#mostly around baldwin tho

[cultofthepigeon]

i think sarmentis fake crying noises are like "aweh aweh, heem heem"

[ca-suffit]

Sorry this is long. I'm working through the thought as I write this.

There's a post with kinda a lot of notes going around that idk how jokey it is and it's like here's what you need to have read/seen before watching IWTV so you understand the abusive patriach.

And well, I feel like it's part of the pattern of ppl pushing the show's critique of the abuse family structures enable in a way where they won't have to talk about race. How does Revolutionary Girl Utena relate to IWTV? How does Succession? I've never seen Succession, but their cast is almost completely white, which is racial commentary all its own... In Utena neither race nor colorism ever figures into the narrative iirc. I haven't read the Cairo trilogy since uni but I don't remember race factoring into it either??

Like Lestat was the abusive patriach of their family bcuz he's white! His power is gendered bcuz race is gendered (becuz power is gendered and so on). I think the show is in greater dialogue with James Baldwin and bell hooks than Yoji Enokido and Jesse Armstrong! Baldwin outright, didn't Rolin Jones say in an interview once that Giovanni's Room was a direct inspiration?

It just bothers me. The omission of art by Black creators was so striking I felt like someone slapped me. And maybe if then the tone wasn't so condescending and the idea that you have to have read The Oresteia to understand patriarchal violence so classist, maybe I could shrug it off. But you couple both and I'm like damn we squeezed the Greek and the Japanese in but don't mention even one Black person. I'm not saying the OP did it on purpose cuz I don't know the OP, but it felt so so glaring to me the times I've seen the post. Especially ppl sharing it going yeah exactly!! 😐

Lestat As Patriach to me is just more about white supremacy than the cisheteropatriarchy, and how despite Lestat's promises to Louis (be all the beautiful things you are etc) vampirism could not and does not free Louis (+ Claudia) from anti-Blackness. Altho patriarchy and white supremacy are closely related and both relevant to the show, obvs, it just rubs me wrong when one is ignored in favour of the other. And of course it's always the critique of whiteness that ends up ignored 🤔

Why is everyone so scared of mentioning that Louis is Black? Ugh. Sorry. I'd like your thoughts this fandom makes me feel like I'm off my meds. - 🦁

sry it took me a min to get to this, I wanted to track down the post itself for context. I can't find OP's username now but I remember seeing it before and it not being familiar. so idk otherwise what they've said about this post for the tone and intention.

I can say tho that utena and succession have made rounds here in comparison to iwtv from black fans sometimes. but I've also seen this post otherwise criticized before this ask for not having any black references on it. I tried to find that rolin quote about giovanni's room too, cuz I remember it, but idk where it is or what the whole context was anymore.

from being around the tumblr fandom, what I can say about this kind of stuff is that....from the book ppl to show fandom, both sides usually want to "prove" they're rly smart? it's for diff reasons but sometimes the same references. fandom in general keeps moving towards if u can make ur argument about whatever thing sound deep then that means it is and more ppl will support it. there's a lot of constant misuse of social justice and psychological terms as well as connections to art and literature. look how often ppl never talk about anything critically bcuz "it's gothic romance, sweetie" or "stop looking for morality in stories about vampires" (that was anne rice's whole point tho?? but ok lol). it's a lot of words to say nothing.

ppl will basically always jump thru more hoops than is necessary to look smart in ways that ppl have a broad connection to. a lot of black creators aren't well known to ppl in the first place and mostly only prbly by black ppl too, so referencing anything doesn't get u the points that greek "classics" or pop references get. it also depends on the age range of where anything is posted. this fandom tends to be 20s to 40s but with more emphasis on 20s now, prbly, so lots of focus on proving ur worth and intelligence in the world. this post feeds that type of thing. it's kind of a pat on the head that ur engaging with "smart" stuff.

idk if the post *was* meant as a joke or not bcuz this is the kind of stuff the fandom *will* weaponize in defense of white fandom shit in rly racist ways, so. like u said, it's always kind of about all these other things except the most obvious.....which doesn't take much book smarts to see, u just look at the world around u on any given day. but I've noticed ppl tend to avoid topics that hit too close to home, so this is a way to give distance to things too, I think. If it's all fictional then it can't hurt u fr and also u don't have to care about being vocal about anything or doing any work otherwise.

