The Reading List: October 26, 2019
Moira
I know that I often bring the spooky, but this GQ story from a few years ago, about how the author may have narrowly escaped a serial killer, is downright terrifying. I’ve read it a number of times and it still scares me. Enjoy!
Revisiting last week’s conversation about self-esteem and self-respect, I can’t believe I was remiss in including Joan Didion’s famous essay On Self Respect, which, fun fact, was written to fill a spot for another author—TO. THE. WORD. Joan Didion is a master and I recently saw her walking in the Village and nearly died.
I loved this article about how famous women manage their email flow. Personally, I read everything immediately, delete spam or things I know I’ll never read again, and keep everything else. This means my email is a searchable time capsule. Personally, I don’t break things down into folders, because then that’s just more places to look, and what if something gets miscategorized?! I go nuts if I see I have unread email notifications, so please don’t show me your phone if your inbox says 20,000 emails.
I’ve been using the Day One app and Chrome extension to organize photos and thoughts I have on the go. You can tag your posts, so it’s been useful to save thoughts or ideas as they come up to discuss with my therapist, or questions for doctors, etc.
Elizabeth
If there’s anything that appeals to all of us here at She’s Full of Lit, it’s the idea that #hotgirlsummer has become #bookishgirlfall. This partnership between Girls Night In and Book of the Month Club (you know we are fans of both around here) is going to feature all kinds of people and their reading history, habits, and routines. As an unabashed snoop, I love this insight into other people’s lives, and Alisha Ramos’ kick off is great.
We also unabashedly love Fenty Red around here, and I loved reading about this office in Brooklyn: The Public Defenders Fueled By Fenty And Small Wins.
You may not know this about me, but I’m from the Deep South and I’m also the granddaughter of a minister; I only tell you this to let you know that I’ve eaten a lot of food in church halls throughout my lifetime. My favorite family recipe is something my Grandmother called “Pink Salad” - a combination of cottage cheese, strawberry jello powder, pineapple chunks, and cool whip (don’t @ me until you’ve tried it, it’s delicious), and I love going back to Alabama to get all of my weird southern foods. This article about the eternal nature of funeral foods had me laughing out loud and it made me both nostalgic and a little hungry.
FYI, that article is behind a Wall Street Journal paywall, but I still wanted to include it in case there’s any overlap between SFOL and WSJ subscribers. A few other favorite pieces on Southern funeral culture: A Tasteful Send Off | Grave Matters | Traditions You’ll Find Only in the South
Yes, I know we have talked a lot about sexual assault this month (sorry not sorry, it’s important for everyone to understand the stories told in “Catch and Kill”, “She Said”, and “Know My Name”), and I found this article at Time both fascinating and disheartening. Even reading as much as I do about this topic, it’s shocking to me that teenage boys don’t get that their behavior is appalling and illegal — just because they aren’t a guy in the bushes jumping a stranger doesn’t mean their behavior is above reproach. We have all got to do better.
Related: My review of “Catch and Kill” | Shannon’s review of “She Said” | My review of “Know My Name” | Shannon’s review of “Know My Name”
And finally! A few fall things that are currently sitting in my Amazon cart (I’ll probably pull the trigger before I head to New York to see my other 2/3rds next week): Leopard supergas! This cozy striped sweatshirt! This shockingly affordable embroidered top in my favorite color of green!
Shannon
I know the saying goes, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but, let’s be real…most of us do! Hence why book jacket/cover design is so huge! Trends in cover designs, just like fashion, are cyclical, and I enjoyed this Man Repeller feature on paintings as cover designs. (I did love the cover of “My Year of Rest and Relaxation.”) The author also interviews cover designers on their current reads, if you need even more reading inspo.
I love a rom com, so I couldn’t click over fast enough to Glamour’s look at the fashion of 9 rom coms and how the costume designers brought the characters to life. My favorites from the list are “13 Going on 30,” “The Wedding Planner,” “She’s All That,” and “Never Been Kissed” (what can I say, I’m a basic bitch). Somewhat related: how “Booksmart” redefined the “going out” outfit.
Like many millennials, I spent my formative years shopping at Forever 21, and upon reading this NYT piece about its demise, I realized I knew nothing about who owned it or any sort of parent company. The brand has been privately owned by one family since its inception in the 1980s, and apparently the family kept the management highly insular—even often hiring people from their church rather than people with strong retail backgrounds. If you’re interested in changing retail trends, definitely check this one out.
I’m not a massive Adam Driver fan (although I did love his performance in BlacKkKlansman), but I love a good celebrity profile. This one from The New Yorker is excellent.
If you’ve noticed more and more of your friends (and us?) sharing astrology content, you’re not alone. The New Yorker piece of the rise of astrology coinciding with “millennial uncertainty” (i.e., after the Great Recession), was fascinating. I find astrology fun, but certainly don’t base any major decisions on it. (Maybe that’s a Virgo move? Who knows.) My favorite quote from the piece, though? “In the Obama years, people liked astrology. In the Trump years, people need it.” (There is also a fun trivia nugget about astrology use during WWII.)
As Elizabeth noted, we have been talking quite a bit about abuse and sexual assault this month (again, not sorry), which is why I wanted to share this piece from The California Sunday Magazine, profiling two women from very different backgrounds, both of whom had to take extreme measures to leave their abusive partners. So many times, we think of abuse as just physical; however, financial and economic abuse can be just as terrifying as it truly creates a dependence on the abuser.
To finish on a (somewhat) lighter note, if you loved Hannah Gadsby’s “Nanette” on Netflix, don’t miss this GQ piece, written by the comedian, explaining what she’d like men to understand—and do—more. “How about you scale back on your confidence? How about you try not to act in every situation? What if you tried to refrain from sharing your opinions or co-opting other people's ideas? How about yielding to people walking in the opposite direction? Or even just attempting to see them?” Oh, we can dream…
FYI: When you click links in this post to purchase a product, SFOL might get a cut of your purchase - it doesn’t add anything to the price for you. We promise. Thanks in advance!
