Notes on a Reading Life: Scrooge Season

On winter pessimism, seasonal hope, and against-the-grain Christmas stories.

Dec 15, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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My Essay in 'Inner Life'

A trip to the beach inspires an examination of what we put at the centre of our lives.

Dec 9, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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November 2025

Notes on a Reading Life: What's Truth Got To Do With It?

“I don’t think the truth is some kind of polestar in the sky that we will one day get to. It’s more like an incessant striving.”

Nov 24, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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The Last Book You'll Ever Read

On dreaming of death beds, reading about book burning, and thinking your way out of thought.

Nov 10, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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October 2025

Notes on a Reading Life: The Only Way to Read a Book

“Begin at the beginning ... and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”

Oct 27, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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Haunted by Choice

"The Haunting of Hill House" isn't just ghosts and haunted houses and family trauma — it's also about being unable to choose a pen.

Oct 20, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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Getting Away With It

“When the spaceship lands, how do they communicate?”

Oct 13, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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Myth and Memory

Getting happy-sad at the sound of a dial-up modem.

Oct 6, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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September 2025

Sweater Season

On Bill Bryson's New England, the ghosts of autumn past, and a hymn to the stuff you can’t measure in a test tube.

Sep 29, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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A Reader's First Love

“Few things leave a deeper mark on the reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart.”

Sep 22, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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Life Versus Books

On Philip Roth's "The Ghost Writer", and whether life should be sacrificed for art.

Sep 15, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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The Gift of a Book

On becoming a gift giver, toys vs. books, and Wodehouse as a remedy for lost laughter.

Sep 8, 2025 • Matthew Morgan

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