[dillydedalus]

august reading

minus my women in translation month reads, because i’m still working on the last one but want to include it... that wrap-up will come in a few days once i’m done with the last book. 

not all dead white men: classics and misogyny in the digital age, donna zuckerberg classicist donna zuckerberg (facebook dude’s sister!) talks about how the alt-right, pick-up artists, incels etc. use the classics to assert & justify their misogyny and racism & portray themselves as the inheritors/saviours of western civilisation etc. the main examples she looks at are stoicism, ovid’s ars amatoria, and ancient narratives about sexual violence, which were all really interesting, but i feel like this could have been expanded a lot. 3.5/5

magic for liars, sarah gailey fun & cool crime story about a murder at a secret magical school (school nurse cut in half in magical library!), answering the burning question of what would happen if petunia dursley became a somewhat dysfunctional PI & had to solve a magical murder at hogwarts, where lily is a teacher. 3/5

the lie tree, frances hardinge frances hardinge writes the kind of middle grade/YA books i wish i could have read between like 10-14, where the world is spooky and the girls are angry spiteful stubborn resourceful sneaky things. i loved a skinful of shadows and i loved the lie tree, where curious snake girl (not literally it’s not that kind of a book) has to investigate her scandal-hounded natural scientist father’s death by spreading lies on the miserable island he died on and literally feeding them to spooky science-defying tree - and faith is very good at lying, and very angry, and very much willing to drag the whole island down with her. read for spooky trees, fake ghosts, and victorian male natural scientists being dumb and sexist & victorian female (& thus secret) natural scientist being smart & awesome. 4.5/5

the dead ladies project: exiles, expats & ex-countries, jessa crispin i have been at turns in love & really annoyed with crispin’s 2012 essay on william james, berlin & her own mental breakdown (x) since uh..... 2012 - it says some really interesting things about berlin’s capital-i Image as the city for self-destructive broke & weird messes, it’s very quotable, while also being some of the most irritating Anglophone Expat in Berlin Bullshit ever concocted (’we have surprisingly affordable rents’ sure didn’t age well.....) and saying almost nothing about the actual city outside of the Expat Bubble (apparently every single person in berlin is here because they feel like a failure.... YALL SOME PEOPLE JUST LIVE HERE). this book, structured around crispin’s soul-searching trip around europe, with each city being discussed in connection with an artist/writer/artist’s wife/etc who lived there, opens with that essay and i’m still torn. the thing is, crispin is smart & well-read & occasionally capable of some interesting insight & good writing..... she is also at times utterly insufferable, ranting at length about how she despises women who perform learned helplessness & prioritise men over everything else only to turn around & do the same fucking thing over & over, incl. going on endlessly about her torturous affair with a married writer, performing her ‘broke but independent woman traveller’ while uh.... staying at a friend’s luxurious farmhouse in switzerland for free... at one point she says she never felt at home in kansas bc based on her looks people don’t believe she’s really from kansas & constantly ask her where she’s REALLY from because.... y’all.... while she’s a good-looking white woman she has an ANGULAR FACE. sure jan. there is so much cool stuff in here, and i wish crispin had kept some most of the personal stuff out of it. 2/5 

mansfield park, jane austen hmmmm... austen is always good but this feels like it’s maybe the one novel of hers that is most negatively affected by values dissonance in that its morality feels like it’s from an alien culture which considers a private theatre performance to be the very height of impropriety (aka regency england apparently); as a result, fanny, a passive, timid, neglected girl of strong convictions often comes across as a moralistic prig (i will make no excuses for edmund, who’s just a patronising sanctimonious prig outright). there’s a quiet sort of triumph in fanny’s integrity & conviction in the face of a literal campaign of harrassment from everyone in her life including the dude she’s in love with to marry a reforming (maybe) rake & i love her for that, but her triumph in returning to mansfield park elevated in the esteem of everyone there (except aunt norris who is delightfully vile) feels empty considering that these are the same people who previously neglected her. also edmund sucks. 3/5 #justice4marycrawford #mary/fannyOTP #alsoarewegonnatalkabouttheslavery #guessnot

