Things I’ve been…

READING:

Might as well tell all the dirty secrets first, since this is the internet after all… I’m currently devouring the Grisha series, a trilogy of YA fantasy novels by Leigh Bardugo set in some version of Russia and grappling with romance, politics, and post-human themes. Right now I’m reading the second book, Siege and Storm, alongside Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, just to keep things spicy.

I did read a few more traditionally lauded works this summer too — Tess of the D’Ubervilles, The Circle, Au Bonheur des Dames, How Should a Person Be, and, in nonfiction, The Unwinding by George Packer. I tried to read Fifty Shades of Grey just to see what the hot fuss was about, but honestly, it took much too long to get to the good bits and the good bits were so-so at that.

As for poetry: far sexier than 50 Shades is Jan Beatty’s Red Sugar. I am in love with that book. I also read Pierce the Skin by our Henri Cole and Desire by Frank Bidart while studying with both of them up at the New York State Writers Institute this summer. I picked up Ararat while there, too, after listening to Louise Glück read her newer, longer-lined work.

WATCHING:

I haven’t been watching nearly as much Netflix as a grad student on her first summer break in 9 years should, but I did manage to catch a few films. Boyhood, Chef, and The Rover were the best; Malificent, Jersey Boys, and The Fault in Our Stars were the worst. Them’s fighting words, I know.

DEBATING:

My mother and I have an ongoing discussion about feminism and all its waves. This leads me to reading all kinds of interesting articles she points me towards. Right now, we’re in the thralls of discourse over “What is a Woman?” in the New Yorker. Feel free to chime in, too, in the comments, and I’ll let Mom know your thoughts.

I’ve also been lucky enough to visit a few potent art exhibits this summer. The most impressive and difficult was Kara Walker’s A Subtlety in Brooklyn’s old Domino Sugar Factory.

LISTENING TO:

I just found out there’s a 50’s burlesque music station on Songify. It’s ridiculous and perfect and audaciously offensive. Everything I could want in a playlist of songs. Also, I am in love with Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence. I wish I had made it nearly as much as I wish I had written Autobiography of Red or directed The Graduate and that really is the nicest thing I can say about art.