FORESTS IN HER MIND

a newsletter from Sam Wilket

“Stop reading books you don’t like.”

That's the first tip in Austin Kleon’s zine How to Read Like an Artist, and it perfectly captures my approach to reading.

I don’t think twice about dropping a book if it doesn’t snare me in the first 50-ish pages. I’m proud to be ruthless with my reading time. I don’t have much to spare, so why should I slog through a story I don’t love?

Then recently, I revisited a novel I abandoned a couple years ago. I’m not sure why I picked it up again, or why I stuck with it this time.

But this time around, I rode the slow burn further and found it grew into a blazing star of a story. It’s the book I’m recommending to you today.

This experience has me thinking about how whether a book grabs me isn’t just about the story; it’s also about me and where I’m at, in the moment when I turn the first page. Feels like there's a life lesson somewhere in there too.

So, while I’m not ready to abandon my anti-completionist approach to reading, I've decided to add an addendum:

Stop reading books you don’t like... but revisit your ‘did not finish’ pile now and then. Past You might have shelved a story that Present You will love.

- Sam

May 27, 2025

Recommending:

A gorgeous, quiet story that uses time travel to contemplate what makes a good life.

Cover of the book "Orbital" by Samantha Harvey

Sea of Tranquility (2022)

by Emily St. John Mandel

This novel takes place over nearly 500 years, moving between characters in vastly different times (and sometimes, worlds) but who are all grappling with deeply personal crossroads in their lives.

Saying much more risks spoilers, so I’ll leave you with a piece of advice instead: read at least the first two parts before deciding if this book’s for you.

Part I opens in 1912, which threw me off because that wasn’t what I expected; I was promised a time travel story, not a historical novel! I stopped reading there and didn’t pick it up again for a couple years.

But when I finally returned to it and kept going, I was completely entranced. I wish I hadn't put it down so quickly the first time.

“You can say ‘It’s the end of the world’ and mean it, but what gets lost in that kind of careless usage is that the world will eventually literally end.

Not ‘civilization,’ whatever that is, but the actual planet.

Which is not to say that those smaller endings aren’t annihilating.”

from Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

This newsletter is practicing patience. Forward it to someone who isn't in a rush.

FORESTS IN HER MIND

a newsletter from Sam Wilket

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