read with me: january 2025
Hi friends,
Here I find myself again: doing my silly routines and my silly little rituals as we plunge headfirst into spiraling disaster after spiraling disaster. I deleted Instagram. I feel a compulsion to redownload it and I remind myself of Ann Helen’s wise words: “After years of people yelling at me in books, think pieces, and tweets (lol) to ‘break up with my phone,’ ‘delete your social media accounts,’ and ‘fuck Mark Zuckerberg,’ turns out the thing that I needed was a whole conglomeration of quiet arguments and technological shifts that made my phone and the social media accounts on it feel less precious. Put differently, I haven’t come to value it less; instead, it’s become less valuable.”
I’m starting to feel this shift too, and it probably helps that I’m now locked out of my account and can’t get back in. In addition to these platforms being run by abhorrent and terrible men with no ethics, they also just kind of suck and are starting to take more from me than they’re giving.
Alright, enough of that. Here’s what I’m reading and enjoying.
BOOKS
The Night Circus
This is not my usual genre, but it had been sitting on my shelf for years and I picked it up in an effort to transport myself out of doom scrolling and climate apocalypse news. It’s an escapist romantasy book about a magical traveling circus and a decades-long duel between two magicians turned lovers. Enough said.
This Strange Eventful History
I loved Claire Messud’s incredible novel The Emperor's Children, which is about New York City in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, so I was thrilled to see she was publishing another book. This is an autobiographical multigenerational family saga that starts in Algeria in 1940 and spans seven decades. It’s a slow burn, but I became attached to the characters and loved the shifting perspectives. I also learned a ton about French colonialism in Algeria and the Algerian independence movement in the 60s.
Small Things Like These
A stirring novel where every word feels intentional. It’s a beautiful portrayal of a man taking the path of courage and bravery when looking away is easier. It felt especially pertinent during this perilous moment and made me question what I am willing to risk for the safety of others.
God of the Woods
This is the most gripping thriller I’ve read in years. I was scrolling through Goodreads after I finished it and saw that some thought it dragged on because it was too focused on character development. I couldn’t disagree more! I absolutely loved how literary and character driven it was, and I found it completely propulsive and captivating. If you’re in a reading slump and are looking for something that will keep you engaged, this is the perfect novel.
Life and Death of the American Worker
This is an incredible look at the the undocumented workers powering the poultry industry in Arkansas. Driver depicts the absolutely abysmal conditions so many of these workers experienced during the height of COVID and shares harrowing stories about the retaliatory and fear tactics mega corporations used and continue to use to scare employees into submission.
READS
Abolish fossil fuels
The Philosopher L. A. Paul Wants Us to Think About Ourselves
Ozempic Could Crush the Junk Food Industry
Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Novelist Steal Another Writer’s Story?
MY MONTHS WERE BETTER BECAUSE
three sister’s apothecary meyer body butter, spicy corn soup, listening to dinah washington and khan jamal, annie’s toum, my perfect coworking space, madson wine, miso glazed eggplant, listening to ina garten’s memoir, playing wingspan and wavelength, anna leovy art, shiloh tea in LA, eating street quesadillas in boyle heights, jumping in the frigid pacific ocean, lemon orzo soup, small actions mean nothing, chicken tinga arepas, finally watching the sopranos (!!!), daughters documentary which made me cry from start to finish, seeing oh mary, training to work on a crisis hotline in san francisco, visiting the met cloisters, having a routine, being awe-struck visiting tikal in Guatemala, matcha white chocolate cookies, making latkes, jungian psychology. For my bay area friends: good bones, mandalay, running in the presidio (sans the poison oak that ruined me for weeks), doing a wine class at heirloom, tacos oscar, hill sprints on strawberry hill (thanks anna <3)
How are you doing? What are you reading? How are you coping? What little actions are you taking to say fuck these evil people? Are you also trying to quit social media? Tell me your tips.
Sending love,
Julia