all about bookstores
and my money out the door
reading
I don’t have many actual updates on my reading to share, but I think you’ll like what I have to say even more …
If you live in New York City, I have news for you: a bookstore exclusively selling romance novels just opened in Brooklyn. I repeat: The Ripped Bodice, a romance-focused bookstore, just opened in Brooklyn. Unfortunate for my credit card, but fantastic for content. As you can imagine, this place is fucking incredible and I’ve been there twice already. Pretty much any romance novel you can think of in any category is there, from Red, White, and Royal Blue to People We Meet on Vacation to One Duke Down: A Rogues to Lovers Novel to Tall, Duke, and Scandalous to Give the Devil His Duke. No, but seriously, it’s great, everyone working there is so nice, and it just looks amazing, too — honestly a really cool place to check out even if you’re not into romance (there’s an “everything else” section for you with titles from primarily female/nonbinary authors and authors of color, from a quick glance at it). Also, the merch is just incredible. Candles that smell like different romance tropes? I’m going back for their Dark Academia scent. I ended up buying some tea called “Why Talk When We Can Pine,” which is the central theme of pretty much every book I love.
I didn’t come in looking for anything in particular (which is how all the best romances start <3), but after browsing, I saw a copy of Jane Austen’s Persuasion with a pretty sweet modern cover and thought, you know what? I was probably supposed to read this for a class years ago. Never too late! On my second trip, I went with my friend Bella, who ended up with a steamy lesbian romance between a milf and her daughter’s college roommate called Mistakes Were Made, which I got an ARC of on NetGalley forever ago and never read but am so thrilled it’s out in the world because it sounds bonkers.
After the Ripped Bodice, I went to, if you can believe it, another bookstore. Codex is in NoHo (the name “NoHo” makes me chortle every time). It has a fantastic variety of new and used books (plus some rare ones) and a cool vibe. John bought a whole bunch of eighteenth century romantic poetry collections (by Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Keats, etc.) I got a gently used and very gently priced copy of Say Nothing, which I posted on my instagram story and got the most responses (all positive) ever evoked by a mere photo of a book. Per its subtitle, it’s about “murder and memory in Northern Ireland,” focusing on the Troubles. I’m always into Irish literature and history, because you might not know this because I kind of try to keep it low key, but I sort of studied abroad in Dublin. Sooooo not a big deal —
ulysses corner
— but speaking of how I spent a super fulfilling and transforming year in Dublin, Ulysses is on hold for the time being while I read Persuasion because mama can only handle so many classics. But I will still give you updates on everything I’ve read so far until I run out of chapters I’ve read (soon). Here’s what happened in the second:
Episode Two
Unfortunately, we’re still following Stephen Dedalus. He is now teaching a history class to a bunch of rowdy boys. They talk about a bunch of academic stuff that I’m sure is relevant but I can’t remember what it is and then he sends them away to play field hockey. Then the headmaster of the school comes in and gives him his paycheck and asks Stephen to get a letter published in the newspaper about what might be mad cow disease. He also blames Jewish people and women for the destruction of society and is very proud of being an Englishman (booooooooooooo). What you need to know is that each chapter is getting increasingly incomprehensible as we go and I have no idea how I’m going to summarize the third episode without copying and pasting from Shmoop (I feel like I’m in high school again).
an apology
Hypothesis: Every time I read an Ali Hazelwood novel, I come away feeling that I enjoyed it, and then, over the next few days, I’m awash with the horrible realization that pretty much nothing I read made sense and some of the storytelling is ludicrous to the point of insanity.
Result: Love, Theoretically is no exception. I stand by my assertion that this is probably the best of the Steminist series, and, yes, it still almost made me cry!!!, but I also hate it a little bit now upon reflection and take full responsibility for any beautifully romantic expectations I may have given you.
other media
pretty much just documentaries
I randomly got into a mood to watch a scandalous documentary the other day. I asked for recommendations and discovered that one time my friend got really into this Russian WWII documentary during covid lockdown times before realizing it was created by state-run media and, in their words, “that’s how I accidentally watched ten hours of Russian propaganda.”
I went in a slightly different direction with Shiny Happy People (Amazon Prime). I didn’t know much about the Duggars besides Josh Duggar being a disgusting creep and convicted child sex abuser, but I really didn’t know about this fucking church they were in and how influential it is in shaping American politics. I really don’t want to detail the horrific stuff described in it, but I will say that the connection made between the deeply sexist culture and sexual abuse happening in families associated with said church is incredibly fascinating and sad. It’s a little unfocused and a touch too long, as most documentaries are, but I’d recommend it.
I also made John watch LuLaRich with me (also unfortunately on Amazon Prime). This documentary series is about LuLaRoe, a clothing company-slash-pyramid scheme-slash-religious cult. My good pal Caroline recommended it to me and it was riveting. I guess I had never thought about the real mechanics of a pyramid scheme before, or why it’s called a pyramid scheme, so the testimonials from mothers and diagrams of pyramids were quite informative. The people running the company are absolute nutjobs. I can’t believe they agreed to be interviewed. We’re going to watch The Weigh Down next because I am addicted to learning about scams and cults masquerading as self-help groups propelled by capitalism.
reality tv corner
Many, many people have recommended Below Deck to me over the years, and on a Friday night in, I decided to bite the bullet and dive in (ha ha ha). On Caroline’s suggestion (she is *truly* a tastemaker), I started with season two of Below Deck: Sailing Yacht. Did you know that there are different kinds of yachts and this one can sail? I am obsessed with these people and feel genuinely invested in their ability to give terrible guests a luxury yacht experience. I want to go on a sailing yacht. And I just have so many fucking questions for first mate Gary. Gary, I just want to talk.
comedy
I’m late to the game on basically everything listed here, but I couldn’t recommend James Acaster’s brilliant comedy specials more than everyone else already has. Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 is only available for purchase on Vimeo and we couldn’t watch it without screen sharing a phone to the TV, but it’s so worth having it crash every time I tried to adjust the volume. Repertoire, his four-part standup special on Netflix, is also genius and actually deserves to be a four-part standup special. If you recognize Acaster from the meme below, watch him tell the story behind it. It’s a true — slightly devastating —epic that starts and ends with The Great British Baking Show.
non-book reading
The Washington Post uncovered years of deeply unethical and simply horrifying practices by the Smithsonian in a massive article about their still-existing “racial brain collection.” In the early 20th century, researchers removed brains from corpses, the majority of whom were people of color, without any form of consent. The collection was basically created by this one researcher to support his white supremacist theory that there are anatomical differences between races. It’s predictably awful to learn about. The entire article is worth reading, but the key findings are helpfully listed here.
Finally: I got around to posting a full-length review of Elliot Page’s Pageboy — check it out on the good old bookstagram and transmit to me your thoughts. As I said before, I think it’s a really compelling read despite its structural flaws. I’ll be writing on Clint Smith’s poetry collection Above Ground in the next few days or whenever I get the copy I foolishly returned to the library too early back.
Thank you once again for being such nice and lovely readers. I hope you subscribe due to it being so easy: button below is sooo easy you just have to click on it: haha :