I am so happy whenever someone reads and loves Anita Brookner. I loved your observation about how she writes as though she were a 19thC social novelist, but in a more intimate setting. For me, Latecomers a favourite! May I also humbly recommend Look at Me, A Start in Life, and Brief Lives. I find her novels in used bookshops and parcel them out a season at a time so that I continue have a new one to look forward to.
thank you for the recommendations!! and honestly it's very convenient to read Anita Brookner while living in London—her books are everywhere and so cheap
I really want to read Bitter Water Opera now, that sounds just like my cup of tea!
I 100% agree with the spreadsheets love. I don't know why they aren't more popular (well, i do, it's because by default they look awful). With a tiny bit of care not only are they incredibly useful and versatile, they can also be super cute!
thank you for catching this! never again will I finish a post at 1:33am and publish it immediately…I usually wait to proofread the next morning but got impatient!
I meant to say that Buckley's Tell, Catherine Lacey's Biography of X, and Nicholson Baker's Mezzanine all have a lot of heart to them—they are not dry, experimental novels that have a strong concept but no emotional pull…the characters in them are so memorable! and the problems the characters face are very moving!
I remember kneeling at the feet of Ideo as an engineering undergrad. I was struck by your point: ‘In theory, [user researchers] were meant to instill a more “human-centered” approach to technology. In practice, however, they were pressured to solve problems quickly and prioritize profit over the ideal experience.’ A UX researcher on my team (also a CMU grad!) just shared with me that she was leaving in large part because of running up against this tension one time too many. I feel like product managers are greatly implicated in this, too.
Thank you for sharing Connecting Humanity; made a donation and will be sharing about their work!
Thank you for the donation!! And yes—I feel that so many roles struggle with this.
One thing I'd love to write about someday (haven't found the opportunity yet) is how many designers, engineers, etc really want to fix a lot of the classic "enshittification" problems and quietly work on things like: more accessible apps, improving performance, fix known problems that have been knocking around for years.
Unfortunately, the pressure to ship new features + prioritize certain metrics means that these projects are often cut. And so they have to be someone's passion project, where they work late (or furtively in a corner) to fix them…or expend a great deal of energy on internal politics to advocate for these "boring" projects…
Would love to read your thoughts on that! As a PM, I've sometimes had to sell a grand, exec-level vision of what solving these "enshittification" problems would achieve. "If we fixed X bug, we would have Y times the usage on Z feature…" However, yes, in my unfortunate experience, the pressure of late has only been amplified by the AI arms race and abetted by the cultural (political?) headwinds for some types of quality improvement (e.g. is accessibility DEI-coded?).
The Buckley novels hit several of my reading pleasure buttons - art world setting, class (un-)belonging and... odd, I know... Greek Island settings. Will definitely check out.
I also deeply appreciate your invitation to donate to Connecting Humanity. I just made my donation and will encourage friends to do the same.
I'll look out for the Buckley reviews in your newsletter! (But no pressure if you don't read them, of course)
And thank you for the donation—Connecting Humanity is doing very cool work! I honestly wonder how much information we'd get about what's happening in Gaza without all the eSIM orgs.
interesting! I do want to read more Sebald (I did like Rings of Saturn…also I feel some para-professional obligation to read him…) so this is good to know!
i inherited my Japanese-American mother's intolerance for lactose so i'm in that 90% as well lol. Both of the founders of new lactase pills I talked to were Asian American too, and they were doing a ton of brand events around Lunar New Year, etc.
Ended up reading 'Tell' on your recomendation last year, keen to try One Boat. I think he's a pretty special writer. Thanks for this chewy lil list : )
Thank you for all these wonderful recommendations, Celine! I love your newsletter. And thanks so much for adding Sheon's brilliant insights from the Reported Essay Q&A--and for your kind words about my work and newsletter. I admire your work as well, and I am in such awe of your newsletter--it is consistently packed with so many gems.
Thanks for the shoutout and very admirable Actually Doing Something at the end. I hope you read Mating, I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. I've only read Austerlitz but I am similarly cool on Sebald. I feel like every time he's telling you about cod fisheries or whatever there's a giant neon sign that says THE HOLOCAUST or HIROSHIMA or THE NIGHTMARE OF HISTORY blinking at you. Like I get it man. It's a little too impressed with itself for what it's doing. It's funny, very similar criticisms are leveled at Anselm Kiefer but I love Kiefer and find his work tremendously moving and powerful.
I am so happy whenever someone reads and loves Anita Brookner. I loved your observation about how she writes as though she were a 19thC social novelist, but in a more intimate setting. For me, Latecomers a favourite! May I also humbly recommend Look at Me, A Start in Life, and Brief Lives. I find her novels in used bookshops and parcel them out a season at a time so that I continue have a new one to look forward to.
thank you for the recommendations!! and honestly it's very convenient to read Anita Brookner while living in London—her books are everywhere and so cheap
Seconding brookner’s Look at Me! & of course, hotel du lac
I really want to read Bitter Water Opera now, that sounds just like my cup of tea!
