The months keep flying by me and I’m just about keeping up with it. I completely abandoned a May ‘10 things of interest,’ but we’re going to forgive me cause I’m only human. So…here’s this month’s round up!
10 things of interest
I have recently buried myself in romance novels. For whatever reason I’ve returned to my young adult days of reading really shitty, utterly cringe, romance novels that often stage completely irrational female characters. “The Chemistry of Love” by Sariah Wilson literally had me binge reading the book. It was lame and I loved it. Sometimes you need those sort of books.
- “I wasn’t going to send this” is worth sharing in this months round up because I think all writers — and probably all creatives — feel imposter syndrome at some point. I shared this quotes on Notes, but in case you’ve not seen it, here it is: “You will never be good, or skilled, or comfortable at something you’ve never done before. If you acknowledge that going in, and temper your expectations accordingly, it can help quiet the discouraging voice.”
- from Practical Space shared a beautiful short memoir about a childhood friendship that didn’t last and the complexities of it: “No. 14 - The Lords of Summer”
I have to share writings from one of my favourite Subtack writers
who writes so poetically it hurts. In “lover”, she writes about singing Taylor Swift’s song to her son and the acknowledgement of what Swift must have gone through now that she’s recently single again — the public break up and performance she must give to sing songs that have been inspired by someone she is not long with.Another beautiful writer,
from Small Stories writes in “inheritance” about her grandmother, what she remembers about her and what she inherited: a gold wedding band. To her son, Laura passes on a battered copy of The Secret History. It’s a sweet telling of what we inherit and what we give to others.- is a bi-weekly advice column and a few weeks ago, writer Eliza Dumais penned an essay about love, ownership, and fear of change in response to a reader who didn’t want their significant other to fix their teeth. Her response floored me and I hope you take the time to read it: “am i the asshole bc i don't want my s/o to fix her teeth?”
- from Counter Craft shared insight in his piece “Goodreads Has No Incentive to be Good” about the literacy controversy that has unfolded over the past week. Essentially it boils down to Goodreads being at the centre of trolls, spam and harassment campaigns by readers who are review-bombing books before they’ve been published. A fascinating telling about the power of a good review and what several bad ones can do to an author — even famous ones like Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote Eat, Pray, Love.
Writer Angie Mazakis shared a sad, but beautiful telling of her father’s dementia diagnosis and how his use of Facebook was a reflection of how he internally felt — multiple messages, reposting of the same meme, setting up a group chat with 50 people in it. I encourage you to read it: “My Dad Had Dementia. He Also Had Facebook.”
Writer Tiffany Forbes from The Cut wrote a piece that I need to weigh in on: “Birthday Registries: Presumptuous or Brilliant? 13 Women Weigh In”. In all honesty, I think a registry removes the stressful need to decide what to get someone. Being able to successful purchase something, knowing full well they would use it and that you’re money is put to good use is great. I always think you never want to be the person who bought them that blue glass shaped Dolphin that they feel obligated to put out everytime you swing by for a visit.
Tonight for dinner I’m returning to favourite savoury dish: Chinese aubergine in garlic sauce. Best served with a side of sticky rice.
“Asking for a Friend”
Thanks for the share, Natalie! ❤️ And wow, I really enjoyed that post about Goodreads. It’s all too true.