A World on Fire
A mindset shift that values agency over control, prayers for L.A., plus the books you'll want to add to your 2025 reading list
What a week of contrasts.
As snow blanketed the city of Washington on the ominous fourth anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, it also prepared itself to receive the body of former president Jimmy Carter, who lay in state at the Capitol Building in advance of yesterday’s funeral at the National Cathedral.
Beginning Tuesday, folks from around the world lined up outside the gates (which had been placed there as a Jan. 6th precaution) to pay their respects to a deeply decent and hardworking American. Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, deeply courageous and hardworking first responders were working to protect civilians and control the terrible wildfires engulfing the city of Los Angeles.
The images coming out of California are horrific. I can hardly wrap my mind around the scale of destruction. It’s not possible to craft a newsletter that adequately honors the nightmare so many people are experiencing this week. Like others, however, I’m finding comfort in the stories of goodwill and human decency taking place right before our eyes. Neighbors escorting each other to safety. Folks opening up their homes to strangers. The incredible, stirring image below, captured by The New York Times, which serves as a reminder of our intrinsic capacity to show up for one another.
For many, these fires will serve as the before and after dividing line in life. Things that were urgently important only days ago will fall permanently from to-do lists as other, more essential tasks consume attention. It will feel laughable: the things fretted about on Sunday, in the context of a week passed. Trauma makes us strangers to ourselves. We do not come out the other side of these events the same person we were before.
It has me thinking hard about control: the things we puppeteer in life vs. the things that simply happen to us. Many years ago, when I was stumbling forward in life, trying to make sense of my own tragedy, I learned that control is fickle; it can be easily interrupted and taken away. We can make a million good choices in life, and still, bad things befall us.
What I find easier to conceptualize (and far easier to claim) is agency. We cannot choose what happens to us, but we can choose our response to the terrible thing. We can choose to move ourselves in a forward direction.
As I think about those displaced by these fires (and I can’t stop thinking about everyone in L.A.), the folks occupying crowded hotel rooms or their friends’ couches, I’m thinking about it all, including those paused to-do lists and the plans that went up in smoke, along with so many precious homes and landmarks.
It’s terribly violating to lose one’s sense of control (let alone, safety), and I can’t attest to the experience of losing one’s home (let alone, community), but I do know what it feels like to be blindfolded and spun around, instantly severed from the existence you previously inhabited.
There is pain before the rising, reckoning before the growth, and this week, I am sending my love - and prayers - to all those whose universes have been turned upside down and inside out by these tragic fires.
I know I’m not alone.
Click here for a list of organizations and resources that are offering aid, including two I’m proud to support: American Red Cross and World Central Kitchen.
2025 Reads to Look Forward To (all available for pre-order now)
Research tells us that hope is essential for mental health. Having things to look forward to is more than just a luxury in life; it’s a necessity for well-being. With that in mind, here are the reads fueling me with hope and excitement for the new year.
The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker (February 25th): A speculative, psychological mystery about a woman who disappears, then reemerges in Brooklyn, following a dissociative episode. To understand what happened to her and her visions of a young man who died many years ago, she must confront long-buried trauma.
Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (March 4th): If you loved Americanah as much as I did, you’ve probably got your eye on Adichie’s latest, which, like her previous works, explores the Nigerian American experience, and the elusive search for happiness.
Audition by Katie Kitamura (April 8th): I was lucky to hear Katie read a snippet from this book, her novel-in-progress, back in 2023 when I did a workshop with her in Aspen. I’d devoured two of her previous novels (Intimacies and A Separation) and was mesmerized by the subtle, hypnotic, and keenly astute qualities of her writing. This one features an actress protagonist, so that’s an immediate YES for me!
Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (April 8th): Perkins-Valdez is a local DC author (bonus points for that!), and I loved her historical fiction novel, Take My Hand, about forced sterilization in post-segregation Alabama. Happy Land is another Southern tale, this one about multi-generational secrets and healing.
Fired Up by Shannon Watts (June 17th): You already know my profound love for
. I've long been gunning for her Nobel Peace Prize, so I’m delighted she’s publishing a book that will inspire generations of women to claim their agency for good. For those who don’t know Watts, she’s the founder of Moms Demand Action and recently rallied the masses for Kamala Harris’ historic campaign.What are you looking forward to reading in 2025? Leave a comment below!
Sending so much love and support to those who have been devastated by the fires in California and those on the front lines. Thank you for holding space here, Abby.
These books look amazing! I love the variety! Happy Reading!