I loved Sheila Heti's last several books, so I read this one early. I also read it cold, without reading anything about it. I love her ability to completely surprise me, even as someone who follows her work, I had no idea to expect this. And I loved it from the first sentence on. The sentences int he diary are organized alphabetically. And the curation (however much was the writer's hand, however much was serendipity wisely left by her) is fantastic. The very beginning of the book read to me like a wondering definition of the project and the book, a wonderful fresh building up on a theme that is visited in different ways in other books by Heti . Since I started with the audio book (which is also excellent), I didn't know straight away from that they were precisely alphabetical, and I still thought the beginning was magical. There are many very things done by the organizing principle of this book. Some examples: a wonderful defamiliarization; the anaphoric repetition of beginnings creates this enchantment of sound and rhythm (I recommend listening to the audio book too to amplify that effect); the book ends up making something very interesting with time, it becomes more like a dimension since things are not lineary presented. You hear about a break up and you hear about the beginning and middle of relationships, and it begins to feel as present, past and future are all there at the same time. It's really cool.

Thank you Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an ARC for an honest review

Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti publishes February 6, 2024 from @fsgbooks. Books can be deeply weird and that’s okay, even great. Can meaning be found in subjecting sentences to a seemingly arbitrary form; here, alphabetization? Does letting go of conventional frameworks for organizing thought lead to new revelations? Every sentence matters. Fear seems to be a good place to go for inspiration. Go preorder this book. How does one “review” a book of disparate thoughts? If you thought Pure Colour was weird, just wait! Joy in reading a stranger’s confessional thoughts. Keep going. Lars is a character (?) in this book and many sentences begin with his name, so I thought I’d include one here as well. Maybe there was some trickery in how this was composed. Never felt a kinship with piece of writing like this before (this is something I say every time I read Heti, but the sentiment stands). Oversharing can be fun. Publishing your diary feels like the most vulnerable act, but who’s to say it’s even “true”? Quit reading this as narrative! Rules - which can, or should, be broken, and what are the consequences? Slow down. This is probably a corny way to reflect on this book but it feels apt (also, who cares?). “Upon reading all of this, my anxiety instantly vanished and I shut down the computer and ran to bed, happy and excited - thrilled, really” (same). Vulnerability: good or bad? Why do we read this as narrative; why does this work when it feels like it shouldn’t? X isn’t in the book so … this is my X sentence. You should read this book and tell me what you think about it. Zip through if you prefer; your loss.

A hypnotic project. Highly recommended for colleges & universities with creative writing programs and classes.

LINES FROM SHEILA HETI’S ALPHABETICAL DIARIES THAT MADE ME MUTTER ‘SAME” UNDER MY BREATH, RANKED:

10. I am thirty-two.

9. I always forget how long life is. I always forget this like an idiot.

8. Thank God my youth is ending.

7. I got down on my knees behind the tree and sucked his cock for a while.

6. Crazy to spend ninety dollars on the scarf—but I’m crazy!

5. Really I’m just spending all of my money on books.

4. Keep in mind that none of these projects will make you any money.

3. Everything was fine until I texted him last night and the tally came to three from me and two from him.

2. That name, Goethe, that is how my vagina looks.

1. Write your book, you self-indulgent fool.

^AS

This is a lovely little book. The stream of consciousness style of writing may not resonate with everyone but it struck a chord with me and I'm feeling inspired to journal in a similar way.

Alphabetical Diaries was very interesting, I was concerned I wouldn't like the premise, but it was enjoyable. I also liked the audio narrator.

When writing about an author I love, I will often say that I will read anything about that author, including their grocery list. Well, with Alphabetical Diaries, Sheila Heti gives us a glimpse into some of her quotidian writing, that of her personal diary. Heti took 10 years of diary entries, entered them into a spreadsheet, alphabetized them and then edited them. The resulting memoir is presented in alphabetical form, divided by letter, 25 chapters in all (there are no sentences starting with 'X').

Reading Alphabetical Diaries is an experience. At first, it is a bit disorienting. Because the sentences are arranged alphabetically rather than chronologically, thoughts don't necessarily continue from one to another. But, with her editing, Heti has also created some interesting juxtapositions across time. For example, early on she seems to refer directly to the book we're reading: "A book like a shopping mart, all the selections. A book that does only one thing, one thing at a time. A book that even the hardest of men would read. A book that is a game."

