First - the books - I loved Enter Ghost and have recommended it to many people since I read it. I also tell everyone to maybe spend 5 minutes with a map before diving in. The book really exposed me to a lot of my own ignorance. I did not finish Martyr!... because I started it as an audiobook and I kept wanting to pause because the text was so good. I need to pick it back up on paper
We must have fallen in the same track of the algorithm because I am also seeing so many articles or pieces on keeping a common place book... I even bought a page-numbered notebook for this purpose but I haven't started yet because, frankly, I don't think I need another hobby. But I am so torn!!!
As a test-drive and a compromise, I am thinking of maybe starting a book and dedicating it only to my favorite authors. Like, right now, I am doing a month of Didion... which may be a good opportunity to try collecting some of my favorite quotes by her. I don't know. Life is so hard. 😂
I honestly don't think Martyr! would make a very good audiobook -- there's a lot of voices and they aren't *that* clearly delineated. Also some formatting within the book that you'd lose. I do recommend picking up the book, the poetry and writing is worth it!
I know I am not a Common Place person... I'm never going to copy out entire passages just for the sake of it! For me, note-taking is an exercise in processing thoughts - I don't know what I'd do with a notebook of other people's thoughts when I already, y'know, own and read books.
I am so glad that we had this conversation before I wasted a perfectly good notebook on three pages worth of enthusiasm that I would not be able to sustain. Onward. 😂
It is perhaps my greatest achievement that I have managed to get so many of you to read Enter Ghost. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I am so excited for Martyr to come out in paperback so I can finally get my hands on it, because I just personally refuse to pay for hardback prices. It’s almost 2025 I can wait a little longer.
I am *so* close (like as in it’s on the cards next time I’m in a stationary shop and can buy a large journal specifically for book thoughts) to long handing my book comments and moving out of the notes app on my phone.
Actually I have more to say on moving away from digital notes. I am beginning to find that there is a limitation on my ideas in phone notes. I am unsure specifically what it is, perhaps the act of typing small scale or the idea of ‘rushing’ out the thoughts, but I’m definitely starting to feel boxed in by my note taking practice. So this has come at the perfect time & remains the perfect encouragement for me to also become an analog queen.
You really sold Enter Ghost!!! And obv it's just felt especially relevant to read stories from Palestinian writers, on top of it being such a beautiful and well executed story - so clear in what it was trying to achieve. I hope you enjoy Martyr!, it merits waiting (and talking and thinking about... some elements are very frustrating and some elements are so incredible).
RE: note-taking, I just cannot *think* properly in the Notes app! It's restrictive to me to think by THUMB TYPING. An author of a book I quite liked (Big Swiss) said she wrote the entire book laying down, on her phone and I was like HOW??? There's a looseness I find I have note taking by hand -- a big arrow to connect thoughts, asterisks to return to something, the satisfying emphasis of underlining things - that a few Notes app bullet points cannot recreate! I really have enjoyed writing as I read which means I sometimes pose questions and answer them ("Is this character going to XYZ" "Yes!!!") I especially love the idea of a BIG notebook (the one I use is A6 sized; which is fine but can be cramped)
I did read Maris' interview bout Holocaust Beach Reads! As you can imagine, I find the entire idea personally, morally and aesthetically abhorrent... Truly an example of everything that is off-putting in historical fiction to me in general - the flattening the complexities of history into cheap narrative arcs; the idea that the only way we can learn about history is from a position of comfort and distance, which diminishes any ability to learn from it. As a descendent of Holocaust survivors, it is incredibly strange to treat this history as a Trojan-War mythic tragedy *backdrop* exempt from context, from legacy and consequence (I mean, I started this comment talking about Enter Ghost!!!). Before I make this comment scroll bar any smaller, I'll just add that Naomi Klein's Doppelgangers does an absolutely incredible job unpacking this overlapping history.
I'm still waiting for my library copy of Martyr! But i loved Enter Ghost, your post makes me want to re read it notebook in hand 💓 I've been trying to get better about writing summaries/thoughts on non fiction but haven't tried it with novels and I should
I loved reading this so much, Laurel!
