What I am currently reading
And loving
I can never read just one book at a time. Some might see this as a sign of commitment issues, but–while they might be right to spot them, if we were talking about say… relationships– when it comes to reading, they are completely off track. It’s just that, to me, reading one book at a time feels a bit like having the same food at every meal – a very boring, monotonous, pre-Christmas wheat berry diet. I like my reading compendium more like a lavish buffet breakfast at a five-star hotel – I can have scrambled eggs one morning and a Danish pastry the next (maybe even nick some boiled eggs for lunch). When I sit on the sofa in the evening, I have no idea what mood I will be in and what I will feel like eating reading most.
Sometimes I want to be stimulated intellectually, to be presented with the highest rate of consonant-crammed dictionary words per minute, other times to just grin idiotically at the page and be reminded of all there is to love about life (and as a novel recently reaffirmed: plenty!)
This modus operandi is well and good until it comes to traveling (especially with Wizz Air). I always carry at least five books with me at all times. I have to do things like eschew the fashionable mini hobo handbags and embrace scoliosis. Anyway! I am currently having a fabulous time with all of my travel companions, and I thought I’d write about them. And also, keep this short and sweet.
Girl on Girl by Sophie Gilbert: This one is from the intellectually stimulating pile. Sophie Gilbert is a staff writer at the Atlantic (one of my favourite online media outlets), and she has won several awards for her reviews and criticism. She’s a wizard with words. Her book Girl on Girl is an essential read for any woman (the men that want to be woke, feminist, super attractive to females, and reverse toxic patterns – for you too). The book is about how pop culture (celebrities such as Spice Girls and the Kardashians) and mass media (TV shows, films, and magazines) have shaped and influenced our values and perpetuated misogyny and sexism. It’s about how female sexuality became what it is today and about women’s relationship with themselves and each other.
I don’t think I realized until reading this how internalized misogyny is! You always think you’re self-aware and that you dictate your own behaviours and beliefs, but… can you ever be really sure?? Read this if you want to find out.
The Wedding People by Alison Espach: This book is from the life-affirming pile and is absolute perfection.
I haven’t had this much fun reading a book since Bridget Jones’s Diary (people often think of the movie, which has the reputation of just your standard cheesy romcom, but the book is actually really good and well-written).
Anyway, The Wedding People, ah, where to begin. It’s just got in it everything you might want from a novel: humour, wisdom, profound observations, witty, zesty dialogue, good writing, characters you grow to care for.
Forty-year-old Phoebe, a college professor, goes to the Cornwall Inn, a fancy hotel in Rhode Island, to commit suicide. She doesn’t have much in life left to hope for. Her husband has left her for one of her younger colleagues, she can’t have children because of infertility, her novel of ten years is still unfinished, her cat is dead, even her therapist can’t help her. So she plans on ordering room service, having some lavish food for the last time (definitely having the dessert), admiring the ocean, and then overdosing on her cat’s painkillers.
But in the elevator, she stumbles into Lila, a 28-year-old pernickety, high-strung bride, who has spent a million dollars (her deceased father’s money) to have the wedding of her dreams. Surely, she’ll not allow her wedding to be ruined by Phoebe’s morbid plans. The two, somewhat despite their wills, become friends, and everything starts to unravel. By the end, nothing is the same. This is a novel about loss and grief, and yet somehow, it is also one of those books that reminds you of all there is to love about life, and left to hope for. Just when you need it most.
I really hope someone turns it into a movie ASAP! I can’t go on without Phoebe much longer.
And speaking of weddings, The All-or-Nothing Marriage by Eli J. Finkel: This is a work of nonfiction, in which Finkel, a relationship researcher, details how the concept of marriage has evolved over time–from pragmatic to love-based to self-expressive. He draws attention to the fact that, interestingly, this has a striking resemblance to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. (When it comes to our romantic relationships, we are now at the top of Mount Maslow, seeking self-actualization.) The book focuses on the self-expressive marriage, what it means and what it takes to make it work. The advice and ‘lovehacks’ he offers are actually pretty original and insightful.
(I love reading the dedication and acknowledgements page in a book, and this one’s was super cute: ‘To my wife, Alison, who finds it hilarious that I am a marriage expert’.)
Constant Reader, Dorothy Parker: This is a collection of all of Dorothy Parker’s columns for the New Yorker between the years 1927-28. No one can turn a phrase like Dorothy Parker. And just like Nora Ephron, all I’ve ever wanted in this life is to have Parker’s quick wit and sharp one-liners. Alas, hasn’t everyone? As Crosley writes in the foreword, Dorothy Parker never lay in bed wishing she had said the right thing, because she had always said the right thing.
Reading these in an age of threading all sensitive topics delicately lest someone gets offended, I am amazed by Dorothy Parker’s courage to write whatever’s on her mind, and to pay no heed to anyone’s feelings... It seems as though she even delighted slightly in slighting people! And who could blame her–she was Dorothy Parker.
Much more to say, but as I said, I am trying to keep this short and sweet. If you give me some positive reinforcement (a like, a restack), I will attempt to keep some of my other posts shorter, too! Let me know in the comments which book piques your interest the most, and I will write about it in more detail in a future post.
To Reality
With Love,
