“He was not performing intellectualism but practicing it…” We could use more practice and less performance. For a moment I was a time traveler, living that moment of your dad in his red chair with quiet jazz playing.
Book Chats is a fantastic idea, sort of a “come as you are” invitation to a potluck of ideas.
This is a terrific column and I wholeheartedly agree. Sometimes when I see a person reading a book, I walk over and ask them what book are they reading, and inevitably it starts a great conversation . One of the best books I have read in years is a historical novel titled The Winter Warriors. It’s a knockout.
Love this. Thank you for this piece, it’s confirmation on a past conversation I was reflecting on recently about books/reading. When I worked for CPS, a coworker, from New York who grew up in the 80s, said they used to judge people by the books that that they read. It was like literary social capital, to be an intellect. And that perspective always stuck with me, I often wonder how many people would I have not associated with if this was a metric upheld to this day. So, I’ve been wanting to bring this back in my own way; but I’m an 80s baby, from Florida so contextually I haven’t seen this before but the thought of it intrigues me. I’m inspired, I’d love to create a space like this, called Book chat one day. Thanks for this piece.
Diamond-Michael, love your insights. I can picture your father in his red chair. Love the idea about Book Chat as well!
“He was not performing intellectualism but practicing it…” We could use more practice and less performance. For a moment I was a time traveler, living that moment of your dad in his red chair with quiet jazz playing.
Book Chats is a fantastic idea, sort of a “come as you are” invitation to a potluck of ideas.
This is a terrific column and I wholeheartedly agree. Sometimes when I see a person reading a book, I walk over and ask them what book are they reading, and inevitably it starts a great conversation . One of the best books I have read in years is a historical novel titled The Winter Warriors. It’s a knockout.
Love this. Thank you for this piece, it’s confirmation on a past conversation I was reflecting on recently about books/reading. When I worked for CPS, a coworker, from New York who grew up in the 80s, said they used to judge people by the books that that they read. It was like literary social capital, to be an intellect. And that perspective always stuck with me, I often wonder how many people would I have not associated with if this was a metric upheld to this day. So, I’ve been wanting to bring this back in my own way; but I’m an 80s baby, from Florida so contextually I haven’t seen this before but the thought of it intrigues me. I’m inspired, I’d love to create a space like this, called Book chat one day. Thanks for this piece.