What We’re Reading
When we wrote about What We’re Listening To a lot of people responded. So we figured we’d do the same with what we’re reading right now.
When we want something to read, we go to the library. The library is public infrastructure. It already belongs to the people who use it. You walk in, take what you need, and bring it back when you’re done. No purchase, no algorithm, no permanent data trail. It’s free because it’s supposed to be.
Checking out books keeps us from piling more things onto our shelves just to prove we own them. We don’t need to hold every book forever to get something out of it. And we’d rather use a system that was built to give people access than keep feeding the ones that sell everything back to us for a price.
Right now Sean is reading Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey, a book written out of isolation and anger at what gets called progress. It isn’t a nature memoir meant to soothe anybody. It’s blunt, confrontational, and honest about what gets destroyed when industry wins. It reads like someone telling the truth before it gets paved over.
Alexys is reading Dead Man’s List by Karen Rose. It’s crime fiction written to pull you through the story fast, with enough tension to keep you up later than you planned. It’s the kind of book you pick up because you want to disappear into something that moves, not something you have to fight to get through. It’s book three out of four in Rose’s San Diego series.
Two completely different books, both pulled off the shelf the same way: walk in, find what calls to you, check it out, walk away with it in your hand.
Do we buy books? Absolutely. But the ones we choose to own are for another blog post. Not everything needs to live on our shelf to matter right now.
There’s something about a library book that streaming and scrolling can’t touch. You don’t “add it to your list” and forget it exists. You read it because it has to go back when you’re done. There’s accountability built into it. Someone else is waiting for their turn. You’re part of a cycle instead of a purchase.
Holding the book matters too. You feel the weight, turn the pages, and see the words printed instead of glowing at you. When you’re done, it goes back to the shelf for the next person instead of taking up space in your house or disappearing into a digital void.
Reading this way slows you down. You’re not skimming a screen or chasing recommendations. You pick up a book, sit with it, and let it stand on its own. No pop-ups, no previews, no one trying to sell you something because you turned a page.
What are you reading right now? Did you buy it, borrow it, or stumble into it by chance? Do you keep every book you read, or let them move on when you’re done? You don’t have to be on our newsletter to respond. Feel free to contact us, people do. And we always write back.