I was in New York City recently, visiting my father in the Lower East Side for his birthday, and hanging out with my younger son, Ari, who is living in Bushwick. Flying in on Thanksgiving, I missed the craziness of traveling during that time of year, but it was crazy walking around in some areas because everyone was out shopping. I did some shopping, but only for books; I bought several from my favorite bookstore, McNally-Jackson.

Getting back into my regular rhythm after returning from NYC has been challenging, mainly due to several inches of snow that had dropped while I was away. Between the ice on the trails and the cold weather and the jet lag, I didn’t feel much like going out for exercise. Happily, I’ve been able to do some of my walking/running workouts on our treadmill at home–not ideal, but better than doing nothing.

To help prevent injury while running, I recently started participating in the fitness trend of “greasing the groove”, which involves doing strength exercises several times daily at much lower volume so as not to incur (much) muscle breakdown. I’ve been doing pushups and squats several times on most days now, and have noticed that while I’m a little sore in my shoulders and glutes, I’m also getting stronger. (Before you get too impressed, I should note that I’m doing only two to three pushups and twenty squats in a single session. That number will go up, but not for a long while.)

Books I’m reading

Just finished

  • The Clinical Thinking of Wilfred Bion, Joan Symington and Neville Symington
  • Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
  • Concrete, Thomas Bernhard

In progress

  • The Man Without Qualities, Robert Musil
  • Reasons and Feelings: Writing for the Humanities Now, Sarah Mesle
  • The Jewish Writings, Hannah Arendt
  • The Divers’ Game, Jesse Ball
  • Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, Erich Auerbach

Up next

  • Wittgenstein’s Nephew, Thomas Bernhard
  • Splitting and Projective Identification, James S. Grotstein
  • Outline, Rachel Cusk

Stack

  • The Wax Child_, Olga Ravn
  • The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood
  • The Repeat Room, Jesse Ball
  • Parade, Rachel Cusk
  • Flights, Olga Tokarczuk
  • The Empusium, Olga Tokarczuk
  • Selected Stories, Franz Kafka
  • many, many more

This is a now page. It will be updated occasionally.