066: About a Small, Brave, Beautiful Book

Claire Keegan's "Small Things Like These" will shore up your courage and remind you to hope against hope. Plus, the OG SBB essay featuring "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel

Anyone else having trouble sleeping?

Last night I woke up to a litany of worry from over the transom of the world: nuclear, conscription, displacement, shortage, unrest, virus, polarization, collapse, instability, worry, prices.

Daily, it seems like, I walk around with a list of self-exhortations: do more, be more creative, be smarter, be kinder, be grateful, waste less time, save money, be a better listener, get more exercise, eat more vegetables, scroll less. At night, I fall asleep from the exhaustion of this, only to wake up at 1am to a ghoul-parade of my worst behaviors and mistakes and the world’s most frightening news items, expertly curated by the most anxious and pessimistic parts of me.

Some nights I can tell these noxious selves to chill out and go back to sleep and they do.

Other nights, not so much.

Bill Furlong, the protagonist of Irish writer Claire Keegan’s…