A great month for stories and Stoicism

What I read in February

It was a good reading month. Heavy on the fiction with a nice mix of modern and classic. It wasn’t always a good month politically which is why this first selection kept me sane.

The Storm Before the Calm: America's Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond by George Friedman

In other words, because the power of the federal government isn’t doubted, its failures are perceived by an increasing number of people as deliberate.

If you listen to Pantsuit Politics, you know I can’t stop talking about this book. During a tumultuous beginning to the second Trump administration, this book provided a broader understanding of the chaos and a ground perspective on what could come next. 

Friedman’s thesis is that the U.S. has two cycles coming to an end simultaneously during this decade: an 80-year institutional cycle of how the federal government functions in relation to its citizenry and a 50-year societal cycle of economic reorganization. His historical summaries of previous cycles are illuminating and clarifying. His descriptions of the current cycles (written in 2020!) feel more than prescient and borderline clairvoyant. 

I’ve described living through this current historical moment as feeling my way through a fog. Reading this book felt like finding a lighthouse. 

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Set your narrative as canon and in a tiny way you have pried your death out of time, as long as the narrative is recalled by someone else.

After both Barack Obama and Anne Helen Petersen recommended this debut novel, I caved and added something else to my TBR list.

Do not regret.

Bradley’s nameless narrator grabbed me from the first page with a strong voice and accompanying sense of humor that is hard to find in literary fiction. Do you know what else is hard to find in literary fiction? Sex scenes this hot. WHEW. This novel has it all and somehow keeps all the trains on the track. Love story? Loved it. Cultural commentary? Check. Insights into times past and the future? Nailed it.

Now, did I completely understand the time travel part? Maybe not, but that’s more about me than Bradley, and it’s a testament to her writing that I didn’t need to. I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. Barack and AHP were right.

Paradise Lost by John Milton

In 1667, John Milton had seen the English monarchy restored and escaped death and imprisonment for his role in the English Civil War only because he was old and blind. It was under these circumstances that he wrote his epic poem about the fall of man.

The first several books describing Satan’s expulsion from heaven crackle with revolutionary fervor, and once I understood Milton’s revolutionary past with Oliver Cromwell, the sympathies I felt toward Satan made a lot more sense. (I’m not alone. Revolutionaries, including Malcolm X, have quoted Milton.) The last third, basically summarizing the Bible, was less interesting. Overall, the depth with which Milton builds out the story of Adam and Eve made me realize how long I’d let the simple myth stay just that…simple.

I loved how Milton explored questions of free will, blame, and grace using archangels, conversation, and action. It helped that I listened to this on Audrey, and the expert guide picked up threads and connections that were easy to lose in the verbosity and blank verse. I must listen to poetry - even the most modern - to stay focused and follow the plot. Listening to Milton’s epic poem wasn’t always easy, but it was always a treat for the ears and the soul.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Meditations is like if someone published your notes app after you died. Written by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius towards the end of his life, it was never intended for public consumption but has become a seminal text in Stoic philosophy.

It has maintained relevance over 1800 years because the Stoics got a lot right. A clear-eyed acceptance of mortality - your own and everyone else's - will serve you well. Fame and wealth really are all bullshit (and who would know better than a Roman emperor!). Control what you can control, which is (sadly) only yourself. Stop obsessing about other people's actions and motivations.

Despite being an ancient text, much of what Marcus recommends seems like excellent advice for modern life. Meditations is the first book I've finished with Rebind, which uses integrated AI chat and is trained on literary experts. I enjoyed the expert's video introductions for each section but haven't gotten the hang of the chat feature. I will try again with a novel and see if I find it more useful. I'll report back!

Outline: A Novel by Rachel Cusk

‘For many women,’ she said, ‘having a child is their central experience of creativity, and yet the child will never remain a created object…’

Another entrant from the New York Times The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, this novel is told in ten conversations a creative writing instructor has over a summer in Athens. Very little happens in this novel. Usually, I crawl slowly through books like this, but there is a propulsion to Cusk’s writing.

Every character’s life and stories felt so authentic and captivating. Reading this book felt like the best eavesdropping of my life, except the stories had an impact beyond mere voyeuristic pleasure. It was as if Cusk had processed and refined every detail and insight to its most concentrated form.

Passion’s Promise by Danielle Steele

This the book that made Danielle Steele, the 4th bestselling author of all time, famous. It’s a wild ride based largely on her own experience and it is the first book in my First Books Book Club. If you want to know more of my thoughts, you’ll have to join our Book Club Discussion on March 20th!

What did you read during February?

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