Let the books be - My readings of 2022

As a family, we traveled to Iceland in March of 2022. The country is absurdly gorgeous, and I made some of my best pictures. We also learned Icelanders read the most books in the world per capita. It's rich in stories, tales, folklore, and mystery. They even have a famous saying,?Blindur er Bóklaus Maeur, that translates to "blind is a bookless man." It suggests that those who don't read are ignorant of the world around them.

Back here in the U.S., I read stories from different sources that hundreds of books are being banned. Of course, banning books is nothing new in the land of the free. There is even a whole?week?celebrating books that have been banned in the past. Libraries and bookstores have sections dedicated to them, and The American Library Association has an entire team dedicated to?that.

The novelty of these efforts lies in common conditions:?

1. From single digits to four digits?requests.
2. These requests come from well-organized groups, usually spearheaded by conservatives, politicians, and parents.
3. They target mainly books of LGBTQ+ and race themes.?

According to?PEN.Org, Texas (~ 1,000) and Florida (500+) lead the efforts, followed by Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Countrywide they impact 5,000+ school districts and over 4 million students. It's not limited to prohibiting books in school districts or restricting them to specific ages. Books are being removed from libraries and even bookstores, prohibiting anyone from reading them. These requests (attacks, really!) come out of sheer prejudice!?

I will not argue the merit of prejudice because that alone is wrong. Period!?

But, is it only I who thinks that banning people - especially students - from reading and critically thinking of other perspectives, regardless of ideology, will curb their future?

I welcome the debate over the contents of books. Every book intends to make us think, question things, appreciate beauty, add novelty, and understand others. A book never imposes knowledge, and it constantly interacts with the reader. However, that conversation no longer exists when we ban them. Wouldn't it be better to teach children to dialogue with books, not ban them? More often than not, universities and companies embrace employees based on their diverse backgrounds and cultures. Diversity is not only the right thing to do, but it's also better for business, according to?McKinsey,?Harvard Business School, and many?other?studies. It's become more common in?campi?everywhere to find ERG groups, support groups, and at a minimum, some Diversity & Inclusion chapters fostering different views of the world. Most times, and to most people, that world is only available through the pages of a book.?

In my state of Florida, one school district proposed banning books considered pieces of exemplary American and World Literature, such as some by Dr. Seuss and "The Bluest Eye" (1970) by the Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winner Toni Morrison. It's a story of a young black girl who wishes to have blue eyes just because she thinks she isn't worthy if she doesn't have blue eyes. Morrison directed her black voice TO black readers because, according to her, "there were not many writers, including black writers, doing that at that time." The problem with empowering anyone to attack books is that we can become the wild west. Another example: even?The Bible?was?removed?from the shelves in a Texan district because some parents challenged it. Are these people thinking this through?

However, if history repeats itself, there's a silver lining to all of this.

Usually, books, once banned, become classics and part of modern literature. Examples include?To Kill a Mockingbird,?The Catcher in the Rye, and?1984, to name a few. Yet, a whole generation may be lost once those books are stored back on shelves. Unfortunately, this is my children's generation.

And I want my sons to have access to all perspectives so that when they apply for a college or a job, they are rich with different topics and ideas. Moreover, they respect perspectives different from theirs.

Parents love to brag that their children's teachers have master's degrees or even PhDs and that their schools foster critical thinking or leadership skills. Still, when those teachers recommend certain books, they cringe. Another book I read this year (White Noise by Don DeLillo -?Now it's a Netflix movie) has a quote that made me think hard about that. "The family is the cradle of the world's misinformation. There must be something in family life that generates factual errors."?

Family is sacred to all of us, but sacredness doesn't mean perfect. It means we love them, despite their imperfections while we still do anything to make them better than we are. That's why we send children to schools, buy them books, hire tutors and coaches, and issue them library id cards. We hope these external sources of knowledge fill in the gaps that we, as a family, cannot and expand their beings to become better beyond the family's reach.

I also wrote three photo books with family trip memories, and if you'd like to buy one of them, here's the?link. You can also preview the first 15 pages. It's a book of our trip to Iceland. You may purchase the hard-cover lay-flat version (if you’re rich enough) to decorate your house or the PDF version.?

But this article (now, an annual tradition) is about what I read/listened to in 2022 (67 books). I'm thinking of publishing every quarter, but I am afraid Linkedin may not be the suitable medium... Anyway, in 2022 I discovered new passions and unconsciously dedicated much of my reading to understanding what it takes to create. The main lessons I gained from those books are Consistency, Frequency, and No Judgment. Yes! To create something, we need to consistently work daily on the material without being judgmental or thinking about what other people will say, but we must do that daily.

