What IS this??

EELS is a weekly newsletter that provides a few brief recommendations for books you might like, plus a couple other things, too.

Should I subscribe?

Yes, that would be great! And please forward to a friend!

Do I need to pay you things? In this economy?

Absolutely not. You’re welcome to use the pledge feature, but I don’t plan on making this a paid product. Possibly a paid option at one time, but that sounds wild to me at this moment, so no.

How do you read so much?

I go into more detail here, but some highlights:

• Embrace multiple formats. Ebooks on your phone (Kindles are fine and good but having a book with you at all times is key) and audiobooks for when you’re doing terrible chores you don’t want to do. And for the love of, get yourself a library card immediately.

• Get rid of things on your phone that don’t make you happy. Why miserably scroll forever when you could be deep in a story instead?

• Seek out very good recommendations. To start, try asking people who are into the same TV shows as you what books they’ve liked lately. It’s all writing, anyway. Oh, and also, read this newsletter.

Remember, reading isn’t a competitive sport—trust me, I have actually tried this and it wasn’t that fun. You can read as much or as little as you want to, and don’t let any TikTok tell you differently. But if you want to read more, as opposed to just feeling like you should read more, try the above! Let me know how it works out.

What does EELS mean?

If I said it came to me in a sort of vision as painted in gold upon a green bookstore facade, would you believe me?

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.