Links I'm Loving

Glass phoenix at Missouri Botanical Garden

Many cool books, shows, podcasts, albums and articles have roped me in lately. Here are a few recommendations of things I think you'll enjoy:

• Have you seen the LuLaRich docuseries? It's fascinating, and this interview is the perfect companion piece: What Got Left Out of LuLaRich.
  
  
• Listen (or read) about pop culture picks for this fall including upcoming books, music, shows and movies from the gang at the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast.
  
  
• My new favorite show is Only Murders in the Building. Here's a look at why it's so fab. 

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This novel is complex and breathtaking. It's simply a masterpiece.

It spans two eras, the story interwoven between modern scholars in London researching a peer of sorts who centuries earlier conducted her own forbidden scholarship. The story and the words Rachel Kadish so carefully chose to tell it is beautiful and engrossing.

I can't imagine the amount of work it would take to craft this novel, never mind the writing skills! It required a deep dive into the world of London in the 1660s, as well as the lives of Portuguese Jews who fled The Inquisition to Amsterdam, some of them eventually landing in London. Then a very deep dive into scholarship surrounding both history and philosophy. 

What to Watch September 2021

New fall shows are dropping like leaves, and I'm here to rake 'em up, y'all! The list of shows arriving in September is longer than that giant penis cake Kevin made on Below Deck! (Side note: yes, I discovered Below Deck this summer and am bingeing so hard I actually dream about the show.)

Some highlights on the way include new seasons of Sex Education, What We Do in the Shadows, The Morning Show, and The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. New fare like Scenes from a Marriage, LuLaRich, Foundation and Ultra City Smiths (finally landing on regular AMC after a run on AMC+) are just a taste of what we can look forward to as summer slowly drifts into fall in September. 

The New Kings of Nonfiction

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This collection of nonfiction journalism has a little something for everybody. I call it journalism because the collection's curator, This American Life podcast host Ira Glass, gives it that name. And it is, but that barely contains all that it is. It is reporting, but it's also essays, sort of. Or maybe you'd call it true short stories? Well, it's all of that, and more. 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Matt Haig is a writer who has dealt with depression and finding ways to work through and past it, and the reader gets a sense of that internal struggle in his books. The Midnight Library is basically a tale of reasons why you should keep going, step back from the abyss, move away from the bottle of pills and its promise of eternal night.

It's a simple, lovely tale of exploring roads not taken, what really makes a successful life, why you shouldn't give up on living. At times, it feels a bit too basic and simple. But it works.

If you love talking about books, please follow or friend me on Goodreads. Let's be book buddies!

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jennifer Weiner's writing is warm and welcoming. It pulls you in with an easy embrace and urges you to stay awhile. In the few books I've read by her, I've liked her writing style and her characters. I've liked her, too, from how personable I find her in interviews, to the person I imagine her to be when reading her fiction, to how she seems based on her memoir, Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love, and Writing.

However, in every instance, something falls short for me in her books. It's not her ability to put words down in a way that invites me to continue, because she has that — in the early segment of her stories, at least. It's the way that, always, before the story concludes, aspects of the plot start to feel off balance, not quite making sense or simply not engaging. The tales in the end are ultimately unsatisfying for me. 

What to Watch August 2021

August is shining like a new dime when it comes to good options on streaming and TV! Some big things are dropping, like The Suicide Squad, Cruella (finally included at no additional fee for Disney Plus subscribers), Nine Perfect Strangers (based on the excellent book by Liane Moriarty), and The Chair (starring Sandra Oh, so that's an automatic watch). 

But I'm really revved up for some shows that aren't as well known, like season 2 of the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks on Paramount Plus, season 2 of Five Bedrooms (if you haven't heard of this Peacock show plucked from Australia, give it a go!), and season 2 of the hilarious New Zealand import Wellington Paranormal (S2 is coming to the CW, while S1 can be found on HBO Max). 

Shit, Actually by Lindy West

Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Movie reviews, actually. The most famous being the one about the inexplicably popular Love, Actually. Though as I think of it, I guess the popularity is understandable to a degree, because the film has a lot of famous faces, switches between storylines giving it a fast pace, and shimmers with the semblance of having heart (that it doesn't really have at all if you pay attention). When you peel away the flimsy top layer, the movie really *is* shit, actually! 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Guest List is a real page-turner, pulling the reader along through chapter after chapter laden with foreboding and foreshadowing of something fearful to come.

