Hi Bestie!!

Two summers ago, I published a low-key, low-stakes summer reading list, modeled after the reading lists of our youth and available at local and national libraries. (Specifically, BPL, LAPL, FCPL, and FCPS.) 

I put so many books on hold that my Kindle wouldn't hold them all. (I have this problem again this year.) I don't think any of you read any of that year's titles (which is fine, we're all adults with lives and jobs). I re-read Wonderstruck at one of the Coney Island Pop-Up Markets.

That year, I tried to pick novels that weren't too stressful, though The Golden Compass features a polar bear fight. (The armored bear fight in His Dark Materials on HBOMax isn't intense enough. It's the second-most disappointing part of season one, following Lin-Manuel Miranda's portrayal of Lee Scoresby. This is the consequence of trying to make a show like Game of Thrones that also appeals to the whole family.)

Why haven't you read His Dark Materials? I want to know what your daemon is! Mine is a wolf. Possibly a seawolf. She's definitely grey and red. Could be a peregrine falcon, though, or even a seagull. The thing about His Dark Materials is that it scratches the Harry Potter itch in that it stars a youth going against morally reprehensible adults and impossible odds, but features a smart girl instead of a dim stand-in for Jesus, and isn't written by someone who should just shut the fuck up already. While J.K. Rowling is actively fighting against the interests of women and LGBTQ+ people (I should not have to explain this to you, but there is no crime in ignorance, so reply and I can send you some reading material, gentle reader), and causing active harm. People have died because of her. 

Did you grow up in a repression offset of Christianity that forbade you from enjoying Philip Pullman? Don't you want to stick it to the man and see what the fuss is all about? (The fuss is independent thinking and criticism of authority.) 

No one has died because of Philip Pullman. He is actively working against her while promoting literacy and doing the right thing — because it is the right thing to do, not because there is a heavenly reward.

I believe our "heavenly reward" is now. It's in a beautiful sunset. It's in the breeze on an afternoon lunch hour walk. It's the way the old man at the bodega consistently calls me "young lady" as his acknowledgment that I have been kind and polite, even after all these years. Life is the reason! 

Your heaven looks different than mine. Not one of you wants to sit on a metal bench on a Wednesday afternoon in Bradenton, Florida, while holding an ice-cold Cool Blue Gatorade in one hand and a giant can of IC Light in the other — but I do. The sky was both black and blue, and the sun's rays glimmered through layers of clouds like beams from a prism. When Ozuna hit the hell out of the ball, it was a thunderous crack, followed by a startling roar from the crowd. The sun was angled just so, and my shoulders were lightly sunburned, and for 20 minutes I thought of nothing except unrestrained, unrepentant joy. I haven't had white noise that long before or since. 

Anyway, we're back to Philip Pullman again, you're welcome. You're going to love La Belle Sauvage, and do you know why? Because you hate Nazis. We have a heat wave headed our way, so this week is a great chance to download a title on your Kindle, crack open a beer, and sit in front of the A/C after your workday ends. 

The 2026 TLTO Summer Reading Challenge

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut

Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (or anything else of his, if you've read it already)

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson (samesies)

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

The Reservation by Rebecca Kauffman

Anything by

James Baldwin

Toni Morrison

Carryovers from 2024:

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (HALF OF IT IS ILLUSTRATED)

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Call Me Barbra, by Barbra Streisand (AUDIO BOOK PREFERRED)

A fun little coincidence is that the cinematic adaptations for Wonderstruck (directed by Todd Haynes) and Killers of the Flower Moon (directed by Martin Scorsese) are very good.

Grann and Larson both write about tragic historical events (hurricanes, the sinking of RMS Lusitania, the extermination of a whole ass tribe) and hubris, which appeal to me immensely.

ONE MORE THING

If you're enjoying watching people come together, the way the city did for The Knicks, and the way countries are for The World Cup, then High Maintenance is for you. The show initially aired as a web series on Vimeo before moving to HBO in 2016; you can watch both versions through HBO. It ended in 2020; I really wanted to see The Guy navigate Brooklyn in 2020 and after, especially as the city became besieged by gray-market weed stores. 

