Great Reads for March
April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers. Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade, And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten, And drank coffee, and talked for an hour. Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch. And when we were children, staying at the archduke’s, My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled, And I was frightened. He said, Marie, Marie, hold on tight. And down we went. In the mountains, there you feel free. I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter. - The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot
It’s easy to get frustrated.
We’re in a terrible winter right now, even as the days grow longer and the buds push through. The world seems to be on fire. Three major countries are at war, and more war is coming. A hot summer will bring riots again, and the only way forward is through.
But it’s not all bad.
There’s a reason I prepare these book lists every month. It’s mostly for myself—a meditative act that forces me to read and communicate. It’s also a way to share different viewpoints. To explore different ideas, different people, different lives.
I’ll be turning 50 in May. It’s a terrible number, full of portent. I won’t get another 50 years, most likely, and if I do, I probably won’t enjoy them. But these years give me perspective.
We’re not horrible people. We’re insane in the aggregate, but one on one, we’re building, improving, growing. We’re writing and painting and making music. We’re hugging and kissing, loving each other, accepting each other.
It seems like boorishness and brutality are the norm—but watch what happens. Soon, those boors, those fools, those artists of violence will get theirs. They’ll lose power. They’ll die. They’ll come to see they were wrong. It’s inevitable.
And we’ll still be here, smiling gently, waiting for spring.
And we have to march. We have to teach. We have to listen.
And we have to win.
And that’s the trick, isn’t it? No matter how bad things get, how horrible they seem, how terribly people behave, the arc of history remains long and always—always—bends toward justice.
They never win.
And we always do.
And that’s what’s driving them crazy.
I’ll be in Rome in April if anyone is around. I’d also love for you to check out and subscribe to my other newsletter, Keep Going. It’s a labor of love like this one.
Now, on to the books.
St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of Americas Hippest Street
Ada Calhoun
As an adopted New Yorker - I’m originally from Ohio - the history of our fair city is fascinating to me and I like to pretend that I lived a lot of it when I really didn’t. To wit: this book about St. Marks Place, a street near NYU and Tompkins Square Park that exists in the imagination as a playground of the drugged out, the wild, and the wicked. This book covers the neighborhood from beginning to end, starting during the Native American and Dutch trader days and ending with the Ramones, CBGBs, and Keith Haring. If you like stories about places, this is a great one.
Perfection
Vincenzo Latronico
Because I read on my Kobo I was unwilling to fling this book across the room upon finishing it. It’s a beautifully-written ode to Millennials who “work” from home, move to Berlin for the “art,” and cower in sex clubs until they go home and tepidly spoon. Based on a novel called Things: A Story of the Sixties, this book pretends to love its subjects while casting them as cowards, afraid to embrace even each other. Stick around for the ending that will make you howl!
The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto: A Fifteen-Year Quest to Unmask the Secret Genius Behind Crypto
Benjamin Wallace
Crypto as a topic of interest is pretty much dead - Sam Bankman-Fried basically exposed the entire grift when it comes to the financial side and the best tech is hidden in the shadows - so the only big, accessible story left in that world is the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the guy who created Bitcoin. My buddy Benjamin Wallace does a good job of collecting the various tall tales associated with Nakamoto and weaves them together in a style that made his first book, The Billionaire’s Vinegar, so good. I won’t spoil the quest for you but if you’re into tech and money, this is a fun read.