ideas I've been collecting #3

the best things I've found/read/watched/listened to lately

from pinterest! creator unknown

Hi lovely people! Reporting live from my little balcony because London has been inexplicably sunny and warm (I just want it to be autumn but I’m not complaining). There’s a ladybug next to me which, somehow, there always seems to be.

As part of what I’ll be sending to my paid subscribers, I’ve decided to also start sharing a monthly roundup of the very best things and ideas I’ve found each month. I’m a chronic notetaker so I never lose anything good I find; I might as well start sharing it with you regularly. I want you guys to leave each monthly roundup issue with new resources to explore, new ideas to think about, things to listen to and contemplate - and most importantly, I want you to feel inspired. So here’s my October roundup so far!

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[video] Booktok and the hotgirlification of reading, by Mina Le

I watched this 47-minute video essay by

Mina Le

and would highly recommend it, I learned so much and really loved the style of her analysis. That’s where I learned that there’s such a job as being a library curator or celebrity book stylist, basically people that help celebrities that own and carry books not because they read, but as a performative indicator of the vibe and identity they want to portray. Dystopian, sad, unbelievable, lowkey a dream job. It’s crazy to me to see celebrities plainly admitting that their libraries are full of books that they just bought to showcase, and just insane to dive into the whole world that is reading as a performance, and not to actually, you know, read! We might do an episode on this on Espresso Epilogues so stay tuned, cause there’s a lot to discuss. Mina’s video also goes into publishing trends, and the way publishers are unfortunately now choosing authors not based on their writing and talent, but based on their TikTok following and online identity, and on who can effortlessly sell more books through their online community. It’s a game that aspiring authors unfortunately have to play today, even if they don’t want to. Where will it lead? Not sure.

[interview] Emily Ratajkowski on NYT’s Modern Love podcast

I love NYT’s Modern Love and this was a great episode. Emrata chooses to read an essay about falling for an “I’m the man”-man, a traditional gender role-upholding man who the writer fell for because it was the first time someone insisted on taking care of her. Emrata is a very capable woman and she knows it. She goes into why the essay resonated with her, as someone who has always found it hard to find a man that’s more capable than she is, better at taking care of her than she is. As a single mother, entrepreneur, author, and I don’t know how many other things, she admits that sometimes being so good at taking care of herself can be isolating; “she can take care of herself, but a little help would be nice”. It was a great conversation.