Reading: Tananarive Due’s upcoming—April 18th!—new book of short stories, The Wishing Pool and Other Stories. I’m only two stories in, and so far it’s making me think—via stories about a forest pool that grants wishes and a haunting in a Black bookstore—a LOT about middle age, the tipping point where you start saying more goodbyes than hellos, taking stock of where your life is versus where you thought it would be. So far, I’m finding it absolutely wonderful. (Which is not remotely a surprise.)
Watching: Still on Criterion’s erotic thriller train—never did I ever expect to watch (and hugely enjoy) one starring Steve Guttenberg, of all people. We also discovered that somehow we have almost an entire season of Bob’s Burgers to watch (!!), so we’re working those in as well.
Thinking: Due to the aforementioned Guttenberg movie, I think I have finally figured out what it takes for me to care about/be engaged by car chase scenes, and it’s entirely dependent on whether or not I’m emotionally engaged or not? I can’t believe it took me until the ripe old age of 45 for this to finally occur to me, but brains are brains.
What about you? Where are you at in any or all of these departments?
READING concurrently, because chaos is how I roll:
*LUCY CLARK WILL NOT APOLOGIZE, Margo Rabb
*THE RENAISSANCE OF GWEN HATHAWAY, Ashley Schumacher
* BEA WOLF, Zach Weinersmith
* NIC BLAKE AND THE REMARKABLES: The Manifestor Prophecy, Angie Thomas
* CAN'T SPELL TREASON WITHOUT TEA, Rebecca Thorne
WATCHING, eight years late:
*CARMILLA web series
THINKING: How weird it is that the low roar of 80's nostalgia has once again erupted into a full-fledged screech. It is the decade that will. not. die., no matter how much I might wish it. The irony is that I this week read someone describe the 80's as an era it is "safe" to celebrate, because, loosely, everyone was in harmony during that time.
I have to start at the end and go backwards because EVERYONE WAS IN HARMONY IN THE '80s?? WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME what even
that has to be people thinking that the '80s were all roller rinks and, i dunno, jelly bracelets and not, like, the AIDS crisis and Reaganomics and Chernobyl and the Challenger and the Cold War and the Exxon Valdez and the famine in Ethiopia and Tiananmen Square and a shit-ton of plane hijackings and crashes and GOOD LORD I love a lot of the pop culture from the '80s but that doesn't mean the decade was REMOTELY PEACEFUL or, like CALM.
*breathes into paper bag*
I feel like I watched a little bit of the Carmilla web series, but now I'm wondering if I'm mixing it up with the Pride and Prejudice one? How far in are you and how is it?
I have GOT to grab a copy of that Margo Rabb, thank you for reminding me. And I'm obviously immediately interested in anything called BEA WOLF. Oh and there's wordplay in that TEA one, too. DAMMIT, how many books am I going to add to my list today? This rules.
I got started watching the web series Carmilla BECAUSE I saw that the Lizzie Bennet Diaries was Ten! Years! Old! and I was lying on the floor breathing heavily when I wondered what else was going on in the rest of the web series world from that era, so I looked back a bit, and lo and behold. I'm six episodes in, and it's ...delightfully campy and creepy-lite? It reminds me so much of the fun parts of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries - I don't have to suspend disbelief too much yet.
Bea Wolf is the MG version of Beowulf, and I've JUUUUUST started. More to come!
Yeah... the writer of that "the 80's are safe to celebrate " article should at least get a vengeful visit from the ghosts of AIDS victims who were denied insurance coverage and care, and from all the "crack babies" and War on Drugs collateral victims... ??? I mean, at MINIMUM.
(YESSSS! I, too, am loving grabbing all these great book suggestions!! It'll be 2083 before I get to them all BUT SO WHAT.)
I devoured Ellie Marney's NONE SHALL SLEEP, which is a YA riff in Silence of the Lambs and the final girl archetype. The writing was delicious. I begged for a copy of the sequel's ARC (it's not out til June) and read that in another sitting. Really loved them both. I've never read the Thomas Harris books, though, so I wonder if that would color someone else's enjoyment.
Next up: Rebecca Makkai's I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU which opens with the main character watching footage of her high school production of Camelot (the last time her friend was seen alive) before diving into an investigation of the murder many years later. I've seen some other writers rave about it and the opening chapter was great.
