Decision Fatigue
A reading rut (and a cure?). Plus two new reads from me.
Decision Fatigue
I’ve been in a serious reading rut, which is to say I’m a new parent with a new job. From May 31 to last night (June 18), I’m not sure I read more than 10 pages at a time or 100 pages total. Each night, once our daughter is asleep, I’ve either sunk into an extra couple hours of work or scrolled my phone. I’m back on Twitter after deleting the app for three months. Sometimes I can actually feel my brain rotting.
When I’m scattered, I start a bunch of books and put them down after a chapter or two, even when I’m enjoying. For example, at this very moment, I have bookmarks in:
“John of John” by Douglas Stuart
“The Mist” by Stephen King
“A Sense of Where You Are” by John McPhee
“Oranges” by John McPhee
“A Guardian and a Thief” by Megha Majumdar
“The Miracle at St. Anna” by James McBride
“Tinkers” by Paul Harding
“Magic in the Air” by Mike Sielski
“The Twenty-Seventh City” by Jonathan Franzen
“Empire Falls” by Richard Russo
“Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson
“The Trackers” by Charles Frazier
“Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn
“Random Family” by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
I know.
I know, I know, I know.
It’s probably the trait of mine that most mystifies my wife, who sees me, I think, as a pretty organized person, mentally and otherwise. So last night, after we finished dinner, I asked her to pick something for me to read, no specifications. She could have chosen “Moby Dick” or a baby book I never opened. She went with “Grief Is for People” by Sloane Crosley, one of her favorite writers.
Within minutes, I was laughing and reading lines aloud to her. I then decided that, no matter what, I would stick with this book, that it will be the one to break my slump.
I packed four paperbacks for a recent family trip to South Carolina. But when we got to the AirBnb, I was immediately drawn to the built-in bookshelves in the living room, if only to see what the owners — or their interior designer — had selected. I picked up “The Alchemist,” clocked that it was short, then took it to the back deck and read most of it in one sitting. And while I wasn’t exactly a fan, it gave me an idea: What if I only read books in the AirBnb for the rest of the vacation?
In “Less,” Andrew Sean Greer’s debut novel, the main character and his partner have two rules for every road trip: They only stay at hotels (or motels) with neon signs. And if a restaurant has a special, they have to order it. This felt like it could become my little version of that. After “The Alchemist,” I read “Culpability,” a newish book about (mostly) self-driving cars and who’s ultimately responsible when something goes wrong. Then after I finished “Culpability,” I started “Clockers” by Richard Price. Then we went home.
Had we stayed longer, had I eventually finished “Clockers,” my options were slim. I would have likely chosen between “Marley and Me” and a memoir written by Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, which really underscores the commitment required for this game. But what it made me realize is that I’m extremely tired of making decisions when it comes to the media I consume, which I think is because there’s simply too much to choose from.
Or put another way: It is tough to choose from everything.
Aside from living in a house full of books, we also live a 10-minute walk to the library and a 15-minute walk to our neighborhood indie bookstore. When I can’t sleep and want to read on my phone late at night, I can also get a ton on the Libby app. For TV and movies, we have, god, Hulu and Apple and HBO, a list that was longer before we got rid of Netflix and Prime Video in the last few months. And then just about any movie is a $3.99 rental away, if it’s not already included with our stable of streaming services.
My reaction to this is that I crave earnest recommendations, but not in newsletters or Instagram reels — like actually told to me, the old fashioned way, by friends or even strangers. If you say you loved a movie or book, it almost always shoots to the top of my list (though my friend Jeremy may disagree with this, since I’ve been slow to a couple of his favorite films). If you send me a physical book, I will probably read it right away (except for Patrick Radden Keefe’s “Say Nothing,” for no particular reason, which is why I have to now publicly apologize to my buddy Bobby).
This is why I asked Joan, my wife, to shop around our house for my next read. And it’s also probably why I wrote this newsletter in the first place, to ask if you have a book I should read, a movie I should watch, anything I should do that’s not staring dead-eyed into the infinite scroll. Drop whatever you got in the comments? Please (and many thanks)?
But wait! Before you go!
I can repay you with two suggested reads, both written by me for NOTUS, my new employer, in the past week. On Monday, I wrote about the Nationals as a fascinating case study for how — or whether — to stay focused on the future when you’re having a surprising burst of success in the present. You can check that out here. And then this morning, I reconnected with Ace Dybantsa, father of AJ Dybantsa, the potential No. 1 pick in next week’s NBA Draft. I profiled Ace, a fascinating, unfiltered character, back in the fall for the Washington Post. It was fun to follow up, especially since AJ could very well be the Wizards’ franchise player soon. You can read that here.
Your buddy Bobby was right. Read it.
Book suggestion.... The Correspondent is fantastic. Advice: While you're in this rut, don't pick up books you think you *should* read. I LOVE YOUR WRITING!