Hello hello! Between this week’s election and the fact that Daylight Savings is happening this week, I’m feeling…..not great! I did try to not be a downer throughout this entire newsletter, and I’ll let you all decide if I’ve succeeded. Here’s a recap of my week:
Things I Read
Books
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood: This was so good! It has been getting a lot of hype on Book Internet and I think it lived up. It’s about Olive, a Ph.D student studying pancreatic cancer who, for several reasons, starts fake dating Adam Carlsen, a professor known for being super strict and mean. What can I say, I love a fake dating plot. Sue me. I flew through this in a day and definitely recommend! Content warning for cancer and sexual harassment.
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee: Always a good sign of how I’m doing when I start *rereading* romance novels. I first read this book three years ago and have honestly never stopped thinking about it. I’ve forced it onto many of my friends at this point, so I decided to read it again. The plot is honestly ridiculous, it’s about a 39 year old woman named Solene who starts dating Hayes Cambell, a 20 year old member of a boy band called August Moon. Absolutely nothing anyone says will convince me that this book is not about Harry Styles, and watching him date Olivia Wilde after reading this has been a TRIP. Anyway, this book is good and if you’re in a reading slump, this would be my first recommendation to pull you out of it.
Articles
Ministry of Violence: This is the first of a three part series on Talia Lavin’s Substack about the use of corporal punishment among Evangelical Christian communities. This was harrowing to read, but really informative about all the ways in which this practice is dangerous and harmful. I have yet to read part 2, but I learned a lot from the first one.
The Texas Abortion Ban Could Lose at the Supreme Court: I’m still following this closely and continue to be filled with dread. It looks as if SCOTUS may end up striking down this Texas law, but I fully expect them to overturn Roe v. Wade in their decision later this term regarding a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi. I wrote more about how I feel about all of this here, but the TLDR is: very, very bad. This article sums up what happened in oral arguments on the Texas law earlier this week. Support your local abortion fund.
Things I Watched
TV
You: I thought the third season of this was very good. The show takes such a turn each season, it almost feels like a new show every time. I watched all of season 2 in one day and hardly remembered it, but it really didn’t matter. This is very dark and creepy, but also very funny? I read the first two books in the series this is based on, but the show is SO much better. I really liked this new season. I almost wish it hadn’t gotten renewed, because I think this would have been a good way for this to end. All the side characters in this season were so good! Special shoutout to Scott Speedman, my celeb crush of the month. On Netflix.
Dickinson: This show is criminally underrated, so I am here to yell at all of you to watch it as the third and final season begins. This is SO good, one of my favorites from recent years. Hailee Steinfeld plays Emily Dickinson as she comes of age and strives to become a published author. This is set in 1800s Massachusetts, but it has a modern tone. The music in this show is so GOOD. It took me a few episodes to get into it, but once I was I was fully on board and I thought the second season was excellent. Hailee is incredible in this, and I wish more people were watching it. First three episodes of the final season are out now, on Apple TV+.
Movies
The French Dispatch: This is the newest Wes Anderson movie and it has a truly impeccable cast. Wes Anderson is known for his very specific aesthetic, and his movies are very artsy and weird. This one dials all of that up to a 10, to the point where I don’t think anyone who isn’t actively a fan of his would enjoy it very much. This is sort of an anthology film—The French Dispatch is a magazine, and the movie moves through several different stories that are published in the magazine’s final issue. There’s not really a beginning, middle, and end here, it’s a bunch of small stories. I liked parts of this more than others, and I did think it was really fun visually. The cast is just amazing. This is just a very specific type of movie that I don’t think everyone will like. You can probably tell from the trailer whether or not this is for you. For now, this is only in theaters.
Freaky: This is a bad movie. I watch one (1) horror-adjacent movie a year, on Halloween. I’m not sure why this movie was on my radar? Maybe because it stars Kathryn Newton, who I really like. She plays a high school student who ends up in a Freaky Friday body-switch situation with Vince Vaughn, who is a serial killer. It’s bad! Don’t watch it. On HBO.
Beautiful Boy: You may or may not have noticed that this is the fourth movie starring Timothee Chalamet that I have watched in the past two weeks, to which I say: No Comment, thanks for asking! I hadn’t seen this since it came out in 2018, so I watched it again this week. Timmy plays Nic Sheff, a teenager struggling to pull himself out of a drug addiction. His dad, David, is played by Steve Carrell. This is a harrowing portrayal of drug addiction, so emotional and scary and devastating. I’m not sure I think it’s a good movie as much as I think Timmy and Steve both give really incredible performances. This movie will wreck you, be warned. On Amazon.
Things I Bought
It’s Sephora sale season! It’s open now for Rouge, Tuesday if you’re VIB, and Thursday for everyone. I think I’m making quite a big purchase this year. I want to get a perfume (I’m still trying to figure out which one), a new Laneige lip sleeping mask (obsessed with this), and I’m planning to pick out a new retinol to try. If you are shopping, here’s five of my current favorite things:
Farmacy Clean Bee Ultra Gentle Facial Cleanser: This is such a nice, gentle cleanser. I really like everything I’ve tried from this brand. It qualifies as Clean at Sephora (there is no industry-wide standard for what qualifies as “Clean Beauty,” so Sephora has its own standards that brands have to meet to qualify. This is not a requirement for me, but I do consider it a plus if a product is Clean)
Sunscreen: Obviously I recommend you always be fully stocked on this front. Two good options are Supergoop Glowscreen or this one from Dermalogica.
Saie Glowy Super Gel: I LOVE this stuff. I will wear this all over my face, on top of an SPF, and not even put on foundation. It makes your skin look so glowy and fresh and awake.
Indie Lee Coq-10 Toner: I love everything about this. It feels so hydrating, and the packaging and spray top feel so luxurious. I wouldn’t say toner is a super necessary step of a skincare routine, but I love this one.
First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream: This is such a good moisturizer. It’s a whipped consistency and feels super lightweight, but still extremely hydrating. I am switching to something a little more heavy duty for the winter, but I really love this.
One Last Thing…
Continuing my project of writing up lists of my favorite things, this week a wrote up a big list of non-fiction books I recommend. I find reading non-fiction to be a completely different experience from reading fiction, and I really need to be interested in the topic or I simply cannot focus enough to finish the book. I do love a memoir, so there are quite a few on this list. Hopefully there is something on here that interests you!
That’s it for me! Here’s to next week being better than this one.
TTYL,
Emily