Oh, wow, I just popped over to another tab and put in an interlibrary loan request for the Marney, that sounds RIGHT up my alley, I am immediately so excited! (And I just checked Edelweiss & I'm whitelisted for the sequel, so I'll be good to go as soon as the first one gets here, hooray!)
The Makkai sounds just my speed as well, RIP my TBR, LOL.
YESSSSS. Oh man. So excited for you to dive into all of these.
Also, regarding watching: have you tried the new season of Party Down? (No Gutenberg this season but that is what made me think of it.) I'm pretty sure that this is the first revival of a show that I truly loved as much as the original. Painfully funny. And the last episode made me cry!
I don't have Starz, but will be watching it THE SECOND it's more available. I love that show so much, and was so bummed when it was originally cancelled—it just felt like a show with SUCH POTENTIAL in that it would have been so easy to rotate in new up-and-coming actors & comedians through, since that's exactly what happens with the caterwaiter gig in real life. SO glad that they got another season & hope they get to continue!
I'm currently reading Frances Hardinge's new book UNRAVELLER, and starting adoring it when I was like 2 pages in. This usually happens to me with her books. Something about them is just....I want to live in them forever. And they're always good and lengthy, but still somehow not enough because I'm greedy.
Thinking: I had this realization (probably not wholly profound or original, but whatever) that the books we most love feel like a lovingly crafted gift from the author that lets us into their unique world, their imagination, for the duration. And those are always going to be distinctive and different from one another. It's also why it's so hard to try to write a story that isn't your story... When I love a book so much that I want to inhabit it, it's not the same thing as wanting to have written it myself. I love it in part BECAUSE I feel like it's a gift from the writer. And, as a fellow writer, the best thing I can do to return the favor is write what I write, whatever that is, and let it find whoever it's meant to find--like paying it forward in some grand sense. I'm trying to let that motivate me when I'm feeling blah.
Watching: (We love Bob's Burgers! Great North has also picked up steam and is pretty hilarious.) We've been trying out Andy Samberg's cartoon Digman, on Comedy Central. A new episode of Picard just came out last night and we're dying to watch it, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. We also FINALLY started checking out Never Have I Ever, and oh, man, there are some moments of painful recognition there. (In the episode where they're doing the TikTok dance video, and Devi's mom comes out and makes her put on a t-shirt under her dress....I had flashbacks to my dad urging me to put a t-shirt on over my bathing suit, and SO many petty arguments about immodest attire. If burkinis had existed back then, I am SURE he would have tried to get me to wear one....)
OMG I am in so much trouble, all I read was "Frances Hardinge's new book UNRAVELLER" and I hopped over to the library book order I'm working on & added it, and then hopped over to the interlibrary loan portal & requested it. WHEN AM I GOING TO FIT IN ALL MY EROTIC THRILLERS WITH ALL OF THESE BOOKS SUDDENLY ON THE WAY
Thinking: YES. As I get older and read more books, it happens more and more infrequently, but sometimes I read something that hits so perfectly on every level that it feels like it was literally written FOR ME. Which absolutely DOES feel like a gift, I love that. And thinking about it going the other way, too, you as a writer giving that same kind of gift to someone unknown, is genuinely so lovely.
Watching: I bounced out of Great North after the first few episodes, but I should have known, based on the showrunners & voice actors, that it would get stronger as it went on. A friend of mine was JUST raving about Picard, I should really give it a go. (I think that mostly I'm scared that it might end up being a weepy show for me because everyone is so much older?) And I'm slapping Never Have I Ever on the list right now, that sounds fantastic.
Never Have I Ever is super cute so far. My MIL recommended it, and then Tanita said the main actor reminds her of me (which cracks me up but isn't untrue) and of course it's a Mindy Kaling project, so I had to check it out eventually. DO note that most of the teenage characters are CLEARLY old, except (thankfully) the main character... LOL
On the topic of erotic thrillers (kinda?) and your post on James Spader, at some point in the recent past I found out that he was in an erotic...comedy?...in 2002 with Maggie Gyllenhaal called The Secretary. That kind of blew my mind. I haven't watched it yet, though. I do NOT remember this movie coming out, either!
OMG, Secretary is An Experience—I haven't seen it since it came out, but I saw it in the theater. I loved it then, but have NO idea how it'll hold up. I'll revisit at some point, but I'm a bit scared to bc I'm afraid it *won't* hold up?