That is not to say that the book becomes more clear as you read it. Names, places, and events will repeat as you read, but I found it hard to make any sort of sense of timelines or "plots". Either way, I don't think that was Heti's intention. I think instead she is interested in the wordplay and repetitions of themes. This can make the book hard to read at times, especially if you are a reader more interested in plot. Even for me, a reader that loves reading just for a writer's writing, the lack of any traditional structure was difficult at times. My biggest piece of advice would be to just go with the flow. Once I allowed myself to do that, I fell more deeply into the book. Even sitting with it for a few days after finishing, I've come to appreciate it more (though still haven't made it to "love" like I did with her last book, Pure Colour). Unlike most books I read, this is not one that I would run out and recommend to everyone. But I did really enjoy it and I think certain types of readers will too. Plus it's worth it for Heti's random insights into other writers, particularly Zadie Smith who is her neighbor!

The premise of this book is pretentious and it is, at times, pretentious!! That being said, Sheila Heti is a good writer, so of course her internal musings are well-written and interesting to read. Reading this made me want to keep a more intentional journal.

However, format makes it painful to get through. Sometimes the organization was profound and I liked the aspect of stitching together introspection from so many different times in her life. But more often, it felt like reading an art exhibit instead of a book!

The parts I liked most were the moments of contradiction between chapters, it felt honest about the back and forth of being a person.

I loved this. It was so funny, smart, distinctive, and often quite thought-provoking and touching. If you like Sheila Heti, or diaries in general, give it a try.

~ARC provided by NetGalley~

Going into the "Alphabetical Diaries," I only knew it was a nonfiction by Sheila Heti, one of my favorite writers. I started and stopped several times with the digital version as well as with the audiobook. Something just didn't click at first, but I wanted to persist because of how highly anticipated this title is. However, after watching Sheila Heti on the Reading the Room podcast, I feel like knowing the context really helped me understand what was going on. To create this book, Heti alphabetized her diary entries over the last ten years. As I read, I found myself returning to the idea behind the organization. With each lettered chapter, I would notice when the sentences got closer to the end of the alphabetical order. I also enjoyed getting to know the different characters in Heti's life as they popped up in different places or got their time to shine at the start of several sentences. But the most striking part for me was the intimacy and worries that Heti had, obviously over many years of her life, and how much they seemed to be plucked from my own journals. If you too are a dedicated personal writer, I am sure that pieces and sentiments from Heti's work will shine for you.

If you're thinking about picking this up, I highly recommend doing a physical copy. The audiobook simply did not work for me, and while I read a digital copy in the end, I wish I had the actual book to take notes, highlight key sentences, and annotate.

i've said that i'd read anything sheila heti writes, including her diary.

but i did not expect that to be literal.

this had moments of being so BRILLIANT i was like this makes me want to write!!! and it had moments where i was like "how many more Ts can there possibly be."

this is more a great idea than it is a readable book, but it did have moments of being both.

At first I was excited by the concept of disassembling and rearranging personal journal entries in alphabetical order. How creative! Abstract! Wish I had thought to do that! I truly do admire the author’s creativity and willingness to try something completely different.

But as I read, the whole thing felt boring and indulgent. Like I was treading water or otherwise stuck in place. Perhaps I would’ve appreciated it more as an assigned reading in a college writing course, or if I was more interested in nontraditional storytelling. But as things stand right now, I need my books to have plot and characters, and this one - by no fault of the author - just couldn’t deliver.

this was so so beautifully written. i haven't read any of sheila heiti's fiction, but this feels like such a good segue into exploring more of her works. these days, i've been really loving nonlinear narratives and fragmented vignettes, so this was such a good read for me. it's a bit unorthodox and can read as disjointed sometimes so it might not be for everyone, but i found it so fresh and captivating.

