The Comedy Club

Hi, hey, howdy. Been a minute…

No idea how time got away from me as it has. Moved into a new apartment in the fall, and I guess the holiday season just sort of happened. Work’s been keeping me extra busy and life gets in the way of the things I’d really like to be doing, like updating my site! But I’m here now, and I’ve just finished reading my 2022 pick of the year: Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel.

This is my first reread since the book’s initial publication, and honestly? It’s almost as wonderful as I remember. Almost.

It’s still filled with as much poetry and rich detail…but I don’t know…I think the whole ~pandemic~ thing feels a little tired to me now in a way it hadn’t back in 2022. To that end the story feels much more of the moment than I think I was able to realize at the time. Not that that’s a bad thing, by any means. But I’m curious to see how this sentiment might solidify on future rereads.

I was fortunate enough to have obtained an advanced reader’s copy of the book back at the start of 2022, and after finishing the first edition hardcover I’m now really regretting giving away that old ARC. I would have loved to compare the sections I found that didn’t quite match the memory I had of reading them the first time. No idea where that book might be today, but such is life.

I’m really glad I finally reread this book; it’s been on my TBR for an ungodly amount of time, and I’m ultimately just a little proud of myself for rediscovering how much I love reading. It may sound silly, but this is a startlingly easy thing to forget when you’re surrounded by books day in and day out.

There’s so many things on the horizon, but at the risk of getting ahead of myself I feel the need to leave it at that for now. If you’ve made it this far, whoever you are, I’d like you to know I still stand by my initial recommendation of this book, and if you haven’t read it yet, you totally should.

More to come.

-Ben