The chapters swap between characters and time (moving from shortly before the wedding to the wedding night itself), slowly introducing you to the main players and their internal thoughts and motivations. It was a lot of fun, even with several improbable factors. Not the least of which being that someone invested in creating a wedding venue at a site with the inhospitable location and weather of that sinister small island, strewn with bogs that can swallow a person up faster than quicksand in an old Western movie. Besides the risk of weather woes and the possibility of rough waters, you also only have lodging for a few guests on the island itself, which requires the shuttle by boat of drunk guests — in the dark — back to the mainland after a long evening of wild dancing and open bars (not a great proposition even if you don't factor in stormy conditions, but so much worse when the weather rages). It made me think of Castaway 2000, a British reality show set on a remote Scottish island where the frequently rough seas meant you couldn't just hop a boat and leave anytime you wanted, you had to defer to the untamable force of the sea. 

Townie by Neel Patel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Narrator: Alexandra Gray
Runtime: 38 minutes

The short story Townie is shared through the eyes of Bridgette as she wanders through a life and town she's unhappily stuck in. She makes a friend who is everything she herself would like to be. Secrets are shared, and ... well, let's just say you won't see where this one is heading.

It's an OK story, not fantastic, but worth the time it took to listen. It might inspire you to ponder friendship and trust (among other things). It might even be a good conversation starter with a friend or book club, one that would lead down many roads.

If you love talking about books, please follow or friend me on Goodreads. Let's be book buddies!

What to Watch July 2021

July viewing looks pretty decent. Special treats include more Ted Lasso, The Pursuit of Love series based on the Nancy Mitford novel, and the return of Real Housewives of Potomac (where I expect to see the real fireworks erupt!).

As always, I've compiled a list of shows I'd like to see coming soon, and I'm sharing it here along with links to everything coming to streaming services so you can go through and pick your own must-watch viewing. And away we go! 

The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives by Brian Moylan

More than a decade ago, I watched my first Real Housewives show with the launch of the New York cast. Bethenny Frankel had me at "Get off my jock," and whenever she was on, I was glued to the screen.

A lot of years passed where the antics of the housewives held no appeal for me, but during Bethenny's brief return to RHONY I got hooked again. I even started collecting more Housewives shows, like boxes of crap piling up in the basement until it becomes too much and you'd like to ditch it all and feel renewed, but you can't let it go. I'm up to five different cities, and plan on hitting up Hulu to give Orange County a try from the start, too. I just can't quit 'em. 

Killer robots and the best sentence of my week

A cool thing on Twitter is something called #SundaySentence, wherein readers share the best sentence they read all week and tag it for others to enjoy.

I had one that was kinda awesome this week for being funny, rather than the usual sentence that's plucked from the pages and shared due to beautiful construction, lovely imagery, or profound sentiment. My tendency toward anxiety led me not to tag it for #SundaySentence lest someone say it didn't fit the theme of great sentences or was offensive. I didn't want to harsh my mellow this lovely Sunday with any negativity about a funny line. 

I posted the sentence on Twitter, sans hashtag, which of course means none of the other word lovers saw it. I definitely, probably, should've tagged it. Maybe? Seriously, I would've laughed out loud if someone else had. Luckily, I have a blog and can post whatever I want here without fear of anyone but me reading it (hardy har har).

It was from Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West. The book of irreverent yet often on-the-nose movie reviews peeled back the layers of Terminator 2: Judgement Day with a fair and fabulous comment about time-travelling robots and essential details the script should include.

Here, solely for my own enjoyment, is the greatest sentence I read this week:

"Call me old-fashioned, but I think it’s weird not to explain why your robot is Austrian and has a dick."

She's not wrong, y'all. Have a great week, and may you encounter many wonderful sentences on your reading journey!

The Sound Inside by Adam Rapp

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A good audio play is a thing of beauty, and The Sound Inside is simply wonderful, serving up a little Broadway for your ears. That's exactly how I like it — enjoying a high-quality show while keeping my butt at home in frugal comfort.

