Raindrops on Roses
and whiskers on...chihuahuas.
(I don’t have a kitten.)
May is almost behind us! How did that happen! Summer is here!
The neighborhood pool is open. The weeds in my backyard are exploding (we’ve gotten so. Much. Rain). I have some very fun stuff in the dugout, but until I can talk about literally any of it I will simply share some of my favorite things lately:
📚 - Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly
Jennifer has debuted with a gentle, meditative stunner of a story. I loved getting into the narrator’s head, it was such a lovely place to live for a little while. You will not be able to guess where this plot is going, and the pace of it is simply delectable.
📚 - The Disenchantment by Celia Bell
A story about storytelling, and love, and dangerous attachments. I’m a sucker for French court politicking, and this has that in Sapphic spades. At only about a quarter of the way through, I can already tell the plot is going to fly off its own handle in the best way.
🎶 - Nicky Diamonds
I’ve heard him solo acoustic and I’ve heard him with a band, and both ways are a real treat. Don’t skip the one about the Lonesome Rose!
📚 - Louis L’Amour
This summer for me is going to be the summer of pulp. It’s my favorite subgenre, and I will always love its unapologeticness. Louis L’Amour writes of drives and the land with a deft, lightly-ironic hand. I feel like I can smell the horsehair on the page.
🎶 - New Caroline Shaw/Roomful of Teeth music
Psychedelic and glitchy textures achieved with nothing but the voice! What more could we ask for in the 21st century? Shaw’s new cycle borrows text from The Tempest, which is perhaps good timing for inspiration :)))))))
📚 - The Charioteer by Mary Renault
I’ve been doing some traveling recently, and this perennial favorite is one I tend to crack open when I’m en route. Deeply transporting and classic—with an unambiguously joyful conclusion, which was a rarity in many ways when it was first published. I can flip to any one of my many highlighted passages and pick up seamlessly from there as if I never left. Still waiting for someone to option this beauty for film nearly 70 years after its inception; keeping my fingers crossed in permanent optimism.
💿 - Fade In for screenwriting
I’ve been participating in a few NYC Midnight challenges over the last couple months, and the screenwriting challenge has made me take the leap into getting a good formatting software. I like this one a lot! A colleague recommended it as a more accessible alternative to the usual standard Final Draft, which I’ve also had a positive experience using—but the price point difference is attractive and worthy imo.
I am nothing if not a Zelda fan, and this one is taking the cake in a big way. I built a car for a korok. I named a beautiful golden horse “Cludge.” I found an empty house and had a lot of feelings about regent/knight dynamics. I haven’t even gotten halfway through the main story quest yet. There are anticapitalist Gorons. 11/10.
And in addition to those, here are some other things for which I am stoked as hell:
📚 - Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens
I feel like I’ll be reduced to unhinged shrieking if I let myself talk for too long about how excited I am for this book, so I’ll leave it at this: I am so, so, so very stupidly excited for this book. Every word of the summary ratchets my pulse up another degree. AHHHHHHH.
I will be deeply unwell around 9pm Central this coming Sunday after this show ends. The final season has been such a white-knuckle sprint, everything is falling apart (affectionate), Roman is my number one boy, bravo bravo bravo to everyone involved with the production. It’s a triumph to have built such an engaging story around such horrible, loathsome people. I root for no one. I will still cry, probably.
📽️ - Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Casino is one of my favorite Scorseses, and in my opinion he’s at his best when he’s adapting from the page. I’m very interested to see how the stakes of the true story make it onto the screen! Fraser AND De Niro, let’s goooooo
❣️ - October 10th!!!!!!!!!
Every week that brings us closer to October feels more and more surreal, yet I don’t think the imminence of launch will hit me until like. September 30th. I saw a press release draft yesterday and felt like I was walking on Mars. Join me in anticipation! Preorder SHOOT THE MOON today 💕🚀💕
Thanks for some cool book recommendations!