10 good books I read this winter

10 things worth sharing: looking back on a season of reading, The Andy Warhol Diaries, ear and eye candy, and more...

Hey y’all,

Our first open discussion thread (“What are you reading?”) gave me enough book recommendations to last me the rest of the decade. If you haven’t become a paid subscriber yet, come join the fun:

Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week:

1. A list of 10 good books I read this winter. (Making that list lead me to write about my #1 rule I want to follow this spring: “Read at Whim!”)
   
   

2. I loved Grant Petersen’s Just Ride: A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike. I read it in a single afternoon and got so much out of it. I’m also reading H.G. Wells’ early comic novel about bicycling, The Wheels of Chance. (I rode 60+ miles in the past week, so my obsession is going strong.)
   
   

3. On Monday I’m interviewing Oliver Burkeman about his book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, one of the most popular books I’ve recommended in a while. If you head over to YouTube, you can set a reminder to watch it live.
   
   

4. I was so pleased when my kids came home from school and said they’d talked about Ukraine’s beloved artist Maria Prymachenko in art class. (There’s another small batch of her work + links over at Kottke.org.) See also: DrawTogether’s episode, “Sunflowers for Ukraine,” and their guide to talking (and drawing) with kids about Ukraine.
   
   

5. Writer Hayley Campbell on why we need to talk about death more than ever. (And see death: “The first dead body you see should not be someone you love.”) Hayley’s book, All The Living and The Dead, doesn’t come out until August in the US, but until then, you could check out mortician Caitlin Doughty’s books. (You might even start with her book for young readers, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?)
   
   

6. If I were in NYC, I’d head over to the Faith Ringgold retrospective at the New Museum. (I love her quilts. Here’s the story of how long she went overlooked.)
   
   

7. Eye candy: Tolkien’s newspaper doodles, karaoke Torii made of speakers, and an extraordinary collection of old Japanese cassette tapes.

   
   

8. Podcast: pianist Jeremy Denk on Fresh Air talking about his new memoir, Every Good Boy Does Fine.
   
   

9. Netflix: I found The Andy Warhol Diaries really fascinating. (Be warned: it’s long, and sad, and there’s a lot of nudity!) I’m a big fan of the actual diary — I have the deluxe hardback, but I also have the ebook, so I can occasionally search it for things like “Dolly Parton” to see what comes up.
   
   

10. RIP architect Christopher Alexander, author of one of my favorite books: A Pattern Language.

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xoxo,

Austin

PS. If you haven’t yet, please check out the new 10th anniversary edition of Steal Like an Artist: