A couple of months ago I went back to my alma mater in Colorado. They gave me a little temporary office, and as I went upstairs I thought, Oh, my God, I used to live here. The room next to the room they gave me was my bedroom from a fraught year in my college experience. It was the weirdest thing, because that guy that I was was so ambitious and stupid, so not in touch with how one went about having a writing life. But he was pretty earnest. There was something very wild about being almost 70 and standing there and going, OK, so what that kid wanted to do, you kind of did it. I can’t quite describe it. Also, I started late. The first book didn’t come out till I was 38, so I feel like I’m racing to do really good work in whatever time is left. But in that early time, one of the things that was so beautiful was that my stupid dreams of being a prodigy were obviously not going to happen. So for the first time it was like, All right, what if you don’t have any writing career? What if you’re just, hopefully, a good father and husband? And in that space I found that there was plenty to live for. I’d always secretly thought I was kind of shallow, that I was all ambition. And to find out that shorn of that, I still liked being alive and still felt a lot of happiness? That was very sweet.
— George Saunders, from “George Saunders is No Saint (Despite What You May Have Heard)” by David Marchese (NY Times, January 10, 2026)
great lessons
Agree Melinda.
can’t get the tone in the vid. Not on my computer nor the iPad…
You’re not missing much Kiki. Silent video, 18 seconds long… Just a few seconds of viewing the author George Saunders. If you look at his image on Wikipedia, you’ve seen enough! Nice to hear from you!
It is high-quality black-and-white video, but still just shows various images of the author.
❤️
What a wonderful settling into life and acceptance, a peaceful happiness
Agree Beth.
So much wisdom here. So much…
Agree Paul!
And what is this?
I see when I click on the New York Times link… It says: “Annotated by David Kanigan” !!
Unless you have a paid subscription to NY Times, you would be subject to a “paywall” and blocked. I have a service that enabled me to share the article outside of paywall except you would see my highlights and annotations.
‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ is one of my all time favorites. He’s coming out with another book, “Vigil” at the end of the month
Look forward to it. Thanks Mimi.
What if? What if? There so much in between in what if and there lies the best answer.
Yes. Truth Maria.
That must’ve been surreal. I cannot imagine doing that. Mostly because my college was closed down! 😝
Agree!
His, video. An, honest man…a retrospective, contemplation. He gifted all of us a moment of impact…/// and for me, thoughts rolling around in my mind for quite sometime and I think about the would have, should have and then the doubt burst forth…
His words, show an honest, interplay of struggle and growth…
Well framed and stated Christie. Me too. Thank you.
In the scheme of things, 38 for your first book is not bad at all….
Agree!!!!