"How can a large lake be like a child—isn’t smallness what defines a child? […] But the child is dreaming … and with that a universe opens up within the child, who is large after all, containing worlds wider than even the largest lake."

This reminds me of a passage from Bertell Ollman's 2005 "Letter of Resignation from the Jewish People":

Ooh, this is very exciting for me because I usually never get these. And it's a great book!

Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg?

Maybe something more aggressively adjustable would work? I've been wanting to try something like this (I recognize that this particular model is extremely expensive 😬)

Daniel Lefferts' excellent novel Ways and Means (mostly set during the campaign but still absolutely about the Trump era)

I like this one, from a researcher very fed up with other people in her field refusing to consider the obvious

Recently read & enjoyed Earth House by Matthew Hollis. Also love Carl Phillips!

The in person town hall is in a month, in case you didn't notice. As the date approaches, I'm sure there will be more announcements and reminders, as there have been for the previous events.

Mentioned below at 23:30, it'll be on April 22 in El Cajon

Thank you for answering my question about Schumer and the CR!

To the other comments: this was announced Tuesday, not last minute. This town hall is also in addition to an upcoming, in person town hall in El Cajon—something you'd know if you had tuned in rather than posting a reflexive complaint.

I always appreciate your lists! Currently happen to be reading Kirith Kirin from your last list & enjoying it immensely.

From this list, I'm esp. intrigued by The Stone Prince & The Wild Swans (published, coincidentally enough, in the same year as Daughter of the Forest, a formative book for me)

I loved her Iliad! Every once in a while though I think about learning ancient Greek (my Latin is decent, albeit rusty, so I do have an idea of how much work that would entail...)

Is it the new Daniel Mendelsohn by any chance? I spent the weekend waffling over it before deciding that yes, I really do need it

I actually bought a copy of The Recognitions [redacted] years ago after finishing IJ because I read that DFW was a major fan! Each year I tell myself I'll finally get around to it, so maybe this year... 👀

I'd love a rec 👀

The Dove in the Belly by Jim Grimsley (romance set on a college campus in the 1970s)

Nicked by M.T. Anderson (adventure story, funny and strange, with a satisfying romantic subplot)

Taste of Ink series by Daniel May (erotica but also plenty of emotional depth & character development)

Thank you for writing! (I vividly remember reading it during a stressful time and feeling a profound and much needed sense of peace during the section when Rand & Jonna stay at the farm.) Very excited to hear you’re working on another one!

And poetry (which I would like to read more of, in 2025).

As the year turns over, it feels appropriate to end with the last stanza of the Prologue of Bei Dao's Sidetracks:

When through the closed palace gates
through the cracks of the months and years
the bright rays of the flood overflows