Thinking About
I spend the mornings reading now. I used to spend them writing, and sometimes scrolling—a bad habit I finally fixed by installing Downtime*, which restricts my screen time.
I finished The Master last night.
It’s a fictional biography of Henry James, and I loved it. Now I want to re-read James’s A Portrait of a Lady, which is considered his deepest exploration of character, consciousness, and the complexities of choice.
I read it a long time ago. How long ago? Maybe in college? In any case, it feels like I’ve never actually read it, based on how much I remember.
Henry James isn’t an easy writer for anyone, let alone someone (like me) whose mind has been going flabby on the internet for the past 20 years.
Do you remember the hullabaloo that followed that James Carr article in The Atlantic, titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”
Carr complained that he could no longer read long books. He couldn’t keep his mind from wandering. The internet, he claimed, had rewired his brain so he no longer had any attention span for complex or long texts or those that required reflection.
“Holy shit,” I thought at the time. “Me, too.”And that was 17 years ago. My attention span has deteriorated significantly since then.
But here’s what’s giving me hope. I’ve noticed as I’ve been reading a lot more than usual, and have been on my phone a lot less: I’m getting my reading juju back, and my attention span.
Not a lot, but enough such that I think I can read Henry James again! I really do. And I’m going to try.
The Portrait of a Lady is over 600 pages, and while the length may be a bit daunting, it’s his style that’s the real challenge. James’s style is marked by subordinate clauses that force the reader to keep a heap of ideas in the air until the writer finally lands the plane at the period.
For example:
“She had an immense curiosity about life, and was constantly staring and wondering, because she could not imagine the world was made for her, and that she should be able to choose, from among all the possibilities, the one that would most gratify her.”
*Takes a cognitive breath here*
I started it this morning. I feel like I’ve been to the gym.
Reading
Here’s all the stuff I read this month:
Dopamine Nation (non-fiction)
Ultra-Processed People (non-fiction)
The Rules Do Not Apply (fiction)
Isola (fiction)
The Master (fiction)
Gadgets and Gizmos
I bought a Mill food recycler at the beginning of August. I can’t have a compost pile where I live because of critters, and there’s no food waste recycling in my town, so all my wet garbage goes into the trash.
This has never sat well with me, so when I heard about the Mill, it seemed like the perfect fit. It doesn’t compost your food waste; it dehydrates it, and then you can add it to your compost pile if you have one, or feed it to your chickens if you have those, or send it back to the company, and they’ll find a home for it. I haven’t decided what to do with mine yet. But so far, I’ve saved 36 lbs of food scraps from the landfill. We named it Munchie. I like it a lot.
My friend Nikki and I have been hiking instead of walking for the last few weeks. She’s in training for a week of Montana hiking in early September.
I have a lot of hiking gear: poles, boots, backpack, camel, but I didn’t have an app, but Nikki did, and it’s great. It’s called All Trails, and it’s very popular, and I see why. It suggests hiking trails wherever you are and provides all the necessary information, including pictures. Then it tracks you when you’re on the trail, so you know where, and how high you are at all times. Where has this been all my life?
On our second hike, I discovered that my trusty Vasque light hikers were giving me severe toe jam on the downhills. I tried different socks and laced them in various ways, but the problem persisted. So, I splurged on a pair of Altras. I like the wide toe box of Altra shoes in general, and these new boots did not disappoint. I also went up a half size. I got these:
Altra Lone Peak 9 Waterproof Mid
Eating and Drinking
I am craving soup. The weather has turned cooler here. I feel my Vata dosha becoming a bit derranged already. I need to make soup so I can dip my homemade bread in it.
I haven’t made any bread since my triumphant loaves last week. I have a friend who offered me a sourdough starter, but I’m not quite ready for sourdough yet. But soon! I’m eyeing a cinnamon raisin bread recipe at the moment from that same book.
August is the Sunday Night of summer. Monday is September 1st and deep dread is starting to creep in.
I hope I can lose myself in The Portrait of a Lady, soup, bread, and hiking.
What do you do to transition into a new season—especially one you kinda dread?
P.S. I attribute my attention span rehabilitation to Downtime. My phone doesn’t come on until 7 and it goes to sleep at 10. If you don’t know already, here’s how to set it up:
*Steps to Set Up Downtime
Settings -> Screen Time -> Downtime -> App and Website Activity -> Scheduled -> Every Day-> From/To
Save or Exit
I have mine scheduled from 10 PM to 7 AM every day.
I have Instagram limited to 1 hour every day.
My only allowed apps are Messages, FaceTime, Maps, and Perplexity outside of those hours.
Inspiration Location 