I'll divide my lists into four ways.?

First, I'll list and describe my favorite books and authors. Then, I'll briefly reference other ones that I enjoyed. I'll list the books dedicated to creativity, and finally, I'll have the complete list for all of you who'd like to get ideas.

But before that, let me end with a quote from a book called?Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson.?"Censorship is the child of fear, the father of ignorance, and the desperate weapon of fascists everywhere."

My Favorite Books:

• Blindness by Jose Saramago, the only Portuguese writer to receive a Nobel Prize?-??When a sudden epidemic of blindness affects the entire population of a country, Saramago makes us?see?what we indeed are as men and women. Its raw descriptions slap our faces and force us to continue to read it through the end, hoping some good can come out of such a tragic story.
• Poeta Chileno by Alejandro Zambra -?I fell in love with Zambra's work in 2021 when I read "Formas de Volver a la casa." Fortunately, this book kept that sentiment. Zambra is a master of dialogue and tickles our minds with daily mundane moments. It's hard to put this book down. As we follow Gonzalo and Carla on every page, we realize that everything is a great event to be fully lived.
• Devotion?and?Just Kids by Patti Smith?-?Thankfully, I discovered Patti Smith in 2022. She writes so beautifully. She chisels every sentence to enhance our senses. In?Devotion, she talks about artists' devotion in different areas dedicated to achieving their goals. She does so with a poetic rhythm while transmitting the hard work it takes for art to become art. In?Just Kids, she narrates her relationship with the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. It's pure love! As she does that, we also glimpse New York during the 60s and the 70s, which alone is a story. I also had the privilege to see Patti Smith at the Miami Book Fair perform live, and she's as fascinating in person as in her books.
• The Year of Magical Thinking?and?Let Me Tell You What I Mean?by Joan Didion -?Another writer I discovered last year, Didion writing, is as beautiful as Patti Smith's. Still, it's more eloquent and precise in style and grammar and has a different rhythm.?The Year of Magical Thinking?is a candid memoir where she narrates her life with her husband. She does that after he dies. She seeks comfort, and writing is her only tool to battle another tragic event (her daughter is seriously ill). She never shies from talking about the good or the bad.?Let Me Tell You What I Mean?is a collection of essays she wrote in her lifetime. They are all written so well that you want to continue reading them even when the topic is boring.?
• The Storyteller by Foo Fighters' own David Grohl?-?it's a memoir of rock and roll and the love for it. We all love Dave from his works with Nirvana and the Foo Fighters; this book helped me understand why. The man is a machine that lives for music and rock and roll. At the same time, he's a humble man, a husband, and a great father to 3 daughters. The story about watching his daughter's school recital was insane.?
• Calypso,?Carnival of Snackery, Theft by Finding - Diaries 1977 - 2002,?and?Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris?-?In a year where political polarization took over the news in the U.S. and Brazil, I listened to these four books by Sedaris. They kept me laughing and helped me to see that moment with much less drama. Sedaris is a prolific writer who writes a lot every day, and these books are collections of those writings. I listened to them on my daily runs, and I cannot fathom doing it any other way. Sedaris's voice is unique and reads better than anyone I know. He talks silly and heavy, dense things, and in all cases, he managed to bring a smile to my face. His sense of humor and observations of the world and dialogue around him are absurd. That's what makes a good writer a good writer. Thank you so much, David!
• Taste - My life through Food by Stanley Tucci?-?I've always been a fan of his work in film, and this book is something I have never read before. Tucci talks about his life by elevating the role of Italian food and his heritage. It's rare to find that one person could be able to mark life moments and milestones and associate them with what and how they eat. I am still trying to remember what I had for lunch yesterday. I listened to this book as I ran, and I would return home hungry for good food and great companionship every time.
• Either/Or?and?The Idiot by Elif Batuman, who was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.?-?These are sequels, but I read the second one first by accident. Batuman tells the story of Selin, the daughter of Turkish immigrants, born in America; she got to study at Harvard. The first book (The Idiot) narrates Selin's first year in college, while?Either/Or?narrates the second one. These books bring a bunch of firsts into this young woman's life. Selin is sweet, funny, opinionated, vulnerable, and insecure. She is, most of all, forging her presence amid everything around her. Both books are full of references to other books and places we may never have a chance to visit. Still, thanks to Selin, we can get to know them better, which brings me to my argument at the beginning of this article.?

