There’s never enough reading. Because my work schedule is constantly in flux, I go through phases of inhaling books and then months at a time where I don’t pick up a single one. I usually refrain from reading while working because books eat me, so I don’t want to get too immersed and have the energy of the book cling to me and show up onscreen. That being said, I feel more inspired and look at the world through a more enriched lens when I am in the flow of reading, so I always have a hankering to read more. 

Daybook: The Journal of an Artist by Anne Truitt and Frida Kahlo’s published journal both reminded me that one of the most profound things an artist can create is a life. I carry them with me wherever I go, and they remind me to create my life.

I am awful at choosing, so here are two:
Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde, and Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés. These books strike so deep that they play your bones like a xylophone. I read them in moments when I needed them, but they are the kinds of books you realize you always needed.

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart.
It’s a truly dark, harrowing and dystopian reflection of a not-so-distant future. Think constant live-streaming, rating one another, and corporations becoming more powerful than countries— all seen through the eyes of deeply flawed characters. I recommend a cold shower and downgrading to a flip phone after reading.

"This vivid and visual writing touched me, and maybe when you’re a teenager you’re even more inspired by an enchanting universe?"

Emily Windsnap from the Young Adult novel series The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler. She finds out that when she gets in the water she grows a mermaid tail, and when she gets out she has legs. I mean…!?!!! In the book it’s called being “semi-mer” and at 10 years old I thought that was essentially the coolest thing ever. I don’t think I ever looked at water in quite the same way again.

In Brooklyn Bridge Park with feet in the grass, surrounded by skyline, ideally tucked away from tourists & in the shade.

 Roventure novel, thank you.

I like both.
Sometimes if I haven’t read in a little while, I need a literary appetizer and will consume shorter things to get back in the swing of it. But I also like a longer book that I can spend a chunk of my life in. I often don’t want books to end.

Maybe, the dictionary. Just because I’m curious to see what someone would make of it.
Otherwise, I love the idea of children’s books being adapted for adult audiences in wild and experimental ways. I feel like books I read in my youth acted as parables, and subconsciously helped me form an understanding of myself and morality. I think adults could really use to be re-fed some of the same messages.
If someone wants to adapt The Tail of Emily Windsnap into a symbolic and gripping version for an older audience, let’s chat. Or A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon for that matter.

I don’t like to give the same gift twice, but to give a recommendation —
If your gift recipient is going through an intense time, Ocean Voung’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous might hold them in the midst. Otherwise, Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu makes for an incredibly ripe read no matter the circumstances. I wish I could gift myself the experience of reading that book for the first time all over again.