Recently, I read the New York Times Opinion newsletter and I learned about vnutrennaya emigratsia “a term the Russians use to describe their “internal exiles,” people so disillusioned by the chaos around them that they turn away from politics to the comfort of their family, to the refuge of books and art.”
I have been pondering this idea since I read about it on November 7. Is this what I have been doing lately? And by lately I mean, for longer than just this election cycle.
If I were to be completely honest, I have found myself to be less political for a few years now. Sometime during the pandemic, I stopped listening to NPR on our kitchen smart speaker. I took the smart speaker out of our kitchen and put it away in a closet because I didn’t like way that we were using it all the time (and I didn’t want it listening to us either).
I also stopped listening to NPR on my car radio too, I started during the second term of the George W. Bush era, a period of time that I consider my political awakening, in favor of listening to music on SiriusXM. So I am not really an NPR person right now. I am not really as much of a news person right now, though I do browse a few NYT newsletters and I sometimes look at the Atlantic.
I used to be a podcast listener too, but these days I really only tune into something if I read about it and then seek it out intentionally. A few weeks ago I enjoyed a limited series called Hysterical that is about a true life outbreak of a mysterious illness that spread in teenage girls in upstate New York in the year 2011.
So am I retreating? Maybe. Maybe it all get exhausting sometimes.
Maybe there are other ways to be engaged in life besides keeping up with the news. Maybe there are other ways to fight the power. Maybe I have never been all that well versed in political discourse that I feel like keeping up with the news and regurgitating the opinion of others doesn’t make society any better.
Maybe I need to do what I am good, and what I am good at is reading books and telling other people about books.
Maybe I feel the best way to fight the power is to fight the strain of anti-intellectualism bias that seems to be alive today. I read books but I am not better than you. Sometimes I do detect annoyance in others if people ask you what you have been up to and you mention that you are reading a book. I am not smarter than you. However, I think it is important though to see life through other perspectives and to know more about the world.
Be a revolutionary and read.
With that said, here is what I have been reading lately:
On Saturday, I finally finished Becoming by Michelle Obama. What an inspiring person! A person of substance. Reading this book made me want to be a better person. If you are looking for some insight in this interesting juncture in America’s story, read the last chapter and epilogue of this book. It gives you something to chew on.
Yesterday, as I was waiting to be called for my oral surgery appointment, I started reading Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Earlier this year, I read Patchett’s book Tom Lake with my book club. Everyone seemed to think that Bel Canto was her best book so I am giving it a try.
I am reading The Wild Robot by Peter Brown aloud to the boys in the morning before they get on the school bus. We are excited to see the new movie when we have finished the book. At night, when it is my turn to put the boys to bed, I also like to read aloud from the Dog Man books. We have read each volume at least 2-3 times so far. There is something comforting about reading something that you love again and again right before bedtime. The thing that I have found is that for a silly series, there are some profound moments in these graphic novels. The true is that Dog Man is really a story about Petey the Cat, an imperfect father, and his son Little Petey. A big theme of the books is how Petey keeps trying to be a better cat even though he is flawed. The boys and I are looking forward to the release of Big Jim Begins, the 13th installment of the Dog Man series which comes out on December 3, 2024.
Last week I finished the book Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. I don’t have TikTok and I don’t watch it, but apparently people book talk books on TikTok and this book became famous that way. I found it because I like looking at the book social media app Goodreads and I kept seeing people reading this book. Icebreaker is a fluffy romance book with a happy ending. Sometimes you need that in your life. Hannah Grace has a two other books on the shelves in libraries and stores right now. Honestly, this book is pretty fun if you are looking for a little escape.
I am also listening the book The History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage for the November meeting of the book club that I belong to. This title is a pop history book. It details how the history of six drinks is intertwined with the human history of the earth. The drinks that are examined are: beer, wine, spirits, tea, coffee, and cola. Read it while you can as various aspects of human history are examined including: colonialism, slave trade, other cultures including China and other non western counties.
