can we start the weekend early?
h e l l o t h e o
this week’s style inspo:
Peggy Guggenheim in Venice
what I’m clicking:
Who is She? A guessing game in Union Square Park | This is why I still say “you guys” when I’m addressing a group of people (I can’t bring myself to say “folks” or “y’all”) | All your friends are deleting facebook | What a grieving orca tells us about how animals experience death | Vacation dressing in the instagram age | How outdoors influencers are ruining the environment | The gendered world of haircuts | What it’s like to be black and work in fashion
what I’m wanderlusting:
This defunct resort in Bermuda
what I’m listening to:
what I’m coveting:
what I’m writing about:
10 Beauty Products You Should Never Travel Without
what I’m watching:
I finally watched both seasons of Queer Eye and oh my god I loved it so, so much. Every episode made me laugh or cry or both. It’s the most heartwarming television ever made.
Meghan MacLean Weir
Oh my god. I am shocked and appalled that more people aren’t talking about this book, which is a nearly perfect (albeit slightly contrived) piece of commercial fiction. It is instantly absorbing and absolutely riveting. It’s one of those books that you stay up late to finish, because you’ve fallen in love with the characters and you can’t sleep until you find out what happens.
I’ve never read a book with topics that are so quintessentially American: it’s about the Kardashians, Christofacism, cronyism, the Me Too movement, the decline of the middle class, religious colonialism, white privilege, Cliven Bundy and his ragtag band of so-called anarchists, gay conversion therapy, abortion rights! There are so many things about this book that can make a person feel physically ill just by reading the words. But at its core, this book is really about the good people in the world, and how maybe there are more of them than we think.
Did it make me cry: Yup.
Did it make me laugh: It’s sometimes funny!
Did it make me miss a subway stop: No but I read it in one sitting.
Would I recommend it: Yes. (but I have to tell you that it’s basically YA).
Would I read it again: No.
Would it be a good movie: I’m rooting for an HBO miniseries for this one.
Jesmyn Ward
The upsetting thing about this book is that there are so many times when you want to step in and save the characters from themselves or from each other. It’s hard to read because you’re internally screaming “no, don’t do it” but you keep reading because you have to know what happens and make sure they're ok in the end.
Did it make me cry: No, but it’s pretty devastating.
Did it make me laugh: No.
Did it make me miss a subway stop: No.
Would I recommend it: Yes, but I liked Salvage the Bones (probably one of my top 25 favorite books of all-time) way better.
Would I read it again: No, too scary.
Would it be a good movie: No, too scary.
Tara Isabella Burton
This book was everything I wanted it to be, nothing more and nothing less. It’s sort of like a Brett Easton Ellis book: a compulsively readable story filled with compulsively hateable characters. Read it now, because it won’t age well.
Did it make me cry: No.
Did it make me laugh: No.
Did it make me miss a subway stop: No, but I read it in one day.
Would I recommend it: If you’re a fan of Party Monster, you’ll like this book.
Would I read it again: No.
Would it be a good movie: Possibly, but you’d have to cast the main character SO well. It would be the role of a lifetime for somebody.
what I’m bookclubbing:. We’ll be discussing My Year of Rest and Relaxation September 18! Email me if you want to join.
the best book I read in…
August: Sing, Unburied, Sing or The Book of Essie
July: Black Chalk
June: An American Marriage
May: The Perfect Nanny
April: Conversations with Friends
March: History of Wolves
February: Homesick for Another World
January: Anthropology of an American Girl