Books I enjoyed:

• Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer -?A journalist researches human memory and brings us a fantastic set of information. I'll leave you with this quote:?"It is forgetting, not remembering, that is the essence of what makes us human. To make sense of the world, we must filter it. "To think," Borges writes, "is to forget."?
• Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld?-?Now I know why Seinfeld is a genius!
• Four Thousand Weeks - Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman?-?Best time management book I have ever read, and I won't read another one after this. Here's a quote: "Productivity is a trap. Becoming more efficient just makes you more rushed, and trying to clear the decks simply makes them fill up again faster. Nobody in the history of humanity has ever achieved "work-life balance," whatever that might be, and you certainly won't get there by copying the "six things successful people do before 7:00 a.m."

Books on topics of creation, more specifically, trying to understand what it takes to create, even from famous artists and innovators. Here are the books:

• Zen in the Art of Writing (by Ray Bradbury)
• On Photography (by Susan Tong)
• Stop Worrying, Start Writing: How to overcome fear, self-doubt, and procrastination (by Sarah Painter)
• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative (by Austin Kleon)
• Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad (by Austin Kleon)
• Daily Rituals: How Artists Work (by Mason Currey)
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (by Anne Lamott)
• Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (by Ed Catmull - Pixar's CEO)
• Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within (by Natalie Goldberg)

Complete list in chronological reading order:

1. Doramar ou a Odisseia: historias (by Itamar Vieira Junior)

2. My Monticello (by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson)

3. Remote Control (by Nnedi Okorafor)

4. Station Eleven (by Emily St. John Mandel)

5. Ensaio sobre a Cegueira (by Jose Saramago)

6. The Bluest Eyes (by Toni Morrison)

7. Devotion (by Patti Smith)

8. Poeta Chileno (by Alejandro Zambra)

9. The Storyteller (by David Grohl)

10. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (by James Clear)

11. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals (by Oliver Burkeman)

12. Yoga (by Emmanuel Carrère)

13. Later (by Stephen King)

14. Is This Anything? (by Jerry Seinfeld)

15. On Photography (by Susan Tong)

16. The Year of Magical Thinking (by Joan Didion)

17. Stop Worrying, Start Writing: How to overcome fear, self-doubt, and procrastination (by Sarah Painter)

18. Wish you Were Here (by Jodi Picoult)

19. The Man With No Borders (by Richard C. Morais)

20. Pride and Prejudice (by Jane Austen)

21. The Hole (by Hye-Young Pyun)

22. First Person Singular (by Haruki Murakami)

23. The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World (by Kehinde Andrews)

24. Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World (by Cal Newport)

25. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (by Haruki Murakami)

26. Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention- and How to Think Deeply Again (by Johann Hari)

27. Calypso (by David Sedaris)

28. Don't Be Trashy: A Practical Guide to Living with Less Waste and More Joy (by Tara McKenna)

29. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (by Franz Kafka)

30. Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism (by Anne Applebaum)

31. Seven Brief Lessons on Physics (by Carlo Rovelli)

32. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (by Anne Lamott)

33. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (by Ed Catmull)

34. Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within (by Natalie Goldberg)

35. Cleopatra's Dagger (by Carole Lawrence)

36. My Broken Language (by Quiara Alegría Hudes)

37. Either/Or (Elif Batuman)

38. Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative (by Austin Kleon)

39. Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad (by Austin Kleon)

40. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (by Tracy Kidder)

41. Let Me Tell You What I Mean (By Joan Didion)

42. Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future (by Elizabeth Kolbert)

43. Fahrenheit 451 (by Ray Bradbury)

44. The Idiot (by Elif Batuman)

45. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work (by Mason Currey)

46. Nothing to See Here (by Kevin Wilson)

47. Rough Draft: A Memoir (by Katy Tur)

48. Just Kids (by Patti Smith)

49. Zen in the Art of Writing (by Ray Bradbury)

50. Carnival of Snackery (by David Sedaris)

51. Nocturno de Chile (Roberto Bolanos)

52. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything (by Joshua Foer)

53. Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 (by David Sedaris)

54. The Paris Bookseller (by Kerri Maher)

55. Talking to Strangers (by Malcolm Gladwell)

56. Happy-Go-Lucky (by David Sedaris)

57. My Time Among The Whites (by Jennine Capo Crucet)

58. The Stranger in the Lifeboat (by Mitch Albom)

59. Libro de los suenos (by Jorge Luis Borges)

60. Taste: My life through Food (by Stanley Tucci)

61. Life Ceremony (by Sayaka Murata)

62. Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism (by Amanda Montell)

63. White Noise (by Don DeLillo)

64. The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others (by Tari Sharot)

65. Cain (by Jose Saramago)

66. The Echo Wife (by Sarah Gailey)

67. The Bookstore Sisters (by Alice Hoffman)

If you'd like ideas on how to read more books, here's another link that may help.

Cheers,

Rogerio Cazelato