This whole newsletter is about books.Â

I have books clogging my brain today. We all read (or don't) for different reasons. For me right now it is to read to our kids, for fun, to learn, or to just experience an author's unique crafting of language.

The other day I was talking to a writer friend about what she enjoys reading, and how that has changed over the years. One thing stuck with me, and it feels so obvious, but she mainly reads books for the company. I like this so much.Â

Growing up I was never into fantasy. When the Lord of the Rings movies came out, I got a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring to read before watching the movie and I couldn't get through it. Fast forward to now, I'm almost finished reading The Hobbit to our older kiddo and I'm completely blown away. The writing is lyrical and descriptive and just delightful. I know, I know, you already know this, because it is a masterpiece. But it feels really good to finally be able to appreciate this masterpiece. So if you haven't yet, maybe it is time to revisit. Che-Wei is going to read it next and I'm so excited for him to experience it too.

I never imagined that as I got older I would come to appreciate things that before were, for whatever reason, hard to access. It's really quite cool.

More in books, on the recommendation of 2 grown-up friends within the same week, I recently got into the Nnedi Okorafor's Nsibidi Scripts Series. There's Akata Witch, Akata Warrior and Akata Woman, which I'm about to grab from the library. This is a YA fantasy/adventure about a girl who discovers she has magical abilities and becomes part of a community of magical "Leopard" people. But is really about owning and valuing your differences and reframing them as your super power. I know this is a book meant for teenagers, but it totally resonates with me. READ IT!!!

The other book I'm reading, but put down because I got so into Akata Witch is The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté. This is a book about trauma + healing. But unlike The Body Keeps Score (sorry no offense I find this book unreadable because it is so traumatic), The Myth of Normal deals with the same subject, but with way more tenderness. Strangely it pairs really well with the Nsibidi Script books.

And last night I finally got a chance to look through this Chris Burden book Gagoasian recently put out. We are super Chris Burden fans. It's a beautiful book and I plan to read it cover to cover. I'm not going to say more but here is a good article about Chris Burden's work if you don't know of him.

Abracadabra. Riso Animation. Kelli Anderson. 2022. [We took this GIF from the center for book arts website to give you a quick sample of Kelli's work. The file was too big so we compressed it and it doesn't look as intended, but still looks cool! Just a heads up, sorry Kelli!]

Book arts.Â

And finally, we're so excited to go visit Kelli Anderson's exhibition Abracadabra: Letterform, Technology at Center for Book Arts. We missed the opening last night, but it's running until Dec. 7. Go check this out! Lots of stuff there that you can touch and play with, and she really is a wizard who transforms simple things into magic.