The books I read when I was chronically depressed

June 29, 2023

For some of these "read" is an exaggeration; I didn't get my ability to read consecutive pages at a time back for several months. But even skipping around in...

Postcards

February 21, 2023

The main difference between the movie version and the book version of Postcards From The Edge is that the first one has a plot grafted onto it. It’s a good...

Newsletter BTS

January 18, 2023

Hi! Yesterday I launched a new newsletter, Making It, which is part of my job. SUBSCRIBE??? The gist is that I interview a different creative person every...

The Universal Review: Non-alc "Drinks"

September 30, 2022

I had not CRIED cried yet today. I mean, I had been stifling the odd sob here and there and sort of cry-talked through a crucial portion of my intake session...

No more premium subscriptions!

August 16, 2022

Hi! Thank you so much for subscribing to this newsletter. I eliminated the paid subscription option because, starting sometime this Fall, I will be launching...

new mental illness pasta just dropped

June 28, 2022

Hi guys, I alluded on Twitter recently to some events that occurred in cursed home of Ben and Jerry's and paddleboarding. Y’all wanna hear a story about how...

Wai? Café Pasta

June 7, 2022

There’s a recipe in my repertoire that I only make in times of emotional extremity, sort of like how Rachel Samstat makes mashed potatoes when she’s...

The Birth of Raffi (7 years ago today at 11:18 PM EST)

June 2, 2022

(this is the unedited text of an email sent 6/6/2015 to Jessica Stanley and Meaghan O'Connell) "I feel like I've been drafting this email in my mind in all...

It gets so hard just to be okay

$ · May 5, 2022

This is my newsletter where I complain, so I'm just going to complain about some things in my life really quick. I have been trying not to do this but it's...

Choose my own adventure

April 4, 2022

Recently I found myself in a haze of scrolling during which I came across a TikTok account called "Farkakte Apartments." Each of these toks features a cute...

Mama bear

March 21, 2022

On the plane to LA I remembered that the last time I'd visited LA -- in 2018 -- I'd watched Better Things on the plane and really liked it. Pamela Adlon's...

More Keith Gessen: The future, Ovechkin, Putin's face, and good Twitter users

$ · March 1, 2022

Hi, welcome back to our ongoing interview series with international correspondent Keith Gessen, who is also my husband, as you know. Let's get right into it....

Understanding the Russia situation via one quick email exchange with Keith Gessen

$ · February 23, 2022

It's been a minute since I did a subscriber-only email, for which I'm very sorry! It's a good thing I don't have a fat Substack contract to lose, because I...

Complaint: Covid edition!

February 16, 2022

Having Covid has completely emptied my brain of thoughts, just scooped it clean like what you do to a pumpkin when you're making a jack o'lantern. I've spent...

"3 kids 1 swab" and other modern classic newsletters

February 6, 2022

Ilya tested positive for Covid on Thursday morning and since then we have all just been, I guess, waiting around to get Covid. He's fine, he will be fine,...

The healing fantasy of "The Sex Lives of College Girls"

$ · January 28, 2022

tw: sexual assault, flashbacks to college While Keith was in Russia I watched the HBOMax sitcom "The Sex Lives of College Girls" in its entirety, even though...

A weekend in Dreamland

January 25, 2022

This coming April, Semiotext(e) will publish the most comprehensive collection of Cookie Mueller's writing to date, an updated and expanded version of...

my harrowing 36 hours without caffeine

January 14, 2022

Because I like to always have a Sisyphean, money-burning personal project going on in the background of my life, I decided toward the end of 2021 that I...

first complaint of 2022!

January 7, 2022

Unfortunately my brain won't let me write anything else until I address this directly, so I have to start by saying that my recent radio silence is the...

I'd change my life to better suit your mood

$ · December 21, 2021

Skip this if you haven't seen Pen15 in its entirety including the finale and also skip this if you aren't in the right headspace to think about teenage...

how the sausage is made but also how much the sausage costs per pound

December 17, 2021

In 2013 I got up all my gumption to pitch a long first person essay to an editor at the New Yorker. The editor was very nice about the pitch, which he...

always a sucker for a pagan blood ritual

$ · December 6, 2021

Hi! As promised, here are some cultural experiences, described. BOOKS Lauren Oyler recommended Painting Time by Maylis de Kerengal in Bookforum and I...

Black bean and chorizo soup

December 1, 2021

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Maryland which meant that we spent all of Sunday driving home, then unpacking and attempting to reregulate our...

gift guide from a Libra sun/Aries moon/Aries rising

$ · November 26, 2021

As an expert on vanity and self-indulgence, I am innately good at having ideas for presents. Buying, wrapping, delivering presents on time ... these are not...

