read with me: september 2024
Hi everyone,
It has been way too long because my life has been chaotic! We moved (RIP communal living), I started a few new work projects, I fled a raging wildfire in Canada, and I’ve been taking a course on public health and the climate crisis that has taken up my time. I’ve also found my ability to sit down and focus on reading has dwindled as political news sucks up my brain space — anyone else? I have managed to sneak in a few good books, so here are the highlights from the last few months.
As always, let me know what you’re reading, watching, enjoying and listening to!
Lots of love,
Julia
BOOKS
Doppelganger
Naomi Klein is one of my idols. She is an intrepid journalist who was on the forefront of covering climate change (this was an excellent piece on wildfires in California if you want a better sense of her writing). Doppelganger is slightly different from her typical reporting, but I found it to be one of the most insightful accounts of the upside down universe we are living in. After being repeatedly confused for the liberal intellectual-turned-radical-right-winger Naomi Wolf, Klein became interested in what makes people fall down into the rabbit hole of internet radicalization, fake news, vaccine denial, and conspiracy theory. The book starts off slowly and to be honest, I found the first sixty pages to be kind of insufferable, but once I got through the backstory, I found myself underlining so many passages. It will leave you with a lot to chew on.
Meeting in Positano
I know we’re creeping up on the end of summer and summer reads, but this book is bursting with sunshine and romance and escape. Originally written in Italian, the English translation captures the glittering Amalfi coast in the 1950s. Leisurely ocean swims off a sailboat? A coastal mansion with a fabulous art collection? Tortured love? Say less. It has hints of My Brilliant Friend in that it’s about the dark underbelly of codependent friendship and post-war politics in Italy.
We All Want Impossible Things
If you’re looking for a book that will make you cry and laugh at the same time, this is the one. I usually don’t like books about cancer, nevermind ones that take place in a hospice facility, but there’s something about Newman’s storytelling and depiction of friendship and care that I found completely touching.
All Fours
You’ve probably seen this book floating around “best of 2024” lists and for good reason. Miranda July is such a freaky and innovative and unique writer and All Fours brilliantly captures the malaise of mid-life and the desire for something, anything new to happen. I won’t say more because this is a “just trust me” recommendation. After you’ve finished reading, check out this great profile of July.
The Flamethrowers
This novel provides a master class in character development, and Kushner deftly captures the experience of the often embarrassing experience of falling in love. The Flamethrowers somehow weaves motorcycle racing, the art world in 1970s New York, and radical Italian politics into a perfect coming of age story. This was a slow burn that I absolutely loved.
READS:
In the Shadow of Silicon Valley
The Last Almond
The Melting Earth
MY MONTHS WERE BETTER BECAUSE:
On children, meaning, media and psychedelics, the fourth season of true detective, hirmoi, the runaway princesses, learning tarot, decorating my new house with plants and smiling every time I see my perfect cold picnic rug, get on your knees, binge listening to poog, zaatar chicken with yogurt, sweet potato shepherd’s pie, roasted eggplant, loaded mac n cheese with fried jalapeños and green onions and parmesan cheese, julian pie, volunteering at esalen and being gob smacked by the beauty of the California coast, writing a report on landfill methane for a client and learning more about why food waste is terrible for climate change, surviving the seven sisters (barely), lists, line dancing, for my bay area friends: day moon bakery, discovering the magic of RT Rotisserie, firefly, supper at philo farm