Quake books

I've learned from other anniversaries that there's an uneasiness your body carries in a separate place from actual memories. It looks outside for things to blame for the feeling, things that are similar enough to that time to account for the feeling - remember the strange, flat cloud that hovered like a long runway over Mount Fuji for a few days before the quake? And there was that crazy dust storm yesterday, and that flash of light in the sky last night? And knowing that none of these things are connected in any way to each other or to earthquakes doesn't stop them from getting tangled up in a general feeling of foreboding. And calamities swirl together only long enough to light up illogical warning circuits in the brain - what if they're planning another attack today in celebration - no, that's the wrong kind of disaster. There is no "they" this time. No day is any more (or less) likely than any other for shaking and drowning, strange clouds or no. But some days do bring the memories closer to the surface, both in that murky, headachey way that is the body trying to process 20,000 dead and multiples of that grieving, and in the logical way that craves narrative and logic, story and analysis. For the first we have art and candlelight vigils and trains stopping in remembrance at 2:46. For the second we have reading and writing.

Reconstructing 3/11 was done not to raise money but to do some journalistic exploration of the aftermath of the disasters and the outlook for recovery. I was one of a handful of people who helped Our Man in Abiko edit the contributions. To get the book into more people's hands, it is available as a free download from Amazon until March 14th. A print version is also available. Nathalie-Kyoko Stuckey and Jake Adelstein's chapters are free online now.

Quakebook (2:46 Aftershocks) will become more interesting with time. It was an attempt to capture people's immediate responses and to generate money for charity. It exists in quite a few different versions, English and Japanese, print and digital.
March Was Made of Yarn is a collection of fiction inspired by 3/11. I got a chance to talk to editors David Karashima and Elmer Luke recently. In process and outcome, it seems like a thoughtful companion to the eyewitness rush of Quakebook. I had somehow missed it when it came out last year, I suppose maybe because I was busy helping with Reconstructing 3/11? I'm looking forward to reading it now.

Please feel free to leave links to other good reads in the comments.