Show & Tell: I'm Late, I Was Having Fun.
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.
Yes, today’s Grown-Up Show & Tell is late. I doubt many people noticed, but if you did, sorry. I went to NYC this past week and had so much fun and was just too frickin’ tired to write and edit last night. So I am late. I am sorry. But, I’m here now.
I did have the best time in New York. I went to see my dear friend ’s Broadway production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I had never seen before, and had a blast. I also went to celebrate ’s 40th birthday, and it was a lovely grown folks affair. I got to see so many people I love like and my college besties and took a few meetings with publishing folks, and had a gal pal date with MJ Franklin. It was great. I love that city and all my people in it.
And now I am back home and back to work and catching up on everything, including this newsletter.
Quick reminder. My Nonfiction Reading Guide is out in the world and if you think you want a copy do it this week because all the proceeds from memberships and standalone purchases, between now and June 4th, go to I AM ALS and is matching those donations. So one guide = $10 for ALS research. So yeah, get the guide.
If you already have the guide and want to support, this month’s $5 Friday, on June 5th, will be for I AM ALS and I’d love it if you’d donate $5.
This Week in The Stacks
Weirdly my invite must’ve gotten lost, oh wait, no, I was busy at the White House, or something.
This month’s book club conversation around Lonely Crowds with was wonderful. I look forward to our virtual book club chat on Tuesday. If you want to talk with other readers about Ruth and Maria join us.
I shared 13 books I’m super excited to read in June (and handful of them I’ve already read).
Books I Read This Week
Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces by Seth Harp
Investigative reporting into a slew of murders connected to drugs at Fort Bragg. This is a crazy story book, meaning the information is so bonkers that that does a lot of the heavy lifting even if the writing and storytelling itself aren’t so great. I was caught up in the chaos and conspiracy of it all, which sustained me mostly until the last 15% when I was ready to be done. Harp does a good job of relaying the information but doesn’t seem to have full command of it. Entertaining and engaging and full of WTF moments, this book works for the most part.
Widow Basquiat: A Love Story by Jennifer Clement
A fragmented artful story of the relationship between Jean-Michel Basquiat and Suzanne Mallouk set against the backdrop of the 1980’s art scene in New York. I was really taken with this short book, very punchy and stylized. It combines Mallouk’s own voice with the authors to reveal this intense and intimate relationship to us. Small, both in size and scope, Widow Basquiat does not skimp on visceral impact.
Fave of the Week
On Witness and Respair by Jesmyn Ward
A collection of essays spanning over a decade of work from one of our greatest living writers. I’m not afraid to say it, Jesmyn Ward is as good at nonfiction as she is at fiction — and I prefer the nonfiction if I’m being really real1. The essays in this book that deal with the personal are a revelation. Beautiful writing comes together with a writer who has something meaningful to convey. There is a yearning and an urgency there. Other essays in the book aren’t as strong, the ones that are forwards to other books or are profiles, but honestly, to me that is the nature of the task at hand. Those pieces are very good at what they’re doing, but up next to her more personal writing, the vibrancy isn’t there.
The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream by Paolo Coelho
I am not going to say too much about this book, because it is our June pick for The Stacks Book Club and I want to save my thoughts for after you’ve had a chance to read it. This is an allegorical novel about a boy in Spain trying to find a treasure in Egypt and the journey he goes on to get there. This was a reread for me, and this time around I was preoccupied by the politics of the book and the way it pretends to have none. That’s all I’ll say for now. The episode drops on June 24th.
Things I Love…
Books
I visited Yu & Me Books in New York this week and I loved the shop. The booksellers were wonderful. They were the perfect mix of warm—I despise a standoffish bookseller—and knowledgable. I asked for a nonfiction book rec, and the first book I was handed was this, which I had never heard of and also sounds exactly like a book I would love. That alone has me impressed because I think I am pretty hard to suggest books to.
They have a very good selection which focuses on AAPI authored books. They have a little reading nook and they serve some bevies. Plus, there is a park across the street where you can go read when the weather is nice.
What I am trying to say is, if you find yourself in NYC it is worth a visit.
Politics
Tuesday is primary day for me in California, and this is just your little reminder to vote is you are in California or any of these states that also have primaries on June 2nd.
I am not voting for Spencer Pratt. I know you know that. But, I wouldn’t want you to have any doubt in your mind.