This recording features the original cast (Mary-Louise Parker and William Hochman), and they deliver a seasoned performance that would've been worth paying for. But free is better, and that's how much this cost with my Audible membership. 

Open Book by Jessica Simpson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The great celebrity dish and candid stories I'd hoped for were not in this book. The dish is drab, the story lifeless and sanitized. It feels very carefully crafted to conceal a lot for a memoir called "Open Book." It's simply not that good.

As someone who isn't a fan of Simpson's, I picked this up on recommendations of many online that this book had great gossip and uncommon candor for a celebrity memoir. This was a load of hooey.

The most dirt you get will be on John Mayer, but it basically confirmed that he's as big a jerk as he seems, and in the end it's not that interesting. It could've been if she'd reflected on what motivated her to keep going back to him, to put her career on hold to follow him around on tour, etc., but her waters don't run deep, y'all. 

What to Watch June 2021

June and its new shows will soon be here! My watch list is a little light this month, but some real gems are among the offerings, like Loki, Workin' Moms Season 5, and Raya and the Last Dragon (which will be coming down off premium pricing and be available to anyone with Disney Plus).

As always, I've compiled a list of shows I'd like to see that will be available soon, and I'm sharing it here along with links to everything coming to streaming services so you can go through and pick your own must-watch viewing. And away we go! 

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book without having paid much attention to the description. I'd heard it was good from several sources, and I liked the title. It's lovely to give in to the allure of a book on first sight.

And it paid off. I don't know what I expected from this book, but it wasn't what I got. It starts off about cops on a beat in New York? That is so not a book I'd normally pick up. Then it's about families in the suburbs? Eh, yeah, I can go with that. But what else was it going for? I had no idea.

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

I loved Writers & Lovers! It expresses the struggles and joys of a writer, as well as the turmoil and wonder in relationships – both with lovers and mothers. It also has moments that reveal the crap women deal with, the things men get away with or refuse to hold each other accountable for. I ended loving both the main character as well as Lily King by the time I finished.

Casey is a young writer struggling to complete her novel. Anyone who's set pen to paper will relate to reaching a point in the process where you can't judge your own work, you're too close, you've read over it too many times and you can't stand it anymore. Do you submit it or light it on fire? The eternal question, the lingering fear. 

What to Watch May 2021

Spring is in the air and lots of new and returning shows are on the airwaves (or wi-fi waves?) Whatever, more good stuff to watch is on the way! Mythic Quest returns for season two (a show we've grown to dearly love at my house), Black Monday is back with season 3, Shrill says farewell with its third and final season, and my favorite housewives are ready to rock in New York.

As always, I've compiled a list of shows I'd like to see that will be available soon, and I'm sharing it here along with links to everything coming to streaming services so you can go through and pick your own must-watch viewing. And away we go!

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Larry McMurtry tells a story like few can. He creates a palpable sense of time and place for his settings, while deftly building characters and plots that feel incredibly real and intricate.

I picked up Lonesome Dove shortly after McMurtry passed away. Fans were expressing their love and feeling of loss for him online, and quite a few mentioned this book as particularly beloved. So I read it. Given that I don't enjoy westerns and I typically would rather read two or three shorter books than one big 'un weighing in at nearly 1,000 pages, the fact that I finished and enjoyed it says a lot about how good this novel is. 

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron’s writing sparkles at times with witty, smart, insightful passages. But Heartburn is like a lawn strewn with divots that trip you up and knock you flat, making you want to call it a day and go on home.

She drops quips throughout the text, always shooting for the funny. And I like funny, I’m a fan of the funny. Ephron manages to fold humor into a fictional book based on her very real split from journalist Carl Bernstein, a decidedly unfunny situation. The story features a main character discovering her husband is cheating at a time when she's got a 2-year-old and is 7 months pregnant. That either comes spilling out of your pen as tragedy, or you take it on the chin and spit it back out wrapped in humor. This works fantastically when done well; some of the best comedy is actually tragedy told with a humorous bent. (Don’t believe me? Watch Muriel’s Wedding and get back to me.) 

French Exit by Patrick deWitt

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Oh, to be youngish and in love–ish.”

The above is my favorite line from the book. It's funny and flip while being something I could honestly imagine someone feeling. It embodies the best of French Exit.

The worst, well, the worst for me was turning the final page and thinking, what the hell did I just read?!

