3 book recommendations for January, 2021
So I'm in the midst of planning a new novel and am reminded of these wise words from Gene Wolfe: “You never learn how to write a novel. You just learn how to write the novel that you're writing.”
You won't get somewhere new without setting out into the unknown.
And now, books I love that you might too:
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green is an absolutely remarkable book—a singular science-fiction adventure that has so much to say about fame, art, friendship, and how the internet is shaping our culture. This is a story as fun as it is wise, related in prose bursting with life and personality. So. Darn. Good.
The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd is a masterpiece of nature writing about the author’s inner and outer journey through a lifetime of exploring the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. This is the perfect book to help you step back from the surging feed and find a new vantage. Remember: in an age of acceleration, contemplation is power.
The Practice by Seth Godin is a brilliant, generous codex of stories and ideas to fuel your creative process. Each of the 222 short chapters is a key that will unlock a door standing between you and making things you’re proud of for people you care about. I will be rereading it often, and am including it as a resource in my advice for authors.
Bonus recommendation: I wrote a (very) short story about personal growth as a birthday gift for my wife.
In other news:
Bandwidth just hit 1,200 Amazon reviews! Y'all are the best readers a writer could hope for.
Be bold: “Many eschew grand ambitions for fear of falling short, so the higher you aim, the thinner the competition. Plus, because nothing is truly easy, you might as well attempt something truly hard. Who knows? You might even succeed, surprising everyone, yourself most of all.”
The world is brimming with magic. Summon it by bringing your attention to bear, by following the path into being. The keener your sense of presence, the more miraculous the universe reveals itself to be. Share on Twitter.
Narrative daisy-chains: “We all know that stories sometimes go viral, apotheosizing into memes. But much more interesting than a single story propagating itself through retelling is when stories inspire the telling of other stories in a cascading cultural daisy-chain.”
Pixar movies are consistently great, as are these actionable lessons Josh Anon distills from his time there. Fun fact: My novels have benefited enormously from Josh's advice on early drafts. He pushes me to make every story better than the last.
The internet means artists, hackers, writers, and creators can build an audience for their work directly, so investors, partners, and publishers want to see traction in addition to prototypes. That means you’re on the hook, but being on the hook also gives you leverage. Share on Twitter.
Alix E. Harrow on writing The Ten Thousand Doors of January: “Doors are the ultimate promise, aren’t they? Every closed door in a story is a perfect little Chekov’s gun, begging to be opened.”
Reassurance: “When I ask for advice, often what I’m really looking for is reassurance. But the work I’m most proud of requires taking real risks with no possible guarantee of success, so seeking reassurance that things will turn out okay is a trap. Trust yourself. Trust the process.”
Adii Pienaar, a longtime subscriber to this very newsletter, just published a new book collating his lessons-learned as a serial entrepreneur seeking personal and professional fulfillment. I had a blast going on Adii’s podcast last summer.
Philip Pullman on what makes fairy tales ignite our imaginations and persist through generation after generation: “Swiftness is a great virtue in the fairy tale. A good tale moves with a dreamlike speed from event to event, pausing only to say as much as is needed and no more. The best tales are perfect examples of what you do need and what you don’t: in Rudyard Kipling’s image, fires that blaze brightly because all the ashes have been raked out.”
Ever notice how movies always end when the rebels win? I want to see a movie that starts with the revolution succeeding and follows the same band of unlikely misfits trying to build and maintain a functional democratic government that's better than the evil empire they replaced. Share on Twitter.
How to do interesting work: “If you want to do interesting work, a great starting point is to work on things you find interesting. Instead of trying to optimize for what you think others are likely to find interesting—chasing the market is a Sisyphean task—just keep digging deeper into what you find interesting. That way, making your work interesting to others is simply a matter of sharing your enthusiasm.”
If you enjoy this newsletter and want to support it, become a paid subscriber and tell your friends. Every month, I recommend books, both fiction and nonfiction, that crackle and fizz with big ideas, keep us turning pages deep into the night, challenge our assumptions, help us find meaning in a changing world, and make us think, feel, and grow. In an age of digital abundance, quality is the new scarcity. The right book at the right time can change your life.
When I'm not reading books, I'm writing them. If you savor the promise and peril of new worlds opening up, if you prefer hard questions to easy answers, if you seek adventures that will transport you and leave you changed, then you're the kind of person I write for. You can find my novels right here. Bon voyage, fellow traveler.
Cheers, Eliot
Eliot Peper is the author of Veil, Breach, Borderless, Bandwidth, Neon Fever Dream, Cumulus, Exit Strategy, Power Play, and Version 1.0. He publishes a blog, tweets more than he probably should, and lives in Oakland, CA.
“Bandwidth blows the lid off today’s techno optimists, revealing a thrilling and all-too-realistic future in which the ubiquitous ‘feed’—an immersive algorithm used by millions—becomes a tool for high-stakes blackmail, with climate change hanging in the balance. An eye-opening look at how simple, everyday technologies can change our world, one notification at a time.”
-Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at Glassdoor, on Bandwidth
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