What I read this week
Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella Hammad
Isabella Hammad wrote one of my favorite novels of last year, and then she delivered the Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture on September 28, 2023 at Columbia University, mere days before the tragedy of October 7, which has begotten countless tragedies since then, with no end in sight.
Her speech is reprinted in this beautiful little booklet. Hammad’s lecture focuses on the moment in fiction when a character learns something and everything changes. They might, like Odysseus, discover some horrible truths about their familial origins. Or they might just experience a moment of epiphany about the world, when something they’ve known in their gut has finally made its way into their head. So much of what Hammad writes about involves witnessing — or hoping to witness — the awakening of people who were unaware of the plight of Palestinians and their sub-human treatment by Israel.
She explains, pre-October 7th, why these realizations were and are hard to come by:
Individual moments of recognition are repeatedly overwhelmed by the energy of a political establishment that tells the onlooker: this is not what it looks like. It is too complicated to understand. Look away.
This past year has made me reevaluate everything I thought I knew about Israel as a Jewish person in America, just as MeToo made me reconsider professional relationships that I thought were okay at the time. My biggest realization is not that Israel is culpable, but to what extremes so many American Jews will go to in order to avoid looking.
Model Home by Rivers Solomon
Rivers Solomon has done it again. They write modern horror that reads like one of those dreams where you recognize your surroundings but all of the details feel off. A sense of dread pervades. Their latest follows three siblings who return to their creepy suburban Dallas home (or mansion, more like) in a very white, affluent neighborhood after the deaths of their parents. Did the house do it? What’s the line between literal and metaphorical hauntings?
*I would also like to note that Solomon writes about life with diabetes (their own life and their characters’) in a way that feels so true to me. So much fictional writing about diabetes feels hollow, so I’m grateful to Solomon for going deep.
A salute to reading with Bizzy the Pug
Yesterday Josh and I said goodbye to our constant companion of the last 9+ years. Bizzy Gondelman-Kreizman (2007-2024) came to live with us when she was almost 8 years old, so we thought she was already an old lady when we met her, but holy shit, 17 years old is another thing all together. She was bratty and sweet in equal parts, and we loved her so much.
Lots of people ask me how I find the time to read so much, and part of it is, yes, I don’t have a day job. But Bizzy was another big reason why. There was nothing better, on nights when Josh was out doing comedy, than pouring myself a glass of wine and sitting down on the couch next to Bizzy with a book or two. It was the best version of being alone but not lonely.
For many years when I was single I lived alone and tried to view my apartment as a place to sleep, but not somewhere to spend all day. I was semi-frantic about going out every night, and I was so lucky to have so many wonderful friends and a lot of excellent book events to keep me busy. That was my community and I will be grateful always.
But when I met Josh and we moved in together, and Bizzy followed soon after, I began to be a great appreciator of staying in. And this sweet, grumpy little munchkin who was happy to sit by my side (while often demanding treats) somehow managed to make me more of an introvert in the best way.
I’m thinking about an interview I did with Amy Hempel years, how awed I was for so many reasons, but the way she writes about dog loss is one of them. We shared photos. She showed me the pit bull Ghandi, I showed her Miss Bizzy. I was a newbie, Bizzy was my very first dog. Amy had seen so many rescues come through her life, and loved them all so well, and then let them go. I want to learn from her. Not how to make great art about loving dogs, I’ll leave that to her. But how to live with loss.
I leave you with this photo of Bizzy at Books Are Magic, prancing right in front of the podium while Jami was reading from All Grown Up, attempting to steal the spotlight from her beloved aunt. That is sass. (Bizzy also once did a photo shoot at Books Are Magic and pooped on the floor. Sorry, Emma!!)
We will miss her desperately.
New releases 10/8
Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
The Web We Weave: Why We Must Reclaim the Internet from Moguls, Misanthropes, and Moral Panic by Jeff Jarvis
A Thousand Threads: A Memoir by Neneh Cherry
Understanding Hamas And Why That Matters by Helena Cobban and Rami G. Khouri
Cheers to Bizzy ❤️
so sorry for your loss, Maris--may Bizzy's memory be for a blessing (I think it already is). and I keep feeling so appreciative of your clarity on Palestine & Israel. thanks for your great writing <3