Welcome to Friday,
This is officially the last week of summer and I am greeting autumn with open arms. Over this past sabbatical week, I’ve read more books and essays than in entire months. It’s been wonderful to pause and just dig into ideas and histories. I am reading Orwell’s essays and John M. Barry’s excellent book about the 1918 pandemic. I’m also working through John Locke’s “Two Treatises on Government” once again, and reading Susan Sontag’s essays on writing and style. Lots of heavy hitters and lots of unique perspectives.
Here is what I’ll be reading this weekend:
The Gospel of Consumption.
Wendell Barry on Solitude.
Ross Douthat revisits his list of influential intellectuals, which poses the question, “Who are the most important writers and thinkers of the past twenty years?”.
The story of a classic American printing house and how it very nearly never was.
Susan Sontag On Style.
Currently reading: The Great Influenza by John M. Barry
Have a lovely weekend.
