I spent the time that I normally use to write this email reading a book. Sometimes good literature grabs you and tells you to ignore your plans and keep reading. Normally I steer clear of genre fiction, but when two people told me I had missed out by not reading Dune, I put it on the shelf. Picking it up this week proved to be the undoing of my train podcasts, my writing time, and my "early to bed" aspirations.What I had planned to write was an essay pondering a thought from John Mayer's eulogy for Bob Weir: that our structures and plans, at their best, are to make room for the divine spark. Our habits can lure those precious moments in just a little closer.
Instead, here's a hodgepodge of essays from the stack of stuff. The only thing they have in common is what I've been thinking about this week: Bobby Weir (RIP), good books, and what it takes to write them. Enjoy the reading!
Reading
Bob Weir’s Cosmic Touch
The inimitable Bobby Ace played guitar alongside Jerry Garcia for over three decades. His unique style and merry personality helped shape the sound and spirit of the Grateful Dead, and his lifelong dedication to the band helped make them immortal.
The Dogged, Irrational Persistence of Literary Fiction
Literature is fragile. It serves no obvious purpose. It does not feed us or clothe us or, unless you get very lucky, enrich us. But literature is also as close to immortal as any cultural endeavor of humankind has ever been.
She Has Taken 30 Years to Write a 7-Part Novel About 1 Day. It’s a Sensation.
The Danish author Solvej Balle’s experimental opus reframes the tedium of contemporary life as a source of unexpected wonders.