fool’s quest (fitz & the fool #2), robin hobb the first one in this trilogy was pretty much slow-paced set-up and character development... this one is much better: there’s a lot going on & the character development feels much more organic & complex - fitz seems to have come down from Peak Dumbass a bit & i really liked how it developed shun (shine!!!) and lant, who felt really one-dimensionally awful last book. also there are so many moments when the farseer family really comes thru for fitz & i cried literally every single time. so yeah. this one’s great, can’t wait for the next one but i also really don’t want it to be over :/ 4/5

what matters in jane austen, john mullan fun little collection of essays looking at specific details and minutae and their meaning/importance in austen’s work - like, how old are the characters (incl. age differences), how do characters address each other, what do games do they play, what about the servants, etc. don’t expect deep litcrit but it’s fun. 2.5/5

dead mountain: the untold true story of the dyatlov pass incident, donnie eichar hello i’m fred & i am obsessed with mountaineering disasters. the dyatlov pass incident refers to a night in 1959 where 9 russian hikers died in the ural mountains after they left their tent half-dressed without shoes for ~mysterious reasons. it’s pretty creepy & theories about it run from ‘avalanche’ to ‘animal [yeti] attack’ to ‘aliens and/or soviet conspiracy theory’. eichar too is super obsessed w/ this mystery and even went to the ural mountains & the dyatlov pass to investigate, which sadly makes for the least interesting (and possibly the longest) part of this book (the other timelines are the dyatlov group hike & the investigations after their deaths). the ‘59 timelines are both interesting tho & provide a good look into how weird the whole thing is. i enjoyed this, but i wish he had cut the endless chapters of him investigating, which is mostly russians being like ‘idk man aliens/radioactivity/secret govt agents?’ and him hiking around in a lot of snow, neither of which really added to his theory or my enjoyment. 2/5

if beale street could talk, james baldwin baldwin’s prose is staggeringly brilliant as always. this is a story about a young black couple (tish, who is the narrator, and fonny) in the 70s who are planning to move together and marry when fonny is wrongly arrested for rape by a racist cop with a grudge; tish and her family try to get him out, especially once tish realises that she’s pregnant. tish is a great narrator, at the same time kind of naive and soft, and full of world-weary cynicism about white institutions and racism, and her narrative voice at times drifts in and out of other characters’ minds, which i found an interesting effect. as many baldwin’s novels this is full of rage & violence & tenderness & tiny sparks of hope. 4/5

lady susan, jane austen epistolary novella about a 35-year-old lady susan, a scheming, ruthless, not-so-grieving widow, who is trying to get her timid daughter frederica married to a buffoon. while staying with her sweetly clueless brother-in-law vernon and trying to win over his much more suspicious wife, she makes the wife’s brother reginald (lol) fall in love with her. a very different protag and story for austen & while the end can’t quite commit to either punishing susan very much or letting her triumph, it is a lot of fun. 3/5

on a sunbeam, tillie walden this is an absolutely beautiful (the colours!) graphic novel about a spaceship crew (the spaceship is a fish) who fly around & restore old space buildings. it’s also a story about a romance between two young girls at a boarding school (in space) and about found families and deep space and there’s not a single man in this, just women and elliot, who’s nonbinary. lovely, dreamy and completely gorgeous. want me a fish spaceship. 4/5

between birthday books and birthday giftcards i also acquired uh.... 12 new books??? which is INSANE. i’m not committing to a book buying ban but i should probably chill a lil in the next few months. 

[ahdriking]

hey super sorry to bother you- but I saw that post about disliking and not trusting men in positions of power- and now you tagged Harvey weinstein, Aziz Ansari etc and was wondering why you tagged Gary Oldman? what's he done?I'm curious to know as I heard about the others but not him....

LOL SO comparatively there isn’t as huge a deal floatin around about Gazza, and the only reason I included him in the tags was cuz similar to Aziz I’m so fuckin disappointed that a man whose work I admired and enjoyed turns out to be an unrepentant prick, and also cos I found out about the two of them in immediate succession and was EXTREMELY disappointed and wanted to vent (i have removed it now tho, cos it seems to be distracting so many people from the main point of the post about men abusing positions of power, cos i can admit that Gary Oldman’s story doesn’t lend quite as much relevance to the current conversation). 

