March Worthwhile Stuff

 📚 Books
Bravey, Alexi Pappas: I found this memoir extremely inspiring, and I was surprised that I was able to relate to a professional athlete (and a runner at that) as much as I did while reading this book. However, since Alexi is also an actor and artist, she is a master at tapping into the human condition (just as she does in her fantastic film Olympic Dreams), and her stories contain so much wisdom that is applicable to anyone who is just trying to make it through life. Alexi is super open, vulnerable, and honest; she truly shares so much of herself in Bravey. I dog-eared many, many pages and underlined countless passages that connected with me on a deep level. This book is definitely a keeper.

Utopia Avenue, David Mitchell: This superb love letter to Rock & Roll – and the people who make it – is all at once intimate and epic, capturing the zeitgeist of a moment in (music) history, albeit one that didn't actually fully exist. Utopia Avenue is a bit like a British Almost Famous with Mitchell’s usual touch of the fantastical added in for extra oomph. Each chapter represents a song on an album, with the viewpoint and focus changing with each chapter to match the band member that wrote the song in question. The whole book is a vibrant, evocative story of a time and place that didn’t quite exist, but plenty of cameos from real-life rock stars provide a bit of grounding (if David Bowie, Brian Jones, John Lennon, and Rod Stewart circa 1967-68 can be seen as "grounded"). A perfect book for anyone who sits in the middle of the Venn diagram of “Classic Rock lover” and “David Mitchell lover.” I highly recommend having read The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and The Bone Clocks (though, as usual, threads to several previous Mitchell books abound) before reading this one for maximum enjoyablity, fulfillment, and "easter egg" appreciation.


🎶 Music
Spaceman, Nick Jonas: This album is full of bops from front to back, and it happens to be the second album produced by Greg Kurstin (the other being Foo Fighters Medicine at Midnight – apparently the man has range) with which I have fallen in love at first listen this year. Indeed, the heavily 80s-inspired synths, sax solo, and soaring, soulful backing vocals on "This Is Heaven" hooked me immediately; this song is pure aural sunshine. One of the things that I like most about this album is that I can clearly discern and understand the lyrics, which tend to be clever and thoughtful, for all of the songs. It's also refreshing that Nick Jonas co-wrote every track on this album, especially given its pure Pop sensibilities. The result is a rare Pop album that feels personal and meaningful, while also being fun to listen to. There is not a dud on Spaceman, but the songs that have me hitting repeat include other heavily 80s-influenced tracks like "Deeper Love" and "If I Fall", as well as the purely fun "Delicious" and "2Drunk".