“We all know we’re going to die; what’s important is the kind of men and women we are in the face of this.”
A shutdown is great for things other than binging on Netflix. It is an opportunity to grow and become better. That’s something all dark seasons bring–a silver lining.
One silver lining is time to read. Unfortunately, I haven’t fully availed myself to the increased time for reading. In part, chasing and entertaining a three-year-old eats up the spare time. The other part is laziness. Something I’m correcting for April. April will hopefully bring not just more books read, but all of us emerging from our collective hibernation.
Thankfully I fit in a few good books before county officials and governors boarded up the doors of commerce. What follows are six books and one short story I read this month.
Do the Work by Steven Pressfield
Know Why You Believe by Paul Little
Story Grid by Shawne Coyne
Ernest Hemmingway on Writing by Larry W. Phillips
Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway
I read a good deal of Hemmingway this March. So much so that I still hear his clear, crisp sentences ringing in my ear; a welcomed treat for any half-hearted writer.
The list of writers one simply must read is long. It contains names such as Twain, Steinbeck, Faulkner, Kipling, Fitzgerald, and Melville. We know them by a single moniker, their surname. They carry weight and compel our attention. Unfamiliarity with their names is unavoidable; you can’t escape childhood without an introduction to their work.
Hemingway–that’s all you need to hear. It’s a name that stands above the rest; though many years have passed since the conclusion of both his life and work, his name and writing continue to loom large in our cultural milieu.
His writing is at times slow and hard to read, yet remains enjoyable and well-crafted. Hemmingway wrote like he lived, full out, and fighting all the way. He saw writing as a competition, not only with himself but with the great writers of history. He looked at the blank page as the ground on which the battle takes place. What a perspective for a writer. What a way to attack the project of creation.
My affection for Hemmingway is new. Despite the introduction in grade school, his work remained boring and reading it feudal enterprise until lately. It took pushing through and slogging ahead out of pure stubbornness to reach the golden shore on the other side. One thing I learn through experiences like reading Hemmingway is that good is regularly found on the far side of difficulty. Whether that’s a book or something larger and more impactful like a pandemic. Good is in the process of developing while we walk through the darkness.