But, the story itself follows: basically good old Gary Oldman beat on his wife with a PHONE back in the early 2000’s, tho he wasn’t found guilty. In their divorce battle it came out that both of them had extensive history of drug abuse and the like, and his wife did admit to having used again, and there was talk of her having an overdose in front of their child, so obviously neither of them are exemplary human beings (or parents) but that doesn’t excuse what he might very likely have done to her. No one deserves to be assaulted by their partner in their home in front of their CHILDREN, no matter how bad a mother that woman was. (Oldman was also awarded sole custody of the kids, just fyi)

On top of that, excluding the imminently relevant to this point Mel ‘the most famous antisemite since Hitler’ Gibson, he’s the leading expert of shoving his foot so far into his mouth u’d think he’d choke, á la the 2014 playboy magazine interview where he defended the ginormous douche bag Gibson racism and anti-semitic comments back in 2006, and Alec Baldwin’s homophobic slander against a paparazzo, on account of his truly authentic straight white man entitlement (and hatred of PC culture :’). He did apologise though, so that’s decent of him. Dunno how genuine it is, but he obviously doesn’t want to have the rep he does for being a generally entitled prick. I suppose, given the fact that he’s a middle aged white actor who’s garnered massive respect among his peers, AND who’s lived through the golden age of male white actor entitlement in hollywood, it’s hardly surprising, even if it can no longer be ignored or excused.

But let’s be real, thats my opinion based on the evidence I’ve seen, and its mostly cos I’m disappointed YET AGAIN in a male star I’d admired. Being a stupid asshole isn’t a crime, and since he’ll likely never be convicted for his alleged assault, you can argue he’s done nothing wrong. Maybe he hasn’t, but I’m still disappointed. And he’s still a massive prick.

[k8eatsphl]

k8eatsla pt 2 & 3: namhau & luu’s, tito’s tacos, wedding food, james beach

damn the second and third day of my l.a. stay was such a blur! also sorry i took like NOOOO PIX lol so this is a boring post for pure documentation. but here’s a map (thx u for inspiration patrick): 

day 2

saturday morning i woke up at 4am cuz was still on east coast time. chilled in bed til 6 then headed out for a run/hike around the baldwin hills park and the ballona creek bike path.

the bed and breakfast i stayed at serves breakfast from 7-9am, so got back to my room at around 8:30 to shower.

breakfast was served in the kitchen on the island. namhau, the wife of the couple that runs the b&b, served fruit salad with strawberries, blueberries, fuji apples, plums, and apricot. to go with the fruit there was yogurt and some granola she made (pumpkin seeds, dried fruit, coconut). also she made all of the dishes that she served in--rly nice little cups and tiny little bowls, and these plates that looked like lily pads. she also gave me some rly dark coffee she made in an aeropress.  really nice!

while i was eating my fruit and yogurt namhau toasted a poppyseed bagel and used one half to make me an avocado toast with pesto, avocado, feta, and walnuts in honey. it was sooo fuckin good! i told her i’d pay like $15 for it in a restaurant lol. the other half of the bagel i got plain and tried each of her three homemade jams: orange marmalade, blackberry jam, and raspberry jam. def the orange marmalade was my favorite.

i stayed at bfast way too long talking to namhau, luu (the husband), and another guest james (production engineer at CAVA GRILL going through a divorce living in arlington va...learned a lot about him). headed out at 11am to walk to my noon massage appointment in west culver city.

after my massage i grabbed tito’s tacos, which is a popular but contentious taco place in culver city. contentious cuz the tacos are like school cafeteria tacos: yellow hard shelled tacos with beef and yellow cheddar and iceberg lettuce. 

i got one beef taco and one beef and bean burrito. every order also comes with a side of chips and salsa. got my box of taco/burrito/chips and a mountain dew (lol dk why i got that, it just slipped out when she asked what i wanted to drink) and sat at a picnic table in the sun. i thought i took a covert pic of my food but turns out i just took a pic of my lap! it’s okay though, the box was not photogenic...just a pile of tortilla chips.

