Book Review #1 of 2025 - Eunoia
Another year, another book challenge. I was thrilled to have finally accomplished the reading challenge I had set for myself three years in a row of 23 books. I try to ignore the fact that it took so long. And in my defense, I was a fairly busy person, juggling full-time and part-time jobs, going to grad school, and traveling. But now, as real life takes hold on what seemed to be a hectic hiatus, I find that I can get back to one of my first loves.
As I always do, I challenge myself beyond just the amount I set to read in that year. This year I chose to turn to people who are smarter and better read than me, my friends. They gave a great array of books and I’m honestly excited to read each one. It’ll be a great way to expand my horizons and learn more about the people in my life.
The first book was actually given to me before I officially decided to take recommendations. I had a summer copywriter internship at Osborn Barr Paramore (OBP) and had the honor of having the best creative supervisor, Chris Smith. If I didn’t do anything else at OBP (which I did accomplish quite a bit), learning and talking to Chris on a weekly basis was enough for me. Chris had a way of talking about your strengths in a way that felt sincere while at the same time gently guiding you to be a stronger writer. I truly valued how comfortable I felt talking to him about anything.
Sadly, my internship came to an end and so did our weekly meetings. But he asked if he could send me a book as a gift. And once I decided to only read recommended books, this one had to be included.
The first sentence to describe this book says, “‘Eunoia’ which means ‘beautiful thinking’ is the shortest English word to contain all five vowels.” Immediately I knew why Chris sent me this book (never mind the fact that he had written why in the gift note). Christian Bök challenged himself to write poetic passages that only contained one vowel in each word per section. Someone could see that and wonder why anyone would subject themselves to those restrictions. But as a copywriter, it made complete sense to me.
As a copywriter, while it’s encouraged to have your own voice and style, you’re given set parameters with each new assignment. Some are easier to take on than others. Some make you question if you ever had a handle on the English language because absolutely no words come to mind. You wonder if it’s finally happened, you lost all your creativity and it’s time to go into something more generic, like analytics. What makes this book so comforting and interesting is this person proves that if he can come up with whole passages using only one vowel, what is to stop you from writing within a character limit? Or in the voice of a demographic you will never be a part of? When you realize that limitations are a part of the job, you learn to thrive in them. And Bök takes on the task with flair and humor.
Granted, I felt there were times when Bök was really stretching with his word choices. I’m sure they all were real and had deep meanings but in the scope of the stories, they felt like jargon that only he knew about. I appreciated the Helen of Troy section. While I doubt the historical accuracy of the tales, I could picture Helen enjoying the splendors provided by her captors while a war was starting all around her. That part I could envision easily and wish I had more of.
I had an edition that had an extra section with no restrictions and after reading 100ish pages of this new cadence that I enjoyed, I didn’t find it nearly as satisfying.
Overall, the challenge of this book was more inspiring to me than the content itself. But I’m a person who is usually driven by plot and content so that is weird high praise coming from me. When I’m stuck with a brief that asks me to appeal to a niche gamer community that’s half my age in one sentence, I’ll think about this book. And it’ll give me the motivation to keep going. Because other writers have done crazier things.
The first book in this year’s challenge can now be checked off, and it was a great way to kick off this unique list! Unfortunately, I know the next book won’t be as short. But at least all the vowels can be used.