Raffi is six and a half

November 24, 2021

On Sunday, some of Ilya's besties and their parents came over for a playdate. Raffi handled being the oldest kid in the room decently well, only dramatically...

As for Qs: Gift ideas for parents, writing prompts, GF recs, mycareer

$ · November 17, 2021

Heyyyyyy I know I said I was going to answer questions about pregnancy and second-kid agita in the next round but I gave it a shot and ended up feeling a...

Blind spot

November 10, 2021

"What I don't understand is why you never got a license in the first place. What happened?" I have been avoiding writing about my driving lessons. It had...

AMA questions answered!

$ · November 6, 2021

I was so pleasantly surprised and fascinated by the range and quantity of questions! I really want to get to them all eventually. I'm choosing a few for...

AMA within reason

$ · November 4, 2021

Hi my cherished premium subscribers, I owe you one -- actually two but who's counting -- premium newsletters. I was going to send them both out tomorrow but...

who should a person be?

November 4, 2021

Last weekend I left my home and family and ventured out on my own for the first time in 10,000 years. I saw the great big world outside of Brooklyn and it...

perchance to dream

October 29, 2021

Minor complaint: my kids recently forgot how to sleep and it's ruining my life. Neither of them has ever been a champion sleeper, though Ilya has always been...

Sail away

$ · October 22, 2021

I spent most of today in a state known to myself privately (but I guess now also known to you) as "LLTE," which stands for Literally Listening To Enya....

Someone who is good at the economy please help me

October 20, 2021

As a 7th anniversary gift to my beloved Capricorn husband, I just spent several days itemizing one month of our family's living expenses. Reader, you may be...

galaxy brain kidney take

$ · October 13, 2021

Even for a saint like me who is off Twitter, the kidney article could not be denied its due. Last Thursday morning my writing group started group-texting...

birthday presents

October 12, 2021

My birthday, October 13th, has always felt lucky to me. Of course, there are lots of logical reasons why October probably feels lucky for everyone, not just...

On how many babies to have

$ · October 8, 2021

I know I said I would answer premium subscriber reader q in the next free issue, but I wanted to address this emotionally intimate question here in the...

Franzen launch event recap!

October 6, 2021

I'm just a girl, standing in front of a culture, asking for one tiny favor: Can we expend as much intellectual energy as we generally expend on every marquee...

Boundaries goals/ boundaries fails

$ · October 1, 2021

Fails: In my defense, I was in a vulnerable place: a party, bizarrely enough, with tons of people whose names and faces all felt distantly recognizable in...

Literally show me a person with healthy boundaries

September 30, 2021

Yesterday I searched my email inbox for a pdf of letterhead for a college where I once taught as an adjunct so that I could write a recommendation for a...

professionalizing your hobbies: pro and con

$ · September 24, 2021

Because I was trying to downplay to myself that it would be my first in-person yoga class since February 2020, I purposely picked a teacher I didn't know. At...

what you think I should do

September 20, 2021

Quick housekeeping note: many of you are experiencing technical difficulties, apparently owing to the fact that some "premium" subscriptions weren't imported...

"not a good fit"

$ · September 17, 2021

One of my friends read my last newsletter and asked me what my mental health crisis had been about. "Or is that information for subscribers only?" Way harsh,...

I miss Twitter/ new business model

September 15, 2021

I had a tiny, seemingly very self-contained petite crise de santé mentale two weekends ago and in its aftermath I decided that the only thing that might help...

Revisiting the Woods (for new paid subscribers)(sorry if you are getting this 2 or 3 times)

$ · September 8, 2021

On October 21st, Gris Tormenta will publish a book version of my essay "Into The Woods," with a new Introduction, translated into Spanish by Isabel Zapata....

Revisiting the Woods (for new paid subscribers)

$ · September 6, 2021

On October 21st, Gris Tormenta will publish a book version of my essay "Into The Woods," with a new Introduction, translated into Spanish by Isabel Zapata....

Revisiting the Woods

$ · September 6, 2021

On October 21st, Gris Tormenta will publish a book version of my essay "Into The Woods," with a new Introduction, translated into Spanish by Isabel Zapata....

Getting through

August 27, 2021

I went to a new pelvic floor physical therapist on Monday and on Tuesday I went to the DMV to get my learner's permit. Just some little treats to spice up my...

My dream life

July 2, 2021

In my dream life, I start every morning with a healthy breakfast and then a quick workout that invigorates my brain and body for the rest of the day. Then,...

two survival recipes

May 4, 2021

Recently best newsletter-er on this cursed internet, Sam Irby, sent out another masterpiece in spite of the fact that she has a horrible diarrhea disease...

Perfect Tunes paperback giveaway

April 13, 2021

Honestly I don't know what's going on with this newsletter, or newsletters in general. I might have made a mistake flouncing away from Substack but all I...