the beef in the taco and the burrito was way diff than i expected it. i did actually like the taco. the beef in the taco was more like the beef in a tamale...like pulled, seasoned beef. almost fluffy. there was a lil too much cheese tho and it kept falling out, but i just let it fall on top of my chips and melt in the sun so i got fake nachos.

bean burrito was insane! it was like...a volcano of hot beans and beef chili. so dangerous and messy to eat! it was not my favorite burrito...i thought i would love it, cuz i love refried beans. but it was just too much.

the chips were a’ight, a bit stale. the salsa was more like gazpacho...felt like the tomatoes they used weren’t ripe so it was kind of a grainy, light, but refreshing, dip.

after titos walked back to the b&b to get ready for the wedding. stopped at copenhagen bakery on the way to pick up some apple strudel because namhau talked about liking it. they didn’t have strudel tho! so just got a couple of danishes.

i got to the wedding too early to be seated (!) so went to the mandrake bar across the street from the venue (smogshoppe) and had an aperol spritz, which was nice.

at the wedding i was still full from tacos! they were handing out hors d’oeuvres from gina’s dad’s restaurant/catering company? looked mostly like flatbreads. i tried one speck one and it was good. u kno, a flatbread. for my dinner i chose the branzino with salsa verde. at the table they also served family-style sides: white asparagus, israeli couscous salad, roasted potatoes, and spaetzle. everything was good! i really enjoyed the fish. 

for dessert they had a dessert buffet with tiny little cannelles, almond tortes, crostatas...very german lookin desserts.

day 3

slept in a bit (til 6!) and showered and packed up my stuff, cuz was gonna be checking out of the b&b at 11. was first to arrive at breakfast and all the food was much the same as the day before. the main diff was instead of avocado toast namhau made sourdough toast with tahini, cucumber, and mint. we also had the pastries i bought from copenhagen bakery.

alex and gina threw a brunch buffet from 11-1:30 so i headed out after breakfast. decided to WALK to santa monica from culver city (mistake) and james (the divorcee) wanted to walk with me cuz he wanted exercise and company. didn’t have the heart to tell him i’m a lone ranger, so was like ‘sure but u kno this is a 7 mile walk’ n he was like ‘sounds good’. we walked and talked for 2 hrs. mostly we talked about how he’s excited to live by himself for the first time, how he picked out his new mattress and furniture, and how he wishes his son (19) wanted to travel around the world. i told him about wwoof and workaway.

at 12:30 we were still walkin and i was like ‘shit if i want to get to alex’s buffet i better call an uber’. so we got a car that dropped james off at venice beach and me off at the restaurant. by the time i got to the restaurant (lunetta all day) most of the food was picked through, but i still got a plate of bacon, potatoes, and some lemon ricotta pancakes.

after brunch we went to alex and gina’s house and hung out and drank sparkling water lol. and a bunch of ppl like chain smoked weed in the backyard. i’ve never seen so much pot consumption. it all felt very l.a. 

at 6 folks were starting to disband to find dinner and i really wanted to see santa monica/venice beach still. so peaced out and took an uber to the boardwalk at venice. at this point was hungry, but none of the restaurants looked good.  i walked back and forth for like an hour or so and was starting to get really hangry. after sunset decided i’d just go to the airport and find something to eat there (which in a none hanger state i know is not a good idea).

at the airport went to james beach, which funnily enough, is a restaurant in venice beach i decided not to go to. i’m sure the food at the venice restaurant would have been better. i got a $21 salmon club sandwich and they were fuckin out of fries!!! so got a side salad and also a ballast point ipa. rly liked the ipa.

when the sandwich came out i was severely disappointed cuz it looked tiny and wimpy. but actually it was really good. the bread was toasted rye and it was super buttery. the salmon was overcooked (hey ho) but the bacon and avocado was rly nice. and the salad was surprisingly good...with grape tomatoes, bleu cheese, and a balsamic vinaigrette. tab was $45 :< :< :< 

at midnight my plane boarded and i landed in philly at 8am this morning. very exhausted from talking to so many ppl and walking ~12 miles a day! glad to be back in philly.

[deli-counter]

Do the evens or the odds or bof.......

im doin the odds papa!!!  thankie!!! (you know the word bof gets me)Is a kiss considered cheating?

