You’re Celebrating Lunar New Year

Send a lot of Slack messages or are trying to predict your future

Hi book lovers,

Substack shared some new analytic tools with writers last week, and I was so excited to learn that readers of this newsletter live in all 50 states and 106(!) countries.

I’d love to hear about where you’re reading from, so please chime in with a comment about where you call home.

In other news, over on Notes From Three Pines, we’re hosting an Inspector Gamache read-a-long. If you’re a fan looking for an excuse to re-read or a newbie wondering why I’m so obsessed with Louise Penny, this is a great chance to dive into — and discuss — the books. We’ll have a thread for the first book, Still Life, on February 6th We’ll have a thread discussing the first book, Still Life, on February 22nd. Hope you’ll join us!

And, now, what to read if…

You’re Ringing In the Year of the Rabbit

Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen

The Year of the Rabbit began on Sunday as more than a billion people around the globe celebrated Lunar New Year. In 2023, festivities run from January 22nd  through February 5th. (Interesting thing I learned while writing this: Vietnam is ringing in the Year of the Cat, not the Rabbit).

Under the Chinese Zodiac, each year has animal and an element. This year is a water rabbit, which has the ability “to turn unfortunate events around,” (fingers crossed!) according to Chinese New Year.

For more Zodiac goodness, check out Lauren Kung Jessen’s Lunar Love. It’s a “You’ve Got Mail”-type romcom about two rival matchmakers trying not to fall in love with each other. As the book opens, Olivia Huang Christenson is taking over her family’s matchmaking business. For generations, the Huangs have used Zodiac signs to build compatible couples — and Olivia is both excited and terrified to continue the family legacy. Her new job grows even more daunting when she learns that a stranger she recently flirted with is launching a dating app that puts a new twist on traditional matchmaking. She sets out to take down his company, but instead finds herself attracted to her competitor.

Lunar Love is a charming, sweet romance filled with some delectable food imagery (the couple first meets while battling over the last few pastries at a bakery). Fans of Jasmine Guillory will want to give this one a try.

Reminder rec: For Easter a few years back, author Kathleen Barber recommended two-bunny related books, perfect for the Year of the Rabbit.

You Spend a Lot of Time at Work on Slack

Several People are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Slack, a messaging app that went from popular to ubiquitous during the work-from-home era, makes it possible for coworkers to send quick messages, gifs and polls to each other.  The Atlantic declared “Slack is probably the first enterprise software in history to convince people that it’s cool.”

Further proof of how “cool” the instant messaging service is: Calvin Kasulke wrote a novel entirely in Slack messages. The premise of Several People are Typing is admittedly bizarre. It focuses on Gerald, a middling employee at a PR firm who somehow loads his consciousness to Slack. His body remains comatose in his New York City apartment, but his soul is in the web. His coworkers think it’s all an elaborate prank and, with Gerald’s productivity through the roof, his supervisors allow him to work remotely indefinitely. After Gerald convinces his colleague Pradeep to check on his body and help him escape from the web, the two plot (in increasingly flirty messages) while trying to keep up with their work assignments.

Several People are Typing is at once a high-concept novel, a workplace satire and a surprisingly moving love story. Kasulke sticks the landing by leaning into the absurdity. A subplot about the PR firm’s work for a dog food company accused of poisoning Pomeranians had me laughing out loud, while the burgeoning romance between Gerald and Pradeep was a joy to watch unfold over hundreds of messages. The book’s form makes it a fast read, but not a frivolous one. 

You’re Wondering What 2023 Has in Store for You

The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight

I think, at times, we’ve all considered what it would be like to see the future, to know for sure what’s coming next. In The Premonitions Bureau, New Yorker writer Sam Knight chronicles the story of John Barker, a U.K. psychiatrist who became convinced certain individuals did have second sight.

Barker’s belief stemmed from hearing reports of people who had predicted the 1966 Aberfan mining disaster that killed 144 people. The psychiatrist joined forces with The Evening Standard to form a “premonitions bureau.” Britons were encouraged to submit any predictions about the future to the paper, where staff monitored them to see if any came true. The newspaper thought it would help to sell papers; Baker thought it was a chance to find people capable of predicting — and preventing — disasters.

In between chapters describing Barker’s experiment, Knight explores the nature of coincidence and a history of clairvoyance dating back to Socrates, making The Premonitions Bureau an interesting mix of journalism, history and philosophy. Ultimately, Knight concludes our obsession with finding meaning is “a way to control our existence. It makes life livable. The alternative is frightening. Randomness is banal." I, ahem, predict fans of narrative nonfiction will enjoy this one.

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Thanks for reading! There’s an Easter egg movie clip in here. Let me know if you find it.

I’ll be back on Thursday with a Q&A featuring writer extraordinaire Courtney Maum.

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What to Read If is a free weekly book recommendation newsletter. Need a rec? Want to gush about a book? Reply to this email, leave a comment or find me on Twitter @elizabethheld.

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