To ease eye strain, experts recommend that every 20 minutes we focus our eyes on something further away than our screens–ideally at least 20ft away– for at least 20 seconds.
As a trained historian, I feel the same way about the news: current events are thisclose. It wouldn’t hurt us to make a concerted effort to look away, periodically.
Fortunately fiction offers the perfect respite.
Today, why not step away from this place and time and read some Tolstoy or JM Coetzee, Nnedi Okorafor or Haruki Murakami, Kiran Desai or Ian Rankin.
Whether you’re voting in the US elections, or watching from abroad, or couldn’t care less about politics in a country you’re not in, this is a great time to remind yourself of the importance of writing.
Here are my suggestions for you:
Short Fiction
Best American Short Stories 2024, Lauren Groff (ed)
Poetry
Poetry Unbound by Pádraig Ó Tuama
Essays
Book of Delights by Ross Gay
General Non-Fiction
Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
Hidden Potential by Adam Grant
Funny Stuff
The Hidden Tools of Comedy by Steve Kaplan
Comedy Book – How Comedy Conquered Culture–and The Magic That Makes It Work by Jesse David Fox
The Diplomat on Netflix (serious, but characters are allowed to be funny in places)
Steve Martin: A Documentary In 2 Pieces
My Man Jeeves: A Jeeves & Wooster Collection by P. G. Wodehouse
Jeeves & Wooster (Hugh Laurie and Steven Fry version)
Books About Writing
Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland
The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger
Intuitive Editing by Tiffany Yates Martin
Author in Progress, Therese Walsh (Ed)
Watch
Shrinking (Apple TV), from the people who brought you Ted Lasso, and with a similar sensibility (Content warning: a dead wife/mother killed by a drunk driver.)
The Dish – a quiet movie from 2000, starring Sam Neil, about a vital Apollo-era satellite dish in an Australian sheep paddock!
What would you recommend, for people looking to appreciate art and take a break from the here and now? Leave a comment.
Keep writing,
Julie
P. S. If you want to focus on your writing, stay tuned for a super-special offer coming this week, that will help you improve your writing and stick with it over the long term (what?! I know!!) Want to be among the first to know?