My friend who was a liberal in his youth insists that anyone who is not conservative in old age is a fool.
Yesterday I saw a patron in Costco wearing a DOGE t-shirt, which I peered at closely, waiting for the lampoon which would surely appear further down his chest in smaller print. There was none. The shirt, in army green, simply said “Department of Government Efficiency.” Incredulous, I looked up only to catch sight of his red Trump hat, and I thought, How could you? (We are just miles outside of DC, where thousands of scientists, aid workers, and other public servants have been fired. The man, who was an older guy, had long and straggly hair; I wondered how he could be filled with such contempt.)
At home I turn to my library book, Aflame: Learning from Silence, written by Pico Iyer, published in January 2025 and until two days ago, buried in a pile on my table until the email said it was due Friday.
I’m heading out of town. Normally when I cannot renew a book, I simply hold onto it, finishing as quickly as possible, but in this case, twenty-nine library patrons are in the queue, so I am making a concerted effort to read the final seventy-five pages prior to departure.
As I read Aflame, I think of all the people I want to buy a copy for. It’s an absolutely beautiful book about Iyer’s various stays at a Benedictine monastery on the Pacific Coast over the course of the past twenty years.
I’ll confess that the name Pico Iyer was never on my radar until I heard him interviewed on NPR in January in conjunction with the publication of Aflame. (My friend the conservative will never miss taking a swipe at NPR, which he freely admits he used to listen to in his youth. Now he resents the government funding that NPR, which he considers partisan, receives.)
My jaw is on the ground as I read Aflame, and I am astounded to see sixteen prior publications on his backlist.
Lots of Iyer reading ahead.
In addition to books authored by Iyer, I find myself creating a separate reading list of all the books he discusses in Aflame.
Books and authors referenced so far:
Thomas Merton (The Seven Storey Mountain is a treasured title from a lifetime ago.)
Leonard Cohen
A biography of Wittgenstein (Looks like it must be Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius by Roy Monk.)
The reading life is not for sissies, but I’d choose none other. How about you?
Knowing you as I do…I love your short stories, I can read them twice, breathe a sigh of gratitude knowing & loving you. Then…continue to scurry as you know me.
I read all your recommendations, so this author will be the next on the list. Thank you.