Jordan Mattox

1. The Other California: The Great Central Valley In Life And Letters Gerald W. Haslam 

I found this book via Alice Daniel’s podcast with the same name. I’d heard of Haslam, but never read him until now. I really enjoyed this book, particularly as someone who has lived in Bakersfield. The book waxes poetically about a region looked down upon by the rest of the state. A great book if you are interested in the central valley of California. 

2. A Clearing In The Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century Witold Rybczynski

Olmstead is a name you might recognize, but have trouble placing. He is most known for designing and supervising the construction of Central Park. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for this renaissance man. Born before the Civil War, Olmstead dabbled in a few fields before settling on landscape architecture and designing some of the most beautiful parks and subdivisions of the 19th century. His life is fascinating and this book is super approachable, with bitsize chapters. Recommended. 

3. The Autobiography of Red Anne Carson 

This strange little book has not left my mind since I finished it. Here’s the description from the jacket: 

“Geryon, a young boy who is also a winged red monster, reveals the volcanic terrain of his fragile, tormented soul in an autobiography he begins at the age of five. As he grows older, Geryon escapes his abusive brother and affectionate but ineffectual mother, finding solace behind the lens of his camera and in the arms of a young man named Herakles, a cavalier drifter who leaves him at the peak of infatuation. When Herakles reappears years later, Geryon confronts again the pain of his desire and embarks on a journey that will unleash his creative imagination to its fullest extent. By turns whimsical and haunting, erudite and accessible, richly layered and deceptively simple, Autobiography of Red is a profoundly moving portrait of an artist coming to terms with the fantastic accident of who he is.” 

4. The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath 

I found the audio version of this book on Libby read by Maggie Gyllenhall, and I thought that there could be no better narrator for it. Parallel to this, I am also reading the massive biography of Plath by Heather Clark that came out last year. This book follows her story from the year she did a college internship at a fashion magazine through her experiences of shock therapy and mental institutions. Plath’s writing cuts so cleanly and precisely that it is almost shocking to read. Gyllenhall’s performance was A1 as well. Recommended.