Definitely bumping Never Have I Ever up my list, I could do with some cuteness in my watching to counterbalance all these thrillers, LOL. Speaking of older actors playing teens, have you watched PEN15? We loved that one—adult actresses play tween versions of themselves, but all of the other tween characters are played by younger actors. It's pretty amazing.
Oh, I enjoyed Carmilla—and ended up watching like five movie adaptations due to my general Lack of Chill, hahaha.
I've been meaning to read that Betsy Cornwell—how is it so far?
PLEASE feel free to tell me more about this online course on Gothic fairy tales, that sounds like the BEST. THING. EVER. *runs off to google the DeBlassie and Warner*
I'm only about 40 pages into the Cornwell and wishing I'd read Jane Eyre more recently, as we're still basically in the prologue. But I'm enjoying the voice - it feels authentic to the period which is a thing I appreciate in historicals.
The Gothic course is one of MANY that I've taken through the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic, which is run by two women with PhDs in fairy tale studies. (And let me tell you, if I'd known you could get a PhD in fairy tale studies 20 years ago I would not have one in genetics!) Here's the link to their homepage:
They often do one-off lectures for the Smithsonian and Profs and Pints, and they have a full vampire course coming out with Wondrium - soon, I hope, as it sounds amazing.
Ooooh, yes, now that I'm looking at the website, I feel like you've mentioned them before? It looks like they do phenomenal work.
That it makes complete sense to me that you'd have a PhD in genetics but also want one in fairy tale studies really makes me appreciate the Power of Connections You Make on the Internet <3
currently reading: Kelly Link's new collection of short stories, White Cat, Black Dog
watching: de nada (i've been having a lot of trouble sitting down for a full-length movie); mostly just playing the Resident Evil 4 Remake, which is excellent if that is the sort of thing you are into.
watching: oh, i have been in that place--i go through long periods where after work, my brain feels too DONE for the day to fully engage with an Actual Movie, so I end up watching British panel shows or things that just don't feel like such an UNDERTAKING. also recently downloaded dwarf fortress from steam (the one with graphics, not the hardcore one that's been around forever) and have logged some Serious Hours already (and also started over like 8 times)
READING concurrently, because chaos is how I roll:
*LUCY CLARK WILL NOT APOLOGIZE, Margo Rabb
*THE RENAISSANCE OF GWEN HATHAWAY, Ashley Schumacher
* BEA WOLF, Zach Weinersmith
* NIC BLAKE AND THE REMARKABLES: The Manifestor Prophecy, Angie Thomas
* CAN'T SPELL TREASON WITHOUT TEA, Rebecca Thorne
WATCHING, eight years late:
*CARMILLA web series
THINKING: How weird it is that the low roar of 80's nostalgia has once again erupted into a full-fledged screech. It is the decade that will. not. die., no matter how much I might wish it. The irony is that I this week read someone describe the 80's as an era it is "safe" to celebrate, because, loosely, everyone was in harmony during that time.
Um... okay, collective historical revisionist amnesia engaging... NOW...
I have to start at the end and go backwards because EVERYONE WAS IN HARMONY IN THE '80s?? WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME what even
that has to be people thinking that the '80s were all roller rinks and, i dunno, jelly bracelets and not, like, the AIDS crisis and Reaganomics and Chernobyl and the Challenger and the Cold War and the Exxon Valdez and the famine in Ethiopia and Tiananmen Square and a shit-ton of plane hijackings and crashes and GOOD LORD I love a lot of the pop culture from the '80s but that doesn't mean the decade was REMOTELY PEACEFUL or, like CALM.
*breathes into paper bag*
I feel like I watched a little bit of the Carmilla web series, but now I'm wondering if I'm mixing it up with the Pride and Prejudice one? How far in are you and how is it?
I have GOT to grab a copy of that Margo Rabb, thank you for reminding me. And I'm obviously immediately interested in anything called BEA WOLF. Oh and there's wordplay in that TEA one, too. DAMMIT, how many books am I going to add to my list today? This rules.
I got started watching the web series Carmilla BECAUSE I saw that the Lizzie Bennet Diaries was Ten! Years! Old! and I was lying on the floor breathing heavily when I wondered what else was going on in the rest of the web series world from that era, so I looked back a bit, and lo and behold. I'm six episodes in, and it's ...delightfully campy and creepy-lite? It reminds me so much of the fun parts of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries - I don't have to suspend disbelief too much yet.