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ain't no party like a late to the party, amiright? Yes, no, maybe? Hey, that could be a book title! Hell, it probably is!

So, I finally read Eat, Pray, Love. Fifteen years after publication, but so what? (People still read Moby Dick and that came out in the 1800s and is boring AF.) I fully admit I only picked it up for a zoom book club (which proceeded to be cancelled the day of the meeting, which is just one of the reasons why you rarely catch me messing with book clubs anymore).

I actually gave this a whirl shortly after it came out and quickly lost interest. The reason why escapes me, but maybe it was early on when our protagonist fell to the bathroom floor and began to pray. At that point I probably wondered if the "pray" part of the title was more key than I first imagined, and if this was going to be heavily religious, which isn't my bag, baby. I may have wondered that back then because I wondered this time around, too. Only this time I plunged onward because it was for a soon-to-be nonexistent book club meeting that I wanted to attend so I don't become a full-on hermit. 

What to Watch April 2021

Spring is finally here! Will I be plotting all the things I'll do outside, or what I'll be watching inside? Haha just kidding, we all know the answer to that. New shows will rain down on us in April, and I'm most looking forward to the comfort viewing that is Younger (in its seventh and final season!). But there's so much more that looks pretty damn good for a wide range of tastes.

As always, I've compiled a list of shows I'd like to see that will be available soon, and I'm sharing it here along with links to everything coming to streaming services so you can go through and pick your own must-watch viewing. 

And away we go! 

Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll by Ann & Nancy Wilson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Heart, at its height, was a kick-ass band fronted by two talented sisters, the queens of rock. The book they wrote together doesn't rock as hard as they do, instead offering a limp look back at their lives. Fans will find a little something here to make it worth the read, but newcomers to the world of Heart won't find much to keep them turning those pages.

Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll tells the tale of Ann and Nancy Wilson from the beginning – the very beginning. As in, going back to long dead ancestors, then recounting how their parents met, their own births and childhoods, etc., before getting to the meat of their musical journey. They make a weak attempt at employing the popular method of starting with a smashing story to pull you in and then going back to tell things chronologically, but even the prologue isn't all that thrilling. 

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It feels weird to call this a fun book when it's about a serial killer, but it kind of is. The tale of two sisters, one blithely homicidal, the other dutifully trying to protect the other, is a fresh take on both the experience of being a woman in the world and dealing with a difficult sibling that you love in spite of it all.

My Sister, the Serial Killer is not really a laugh-out-loud type of story, but there's a bit of wit to the telling of it. There's just enough depth to glean an understanding of the two sisters and their motivations, but it's not trying to delve deep into plot or motivation. It gives enough to make it a good read (or listen, in my case).

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

On the surface, this is a tale of a young woman who's had some hard knocks and her friend who got all the gifts of wealth, privilege and beauty. And also it's about some kids that burst into flames when upset. Nothing to see here, move along. Wink, wink.

It's different, witty, and off-beat. It's also a sly examination of what parenting must feel like, about what even making the decision to become a parent might be like. Good and bad, welcome and unwelcome, all at the same time. A huge change in your life either way. I don't know if that's what you're supposed to see here, but I think so. It's what I saw, anyway.

What to Watch March 2021

The world's still a huge mess, there's not enough vaccine, I'm spending my days hunting for shots for family members and dealing with other needs of elderly relatives amid a pandemic. The rough ride isn't over yet. One thing we look forward to at my house each night is setting the worries aside briefly to watch a little TV. On that front March is looking up, preparing to bloom with shows, documentaries and movies (some of which are big-budget blockbusters premiering on HBO Max!).

As always, I've compiled a list of shows I'd like to see that will be available soon, and I'm sharing it here along with links to everything coming to streaming services so you can go through and pick your own must-watch viewing. 

And away we go!

Lowborn by Kerry Hudson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"I was a private investigator, digging my way through my own deeply buried secrets, both desperate for answers and fighting to keep them hidden."

Growing up in poverty can leave lingering effects for the rest of your life. Author Kerry Hudson writes about surviving her impoverished childhood spent in public housing throughout a series of downtrodden towns in Great Britain in her insightful book, Lowborn: Growing Up, Getting Away and Returning to Britain's Poorest Towns.

