Reading List
One piece of actionable wisdom you hear as a copywriter is to write, write, write some more, and then write even more. The gristmill is life, so to speak. On the one hand, I very much agree. You need your 10,000 hours.
However, too much scribbling and you run out of oxygen to fuel your poetic fire. Your voice doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It owes its power to the many writers who agonized over blank pages before you. Reading, reading, reading some more, and then reading even more is just as vital to honing the craft.
I’d like to share some of the books that have shaped my voice and that I return to when the fire needs tending to.
I'm curious to hear yours.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
I devoured this brilliant and heartbreaking novel about intrepid, young video game designers during my time at Newzoo. Media hardly ever makes me cry. Zevin's story squeezed a few tears out with lyrical gusto.
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
I'm only 15% through this book and I can't put it down. An embarrassingly excellent read all about how the world around us was designed for men, and why this needs to change.
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa
I'm a sucker for careful, meticulous writing that centimeter by centimeter invites you in and then calmly devastates you down to your last emotional atom. Well done, Ogawa.
Severance by Ling Ma
Remember the pandemic? Ling Ma's prescient, quiet nightmare will make sure you never forget it. But in a weirdly good way, because of just how haunting and beautiful the narrative is. Also, would you work through the apocalpyse?
Klara and the Sun, Never Let Me Go, and The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro
Three of my favorite novels. Glacial and acidic explorations of memory. The first one is the best work on artificial intelligence ever in its quiet contemplation and utter kindness.
The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx & Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
The subject of my master's thesis. Atwood's behind some of my favorite dystopias.
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
An academic textbook presented in comic form (very meta). Contains my favorite definition of art.
La Poeta en Nueva York (Poet in New York) by Federico García Lorca
I wrote my undergrad thesis on this one. Represents poetics at their most emotional and visceral. Imagine landing in New York City from Granada and not speaking nearly enough English. A must read (in Spanish).
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
A masterpiece. No one riffs on tragic topics like Beatty. Often very funny, but Beatty himself advises the reader to not get lost in the comedy. I love Chris Jackson's interview with the author in The Paris Review.
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
Read this one in seven hours on a train from A Coruña to Madrid.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
I love final words in novels. This one has my favorite final words. Want to know what they are? Read the book. And then you, too, can [redacted]. You'll get it.
Pastoralia by George Saunders
Haunting, worth several reads. It's far less popular than Lincoln and the Bardo (this guy really should write more novels), but essential if you want the full Saunders experience.
Our Country Friends, Super Sad True Love Story ,and Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart
This is an author who truly understands the United States of America. Wicked funny and incisive. Also, if you're ready to face the pandemic in artistic terms, Our Country Friends is a great place to start.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Read this novel by candlelight. Alone, and with a glass of skin-tingling cremánt.
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
What more can I say? A masterpiece. The TV show is excellent, too.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
Both of these books had me reevaluate how I relate to the natural world (it's all the natural world).
The Sandman (from The Night Pieces) by ETA Hoffmann
A meditation on madness. Also, maybe one of the first literary instances of automatons. Please correct me on this.
My Squirrel Days by Ellie Kemper
Ellie Kemper is one of my favorite actors and a hugely witty writer. Want a heartfelt belly laugh? Download this on your reading device.
Rossum’s Universal Robots by Karel Čapek
We wouldn't have the robots we know and love without this magnificent play.
The Power and The Future by Naomi Alderman
First question: what would you do if every woman on earth woke up one morning and could shoot fatal lightning blasts from their fingertips? Second question: what's the best way to deal with the tech oligarchy. Alderman has the answers!
The Futurological Congress and Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Mind-bending science fiction. Is anything real, and does this planet feel emotions?
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
Similarly mind-bending science fiction. I look to Phil Dick for inspiration constantly. The only reason there's only one of these on there is that Dick was scarily prolific, so I thought I'd choose the single book that beat my mind with a wrench the most.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Huxley and Orwell owe it all to Zamyatin. Maybe. Probably.
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
We're all standing in the shadow of Nabokov.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Read this in a dingy room lit only by a single, flickering bulb. For fans of soul-cleaving typesetting and nightmares that persist. And footnotes.
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
On my "one day I will reread and truly understand this one" list.
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Legions of improvisers flock to Tina Fey for inspiration and wit. I'm definitely one of them.
