What to say when there’s nothing to say

This week: conversational shortcuts, why I write, and more...

In this week's newsletter: conversational shortcuts, why I write, eye and ear candy, and more... View this email in your browser Hey y'all, Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week:  Sometimes I don't know what to say or I don't want to say it, so I keep a list of conversational shortcuts.   Filmmaker Werner Herzog on reading and writing. I'm still reading Werner Herzog: A Guide For The Perplexed in big chunks at night. I also read E.F. Schumacher's A Guide For The Perplexed last weekend. (I feel only slightly less perplexed.)   Why do I write books? To have an intercourse with the world. (Although, sometimes I think I could just quit and make marble runs.)   Parents and picture book lovers: My sons are totally obsessed with Tomi Ungerer's The Three Robbers. I can't remember the last time a book was such an instant slam dunk with them. (They love this animated short, too.)   The Paris Review graced us with not one but two unpublished (in English) essays by Tove Jansson: one called "The Island" (like a rough draft of her classic, The Summer Book) and the other on writer's block. (I cannot recommend her Moomin comics enough.)   Highly recommended: the vegan queso blanco in Isa Does It, a fantastic cookbook. (One of my week's themes: when "fake" things are good in their own way. See also: the harpsichord sound on my old electric piano.)   Ear candy: Sam Cooke's Live At The Harlem Square Club 1963 has long been one of my all-time favorite records.  It plays a role in the new Netflix documentary, The Two Killings of Sam Cooke.    Eye candy: The Favourite is very much worth watching, maybe on a double feature with Sofia Coppola's terribly underrated Marie Antoinette, or maybe with their shared ancestor, Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. (You can't go wrong with any of those!)   Also worth streaming: all three films in The Worricker Trilogy. So much fun. Bill Nighy is so good.   RIP actor Bruno Ganz. Two films he starred in are at the top of my queue: Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire and Herzog's Nosferatu. OK, friends. Thanks for reading. Next week I go into full Book Promotion Mode with the new one. If you like this newsletter and want it to keep going, pre-order Keep Going online or at your favorite indie bookstore, and save your receipt because we're announcing an awesome pre-order gift next week. (The reviews on Goodreads so far are better than good and my 6-year-old was quite pleased by the nice comments about his book trailer.) If you're seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here. xoxo,  Austin Austin Kleon is the author of Steal Like An Artist and other books. Subscribe to this newsletter   Copyright © 2019 Austin Kleon, All rights reserved. My mailing address is: Austin Kleon 19885 Detroit Road Box #222 Rocky River, OH 44116 You're getting this email because you signed up for it at austinkleon.com. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. Amazon Affiliate links offset the cost of sending these missives. (And pay for diapers.)