She couldn't remember a lot about her young childhood, and had long-since broken contact with her mother. The erratic lifestyle and desperate poverty of Hudson's existence with her single mom left scars that lingered as Hudson, in her late 30s, decided to finally investigate her own past and put it down on paper. 

My Life So Far by Jane Fonda

I can't remember the first Jane Fonda movie I ever saw. Perhaps it was Barbarella when I was way too young to take in all the sexual overtones, and I simply thought it was a fun sci-fi adventure (and that she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen). Also, that the biting dolls freaked me out.

Or maybe it was Barefoot in the Park, which bubbled with chemistry and charm so strong it almost sizzled off the TV screen. Jane Fonda and Robert Redford made a fizzy, fantastic pairing, and I couldn't resist watching whenever it came on.

Stonk stink made me think about investing

I finally find the stock market compelling, and all it took was a revolt against Wall Street.

Mentions of a tremor in the stock market pierced my Twitter feed here and there in late January, but I paid little mind. I understand the stock market about as much as I understand the appeal of heist movies – both baffle things me, but at least with the films I can follow the action and once in a blue moon enjoy it. I couldn't say the same of the stock market.

Then a Facebook friend shared a post explaining what the hell was going on with GameStop stock and the Reddit group wallstreetbets. (This post on Tales from the Geek gives an easy-to-follow rundown of what a short is and how Redditors took action when someone noticed that a hedge fund had dived deep into short trades against GameStop, making the stock ripe for a short squeeze, also explaining what the hell a short squeeze is.)

What to Watch February 2021

Ah, February is upon us, and the world is full of woe. But wait, what's that, does hope begin to grow? Who's to say, after all, I'm just here with the shows.

As always, I've compiled a list of shows I'd like to see that come to streaming soon, and I'm sharing it here along with links to everything coming to streaming services so you can go through and pick your own must-watch shows. 

And away we go!

Revisiting Sharky's Machine

Ever harbor fond memories of a film you saw as a kid, then watch it again as an adult? Do that at your own peril, pal. Turns out you really can’t go home again, so to speak, but you might have fun trying.

Awhile back my husband and I sat down to watch Sharky’s Machine, a 1981 gritty crime thriller starring and directed by Burt Reynolds. We both originally watched it when we were too young to fully get it, possibly on HBO or cable. We couldn’t recall the where of it, only that we remembered Sharky as a badass with a cool name.

On our adult viewing, it looked a bit different. It’s hard to define – it wasn't good but not entirely bad, either; you could tell it was trying for something, a style, a mood, an artsy feel. As my husband put it afterwards, “I wouldn’t exactly call it good; it’s ambitious. It’s bizarre and trippy and very ’70s.” (Even though it came out in 1981, the lingering mist of the '70s was very much alive, especially in this film.)

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

This book is a wonder. It takes topics that normally wouldn't grab me (an old former soldier travelling around the Old West, a tragic tale of an orphan that sounds way too sad for me) and it snares me, hook, line and sinker. 

News of the World by Paulette Jiles introduces us to Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd as he makes his way through Texas post Civil War, making a living giving readings from a stack of newspapers to audiences seeking a window on the world. The old man has fought in two wars and lost a wife, and now enjoys his rambling life on the road. When he's asked to deliver a young orphan who had been captured and raised by members of the Kiowa tribe to her only living relatives, he reluctantly agrees. The heart, understanding and courage he displays on the perilous journey is matched by the young girl's bravery and tenacity in the face of being torn from the only family she remembers – her Kiowa family.

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel has a lot going on, a lot of different threads. There's a Ponzi scheme, ghosts, and moral dilemmas aplenty. It was a lot; at moments a little too much, but it somehow never quite went overboard for me.

Thanks to the dumpster fire that was 2020, my attention span for reading dimmed as the year wore on. I turned to short stories (and found many great ones), and still managed to get in several novels or full-length nonfiction books. But they seemed to take so long to get through! I didn't fly through this one at top speed, but I finished in less than two weeks, which was pretty damn good given my difficulty staying focused by the end of the year.

Slow Burner by Laura Lippman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't read a lot of mysteries, but this was kind of fun. 

In Slow Burner by Laura Lippman, a woman finds her husband's secret burner phone with flirty text messages to another woman. Whatever will she do?