Friends, there has been so much reading lately. Or, as my young niece wrote recently in the collaborative story we’re working on via postal mail, “a lot a lot a lot!” There have very definitely been hits and misses – see what you think! And put your own favorites and not-favorites in the comments!

Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation, Anne Helen Petersen

I’ve started reading just about everything of Anne Helen Petersen’s that I can find; I really like her deft, pointed takes on culture both high and low. And even though I’m not a Millennial and don’t subscribe to the current obsession with generational labeling and associated squabbling, I very much enjoyed Can’t Even. Millennials are an embarrassingly easy target; it’s so effortless to criticize them for their avocado toast and their oat-milk lattes and their “Millennial pink” fixation. Also, though? They were definitely sold a bill of goods. They’re the first American generation who will have it markedly worse than both their parents and grandparents, not only in terms of overall life expectancy, but in terms of financial solvency, health span, climate change impact and many other significant socioeconomic markers. (Sidebar: The NYT recently ran a piece on how companies are desperately trying to convince workers to return to the office with “Instagrammable furniture;” Petersen wrote a scathing response clarifying that Millennials don’t actually really want hot-pink furniture, they want the opportunity to get out of debt and buy a house and even consider the option of retirement – which most of them don’t have right now.) Maybe those of us older than Millennials might want to stop criticizing their lack of work ethic and realize that we haven’t given them much to work for. This book drove home the phrase popularized during the height of the pandemic: “We’re all in the same ocean, but we’re definitely not in the same boat.” Some of us are sipping Champagne cocktails on the polished teak deck, and some of us are bailing a leaky rowboat. Context matters.

Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age, Katherine May

I loved Katherine May’s previous book, Wintering, and I loved Enchantment as well. May writes beautifully about this awkward, uncertain time we’ve found ourselves in over the past few years, living through the pandemic and its aftermath. She writes of how we’re struggling to find our center, find our rhythm again, to break free of our doomscrolling habits where we’re all just constantly unsure and anxious and exhausted and watching and waiting for something – but what, we don’t know. An answer, perhaps? An explanation for the ever-expanding chaos of our world? May’s careful response is to actively search for enchantment in her everyday life, in swimming and hiking and gardening and watching the seasons change – anything that forces us to put down our devices for just a minute and breathe again. The writing in Enchantment is shimmery and ethereal, but the message – that enchantment can be found everywhere, if we just make an effort to really see – is what remains. Highly recommended.

The Vegan, Andrew Lipstein

Two weeks later and I’m still not certain of my feelings about The Vegan. Compelling, without question, but was it worth my time? Would I recommend it to others? I’m still debating that but leaning towards no. The Vegan is ostensibly about what it means to be a “good person;” it follows Herschel, a wealthy quant fund trader who has developed market-altering technology and who also plays a vicious prank that results in a calamitous outcome. No one in the book is remotely likable – not that that’s a prerequisite for an interesting book! – but ultimately I’m not clear on what the overall point was. Herschel is obnoxiously self-absorbed and definitely doesn’t learn anything; we can’t say he’s a better (or worse) person by the end of the story than he was at the beginning, so the hero’s quest ultimately has no teeth and therefore no meaning. I did like the sly commentary on the tacky sheen of new money, but The Vegan overall obviously left me unsettled and uncertain. I think it was trying too hard. If you’ve read it, please share your thoughts!

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