Nicole and I celebrate our birthdays as weeks, not days. So since Sunday, that’s what we’ve been doing, COVID-19 be damned. We’ve had friends over for backyard firepit visits, we’ve Zoomed with some homies, we’ve sipped some cocktails, we’ve invested in some new tech, we’ve resisted feeling too much dread (definitely for the time being), we’ve cranked up some disco, soul, and jazz, we’ve indulged in our new culinary concoction (a German delicacy called “dipsundshit”), we’ve revisited the work of Merle Haggard, we’ve bought some presents for family, and we’ve strolled the neighborhood multiply. And we still have three days left!

Apropos of nothing (yeah, sure), here are my ten favorite books of 2020 (so far), in no particular order:

Louise Erdrich: THE NIGHT WATCHMAN
Peter Guralnick: LOOKING TO GET LOST–ADVENTURES IN MUSIC & WRITING
Ross Johnson: BARON OF LOVE–MORAL GIANT
Richard Grant: THE DEEPEST SOUTH OF ALL–TRUE STORIES FROM NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI
Lawrence Wright: THE END OF OCTOBER
Derf Backderf: KENT STATE
Octavia Butler, Damian Duffy, John Jennings: PARABLE OF THE SOWER (graphic novel)
Walter Johnson: THE BROKEN HEART OF AMERICA–ST. LOUIS AND THE VIOLENT HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
Fernanda Melchor: HURRICANE SEASON
David Zucchino: WILMINGTON’S LIE–THE MURDEROUS COUP OF 1898 AND THE RISE OF WHITE SUPREMACY

Streaming for Strivers:

I needed something leveling, something calming this morning. So far, so good.