What I read in March
a month of insomnia and reading tiny books in the middle of the night
How have you been sleeping? Through the night? That makes one of us. I’ve never been a good sleeper—one of my earliest memories as a little kid (maybe 5?) was waking up at four in the morning and waiting an eternity for the day to start. Decades later, not much has changed. But this month brought on pregnancy insomnia (a pretty common symptom I didn’t know about until it happened to me) and—oh boy—I miss the nights of my normal bad sleep. This is a fun new type of not-sleeping where I go to bed at 11ish then wake up at 2:30 or 3 and stay awake until 5 or 6. Sometimes I fall back asleep once the sun has started to rise and then I’m just dropping into a REM cycle when the alarm goes off at 7:30. Other times I never get back to sleep and feel like I pulled an all-nighter without the exhilarating novelty that got me through them in college. “Oh you think you’re tired now, just wait until the baby…” is what you would say if you want to see a pregnant lady cry.
A lot of well-intentioned friends have asked me, “Have you tried reading to put yourself back to sleep?” This works for a lot of people. But it doesn’t work for me, because every time I’ve tried to read my book in the middle of the night I get totally caught up in it and instead of winding me down, it wakes me up more. Actually I rarely read right before bed either because too many times I’ve gotten swept up in my book and suddenly it’s 2am, I just read 200 pages, and I know I’m going to feel like trash in the morning.
Then I figured out a solution: tiny books ideally less than 100 pages that I can read start-to-finish in an hour of insomnia and then go back to bed. There’s something so gratifying about finishing a story in one sitting and my brain feels satisfied and ready to rest when I get back in bed. I’ve been keeping a little stack on my nightstand ready for my 3am wake-up. My criteria: nothing disturbing that would freak me out and ruin my sleep even more (The Lottery, The Yellow Wallpaper). The books I read this month felt like friends keeping me company when the rest of the world was asleep. Each of them is a joy and a revelation in a different way. A few were re-reads but tiny books go by so fast that sometimes it takes a few readings for it to really sink in, you know?
By the way, if you’re sleeping great and don’t need a middle-of-the-night literary companion these books are also perfect for: a long commute, waiting for me to arrive at dinner (sorry), really anytime you’d rather spend an hour not looking at your phone.
Here’s what I read this month:
My absolute favorite poetic memoir that is endlessly re-readable and I can’t stop giving to friends
Heating & Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly (107 pgs)
I love this book so, so much. It’s made up of 52 micro memoirs—some only a single perfect sentence—that capture the multitudes of a woman navigating the world as a writer, wife, and mother. I’ve read it several times and every time I marvel at the wisdom, honesty, and humor captured in this tiny poetic gem.
A sweet, playful, and (unsurprisingly) dark George Saunders fairy tale
Fox 8 by George Saunders (49 pgs)
I think Saunders is the most brilliant writer of our time. His best magic trick is that he writes like someone who has just discovered the joy of writing and can’t wait to share it with the world—his books are infused with childlike wonder. None more so than Fox 8, which is written from the perspective of…a fox. He breaks every rule of spelling and grammar and you’ll be laughing until you realize this tiny novella is really a meditation on human nature. As far as species go, foxes seem nicer.
The tiny perfect novel every food lover should read
The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal (100 pgs)
A gorgeous love letter to food, cooking as a vocation, and working in restaurants (mostly in Paris). It’s also about a young man who is a little lost and trying to find his place in the world. Every sentence describing food is infused with such pleasure it’s almost sexual. The writing is as exacting, intentional, and beautiful as the work of a master chef. I savored this little novel. Pairs well with gourmand films like Tampopo and The Taste of Things.
A French writer who relished the power dynamic with a much younger man
The Young Man by Annie Ernaux (60 pgs)
I’ve been meaning to read Annie Ernaux since she won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022, so this was me dipping my toe into her work. Reading her recollections of a passionate love affair with a student thirty years her junior (she was 54, he was 25) in the middle of the night honestly felt like a wonderful fever dream. It feels like a story your coolest aunt might tell you over too many glasses of wine. One million times better than any of the annoying “viral think pieces” you’ve read on the Internet lately about relationships with a big age gap.
READING LIST
Heating & Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly
The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal
Happy reading—and sweet dreams!
Love,
Ali
Nice list! Hope you sleep well. If you're looking for more little reads, I think this one clocks in slightly over the 100-page limit, but I recommend Chronicle of a Death Foretold.