Finished reading: The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway 💙📚

Donald Sutherland did a wonderful job narrating this audiobook. It was nice to reacquaint myself with Hemingway’s short and simple sentences, yet so full of energy. Made me yearn for the ocean. ★★★★★

Question for @manton: I notice that sometimes when I make small changes to my site, like changing the category of a post, my website won’t reflect the change. I’ve switched devices, browsers, etc. No difference. The only thing that works is rebuilding the site. Is this normal or a sign of a problem?

Wisdom from Kevin Kelly:

Productivity is often a distraction. Don’t aim for better ways to get through your tasks as quickly as possible, rather aim for better tasks that you never want to stop doing.

Apple is launching a new product this week — probably an iPhone SE. But what if they unveil an e-reader and a subscription reading service? Books are in the cross-hairs of the intersection between arts and technology. Amazon and e-readers are ripe for Apple-style disruption. A man can dream!

I love my Kindle Oasis, but Amazon is sure making it hard to stay loyal. Maybe Kobo will save the day and release an updated black and white e-reader to replace its discontinued Libra 2. This should be the golden age for e-reader innovation. Kobo? Apple? Sony? Anyone?

Screenshot from Amazon telling customers that downloading Kindle books will no longer be an option after February 26, 2025.

Ah, Patrick O’Brian. He was truly one of a kind. If you haven’t discovered Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, there’s not a moment to lose. 💙📚

Patrick O'Brian from Post Captain: "Life is a long disease with only one termination and its last years are appalling: weak, racked by the stone, rheumatismal pains, senses going, friends, family, occupation gone, a man must pray for imbecility or a heart of stone. All under sentence of death, often ignominious, frequently agonizing: and then the unspeakable levity with which the faint chance of happiness is thrown away for some jealousy, tiff, sullenness, private vanity, mistaken sense of honour, that deadly, weak and silly notion."

Listening to the updated Chill Mix on Apple Music has become a relaxing Sunday afternoon ritual. I usually flinch these days with intrusive algorithms, but in this case, bring it on. It’s nice to listen to new music vs. the rut of the same old albums or playlists.

💬 You learn to dance with the limp.

Sometimes I’ve thought of grief as missing an amputated limb, but walking with a limp is better. Thank you @chrisheck for sharing this.

Anne Lamott: You will lose someone you can’t live without, and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly — that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.

My blog had its tenth birthday last July, and I forgot to celebrate: Why Blogs Matter

Think different. 💬

A question for @mtt about using blockquotes in the Tiny theme. I’ve attached a screenshot of a quote with the citation source shown on a separate line and off to the right. How is this done? Is this markdown or is there some html magic at work to have that citation show up like that?

Thanks!

Finished reading: Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks 💙📚

An entertaining book filled with practical advice on how to improve your storytelling, whether in front of a live audience, on a date, or in a written essay. Dicks shares examples of his own stories, then breaks down why they work. ★★★★☆

Quote from Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks: "Storytellers end their stories in the most advantageous place possible. They omit the endings that offer neat little bows and happily-ever-afters. The best stories are a little messy at the end. They offer small steps, marginal progress, questionable results."

Incredible update to the Readwise app today. You can now “chat” with your highlights, which uses AI to find connections you probably overlooked or forgot from your reading. Since it only draws from the highlights you saved, the results are astonishingly personal. This is my kind of AI! 💙📚

Screeshots of the new Readwise app showing new AI chat feature.

Finished reading: Fallen Leaves by Will Durant 💙📚

In 208 eloquent pages, Durant shares his views on death, religion, education, war, politics, spirituality, and, through it all, the meaning of life. Truly a gift to humanity from a scholar who devoted his long life to the study of history. ★★★★★

Photo of a paper book book: Fallen Leaves by Will Durant

Connor would have turned 23 today. The very prime of life. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss him, but these birthdays are tough. Hug your kids. #forever20

Connor Breen

Finished reading: The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen 📚

What a delightful book. The first chapter reeled me in with the story of how the Moleskin notebook exploded in popularity in the 1990s. The author clearly has been bitten by the same notebook fetish bug. He cites brand names of notebooks that are all too familiar to me. He decided to write a history of the notebook about ten years ago and proceeded to fill four or five notebooks with scribbles and quotes and references that ultimately became this book.

Allen used effective storytelling techniques to share dozens of examples of notebook usage over the past six hundred years from accounting ledgers in the 1400s, artist sketchbooks in the 1500s, Darwin’s field notes, to modern day journaling. Definitely a niche book, but great for any lover of notebooks and journals.

★★★★★

New post with my favorite books from 2024 along with updates to my reading system. My year in books for 2024.

Home library

Finished reading: Rousseau and Revolution by Will Durant 📚

The tenth volume of the Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant. This one provides an immensely readable history of Europe leading up to the French Revolution. This series has been such an education. ★★★★★

Finished reading: The Work of Art by Adam Moss 📚

Finished reading: The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl 📚

Finished reading: The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke 📚

Finished reading: Thinking on Paper by V.A. Howard, J.H. Barton 📚

Finished reading: James by Percival Everett 📚

Finished reading: A Rage in Harlem (Special Edition) by Chester Himes 📚

What a crazy rollercoaster ride through Harlem in the 1950s. I’m just now catching my breath! ★★★★☆

Finished reading: Needful Things by Stephen King 📚

This one missed the mark for me. Too many characters — almost the entire town of Castle Rock. With so many, I had a hard time connecting with any of them. Any other author would get a two stars, but King gets a pass. ★★★☆☆