10 Things I Read and Loved in July
Recommended books and more (plus some choice correspondence with the one and only Greg Winkler, who is otherwise known as my father).
Whenever I wasn’t wiping sweat away from every crevice of my entire body this month, I was reading and loving these 10 things. I read some of these things on the beach. Most of them, though, I read in the A/C, which I have never been more thankful for.
1) Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos
Behold, my new favorite book about writing! As in, all-time favorite book about writing!!!! I highly recommend this to anyone who’s writing personal nonfiction. Since reading it, I’ve found myself approaching my own writing with less fear. I couldn’t have needed this book more than I did.
2) The lyrics of Sylvan Esso’s new single, “Didn’t Care”
Sylvan Esso is one of my favorite husband-and-wife music duos, and their new song is sort of an anti-love-at-first-sight love song. The lyrics feel true to life for most of us—often, the people we meet and wind up loving most of all are fairly ordinary to us when we first meet them, but that doesn’t mean meeting them isn’t worthy of celebration (or, in this case, worthy of song).
3) This very relatable tweet:
4) Speaking of tweets: every single tweet from @coldhealing
In their Twitter bio, @coldhealing self-identifies as a “tiktok anthropologist,” rounding up obscure, often unsettling TikToks that make me feel like I kind of know what’s going on on TikTok without actually having to be on TikTok (truly the work of the lord).
5) Little Rabbit by Alyssa Songsiridej
I flew through this novel in three days. It is un-put-down-able. If you’re planning to be by a pool at any point in August, this is the book to bring along.
6) Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 by Michael Azerrad
I wrote about this book in my last issue, too, but it really did take me all month to tackle all 21 hours of this amazing audiobook. Such a nice way to spend July!
My favorite part was Colin Meloy of The Decemberists reading the story of Hüsker Dü getting nervous about meeting Black Flag for the first time. When someone from Black Flag asked them, “Who even are you guys?” Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould replied, “We’re Hüsker Dü. Who the fuck are you?” 12/10 response, no notes.
7) A very nice email from my dad
He renewed my fishing license just so I can fish with him at their house in NC next time I come up for a visit 🥹
brb signing every email “Love you, Fish On, Hurley”
8) A very nice text from my dad
This one includes some excellent photos of my mom taking pictures of chipmunks in the yard:
Obsessed with the fact that he thinks people “audition” for photography jobs. (Also, he is definitely reading this newsletter right now. Love you, Big Doo!)
9) Miss Chloe: A Memoir of Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison by A.J. Verdelle
Technically, I’ve only read half of this one, but I have certainly loved the first half of this memoir. I’m a longtime Toni Morrison fan (and a big A.J. Verdelle fan—she was my thesis advisor in grad school!) and I’ve relished this chance to learn more about Morrison’s life through the lens of friendship and mentorship.
10) Ryan Broderick’s thoughts on Instagram’s decline
I recently found out about Ryan Broderick’s remarkable Substack newsletter, Garbage Day, in which he writes critically (and hilariously) about the Internet’s ever-changing landscape. Recently, he wrote about Instagram, which is gradually taking away our interactions with our actual friends and family and replacing them with… a lot of garbage? Here’s a great excerpt from that issue:
I thought of Ryan’s writing when I saw this TikTok the other day (which I saw not on TikTok, but on Twitter, but we’ve already addressed that).
YOU TELL ME
What’s the best thing you read this month? I’m hungry for some reading recs for August.
Love you, Fish On,
💛 Hurley
I have been busy in full-blown trial-prep mode this month, but I did find time to read Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant. It kinda blew me away….
WHAT SHOULD I READ IN AUGUST? Tell me! Drop links! Please and thank you!