Amidst the countless books about writing or regarding the craft of writing, Heti's Alphabetical Diaries feels all at once a homage and a innovation to the form. Through a linear approach with the alphabet, Heti's recounts of significant moments of her life are all at once sensitive and solace inducing. Yet, there's a restrain to the prose with its confessional quality: Heti navigating how to unearth not only herself through the progression of her life, but also emphasizing how writers are ordinary people too. Heti's back-and-forth with fleeting feelings of success, accountability, and the brand of being a writer infiltrates her relationships with the people she namedrops in the book. Her anecdotes themselves feel inventive bordering fiction, as if Heti must control her desire to cling to the creative: as if writing in itself is its own curious form of oneself we're all capable of, so long as we know how to unlock it.

Thank you to NetGalley and FSG for this ARC! When I first read the premise of Sheila Heti's newest work, Alphabetical Diaries, I thought of how compelling it was from the beginning — the book itself is self-explanatory in its title: a record of Heti's personal diaries over the course of years reorganized by the letter. It feels very Didion, the intimacy and illustration and nostalgia. But Heti proves to be sharper in this case, more coarse without comprising any sentiment, and as a result conceives something truly stunning with scrupulous execution.

There's a meticulousness in both the narrative and alphabetical structure that is so impressive to me. It feels like I'm watching someone build a ship in a bottle. There's so much delicacy in every written word despite the abundance of memories and emotion. I find that Heti's creativity really shines in this more experimental stream of consciousness; she's able to create a space both spirited and light while dancing around the more sobering aspects of her life: financial desperation, lust, capitalism, yearning for the wrong people. She tells stories of her friends' marriages, her lovers, her exes, her bouts of despondency in writing. Heti's anecdotes come in vignettes that are facetious and reflective and often spur into larger tangents, all packaged in this indexed form.

It's almost comforting just to bear witness to the organization of these recollections and feelings. As Heti says in the book: "This craft is really just whining. This desire to categorize monopolizes my time and desire to write. This desire to order and organize; to make an architecture and understand. This desire to transcend, to break rules of time and space."

As a fan of "Pure Color," I was so excited to read Heti's newest work. It was so "formally inventive," which I enjoyed reading, because it was unlike anything I had read before. Heti's chapters focusing on the different people in her life who have an impact on her were so varying and interesting. I would recommend this to people who want to get a real sense of all the relationships in someone's life and really creative nonfiction.

thank you netgalley and fsg!!!! 🔮 you wanna give me more arcs sooooo bad 🔮

i adored this. consider me a heti head from now on. i cannot believe i have gone this long without reading something by such a gifted writer who so perfectly describes feelings i did not even know i had. the experience of reading this book has genuinely altered my brain.

this is going to sound insane, but the letter f changed my life. i cannot offer you any explanation, but just trust that i am different now.

the form of this is obviously brilliant. (if you disagree, we are enemies now <3) to take disconnected journal entries and arrange them alphabetically and still end up with a product that is so moving and profound and utterly life-changing speaks to how talented sheila heti is. even her scraps are worthy of praise and attention.

but the writing itself is equally brilliant. i've read books that rely on an unconventional form to do the heavy lifting of making otherwise uninspired writing more interesting, but that is not the case here. heti makes even the mundanity of daily life into art. her takes on friendships, writing, reading, romantic relationships, grief -- all of it is so incredibly valuable.

if you, like me, have yet to experience the brilliance of heti's writing, i think this is a great place to start. i'm so excited to read everything else this woman has ever put out.

my life is better now because i read this!!

What a bizarre concept for a book! Easy to dip in and out of. Incredibly plotless obviously but full of one off lines that pierce your heart.

my first heti! what an interesting form for a book. the alphabetization of the diary entries juxtaposes the big and small things in heti’s life over the course of 10 years. a sentence about a life changing event might be right next to a sentence about eating scrambled eggs. i think the non-linear structure really allows you to focus in on the sentence level and sit with the meaning of each individual sentence. it almost feels like a highlight reel of all of the things you would underline in a book. really enjoyable to make your own connections between unrelated sentences that could have been written 6 years apart, and to see the reoccurring themes that make themselves clear throughout the course of a letter/chapter.

funny, sometimes sad, always relatable! 4.25 stars!

I requested this one based on the description and the rave reviews. Oh boy. A novel idea, to be sure, but one that did not work at all for me.