Read Receipts Monthly Musings: ✨Barb

What I read last month

I’m a big believer in creating your own fresh starts. I also believe that a planner and a new pen can change your life. And since February was a fresh-start kind of month for me, I wanted to share one of the reading habits that I started implementing. Fortunately for me, and maybe for you too, it involves the aforementioned objects.

I learned about the concept of a commonplace book on the NYT’s “The Year in Books” podcast last year. The idea is simple: write down sentences or phrases from things you read or listen to that strike you, for any reason.

By consolidating these ideas into a physical archive, in my case a lavender Moleskine notebook (above) a commonplace book acts as a journal, just with ideas that aren’t yours. Functionally, it also replaces the random photos of book pages on my camera roll (don’t get me started on the utility of my Kindle highlights).

If you haven’t heard about commonplace books, I encourage you to listen to this episode and hear directly from critic Dwight Garner about why typing out a line or observation makes him more likely to remember it. Hopefully I can stick with it! It sounds very fun to look back on what resonated with me as I read.

Speaking of… here’s my round-up of recent reads.

XO Barb

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🔪 Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie

★★★

• I had never heard of this author before I listened to his memoir, but I was intrigued by Madeline and Kelsey’s positive reviews at the end of last year.

• I am extremely queasy, so I was a bit nervous about Rushdie’s detailed recounting of his 2022 stabbing. But not even the author believed he’d survive the knife attack, so there’s a sense of awe in the way he navigates his recovery, which is extremely captivating as a reader.

• In the beginning of the book, Rushdie discloses that he will only refer to his attacker by the name of “A,” in order to avoid sensationalizing the assassin’s extremely limited knowledge of Rushdie’s work and life. The separation of trauma from revenge is an important theme throughout the book.

• RIYL: Grief is for People, Know My Name

🔗 Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

★★★★

• Bowen Yang told me to read this book, so like the reader I am, I did!

• Most of the short stories in this collection, which I’ve seen reviews refer to as the first “incel novel,” did indeed make me want to jump out of my own skin. So if you make it past the first chapter, I honestly commend you.

• Ultimately, I did appreciate the author’s dark interrogation of internet culture, and I liked how Tulathimutte himself became entwined in the plot at the end; it reminded me of Percival Everett. But wow, this was an uncomfortable reading experience with some truly deplorable characters.

• RIYL: Big Swiss, Martyr!

⭐ One Star Romance by Laura Hankin

★★★★

• Rounding out these weightier reads was this gem of a romance novel! I haven’t binge-read a love story with such glee since Emily Henry’s Funny Story last year.

• The premise is very clever: a writer/author is forced to walk down the aisle with a man who gave her book a one-star rating on Goodreads, who just happens to be the best man to her maid of honor in their best friends’ wedding. Over the course of a decade, they are forced to reunite at housewarmings, christenings, and milestone birthdays. Enemies to lovers, IYKYK.

• RIYL: Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Big Fan

• James by Percival Everett

• This is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer

• Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

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