Is a kiss considered cheating? Yeah girl If you could have one superpower, what would it be? shapeshifting Tell us some funny drunk story. Never been drunk baby!! One time I got floaty because I drank like three gulps of a mike’s hard lemonade by accident and I immediately started looking up spring onion salad dressing recipes If you had to choose one way to die, what would it be? poison that acts instantly or dying in my sleep Do you like someone? no sadly not anymore :/Do you like your body? not really…I like parts of it If the whole world listened to you right now, what would you say? pay 4 my tuition and let me transfer anywhere I want If you could choose only one food to eat to the rest of your life, what would it be? sandwiches Something you don’t mind spending all your money on? I freak out pending money on anything so idk When was the last time someone told you you were beautiful? genuinely dunno? maybe like a friend did a few weeks ago?Do you keep a journal? yeah but I need to write a lot more often Is farting in front of people irrelevant? what the fuck Are grades in school important? yeah until college then it’s like…just power thru I’m a theatre major. But I’ve always cared a lot about grades What was the last book/movie that really impressed you? dunkirk was p goodDumbest lie you ever told? my dad is alec baldwin and the dude believed it Something you did and you are proud of? playing wendla in spring awakening for a lot of reasons Something you are good at? cooking How are you feeling right now? blah What do you need to be happy? who fucking knows ! !What was the last gift you received? my mom got me some sweet lil soaps when she went on a girls’ trip to the beach!! What was the last concert you went to? I’ve only ever been to one concert and it was the american idol concert the season Carrie Underwood won. I didn’t even want to go Who inspires you? My sister How old were you when you first got high? never been high When was your first kiss? I was a sophomore, 16 years old, on Valentine’s day lol I had my first date ever then Is there something in the past you wish you hadn’t done? got involved with anyone I have been involved with romantically Who are you most comfortable around? my immediate family What kind of books do you read? anything? a lot of creative nonfiction or fiction or fantasy or murdery stuff but probably mostly classic literature What is your favourite flower? belladonnas, japanese cherry blossoms, lilacs, or hydrangeas. OOOH AND CREPE MYRTLE!!!!What kind of people are you attracted to? tall professors, asian fathers, designers with turtle shell glasses, any of these kind of types Is there something you don’t eat? Some food that truly disgusts you? Cottage cheese, tinned tuna, olives, and hard boiled eggs. Something you find romantic? Gentlemanly gestures that are probably old fashioned but have gone out of style and should just be common knowledge? Like flowers or something small, when men ASK to kiss you, dressing up when seeing each other, i like that thoughtful shit!!What are 3 things that irritate you about the same sex? not doing this baby I’m not gonna overgeneralize What are you saving money for? my student loans and Europe Are you actually a good person? Why? I think so but I’ve done shitty stuff and I have flaws but over all I think I’m a good person (cue Heathers opening monologue)Have you ever done anything illegal? nope not that I know of Have you ever made someone feel bad about themselves intentionally? yeah sadly Have you ever cheated on someone? no what the fuck !! I’ve been cheated on thoIs there a blog you visit every day, or almost every day? Tag it! @rossgellerfanclub @circa-1987 @kayleefabulousFavourite TV series? 30 Rock always but I am SO into iZombie rn What was the last book you read? Did it impress you and why? honestly dunno, I mostly read script now How long have you been on Tumblr? maybe 6 years? ew McDonalds or Subway? McDonalds, Subway is pure garbaggio! I have 100 reason why and am very passionate about this Alcohol or drugs? Neither tbh Meaning behind your blog name? I do theatre and I’m pretentious Last time you were insulted? Yesterday lol Perfect date idea? fun restaurant! museum! dessert! What colour are the walls in your room? the pantone shade of green that is color of the year. I called this shit 8 years ago Share your favourite quote. “in that ignorance I had knitted a new sweater, and she was something spectacular.” or “from my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity.” Do you like horror movies? Yes and no, I’m picky and  ridden with fear and anxiety but I’m fascinated with horror culture and usually do like to be scared 

Do you feel lucky or special in a way? idk, not lucky 

[the-fat-brat]

On Some Books And Stuff

I work at a bookstore. For a brief and beautiful moment, I worked at two bookstores.  I have been reading more than I have since before I had a myspace, which is probably still less than some major readers (like my mom who will go to the library two or three times a week and read everything she checks out unless its bad).  I stopped reading books by men a few years ago and have pretty much only read good books since then; this rule has some exceptions, tho whitecishetmen are always rejected from my reading pile no matter how “good” the book is supposed to be. I keep track of what I read, but rarely review or discuss books, so here is a short review of each book I’ve read so far this year (without telling you what any of them are actually about).

