering Through

Erik Satie Three Piece Suite - Ian Penman

The Pursuit of Art: Travels, encounters and revelations - Martin Gayford

The Wild Iris - Louise Glück

Austerlitz - W.G. Sebald

Books I’m Dipping Into For Various Reasons

Blind Spot - Teju Cole

The Art of the Personal Essay - ed. Phillip Lopate

What Artists Wear - Charlie Porter

The Selected Works of Samuel Beckett (Because I attended Bill Irwin’s On Beckett performance at the Shakespeare Theater Co. in DC last week)

The Dyer’s Hand - W.H. Auden

On The Couch: Twenty Extraordinary Personalities, from Picasso to Putin - Andrew Jamieson

Cultural Amnesia - Clive James

I also read Sven Birkerts’ daily pieces; that’s why I broke my pod-silence this month and recorded a conversation with him.

Man alive, that Pynchon novel was an utter joy, and if it’s the last book he publishes, I’m glad we got it. O’Hara was a revelation, and wound up fueling a couple of the pieces for my book. I enjoy Balle’s series, but it reminds me too much of my depression experience last year, when the same day keeps repeating itself. Which isn’t to say I’m out of those dark woods; the last month or so has been rough on me, but I’m trying to manage it.

Here’s a little BIRDY! for you.

Recent podcast episodes: Sven Birkerts • Indefinite Hiatus monologue • The Guest List • Jonathan Sandler • Morten Høi Jensen • Prue Shaw • Glenn Kurtz

Every book (non-comics) that I’ve finished since 1989.

If you want to help out with Virtual Memories Show expenses — this email runs $29/month, podcast-hosting is $25/month, and the remote recording account is $20/month — or otherwise Contribute To The Cause, you can make a one-time contribution of any size via Stripe, or a recurring one via Patreon. Or maybe save your money for when I launch the Kickstarter for my book.

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CONTENTMAXXXXXXXXXXXXXING

I don’t want to share too much about my life and how I’m living it, but here are some photos from February.

Postcardery

My postcard-a-day habit is NOT on hiatus, so let me know if you want to be on my list.

Until Next Time

Thanks for reading this far. See you next time, I hope.

Monkey men all / In business suit / Teachers and critics / All dance the poot,