what we read & how it defines our storytelling

It's summer reading list time! For bookworms and nerdy story lovers like us wonder |wander | women we share this Longreads list with you. Questioning the Stories We Hold: A Reading List Inspired by Annie Ernaux.

Illustration by Krista. Images by Getty Images.

“Annie Ernaux reminds me that sometimes things find their meaning only in hindsight.” by Bekah Waalkes - January 19, 2023.

As Sheila Heti writes in the New York Times: “Most memoirs operate as if the past were right there and can be looked at, like a painting on the wall. But Ms. Ernaux understands that one’s 18-year-old self is a stranger to one’s 70-year-old self.” 

In happy conversation with some longtime friends yesterday we were discussing the working lives of being a teacher. Why we do it, what we learned from our teachers, how it has taught us how to teach. 

The roles and hats we wear and the material and process we choose. Topics, courses, influence, inspiration, legacy - sharing our expertise and life experience any way that we can, while we are still able. 

This reading list brings together essays that question the stories we hold about ourselves, how we make our lives meaningful. There’s love, sex, heartbreak, returns to childhood, and deep grief that structure how we see ourselves and our lives. 

These writers, like Ernaux, travel into their own memories and sensations, confronting old versions of themselves and dredging up hidden habits, to see what makes sense.