Bea Wolf is the MG version of Beowulf, and I've JUUUUUST started. More to come!
Yeah... the writer of that "the 80's are safe to celebrate " article should at least get a vengeful visit from the ghosts of AIDS victims who were denied insurance coverage and care, and from all the "crack babies" and War on Drugs collateral victims... ??? I mean, at MINIMUM.
(YESSSS! I, too, am loving grabbing all these great book suggestions!! It'll be 2083 before I get to them all BUT SO WHAT.)
ugh, satanic panic too, that one occurred to me on my way home
MG BEOWULF, AMAZING
i refuse to believe that the lizzie bennet diaries is 10 years old, but i will clearly HAVE to watch the carmilla one, my goodness
I devoured Ellie Marney's NONE SHALL SLEEP, which is a YA riff in Silence of the Lambs and the final girl archetype. The writing was delicious. I begged for a copy of the sequel's ARC (it's not out til June) and read that in another sitting. Really loved them both. I've never read the Thomas Harris books, though, so I wonder if that would color someone else's enjoyment.
Next up: Rebecca Makkai's I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU which opens with the main character watching footage of her high school production of Camelot (the last time her friend was seen alive) before diving into an investigation of the murder many years later. I've seen some other writers rave about it and the opening chapter was great.
Oh, wow, I just popped over to another tab and put in an interlibrary loan request for the Marney, that sounds RIGHT up my alley, I am immediately so excited! (And I just checked Edelweiss & I'm whitelisted for the sequel, so I'll be good to go as soon as the first one gets here, hooray!)
The Makkai sounds just my speed as well, RIP my TBR, LOL.
UPDATE: I just checked, and THE MAKKAI IS IN THE BUILDING, I shall SNAG it and TAKE IT HOMEEEEEEEEEEE
YESSSSS. Oh man. So excited for you to dive into all of these.
Also, regarding watching: have you tried the new season of Party Down? (No Gutenberg this season but that is what made me think of it.) I'm pretty sure that this is the first revival of a show that I truly loved as much as the original. Painfully funny. And the last episode made me cry!
I don't have Starz, but will be watching it THE SECOND it's more available. I love that show so much, and was so bummed when it was originally cancelled—it just felt like a show with SUCH POTENTIAL in that it would have been so easy to rotate in new up-and-coming actors & comedians through, since that's exactly what happens with the caterwaiter gig in real life. SO glad that they got another season & hope they get to continue!
I'm currently reading Frances Hardinge's new book UNRAVELLER, and starting adoring it when I was like 2 pages in. This usually happens to me with her books. Something about them is just....I want to live in them forever. And they're always good and lengthy, but still somehow not enough because I'm greedy.
Thinking: I had this realization (probably not wholly profound or original, but whatever) that the books we most love feel like a lovingly crafted gift from the author that lets us into their unique world, their imagination, for the duration. And those are always going to be distinctive and different from one another. It's also why it's so hard to try to write a story that isn't your story... When I love a book so much that I want to inhabit it, it's not the same thing as wanting to have written it myself. I love it in part BECAUSE I feel like it's a gift from the writer. And, as a fellow writer, the best thing I can do to return the favor is write what I write, whatever that is, and let it find whoever it's meant to find--like paying it forward in some grand sense. I'm trying to let that motivate me when I'm feeling blah.
Watching: (We love Bob's Burgers! Great North has also picked up steam and is pretty hilarious.) We've been trying out Andy Samberg's cartoon Digman, on Comedy Central. A new episode of Picard just came out last night and we're dying to watch it, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. We also FINALLY started checking out Never Have I Ever, and oh, man, there are some moments of painful recognition there. (In the episode where they're doing the TikTok dance video, and Devi's mom comes out and makes her put on a t-shirt under her dress....I had flashbacks to my dad urging me to put a t-shirt on over my bathing suit, and SO many petty arguments about immodest attire. If burkinis had existed back then, I am SURE he would have tried to get me to wear one....)
OMG I am in so much trouble, all I read was "Frances Hardinge's new book UNRAVELLER" and I hopped over to the library book order I'm working on & added it, and then hopped over to the interlibrary loan portal & requested it. WHEN AM I GOING TO FIT IN ALL MY EROTIC THRILLERS WITH ALL OF THESE BOOKS SUDDENLY ON THE WAY
Thinking: YES. As I get older and read more books, it happens more and more infrequently, but sometimes I read something that hits so perfectly on every level that it feels like it was literally written FOR ME. Which absolutely DOES feel like a gift, I love that. And thinking about it going the other way, too, you as a writer giving that same kind of gift to someone unknown, is genuinely so lovely.
