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I want to be able to read books. Trust me, I do. It will help me get even better as a writer — to cultivate my already strong ability. But it is increasingly hard for me to finish them. I am halfway through Moby Dick, and like fifty pages through Emma Cline’s The Guest. Somehow, I can only finish The Jordan Rules, a spectacular book about Michael Jordan being a maniac and the quest for a championship by the 1990-1991 Bulls. (I highly recommend it. Sam Smith is a great sportswriter). For some reason, my brain doesn’t have enough discipline. My friend Naomi thinks “I’m just a young man figuring out art and life”, but I want to be able to read. The infamous How Long Gone podcast believes that it is thirsty to read, and I honestly don’t disagree with Mr. Black and Mr. Stewart, but it is objectively a good thing to be able to read. Kanye didn’t read, and look what happened to him. He literally got dumber and more mentally ill as the years went on. So, I recommend fake reading. At least, the ten pages a day you read will allow you to feel like you read something. Articles aren’t enough: fake read a book, and you’ll do your community service for a day.
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As someone who just got back into reading in the last couple of years, I totally understand the frustration of having free time, a shelf full of good books and yet somehow you’re never finishing them or even picking those sweeties up! Here are some tips that helped me be a better reader:
1. Get a Goodreads account and add your friends! While the app itself is pretty clunky, i still love it for getting back into reading because it lets you set goals for yourself, find new reads and more importantly see what your friends are reading (This last one helps me stay accountable, I don’t want my book nerd friends to catch me slacking). I also love being able to write reviews of the books I’ve read.
2. Instead of watching tv or scrolling before bed, read for at least 15 minutes every night. I’ve found this goal to be helpful because it’s attainable, plus reading before bed helps me unplug and sleep better.
3. Start small with shorter or simpler books before building your way back up to longer ones. This was crucial for me coming off of a heavy scrolling/tik tok era when my attention span was especially shot.
5d ago
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not an avid reader (~3-4 books / year, trying to get that number up) but the things that have really invigorated my reading when it feels like a chore to get started:
- reading books that aren’t challenging to start off. all about love and the will to change by bell hooks were the first books i was able to successfully finish in like, years bc her writing style is very colloquial despite the subject matter being very dense. similarly, finding a fun fantasy book (or other genre fiction) to get back in the practice of turning pages and “wanting to find out what comes next” is gonna be paramount to being able to do that for books that are gonna require a little more give from you down the line (haven’t read a physical book in over six months so personally going to start legends and lattes soon to try and trick my brain into not thinking books are time-consuming and scary)
- audiobooks; for me at least reading requires too much visual processing + “sitting still” time that i can’t multi-task and read, so i have to schedule when i’m gonna try and do it (unlike tv where you can have it on in the background as you do dishes or working from home or something and can look up periodically) - taking a chunk of podcast + music time and replacing it with audiobooks has been a game changer bc i now read at the gym, at the office, and in transit <30 min long bc i have to track what station i’m at or see where i’m going
Mar 28, 2024
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I like to pretend I’m a learned citizen who only enjoys quality literary fiction, but many times a book a few steps down from that is what I really enjoy. I stay focused on an easier book because there’s more plot and the pages go faster.
You might practice meditation, too. It will train you to notice when your mind wanders and help you get it back on track
Feb 9, 2025
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I'm often accused of being an "old soul", a categorization I vehemently dislike because it pretends as if my taste is because of nostalgia, as opposed to what is actually cool and compelling. (If something cool comes out now, I enjoy it, but we're in a down period when it comes to culture). But, something old about me, is that I do not care at all about TikTok ending, if does happen. If Elon takes it over from the Chinese, you might as well leave anyway, but I'm just worried at why this is a huge deal for people. It's just an app. Another one will be made. TikTok is not culture, it directly flattens culture into these ten second clips that take music, movies --- things that you need to process --- into something that is now consumed by everyone at a rapid pace, not allowing for the nuances, the style, the aesthetics to sit with us.
I have never watched something on TikTok and thought that this is something in that pushing American culture to deeper heights. I am sorry. Now I am sure they're good stuff on the app, but it's not really a necessity. Whenever I hear the words "it's blowing up on TikTok", my mind immediately growls.
I understood why X becoming overrun with Elon bots and right wingers is a big deal; X actually created things, made careers, made American life, and American events available to be seen by everyone. However, TikTok is a corrupt fantasy, chopping at the wires that make physical connection important.
Read a book! Go to the movies! Go to the restaurant of a cuisine that is unheralded, go to a baseball game. Who cares about TikTok?
Jan 14, 2025
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There's something quite startling about Martin Scorsese's 1980's period compared to the rest of his decades as one of America's greatest filmmakers. In the 80's, he was weird, strange, and making weirdly manic films that feel more New York than even some of his movies about the mob. They're movies about characters who aren't glamarous people that they want to be, but rather, are losers who can't seem to correctly fucntion in normal society. They're non-violent sociopaths. I saw The King of Comedy at Metrograph recently, and it's exhilarating, hilarious, manic, and scary. With Jerry Lewis, Bobby De Niro and Sandra Bernhard, Scorsese was able to create a world where incels who are bad at comedy are wishing for fame. Sound familiar?
This is a great movie. In 1983, it was a box office flop. But in 2025, it is magical in how it's telling the future. A future of scam artists who don't want to work to get there, and don't want to sit in their mediocrity: they want to steal to get their fifteen seconds. Go watch this masterpiece.
Jan 28, 2025
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Like almost every morning, I make a big ol breakfast salad for myself. Eggs, greens, onions, tuna, spanich, olives. I never taste anything as filling as this. It's perfect. Great if you are looking for a big breakfast to hold you down during your work day. Get yourself a salad spinner; makes it easier.
Apr 29, 2025