 The Icarus Girl, by Helen Oyeyemi: What is Not Yours is Not Yours by Oyeyemi was the best book I read in 2016.  In all honestly I picked this up because someone I had a crush on said they were reading it too.  She writes with a heavy dose of magical realism and this book in particular blurs the line between what is real and what is beyond.  The ending is kind of abrupt, like she got tired of writing this and just wanted to finish it, but then again she was like seventeen when she wrote this and it’s better than anything I wrote when I was seventeen so how mad can I really be?

Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin: Gay, sad, French, what more could you want? (a French dictionary, I really could have used a French dictionary)

Virgin and Other Stories, by April Ayers Lawson: I picked this up because I saw it at the library and the cover is interesting and that’s how you know if a book is good or not, right?  This was ok, but I felt like because my background is neither Christian nor southern, there was some nuance I was missing.  Not mad I read it but probably wouldn’t recommend it to a friend.

Kindred by Octavia Butler: it’s just so fucking sad, like are you kidding me? Sci-fi doesn’t really do it for me, and this didn’t change that, but I get why it’s a cornerstone of American literature.  But also I finished this on the subway and was so affected someone asked me if I was alright.

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin: less than 200 pages and not divided into sections of any kind, this book is wild.  I read it in one sitting because I couldn’t bear to put it down.  The title is not a lie: it reads like fevered hallucinations, and it’s amazing.  Definitely one of my favorite things I’ve read this year so far.

A Separation by Katie Kitamura: I did not like this book. Probably because I don’t care to read about failing marriages, but also because I don’t think the main character changed or learned anything and that the second half was a huge cop out.  But the cover is so tite!

The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story by Edwidge Danticat: I’m not squeamish about death, but I don’t feel like I’m a morbid person either.  This small volume is fascinating; Danticat ruminates on the losses in her life and how she wrote about them (which is precisely the kind of shit I like to read). It made me think but didn’t bum me out too much.  It holds a similar place in my mind as didion’s magical thinking, but I would take this Danticat any day.

The Red Parts by Maggie Nelson: I didn’t know about Maggie nelson until I moved to New York and my mom and I were touring indie bookstores in Brooklyn and I saw Jane on a table of other indie books.  I read it and of course loved it and when a copy of the red parts came into my work I snagged it (along w a copy of the Argonauts which I still haven’t read but I’m gonna ok).  I’m pissed no one told me about nelson earlier—her writing scratches the same itch that didion and Solnit do, writing that is personal and honest and just good to read.

Difficult Women by Roxane Gay: Gay’s latest book of fiction. It didn’t hit me the same way untamed state did, but this collection was like sitting around a bar with a bunch of women talking unflinchingly about the weird shit that has happened to them and been done to them by men.  

I’m Fine But You Appear To Be Sinking by Leyna Krow: a great collection of short stories.  Like Oyeyemi, there is a constant blurring of the lines between real and otherworldly.  All the stories have to do with space and/or ocean animals so if you don’t like squid, you will probably like them or at least tolerate them after reading this.  Definitely one of my favorites of the year so far.

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong: I ate this book up.  It’s so good and well-paced and smart and funny. Perfect subway read.  As soon as I finished it I lent it to a friend who said the same thing.  I picked it up mostly because of the cover and it’s just as good as I hoped it would be. Can’t wait to read Khong’s previous book all about eggs.

The Selfishness of Others, an Essay on the Fear of Narcissism by Kristin Dombek: short, good, interesting.  Equal parts personal essay and scientific inquiry, I learned a lot but felt like the form was a bit mismatched.  Would still recommend—how selfish are millennials???? Will the world ever truly know?

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