Alphabetical Diaries (Sheila Heti)

Just read for a class, and not to indulge in cliché, but it really feels like this book came to me at exactly the right time. The basic premise is that Heti took ~10 years of journal entries, sorted all the sentences alphabetically, and culled down to 60,000 words. I am shocked at how well it worked for me — I don’t read memoir often (or much nonfiction at all), and I’m usually really dependent on narrative. But the way narrative and characters emerge is so rewarding, and it made me feel like a gumshoe — like I’d snuck into someone’s office, dumped out their paper shredder, and started piecing their life back together. There’s a shocking intimacy to seeing all of someone’s “I want” sentences next to each other, or every sentence starting with an ex-boyfriend’s name. And so much wisdom and humanity and bracing humor. And sex! And on the sentence level, I was so awed by the craft (my personal favorite sentence was “Now the sky is the color of computers”), which is especially impressive for a diary. I found it really inspiring and encouraging and comforting and connective.

I also think it might be a nice thing to read if you’re struggling to focus on narrative fiction. It felt to me like a really special marriage between formal poetry and memoir prose.