On the Common 200

Thankful.

Hi everyone,

Welcome to issue number two hundred of this here publication. If you look at the writer’s dashboard in my Substack, this is actually the three-hundred-and-sixth time I’ve pushed the “publish” button. That number includes all the Ex Libris issues and the Book Basket, which now lives at Story Warren under the name The Mended Wood Literary Society. The fact that the latter is at Story Warren means that a winner actually gets copies of these books now—a far superior outcome to just reading my opinions of books. You should go subscribe over there if you haven’t already!

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The Part Where There’s an Essay: Two Hundred

This newsletter is hot on the heels of our country, celebrating two hundred when America is two-fifty. Oh, maybe the metric is different. My mistake.

I am thankful for the hydrangeas blooming in my yard, the sound of the French press, the book of Ecclesiastes, rocking chairs, modern medicine, flannel pajama pants, dogs, percale sheets, laughter that refuses to be contained, the courage to say the thing out loud, corn on the cob, baseball, the smell of rain and the fact that someone called it “petrichor,” that barista at the coffeeshop who greets everyone, the book of Hebrews, the residents of Port William, Kentucky, dark chocolate, and the sound of gravel underfoot. I will keep writing here as long as it makes sense to do so.

As per tradition, I will be taking June off from this weekly publication. Tomorrow is my birthday, a square number, just shy of half a century. As such, I will be cashing in on all the freebies and maybe visiting an antique mall. The things there are older than me, but some of them I remember from my childhood. See you in July.

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For the Anglophiles

I finally got to Tom Holland’s (no, not that one) interview with Paul McCartney.

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Reads & Listens of the Week

Booktok, BookMaxxing, and What Reading is For. “It is not an achievement for a child to eat 43 pieces of candy on Halloween. Nor is it beneficial to sprint through an art museum so that you can tell others you appreciate the work of Raphael. The goal of the literate life cannot be to read more for the sake of more.”

I had the chance to review the new book called Stories Woven in Silver. You can read about it right here.

Since it is my two hundredth issue, I am going to over-promote myself and link to a second article I have written. This one is from the World Cup the last time around. I tried to be of assistance to people who might not know what’s going on: So You’ve Been Invited to a World Cup Viewing Party.

Meet Samuel Henderson:

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Great as your affairs may seem to you, they are only a small strand in the great web. - J. R. R. Tolkien