Many brilliant thinkers have written many sparkling sentences about the solace of literature during personal and shared dark times — “The Consolations of Writing: Literary Strategies of Resistance from Boethius to Primo Levi” by Rivkah Zim and “Literature and Consolation: Fictions of Comfort” by Jürgen Pieters spring to mind.

But I’m not an academic. I’m just another soul trying to find a refuge during these challenging times.

However, I do find a great deal of comfort in literature, both the writing and the reading of it, both classic and contemporary literature. So, from time to time, I’d like to share with you some books and some passages from those books that provide consolation and often inspiration.

Yesterday I finished an excellent novel, for example. It’s “Martyr!” the debut novel by Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar. The story follows the broken-hearted Cyrus, a queer Iranian-American trying to find meaning in life and art and death, and sobriety (I’m a big fan of sobriety.)

At The New York Review of Books, Francine Prose said:

“There’s something immensely appealing about a meticulously written novel whose characters (Cyrus isn’t the only one) are busily searching for meaning. It’s a pleasure to read a book in which an obsession with the metaphysical, the spiritual, and the ethical is neither a joke nor an occasion for a sermon. And it’s cheering to see a first-time (or anytime) novelist go for the heavy stuff—family, death, love, addiction, art, history, poetry, redemption, sex, friendship, US-Iranian relations, God—and manage to make it engrossing, imaginative, and funny.”

I mean, come on. Perfect for the moment, right?

Here are some passages I found particularly thought-provoking:

”Nobody thinks of now as the future past.”
We don’t, do we? But we should, especially now when the weight of history’s gaze seems very heavy indeed.

”To say no to a new day would be unthinkable. So each morning you said yes, then stepped into the consequence.”
I think this is what part of what I’m getting at when I talk about understanding that we must choose to live in accordance with our principles and then walk forward, resolutely.

”When I say ‘nations,’ I mean ‘armed marketplaces.’”
Quite a lot to think about there.

”… nobody ever brought up the wages of virtue. The toll of trying really really hard to be good in a game that’s totally rigged against goodness.”
Hell yes. There is always a price to be paid for doing the right thing. Do it anyway.

Finally,
”It’s hard not to envy the monsters when you see how good they have it. And how unbothered they are at being monsters.”
Ain’t it just?

I noted many more passages, but I’ll leave it there for now. If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll read the book and tell me where in it you found yourself, where you found your spirit bolstered. Tell me what you read that reminded you you are not alone, no matter how many people tell you you are. Tell me what you read that reminded you you are not wrong or crazy to feel the way you do, no matter how many people are trying to tell you you are.