read with me: november 2019
read with me!
books
There There, Tommy Orange
I recently joined a book club (gasp) and this was the first book we read as a group. I’ve never been in a casual adult reading group and reading is a quiet solitary joy in my life, but it was refreshing to hear how different people read and interpreted this crushing novel. The book, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2018, is made up of short vignettes that tell the intersecting stories of native people living in Oakland.
The Two Kinds of Decay, Sarah Manguoso
Every word in this slim memoir is intentional and cutting. Sarah Manguoso, who is also a poet, survived and suffered through most of her young adulthood with a debilitating and unpredictable illness that would often leave her numb and partially paralyzed. Written years after healing, the book recounts her physical suffering, mental anguish and struggles with addiction. It is a stunning exploration of how we experience and remember physical pain.
Written on the Body, Jeanette Winterson
This novel is perfect (and short!) Winterson writes the most hypnotic and vivid sentences like this one: “Burst figs are the livid purple of your skin.” I’ll leave you with that.
The First Bad Man Miranda July
I saw this on so many "favorite books" lists (Phoebe Waller-Bridge just mentioned it as one of her favorites in her By The Book interview with the NYT) before I finally picked it up and, wow. What a bizarre, addicting, creepy, and hilarious novel. Miranda July, who also happens to be a prolific visual artist and screenwriter (ugh), said in an interview that she wanted the book to read like a thriller and I can confirm it’s nearly impossible to put down. It reminded me a bit of Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation with a cast of characters that felt like caricatures of real people in their callousness, cruelty and grotesque behavior. Definitely not for everyone, but I loved it.
other reading i've enjoyed
How Natural Wine became a symbol of Virtuous Consumption
“As conventional people start marketing their wines as natural, the people really making natural wines will stop using the word. It’ll be just wine.”
Why the New Instagram It Girl Spends All Her Time Alone
“‘These images, absent of friends, invite the idea of internet friends, and attention, and therefore 'traction as a brand,’ as Stagg puts it. There are big-deal women on Instagram who will tell you they don’t post photos with their boyfriends because it shatters someone’s fantasy, which is terrible for their metrics.”
Astrology in the Age of Uncertainty
“At mid-century, you might have heard talk of id, ego, or superego at a party; now it’s common to hear someone explain herself by way of sun, moon, and rising sign.”
“I never imagined that the people whose writing I admired might sometimes have messy homes, eat frozen pizza for dinner. Instead, I envied them their efficiency and their Cuisinarts.“
my month was better because
all of the delicious food and drinks places my friends took me to while i was in new york (i love you friends): llama inn, kiki’s, misi, prince street pizza, misi, wildair.
freund things jewelry,
pome,
curate yourself clean,
david byrne musical,
cooking this breakfast mezze spread,
reem’s,
song tea and ceramics tea tasting and tea.
venturing to alameda breweries and distilleries via the ferry, which is my new favorite way to travel. The st. george distillery tasting, which had some of the weirdest liquors I’ve ever drunk, like Green Chile vodka and pear brandy, was my favorite.
persimmon season & persimmon latkes
the sunday soother,
replacing my beer with cider,
al’s deli,
this interrogation of art and aesthetics.
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