Some months are feisty

What I read in October

I started this month in Yellowstone National Park. Any month that begins among geysers and grizzly bears is a good - albeit feisty - month. I read a lot for work, but it was deep and illuminating reading (not you Melania…you were as shallow as it gets). I also read a classic novel I’ve been meaning to get to for years.

It was a good month, as all months are if you read enough books.

Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence

Something in her proud, honourable soul had crystallised out hard as rock.

The only book I read purely for pleasure this month. I’m unsure how it ended up on my TBR pile, and I had no idea what to expect. The novel begins with the story of Gertrude Morel, who marries below her station to a coarse coal miner. As she gives birth to child after child, she abandons any emotional connection with her stunted and abusive husband. She focuses her passion on her sons, William and Paul. The bulk of the story follows Paul as he navigates two love affairs while staying utterly beholden to his mother. 

Despite the novel being largely autobiographical, I found Gertrude’s story more robust and convincing than Paul’s. It felt like Lawrence saw his mother more clearly than himself. Or perhaps the themes of motherhood he articulates - particularly the thin line between devotion and control - are much more timeless than the early 20th-century masculine struggles Paul fights. Of course, my lived experience is much closer to Gertrude’s than Paul's. I wonder how a young man would feel reading how Paul struggles with different love affairs and creative pursuits. 

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

Men will not accept truth at the hands of their enemies, and truth is seldom offered to them by their friends.

Beth and I have been slow reading Democracy in America all year, along with our premium community. What does a Frenchman’s observations on America published almost two hundred years ago relate to today? As it turns out, quite a lot. We have found this book prescient and illuminating. Even the parts that feel out of date and way off from where we have ended up as a country are interesting because they reveal how far we’ve veered off course (or on course, as the case may be). Whether he sounds like a fortune teller or a visitor from another planet, I found spending time with de Tocqueville imminently valuable. 

Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty by Hillary Clinton

People often say to me, "You warned us, and I wish we had listened." What am I supposed to say to that?

I love Hillary Clinton, so I am not a neutral arbiter here. This book is insightful and enlightening. I found this book's first few chapters to be particularly vulnerable and revealing in a way I haven't seen from HRC before. I love the comfort she has found later in life, the way she shares her wisdom and the questions she still hasn't answered for herself or the world. 

The Plan by Kendra Adachi

Life is a painting, not a puzzle.

Kendra’s basic premise is time management books are too often written by dudes with dude challenges. The Plan is a time management book written for women by a woman. If you are a woman and no one has ever explained how your energy shifts and changes hormonally (and how you can use that to your advantage), Kendra is about to blow. your. mind. with this book. She is presenting a complete reframe - not the same recycled advice you find in other time management books, and it’s about damn time. 

Melania by Melania Trump

This book was truly wretched. It was shallow and inauthentic and left you feeling like you knew even LESS about Melania than when you started. If you’d like a full breakdown of how wretched this book is, Beth and I discuss it with Chelsea Devantez on her podcast Glamorous Trash. I only read this terrible book because Chelsea asked me for said podcast. 

What did you read in October?

---