It's been about fifty days since graduation weekend and it's been a wild period. After finishing the last book, my digital "hold" was resolved and I began reading The Jakarta Method (what a fantastically human book). Unfortunately, my reading pace was too slow and the book auto-returned to the library and made it to the next eager reader. I was about half-way through, so I'll end up having to acquire another copy to finish off. Very impressed by the book so far. 

I had heard about Dame Jacinda Ardern's book-talk at a local theater through Explain Boston to Me (a podcast by a Philadelphia native who has moved to the greater Boston area). While the tickets were expensive, I snagged two and really enjoyed being surrounded by happy people who all shared admiration of Dame Ardern's approach to leadership and connection. Her memoir, A Different Kind of Power, is so well structured and displays her empathy so well. 

This morning, I completed, in a blur of tears, The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong. This book is an exploration of empathy (interesting recurring theme), aging, age, dementia, war, and the chosen family. The novel, set in Connecticut (an interesting link to Craig Mod's Things Become Other Things), follows a more standard narrative structure than Vuong's striking On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, but is imbued with such care for language, for people, and for story that I feel it overcomes the form. 

In writing this mini recap, I've found I completed the following four out of ten:

• States of Emergency
• Things Become Other Things
• A Different Kind of Power
• The Emperor of Gladness

Two are very nouveau literary, one a classic memoir, and a more experimental memoir. I think what's next will be far more run-of-the-mill.