Back in Texas

In this week's newsletter: re-reading old favorites, drawing yourself out of a funk, and more... 

In this week's newsletter: re-reading old favorites, drawing yourself out of a funk, and more... View this email in your browser Hey y'all, Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week:  After a long 8 months away, I'm back in Texas, writing from a new studio just two blocks south of where I first landed twelve summers ago. Life is good.   I re-read Charles Portis's Masters of Atlantis and liked it even better this time. I also re-read True Grit and The Dog of the South this year, and I'll probably go ahead and re-read Norwood and Gringos, too. (Then I might read his miscellany.) I often wish he had another book to drop on us, but I also sort of hope he's just sitting somewhere in Little Rock sipping whiskey and enjoying being 85.   How to draw yourself out of a creative funk.    The shame of crowd-funding health care. (Why I'm basically a single issue voter.)   The secret to the gruesome sounds in Mortal Kombat: exploding vegetables.   I've loved David Shrigley's work for a long time, but with his recent pieces I feel like he's illustrating my life.   Music: I've been writing to Neu! '75   Movies: I loved William Friedkin's 1977 movie Sorcerer, which has a bonkers making-of story. And I'm glad I waited until I was back in Austin to go see Once Upon A Time in Hollywood at the Alamo Drafthouse. (All movies are better with loaded fries and a cherry Coke!) Watching both those movies, I was reminded of the line from Heather Havrilesky's essay on blockbusters: "Every story now has to involve a threat to the entire globe. This is meant to raise the stakes, but it actually lowers them..."   TV: I re-watched the pilot of Justified, and now I think I might just have to re-watch the whole series.   The survival of Iggy Pop. (If you like punk, do get a copy of Please Kill Me.) Thanks for reading. If you like this newsletter and want to support it, forward it to someone who'd like it or, even better, buy them a book! 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.

The school supplies aisle

In this week's newsletter: whether you're in school or not, it's always a fun time to get yourself some supplies...

In this week's newsletter: some of my favorite school supplies... View this email in your browser Hey y'all, Whether you're a student or not, it's a good time of year to head down the school supply aisle and get yourself some goodies. Here's a little shopping list:  When I get blue or stuck, I like to get out scissors and glue and make collages. (I like plain ol' Fiskars and an old-school UHU stic.)   In Bird By Bird, Anne Lamott suggests leaving index cards around the house. (Check out Ryan Holiday's notecard system.)   Laurence Weschler plays with blocks.   John Waters, Jerry Seinfeld, and Oliver Sacks write/wrote on legal pads.   Twyla Tharp starts every new project with a fresh banker's box.   There are times you should type on a keyboard, and times when you should write with a pencil. (I like Palamino Blackwings.)   I swear by a good paper dictionary. (John McPhee says it's way better than a thesaurus and Nick Cave keeps a handwritten one.)   Keith Haring, Michael Bierut, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Paul Thek all used plain ol' composition books. (Lynda Barry uses them so much she makes her books look like them.)   I keep a notebook turducken: a flexible notebook for my diary, a Leuchtturm for my pocket notebook, and a Moleskine daily planner for my logbook.   My favorite pen is a Pilot G-2 Bold. (Here's more of my favorite stuff.) Thanks for reading. If you like this newsletter and want to support it, forward it to someone who'd like it or, even better, buy them a book! 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.

Dog day summer reads

In this week's newsletter: short books you can read in one sitting... 

In this week's newsletter: short books you can read in one sitting... View this email in your browser Hey y'all, Here's a little something different this week: some of my favorite short books (short = around 200 pages or less) in case you want to sneak in some last-minute summer reading. You could read many of these in a single afternoon:  Novellas: Tove Jansson, The Summer Book, Denis Johnson, Train Dreams, Nathanael West, Miss Lonelyhearts, and Jenny Offill, Dept. of Speculation.   Short stories: Joy Williams, Ninety-Nine Stories of God and David Eagleman, Sum: Forty Tales of the Afterlives.   Lectures: Ursula Franklin, The Real World of Technology and Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the Next Millennium.   Memoir: Eve Babitz, Slow Days, Fast Company, Joe Brainard, I Remember, and Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts.   Poetry: T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets and Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (Ursula K Le Guin translation).   Comics: Eleanor Davis, You & a Bike & a Road and James Sturm, Market Day.   Art: John Berger, Ways of Seeing and Walter Murch, In The Blink of an Eye.   Staying sane: Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves To Death and Alan Jacobs, How To Think.   Biography: Stefan Zweig, Montaigne and Nathaniel Philbrick, Why Read Moby-Dick?   Essays: Sarah Manguso, 300 Arguments, Donald Hall, Essays Over Eighty, Robert Louis Stevenson, An Apology for Idlers, and Montaigne, On Solitude. Thanks for reading. If you like this newsletter and want to support it, forward it to someone who'd like it or, even better, buy them a book! If you're seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here. xoxo,  Austin PS. Speaking of short books you can read in one sitting:  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.