The House Shelf

Three books, a painting, and a concert poster. A beginning drawn from my own reading, looking, and listening, with room for the things I enjoy for quite different reasons.

Midnight’s Children — Salman Rushdie

Mystery and places unfamiliar to me drew me into this story. What stayed was something I recognized: longing, and the sense of holding two things within ourselves at once. The pleasure of being carried somewhere unfamiliar and finding a truth that feels close to home.

Moneyball — Michael Lewis

I came to this as a baseball fan. What stayed with me was the willingness to question how things had always been done: to think critically, use new tools, and commit to a different approach when the old one wasn’t working. The baseball would have been enough. That made it more.

The Tommyknockers — Stephen King

My favorite King: a great, sprawling book to disappear into. There is a particular glee in reading him, knowing darkness is ahead and wanting to keep going. The characters and their world feel complete. I read this for the indulgence of being thoroughly caught in a story.

Nighthawks — Edward Hopper

What draws me back is the polish within its simplicity. Light, a counter, a few people: a quiet scene that holds solitude and society together. I can spend time with that tension without needing to resolve it.

The Cure — a Chicago concert poster

A concert poster holds the memory of an adventure: a night out, a particular place, the music. Not every poster has room on my wall. My poster from The Cure at the United Center does. I love that the artwork belongs to Chicago’s night—the effort to give a city its own image.