The show is mostly a series of vignettes about New Yorkers, loosely connected through The Guy. Most episodes are hopeful, though a few are serious. It's hot out; go feel good about the world.

DRIBS AND DRABS

David Grann also wrote “Trial By Fire” for The New Yorker in 2009, which changed my mind about the death penalty (I am wholly against it). 

I've read about 20 books this year. Last week finished The Reservation, which I loved. I read Yesteryear a few months ago, and I am the only person who liked it, apparently. I think if you read Yesteryear, you have to read Kindred by Octavia Butler. (LaVonne is exempt from this declaration.) I was ready for this summer's version of The Guest by Emma Cline. If you want a juicy, stressful read, Yesteryear will suffice. If you want to be quietly heartbroken with juicy gossip, you'll be satisfied with The Reservation. (It' not as sad as Pachinko, and it's hopeful!)

Speaking of Lusitania, Fairweather announced Friday that it will play the album in DC this August. The 2003 album is one of my favorites. This was about two hours after American Football announced a second, smaller show two days before the one I have tickets to, so in spite of having barely survived two Jimmy Eat World shows in June, I will have the privilege of seeing American Football twice next week. Please play to your god for me, I am only allowed one activity per week, and I have a very, very, long day in the middle. (Like, 17 hours long.) 

I would not normally see Jimmy Eat World twice in one week, but The Get Up Kids (and Hey Mercedes) opened one night, and Girls vs. Boys (and Thrice) opened the second night. I loved Girls vs. Boys and never thought I'd see them perform. But I also wasn't about to miss The Get Up Kids. A bunch of parents brought their teens to that show (and curiously, not to Pier 17), and I watched a few kids hear, and fall in love with, The Get Up Kids. I hope they liked Hey Mercedes, because our friend from college is right: Bob Nanna is very, very cool. I'm seeing Broken Social Scene this summer, too! 

I've managed to get a Coney Island Polar Bear Club Night with the Cyclones. Please come hang with me September 4 in Coney Island! (And use THIS LINK.) If you come, you get a free hat, and you might get to see me in the hot dog race. A portion of the ticket will be donated to the Coney Island community.

The Mermaid Parade was a few weeks ago! I made my costume. I wore silver disco shorts (with pockets); I sewed white bear beads and snowflakes to the edge of the pockets. I made a headband, beaded a pair of sunglasses, and then, a week before the parade, I furtively attached shells, beads, and streamers to a fishnet top. Besties, I looked great. (I also got a haircut and a pedicure, and I have had nary a compliment.) I have since removed the streamers, washed the top, washed and dried the streamers, and will redo the whole thing next year. The knots weren't secure, but there wasn't enough time to sew the streamers. Now, though, I have almost a year to finish it.

Always your friend,

Katherine

"Bob Nanna (@heybobnanna)." @heybobnanna, Instagram, www.instagram.com/heybobnanna/. Accessed 29 June 2026.

"A City of Strangers with One Connection: High Maintenance: Official Trailer (HBO)." YouTube, HBO, www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjq1KotC_1E. Accessed 29 June 2026.

"Coney Island Polar Bear Club." Gofevo, The Brooklyn Cyclones, www.gofevo.com/event2/. Accessed 29 June 2026.

Grann, David. "Trial by Fire ." The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 7 Sept. 2009, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/09/07/trial-by-fire.

Hill, Katherine M. "The TLTO Summer Reading Challenge." Too Loud and Too Old, Buttonown, 4 June 2024, buttondown.com/KatherineMHill/archive/the-tlto-summer-reading-challenge/.

"Life Is Reason Scene — Project Hail Mary (2026)." YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeKFto-WBYk. Accessed 29 June 2026.

“Lyra Witnesses Brutal Polar Bear Fight! | His Dark Materials — BBC.” YouTube, BBC, www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3eF0tGWzT4. Accessed 29 June 2026.