Watching: I bounced out of Great North after the first few episodes, but I should have known, based on the showrunners & voice actors, that it would get stronger as it went on. A friend of mine was JUST raving about Picard, I should really give it a go. (I think that mostly I'm scared that it might end up being a weepy show for me because everyone is so much older?) And I'm slapping Never Have I Ever on the list right now, that sounds fantastic.
Never Have I Ever is super cute so far. My MIL recommended it, and then Tanita said the main actor reminds her of me (which cracks me up but isn't untrue) and of course it's a Mindy Kaling project, so I had to check it out eventually. DO note that most of the teenage characters are CLEARLY old, except (thankfully) the main character... LOL
On the topic of erotic thrillers (kinda?) and your post on James Spader, at some point in the recent past I found out that he was in an erotic...comedy?...in 2002 with Maggie Gyllenhaal called The Secretary. That kind of blew my mind. I haven't watched it yet, though. I do NOT remember this movie coming out, either!
OMG, Secretary is An Experience—I haven't seen it since it came out, but I saw it in the theater. I loved it then, but have NO idea how it'll hold up. I'll revisit at some point, but I'm a bit scared to bc I'm afraid it *won't* hold up?
Definitely bumping Never Have I Ever up my list, I could do with some cuteness in my watching to counterbalance all these thrillers, LOL. Speaking of older actors playing teens, have you watched PEN15? We loved that one—adult actresses play tween versions of themselves, but all of the other tween characters are played by younger actors. It's pretty amazing.
I'm reading ALL the things right now - some for research, some for fun, some for an online course on Gothic fairy tales:
- The Story of Earth by Robert Hazen
- Cowen's History of Life
- Everyday Enchantments by Maria DeBlassie
- No Go the Bogeyman: Scaring, Lulling, and Making Mock by Marina Warner
- Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell
- Carmilla, by Sheridan Le Fanu
No wonder my brain feels so crowded! That's excessive, even for me.
Oh, I enjoyed Carmilla—and ended up watching like five movie adaptations due to my general Lack of Chill, hahaha.
I've been meaning to read that Betsy Cornwell—how is it so far?
PLEASE feel free to tell me more about this online course on Gothic fairy tales, that sounds like the BEST. THING. EVER. *runs off to google the DeBlassie and Warner*
I'm only about 40 pages into the Cornwell and wishing I'd read Jane Eyre more recently, as we're still basically in the prologue. But I'm enjoying the voice - it feels authentic to the period which is a thing I appreciate in historicals.
The Gothic course is one of MANY that I've taken through the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic, which is run by two women with PhDs in fairy tale studies. (And let me tell you, if I'd known you could get a PhD in fairy tale studies 20 years ago I would not have one in genetics!) Here's the link to their homepage:
https://carterhaughschool.com/
They often do one-off lectures for the Smithsonian and Profs and Pints, and they have a full vampire course coming out with Wondrium - soon, I hope, as it sounds amazing.
Ooooh, yes, now that I'm looking at the website, I feel like you've mentioned them before? It looks like they do phenomenal work.
That it makes complete sense to me that you'd have a PhD in genetics but also want one in fairy tale studies really makes me appreciate the Power of Connections You Make on the Internet <3
I probably have - I tell everyone about them, lol.
And yes, hooray for the best parts of the internet!
currently reading: Kelly Link's new collection of short stories, White Cat, Black Dog
watching: de nada (i've been having a lot of trouble sitting down for a full-length movie); mostly just playing the Resident Evil 4 Remake, which is excellent if that is the sort of thing you are into.
thinking: trying not to, mostly.
reading: ZOMG adding that to my list IMMEDIATELY
watching: oh, i have been in that place--i go through long periods where after work, my brain feels too DONE for the day to fully engage with an Actual Movie, so I end up watching British panel shows or things that just don't feel like such an UNDERTAKING. also recently downloaded dwarf fortress from steam (the one with graphics, not the hardcore one that's been around forever) and have logged some Serious Hours already (and also started over like 8 times)
thinking: FAIR.
i've been curious about that version of Dwarf Fortress, although I don't think my brain is quite up to even the graphical version just now.