Show & Tell: Goodbye Groups, Knockouts Are Knocking
This is Show & Tell where I tell you some things I loved from the week and the one thing I hated, plus round up everything else going on around these parts. The first half of Show & Tell is free to all. The adoration and hateration are for paid subscribers only.
Hi it is me again, a person who cannot get enough of the World Cup but knows this is a book space, but also doesn’t care, because hello I am a person who cannot get enough of the World Cup.
This Week in The Stacks
This was mostly just me telling you all the places you can find me, also donuts and soccer.
, y’alls fave (and mine too), came back to do our episode on The Alchemist and we had more than enough to discuss. Also, we laughed a lot.
I shared my standout (good and bad) reads so far this year.
Books I Read This Week
Lost Girls: An American Mystery by Robert Kolker
A well reported book about the victims of the Long Island Serial Killer1. This book hits all the right notes—well written and reported, delves into a subculture, gives a three dimensional portrait of crime victims—and yet I found it a touch underwhelming. This might be because in the 13 years since it came out, the killer has been found and while writing the book Kolker didn’t have this information (there is now an afterward that goes into the killer a bit). That disconnected negatively impacted my reading. I also think the pacing was slow and the women weren’t differentiated enough as to not run together by the end. Good book, not mind blowing.
The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders
A multi-generational family novel about a DC woman who inherits a stake in her family’s property in Tennessee. I really enjoyed this and I’m generally not a big family novel person, but I found this really worked. It is narrated by a gossipy ghost which sounds like it could be a big miss, but the voice brought a super contemporary lens to the novel that could’ve felt a bit traditional without it. The ghost punches things up a notch. There are times where the family secrets feel artificially drawn out and slowed the pacing of the novel, but it settles nicely by the end. This book is doing a lot right and will appeal to many readers.
Fave of the Week
The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan by Jasmine Warga
The story of a rescue dog and a orphaned cheetah who are brought together by chance and some nice humans. This book was pretty mid for me. I know this is crazy to say, but the dog, Finnegan, was so annoying. He was an insecure and whiny dog. To the point that one of the Mini Stacks said to me “why is Finnegan always whining” and like, my kid is not wrong. I also found the humans to be pretty irritating, too. The book is exactly what you’d expect from this kind of unlikely animals friends book and simultaneously felt flat.
Housekeeping
What a joy to be asked to answer the SJP Lit questions for . Please don’t cancel me or yell at me for my answers.
Things I Love…
Sports
Ten African nations played in this year’s World Cup. NINE of them made it through to the knockout stages2. I fucking love this world cup.
Scotland is out, which is sad to me.
I am also bummed Iran is out3.
But did you read what I said at the top? NINE OUT OF TEN AFRICAN NATIONS HAVE ADVANCED TO THE KNOCK OUT STAGE OF THE WORLD CUP.
90%?!?!
Oh and for you haters out there talking about more teams qualified and advance, SIX OF THE NINE DID SO IN THE TOP TWO OF THEIR GROUP.4
Let’s Fucking Go.
I quickly want to get on record about a few teams before the knockouts really get going.
I think the USA will be lucky to make it through to the round of 8. I want them to do well, or whatever, but I am not sure I am ready to buy into all this hype. They have the talent but I’m not sure they have the personality for greatness. No shade, but I can say that as an American.
Mexico in Mexico for the next few matches feels major. Do not discount that squad with a home field advantage. Also those green kits5 are so good.
Senegal and Ivory Coast are the two African nations I am most in on. I think they both have looked good and could shake things up.
Netherlands looses early or wins it all. I can honestly see BOTH things happening. I can legit see them loosing this week to Morrocco or going so deep and beating some major players. They go by like a million names (Dutch, Netherlands, Holland) and their team is known for orange even though their flag is red, white, and blue—they cannot be pinned down.
England is stressing me out. But this is what they get for not having Phil Foden on the squad. Them hoisting the trophy without him is not okay with me.
Spain and Brazil are so boring to me so far this tournament.
Colombia is really working for me. Not sure they can go far but I would like them to.
If Cape Verde pulls off the Argentina upset I will never recover. I have never wanted a result more in my life6.
If I was a betting person, and I very much am not this kind of person, I would say France looks like the World Cup winner. But, and this is a big but, whenever a team looks inevitable that’s a red flag for me. I hope they win because I like that team a lot, but also, I would be here for the drama. Also a round of 16 match between France and Germany is sooooo exciting and would be a huge test.
Food
influenced me to get a Ninja Creami and like I do not need this appliance at all, but also now I have it and I love it and you can’t tell the Mini’s that a smoothie bowl isn’t the best breakfast ever created.
Please feel free to share any Creami tips or recipes.
