Thank you for recommending Blue Light Hours. My partner's family lives abroad, and Skype has long been his bridge to them. The themes of distance and language really resonate—I’m excited to read this and will recommend it to him too.
"I started a new job and am trying not to have content paralysis at the thought of coworkers finding out about my online life" - this made me grin. I recently mentioned my Substack to a coworker (who’s now a subscriber) and thought, okay, fine, just one, she’s cool, it’s okay. Then she shared it with another coworker, and now I’m like... what do I do now? Anyway, good luck to you! And congrats on the new job :) I’m adding a couple of these books to my list - especially Blue Light Hours <3
I’m such a compartmentalizer. I need tidy divides between work and life and my creative pursuits—sometimes they bleed into each other, but for now I’m going to pretend like that will never happen.
iowa writers feeling like a pretentious friend talking down to you is SUCH a great (and accurate) description - & the premise of goodlord sounds incredible
I think I agree with your notes on Real Life. It's been a while since I read it but I read The Late Americans last year and felt the same. Like... I love the books thematically, conceptually... and at the same time I feel pushed off by the narrator. Like, I am being an inconvenience. It's hard to describe.
Brandon interviewed Katie Kitamura for The Sewanee Review Podcast and they had a long conversation about the playwrights who have influenced their work and about Ibsen who both of them mentioned as an influence. I am eagerly anticipating Katie's new book Audition which is set in the theater world, I believe... so this is all very timely for me!
hell yes. i’m consistently returning to ‘Luster’ and ‘Don’t Call Us Dead’.
and i have a feeling that you’re going to adore ‘Ugliness’. it’s urgently devastating yet blazingly gorgeous—dare i say an unprecedented collection of perspective and damaging histories.
I will never know peace again re the Iowa Writers Workshop!!!! Consider me clued 😎
Pls read Ugliness asap! I feel like it might be a while until I get round to it and I want to live vicariously through you & hear your thoughts on it! I also think you'd enjoy Bee Sting on a line level - very impressive storytelling even if it is 600 pages..
It was a pleasure to read Real Life with you, hear all your wisdom and riff about what IS the great American Novel, despite neither of us being American 😇
“Spent approximately 1 million dollars at coffee shops because it was the only way to shake off something I can’t even put my finger on now” - I feel seen 😌
While technically I didn't finish it until after midnight this morning, Tin Man from Sarah Winman was probably my favorite read in February. Gut wrenching. Winman's great restraint leaves so much room for the heaviness of moments to just rest with you, as it does with the characters at many points. It never felt overwrought either. I'll have to sit with this one for a bit.
Oh wow, great review! My boyfriend read this last year and didn’t love it, so I never picked it up. But he’s been wrong before!!! Might have to reconsider.
It’s pretty slow and reflective, so if you’re a plot person then you might not like it. There’s some criticism that some of the characters feel unbelievable, but I think that misses a lot of the point — a lot of what we learn about one of the main characters is through nostalgic reflections of the past, where time and love tend to paint people with plenty of grace.
Thank you for recommending Blue Light Hours. My partner's family lives abroad, and Skype has long been his bridge to them. The themes of distance and language really resonate—I’m excited to read this and will recommend it to him too.
It sounds like he will really find something to relate to in the story. I hope he feels seen!
Have you read Raven Leilani’s essay about grief and writing? She lost her brother and father in 2020 while she was promoting Luster. It’s an amazing piece : https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-48/essays/death-of-the-party/
Wow, okay, I’m going to read it asap! Thank you!!
"I started a new job and am trying not to have content paralysis at the thought of coworkers finding out about my online life" - this made me grin. I recently mentioned my Substack to a coworker (who’s now a subscriber) and thought, okay, fine, just one, she’s cool, it’s okay. Then she shared it with another coworker, and now I’m like... what do I do now? Anyway, good luck to you! And congrats on the new job :) I’m adding a couple of these books to my list - especially Blue Light Hours <3
Blue Light Hours!!! I will be singing the book’s praises for a long time!
I’m such a compartmentalizer. I need tidy divides between work and life and my creative pursuits—sometimes they bleed into each other, but for now I’m going to pretend like that will never happen.
loved reading this with con mi café con leche
Ovio!!!!
iowa writers feeling like a pretentious friend talking down to you is SUCH a great (and accurate) description - & the premise of goodlord sounds incredible
Email but make it not TW
I think I agree with your notes on Real Life. It's been a while since I read it but I read The Late Americans last year and felt the same. Like... I love the books thematically, conceptually... and at the same time I feel pushed off by the narrator. Like, I am being an inconvenience. It's hard to describe.
Brandon interviewed Katie Kitamura for The Sewanee Review Podcast and they had a long conversation about the playwrights who have influenced their work and about Ibsen who both of them mentioned as an influence. I am eagerly anticipating Katie's new book Audition which is set in the theater world, I believe... so this is all very timely for me!
Here's the podcast link:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2uXJMLBtJq64hDiRICqrzC?si=3bef285f2d814a87
Oh this sounds fabulous, can’t wait to listen!!
hell yes. i’m consistently returning to ‘Luster’ and ‘Don’t Call Us Dead’.
and i have a feeling that you’re going to adore ‘Ugliness’. it’s urgently devastating yet blazingly gorgeous—dare i say an unprecedented collection of perspective and damaging histories.
Wow, what a glowing review!! I'm really excited to get to Ugliness!
I will never know peace again re the Iowa Writers Workshop!!!! Consider me clued 😎
Pls read Ugliness asap! I feel like it might be a while until I get round to it and I want to live vicariously through you & hear your thoughts on it! I also think you'd enjoy Bee Sting on a line level - very impressive storytelling even if it is 600 pages..
It was a pleasure to read Real Life with you, hear all your wisdom and riff about what IS the great American Novel, despite neither of us being American 😇
Ugliness seems so fab and I’m definitely reading The Bee Sting!
Excited for our next tandem read 🤗🤗
“Spent approximately 1 million dollars at coffee shops because it was the only way to shake off something I can’t even put my finger on now” - I feel seen 😌
It’s a curse!!
While technically I didn't finish it until after midnight this morning, Tin Man from Sarah Winman was probably my favorite read in February. Gut wrenching. Winman's great restraint leaves so much room for the heaviness of moments to just rest with you, as it does with the characters at many points. It never felt overwrought either. I'll have to sit with this one for a bit.
Oh wow, great review! My boyfriend read this last year and didn’t love it, so I never picked it up. But he’s been wrong before!!! Might have to reconsider.
It’s pretty slow and reflective, so if you’re a plot person then you might not like it. There’s some criticism that some of the characters feel unbelievable, but I think that misses a lot of the point — a lot of what we learn about one of the main characters is through nostalgic reflections of the past, where time and love tend to paint people with plenty of grace.
Sounds like a really interesting construction of a novel! I love that
Sounds like i’m due for Luster re-read!!
Would highly recommend!
you will be running that book club at your job in a few weeks tops
Big TBD!! I don’t know much about self help
Hard agree on wishing Universality were longer
Give me a brick Natasha, please!!!
Drop out, pushing stuff…
People do this as a…. Indefinitely?