Page 123: The book to drown out bad news with good news

  I remember getting the knife.     It was near Christmas about 10 years ago and Leslie and I were zipping up a tiny suitcase before a beach trip with her grandparents and extended family. We weren’t married and I was making a desperate last-second plea to stuff a 576-page novel called ‘The Corrections’ by Jonathan Franzen into our bag. “It just won’t fit,” Leslie said. “You have … 100 pages left? Want to leave it and read it when we’re back?”     I did *not* want to do that.     The book was slipping under my skin—serrating my soul.     So I remember getting that knife.     The deep blasphemous pain I felt slicing the paperback spine and carving the last 100-ish pages off the book was far outweighed by the exquisite suite of pleasures I had slowly savoring it on the beach all week.     I had never read anything like ‘The Corrections’—with a clarity of character, wildly spinning plot, and unique three-dimensional *realness* that, page by page, twist by twist, left pits in my stomach, lumps in my throat, and tears in my eyes.     The book single-handedly elevated what I thought books could do.     I read ‘Freedom’ (2010), ‘Purity’ (2014), and Crossroads (2021) the same way—equal parts admiration, fascination, and with a psychologically-transporting feeling of living outside of myself.     Jonathan Franzen is one of the most successful, accomplished, and decorated writers in the world. He is a Fulbright Scholar, National Book Award Winner, Pulitzer Prize Finalist, PEN/Faulkner Finalist, 2x Oprah’s Book Club Pick, voted to TIME’s ‘100 Most Influential’ list as well as gracing their cover as "Great American Novelist," and much, much more.     The NYT calls his books "masterpieces of American fiction," NYMag calls his books "works of total genius," and Chuck Klosterman writing in GQ says "Franzen is the most important fiction writer in America, and—if viewed from a distance—perhaps the only important one.”     Tall praise! But there is just nothing like a Jonathan Franzen novel and it was sheer delight going deep with the master of the deep to discuss writing advice, the magic of the written word, what heroes look like today, competing with David Foster Wallace, the best thing we can do for the climate, Jon’s 3 most formative books, and much, much more…     Let’s turn the page to Chapter 137 now…

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books. They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.   Page 126 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED. Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12 Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books. They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.   Page 125 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED. Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12 Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books. They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.   Page 124 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED. Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12 Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books. They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.   Page 123 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED. Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12 Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books. They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.   Page 122 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED. Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12 Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books. They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  Page 121 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED. Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12 Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube

I just got back from St. Louis.   It was my first time there and I met a wonderfully rich collection of people who I’m so excited to introduce you to in a special on-the-ground, in-the-street, from-the-backseat Chapter of 3 Books.   On the way from the airport to the hotel, the driver regaled me with St. Louis trivia from a deep well of St. Louis pride. “Did you know we hosted the World Fair and the Olympics the same year?” he asked. I knew about the World Fair! “Most do,” he said. “But not many know about the Olympics. 1904 was a banner year here. We were the fourth largest city in the US at the time!”   The next day I had time to explore. I knew there was a local bird species that didn’t exist anywhere else in the country! The Eurasian Tree Sparrow was one of six species of birds brought to St. Louis in 1870 by German immigrants. The other five died that winter, but the Tree Sparrow still lives near Lafayette Park where it was first released. It has thrived without expanding its range or disrupting the local ecology.   After I got an address to try and find the birds, I hailed an Uber and met Jacqueline, who drove a bus in town for 27 years. When I asked her for the best thing about St. Louis she said, “Nothing! Watch your back or somebody gonna put a bullet in your head.” Our raw conversation touches on the erosion of community, the deprioritization of connection, and how we might find new kinds of support in our disconnected world. “My family is whoever loves on me,” Jacqueline said. “Blood makes you kin but it doesn’t make you family.”   I then met Deneane, a 28-year-old single mother of five who does drop-off, pick-up, and evenings solo every day while driving Uber thirty hours a week, working at a cupcake shop, and running a small business online. We went to the Gateway Arch and Left Bank Books together while talking about enduring—after her mom found bruises all over her body, she left her abusive relationship and “found the strength to start over.”   The next morning I gave the talk that sent me down there and then got a final ride to the airport with Albano from Albania, who left his job as a public school teacher in Florida to make more than double as a driver. “Unfortunately,” he said, “if teaching was something others would care about, teachers wouldn’t leave the profession.”   I hope you feel a kinetic pulse listening to stories from people whose stories aren’t often told. Get ready to laugh, cry, and connect hearts as we tether ourselves to the human connection that exists around us every day.   Let’s head down to St. Louis and hang out with Jacqueline, Deneane, and Albano as they share the love and connection we are always searching for on 3 Books.   Let’s flip the page to Chapter 136 now… 

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.   They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.     Page 114 comes from Chapter 11 with Kerri Kolen, editor of 'The Happiness Equation,' 'Lion,' and 'A Stolen Life.'   Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/11   Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail   Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.   They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.     Page 113 comes from Chapter 11 with Kerri Kolen, editor of 'The Happiness Equation,' 'Lion,' and 'A Stolen Life.'   Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/11   Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail   Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube