What Are You Reading? (And Is It ACOTAR)
Plus fat art, the "Marry Him" essay, and this is now a Cowboy Carter appreciation society.
Full disclosure: I’m one of the few millennial women (on the planet maybe?) who has NOT read A Court Of Thorn And Roses. Amy just read it and is obsessed. AHP just read it and did a pod about it. And someone (usually several of you!) always shouts it out whenever we do book-based Friday Threads.
Why am I avoiding it? Especially when I would normally be here for an immersive reading experience, especially one which I loosely understand to contain feminist themes (a strong heroine who leaves behind shitty men to rule the world or something?). I don’t know. I’m starting to feel about ACOTAR the way I feel about Pulp Fiction, which I also never got around to seeing because everybody kept telling me I should.
Plus, my understanding is that there is no fat rep whatsoever. (Besides these adorable Comic-Con fans pictured above.) Do I really want to commit to reading almost 3,000 pages about a bunch of skinny faeries hooking up?
You can come at me in the comments on either of these fronts!
But I have read some very, very good books recently, so here you go:
The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza
This book is everywhere this week, as it should be!! It’s got a murder mystery, it’s got a messy divorced mom figuring shit out, it’s got gorgeous food writing, it’s got sex in a beach cave, it’s got generations of women showing up for each other under patriarchy. No faeries but one dragon! (I talked more about my love for this one here, and here’s Jo on the podcast, talking about why we need more books where women eat food.)
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Atmospheric, intense, hard to put down. Definitely veers into horror and gets a little gory, but I am a Giant Baby and I managed it (I think because I do better with scary magic than scary real life stuff). Not 3,000 pages and no faeries, but I could see ACOTAR fans loving the magical realism and straight-up creepiness of this one. Also Jane Eyre fans who now have complicated feelings about that (raises hand).
Ambition Monster by Jennifer Romolini
This is a preorder, sorry, but order it now and June You will thank me! Especially if you can relate to themes of workaholism, perfectionism, toxic workplaces, and the classism and utter dysfunction rife in 2000s media culture. I have no ACOTAR hook here, but Jenn is a phenomenal, brutally honest writer and this is a memoir I keep thinking about.
Your turn! What are you reading and loving right now?
This can obviously include audiobooks and even non-books (any great articles or new favorite newsletter writers to shout out?). Let’s put book titles IN ALL CAPS — an old publishing biz trick that makes for much easier scrolling. (Don’t put your emotions about ACOTAR in all caps—trust me, I already understand this is a series that conjures that level of fervor.)
And feel free to request a book rec, because let me tell you one thing about Burnt Toasties: We will have a book for that.
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Friday Links & Recs
I’ve talked about Taynee Tinsley art before but this new print may have my heart. Also, this one.
How to define your style.
What Julia Turshen is eating for breakfast right now.
Tracy Clark-Flory on the “marry him” essay.
Am mostly retired as a Jeans Scientist, but Sara Petersen asked me for a peer review of her research.
The exhaustion of white men explaining privilege.
An excellent divas zine in honor of Beyonce’s latest brilliance. (Paid but worth it!)
Adrenal fatigue is not real. (But your symptoms are!)
Do you need a robot vacuum? Laura Fenton always challenges me to think more sustainably about consumerism, so I’m betting a lot of you who did not love Tuesday’s essay will be into this!
Why meal planning is so un-fun if you love cooking and how to get the joy back.
On writing about your kids. Love this, Amanda Montei!
Had a lovely chat with Leslie Price of Gloria about (among other things) why more of us don’t break up with dieting:
It's hard to see the cage from the inside, and it's terrifying to think about what's on the other side of the cage. And with dieting, if you give up on that belief of, I will finally get thin, if you are okay with the fact that that won't happen, what's on the other side of all of this are some very liberated, free, happy women who are wearing our comfy pants and doing great, but you don't see that. You don't see those women, you don't see me.
PS. I didn’t share the Washington Post story about Big Food and anti-diet dietitians here because yes, I am writing about it. (Sooo many of you have asked!) So sit tight! Or go ahead and share your responses to the piece in these comments, it will help me organize my own thinking as I write today.
I am currently reading CRYING IN H MART, a memoir about a woman caring for her Korean mom who has cancer. This came right after A LIVING REMEDY, also a memoir from the perspective of a woman whose mom who has cancer). What can I say, I am doing lots of elder care lately and these books are helping me somehow? I also recommend ALL THIRTEEN, a young adult narrative nonfiction book about the incredible rescue of the Thai soccer team a few years ago. It was a great read and I learned so much I didn’t know about Thai culture and even the geology of caves.
I have been devouring these stupid books. The writing is so god-awful, yet I can’t stop. It’s not even a hate read.. I don’t know how to describe it.
It is nice to be in on this cultural moment…