First - the books - I loved Enter Ghost and have recommended it to many people since I read it. I also tell everyone to maybe spend 5 minutes with a map before diving in. The book really exposed me to a lot of my own ignorance. I did not finish Martyr!... because I started it as an audiobook and I kept wanting to pause because the text was so good. I need to pick it back up on paper
We must have fallen in the same track of the algorithm because I am also seeing so many articles or pieces on keeping a common place book... I even bought a page-numbered notebook for this purpose but I haven't started yet because, frankly, I don't think I need another hobby. But I am so torn!!!
As a test-drive and a compromise, I am thinking of maybe starting a book and dedicating it only to my favorite authors. Like, right now, I am doing a month of Didion... which may be a good opportunity to try collecting some of my favorite quotes by her. I don't know. Life is so hard. 😂
I honestly don't think Martyr! would make a very good audiobook -- there's a lot of voices and they aren't *that* clearly delineated. Also some formatting within the book that you'd lose. I do recommend picking up the book, the poetry and writing is worth it!
I know I am not a Common Place person... I'm never going to copy out entire passages just for the sake of it! For me, note-taking is an exercise in processing thoughts - I don't know what I'd do with a notebook of other people's thoughts when I already, y'know, own and read books.
I am so glad that we had this conversation before I wasted a perfectly good notebook on three pages worth of enthusiasm that I would not be able to sustain. Onward. 😂
It is perhaps my greatest achievement that I have managed to get so many of you to read Enter Ghost. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I am so excited for Martyr to come out in paperback so I can finally get my hands on it, because I just personally refuse to pay for hardback prices. It’s almost 2025 I can wait a little longer.
I am *so* close (like as in it’s on the cards next time I’m in a stationary shop and can buy a large journal specifically for book thoughts) to long handing my book comments and moving out of the notes app on my phone.
Actually I have more to say on moving away from digital notes. I am beginning to find that there is a limitation on my ideas in phone notes. I am unsure specifically what it is, perhaps the act of typing small scale or the idea of ‘rushing’ out the thoughts, but I’m definitely starting to feel boxed in by my note taking practice. So this has come at the perfect time & remains the perfect encouragement for me to also become an analog queen.
You really sold Enter Ghost!!! And obv it's just felt especially relevant to read stories from Palestinian writers, on top of it being such a beautiful and well executed story - so clear in what it was trying to achieve. I hope you enjoy Martyr!, it merits waiting (and talking and thinking about... some elements are very frustrating and some elements are so incredible).
RE: note-taking, I just cannot *think* properly in the Notes app! It's restrictive to me to think by THUMB TYPING. An author of a book I quite liked (Big Swiss) said she wrote the entire book laying down, on her phone and I was like HOW??? There's a looseness I find I have note taking by hand -- a big arrow to connect thoughts, asterisks to return to something, the satisfying emphasis of underlining things - that a few Notes app bullet points cannot recreate! I really have enjoyed writing as I read which means I sometimes pose questions and answer them ("Is this character going to XYZ" "Yes!!!") I especially love the idea of a BIG notebook (the one I use is A6 sized; which is fine but can be cramped)
I did read Maris' interview bout Holocaust Beach Reads! As you can imagine, I find the entire idea personally, morally and aesthetically abhorrent... Truly an example of everything that is off-putting in historical fiction to me in general - the flattening the complexities of history into cheap narrative arcs; the idea that the only way we can learn about history is from a position of comfort and distance, which diminishes any ability to learn from it. As a descendent of Holocaust survivors, it is incredibly strange to treat this history as a Trojan-War mythic tragedy *backdrop* exempt from context, from legacy and consequence (I mean, I started this comment talking about Enter Ghost!!!). Before I make this comment scroll bar any smaller, I'll just add that Naomi Klein's Doppelgangers does an absolutely incredible job unpacking this overlapping history.
Also! You need to read an essay included in Maris’ latest piece about ‘Holocaust Beach Reads’ if you haven’t already - so good & I think you’ll enjoy
I'm still waiting for my library copy of Martyr! But i loved Enter Ghost, your post makes me want to re read it notebook in hand 💓 I've been trying to get better about writing summaries/thoughts on non fiction but haven't tried it with novels and I should
It somehow feels a little more indulgent taking notes on a novel than it does non-fiction, that was my initial inclination as well!