I 100% agree with the spreadsheets love. I don't know why they aren't more popular (well, i do, it's because by default they look awful). With a tiny bit of care not only are they incredibly useful and versatile, they can also be super cute!
Bitter Water Opera is also a nice fast read (perfect for summer)
I have a million frivolous spreadsheets…fashion purchases, hours spent writing…one of the greatest technological inventions imo! You may enjoy this old Wired software criticism column on Excel (if you haven't seen it yet!) https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-excel-productivity-labor-software-review/
I loved that article!
I made a donation to Connecting Humanity. Thanks for spreading the word about this organization and their work!
thank YOU for donating!!! and for reading, as always
You've left us with a cliffhanger at the end of the first paragraph on Jonathan Buckley:
"And all 3 novels, I should say, have a"
What do all these novels have, I want to know! :)
thank you for catching this! never again will I finish a post at 1:33am and publish it immediately…I usually wait to proofread the next morning but got impatient!
I meant to say that Buckley's Tell, Catherine Lacey's Biography of X, and Nicholson Baker's Mezzanine all have a lot of heart to them—they are not dry, experimental novels that have a strong concept but no emotional pull…the characters in them are so memorable! and the problems the characters face are very moving!
I remember kneeling at the feet of Ideo as an engineering undergrad. I was struck by your point: ‘In theory, [user researchers] were meant to instill a more “human-centered” approach to technology. In practice, however, they were pressured to solve problems quickly and prioritize profit over the ideal experience.’ A UX researcher on my team (also a CMU grad!) just shared with me that she was leaving in large part because of running up against this tension one time too many. I feel like product managers are greatly implicated in this, too.
Thank you for sharing Connecting Humanity; made a donation and will be sharing about their work!
Thank you for the donation!! And yes—I feel that so many roles struggle with this.
One thing I'd love to write about someday (haven't found the opportunity yet) is how many designers, engineers, etc really want to fix a lot of the classic "enshittification" problems and quietly work on things like: more accessible apps, improving performance, fix known problems that have been knocking around for years.
Unfortunately, the pressure to ship new features + prioritize certain metrics means that these projects are often cut. And so they have to be someone's passion project, where they work late (or furtively in a corner) to fix them…or expend a great deal of energy on internal politics to advocate for these "boring" projects…
Would love to read your thoughts on that! As a PM, I've sometimes had to sell a grand, exec-level vision of what solving these "enshittification" problems would achieve. "If we fixed X bug, we would have Y times the usage on Z feature…" However, yes, in my unfortunate experience, the pressure of late has only been amplified by the AI arms race and abetted by the cultural (political?) headwinds for some types of quality improvement (e.g. is accessibility DEI-coded?).
Glad you liked Brookner! Look at Me is a great early one, and Brief Lives is a great later one, too.
And I think about that Lydia Davis quote all the time, mainly to justify my natural indifference towards the living.
I honestly think about that quote every week! also, someone else mentioned Brief Lives so maybe I should read that next?
I have a copy if you wanna borrow. It’s so funny, and devastatingly bleak.
The Buckley novels hit several of my reading pleasure buttons - art world setting, class (un-)belonging and... odd, I know... Greek Island settings. Will definitely check out.
I also deeply appreciate your invitation to donate to Connecting Humanity. I just made my donation and will encourage friends to do the same.
I'll look out for the Buckley reviews in your newsletter! (But no pressure if you don't read them, of course)
And thank you for the donation—Connecting Humanity is doing very cool work! I honestly wonder how much information we'd get about what's happening in Gaza without all the eSIM orgs.
I loved Emigrants by WG Sebald, but could not get through Rings of Saturn.
interesting! I do want to read more Sebald (I did like Rings of Saturn…also I feel some para-professional obligation to read him…) so this is good to know!
i inherited my Japanese-American mother's intolerance for lactose so i'm in that 90% as well lol. Both of the founders of new lactase pills I talked to were Asian American too, and they were doing a ton of brand events around Lunar New Year, etc.
love this detail…Asian-American entrepreneurs saving their own people from dietary discomfort…
Ended up reading 'Tell' on your recomendation last year, keen to try One Boat. I think he's a pretty special writer. Thanks for this chewy lil list : )
Thank you for all these wonderful recommendations, Celine! I love your newsletter. And thanks so much for adding Sheon's brilliant insights from the Reported Essay Q&A--and for your kind words about my work and newsletter. I admire your work as well, and I am in such awe of your newsletter--it is consistently packed with so many gems.
Thanks for the shoutout and very admirable Actually Doing Something at the end. I hope you read Mating, I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. I've only read Austerlitz but I am similarly cool on Sebald. I feel like every time he's telling you about cod fisheries or whatever there's a giant neon sign that says THE HOLOCAUST or HIROSHIMA or THE NIGHTMARE OF HISTORY blinking at you. Like I get it man. It's a little too impressed with itself for what it's doing. It's funny, very similar criticisms are leveled at Anselm Kiefer but I love Kiefer and find his work tremendously moving and powerful.