Hello hello! I’m back! I have a lot to say so I will shut up and get to it. Here’s a recap of the last two weeks:
Things I Read
Books
I finished 7 books while I was at the beach! This is a record. They were all good!
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris: I saw this described as The Devil Wears Prada meets Get Out and was immediately on board. After reading it, I would say it’s much more Get Out. This is about a woman named Nella who works as an assistant at a big publishing house, and she is the only Black person who works there until a new girl, Hazel, shows up. Then things get WEIRD. I really enjoyed reading this but I found the ending a little lackluster. If this premise sounds interesting to you, I’d recommend this.
The Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy by Jenny Han: This is the other YA trilogy by Jenny Han, who wrote To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. I read this trilogy in high school and remember being *obsessed* with them. I wanted to reread them because they are making a miniseries! Honestly, I think these hold up pretty well. Plot: Belly has spent every summer at a beach house with her mom’s best friend and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. Then there is a very dramatic love triangle. Is it weird to be in a love triangle with two brothers? Maybe, ok, yes, but whatever. I still flew through all three of these in 24 hours.
The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgerton #2): I liked this so much better than the first one! I think part of that is because I read the first one after I watched the show, so I already knew the whole plot. But also, I think Anthony is a much more interesting character than Daphne, who has basically no personality besides being pretty. I really enjoyed this book and will keep going with the series. And it made me so excited for the next season of the show!
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry: Wow, I loved this so much. Emily Henry also wrote Beach Read, another standout. This one is about two best friends, Alex and Poppy, who have gone on a Summer Trip every year for decade. Until their trip two years ago, where some drama happened, and they haven’t spoken since. This was SO GOOD, it’s so cute and funny and just all around an excellent rom com. It follows them in present day and also flashes back to stories from all of their different trips throughout the years. This is my favorite book I read at the beach. Big, big recommend.
Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto: This was hilarious and so absurd. It’s about Meddelin, a woman who accidentally kills her blind date, and then calls in her four Aunties to help her manage the crisis. This is also about a huge wedding at a fancy resort, and also sort of a rom com. A little hard to describe, but it made me laugh out loud more than once. Similar to Crazy Rich Asians in vibe, but much sillier. It’s getting made into a movie, which I think will be hilarious. Will also read the sequel when it comes out. A fun beach read!
Articles
The Joke was Never on Jennifer Coolidge: Loved this profile of Jennifer, written by E. Alex Jung, who really just does not miss. Jennifer is *hilarious* in The White Lotus (which you should all be watching, on HBO), and it’s so fun to watch her in a role that is more nuanced.
Alex Cooper Takes All: Despite the fact that I think Call Her Daddy is a very bad podcast, I was very interested in the all the drama last year (probably because it was July and I hadn’t left my house in three months). If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can start here. TLDR: the two hosts had a very dramatic friendship and professional break-up, and since then Alex has been hosting the podcast on her own. A few weeks ago, Spotify bought the exclusive rights to Call Her Daddy for $60 million. Sixty! Million! Dollars! I cannot imagine a) making that much money at age 26 or b) being Sofia, the ex-co-host, who lost out on that much money. Anyway, this profile was an interesting read, and even though I think this podcast is dumb, Alex clearly knows what she is doing.
The Lines of Connection: Did you know that people in prison have to pay to use the phone? This is an issue that really gets me going. Just huge corporations exploiting vulnerable people for profit. Prison phone calls are ridiculously expensive, especially when you consider the fact that people in prison often make less than $1 an hour in their jobs. This Clint Smith article highlights how much the price of prison phone calls can affect not only people who are incarcerated, but their entire families. This practice makes it so much harder for children of people who are incarcerated to maintain a relationship with their parent. Incarcerated people maintaining connections with their loved ones is proven to reduce recidivism rates. Also, allowing people to speak to their families really seems like the absolute bare minimum. Prisons are so inhumane. Recently, Connecticut (where it used to cost $5 to make a 15-minute phone call) became the first state in the country to make all outgoing calls from youth detention centers (yes, CHILDREN in detention centers had to PAY TO CALL THEIR PARENTS) and state prisons free. This should happen everywhere.
Things I Watched
The Olympics: I have SO MUCH to say about this, whew. Some of it will be about sexual abuse, so content warning for that. I was already feeling a little jaded about the Olympics coming into this year, for many reasons. Obviously, covid is still a huge concern, and there are about 100 people on Team USA that are unvaccinated. Another thing I have been thinking about a lot is this article about how the Olympics are *so* terrible for the cities that host them and usually end up displacing huge amounts of people, usually those living in poverty. The Olympics should be held in the same place every time instead of having a new country spend billions of dollars every four years to build facilities that never get used again.
There’s also the Michael Phelps produced documentary, The Weight of Gold (on HBO), about how so many Olympic athletes have mental health problems, especially after the games are over, and receive little to no financial or emotional support.
There is Sha’Carri Richardson’s stupid suspension, and the fact that Caster Semenya cannot compete unless she medically alters her hormone levels, and the athletes who are breastfeeding mothers who had to beg to be allowed to bring their babies to Tokyo, and this racist decision about swim caps.
And THEN, there is USA Gymnastics. This organization is such garbage. Just a decades long colossal failure to do the absolute bare minimum. I have read/watched/listened to basically everything there is to consume about the Larry Nassar case (I recommend Athlete A on Netflix, At the Heart of Gold on HBO, and Heavy Metals, the 30 for 30 series about the Karolyis), and I feel so angry about the number of adults who fully abandoned HUNDREDS of girls, for decades, in pursuit of money and gold medals. It is so, so, so gross. USA Gymnastics has still done almost nothing to hold themselves accountable, and still, to this day, hasn’t even done an independent investigation into what happened and who knew what, when. Just a few weeks ago, a Department of Justice report came out that details how the FBI failed to investigate Nassar once they were alerted to his abuses, and then lied about that after the fact. Simone Biles said that one of the reasons she is still competing is because, “if there weren’t a remaining survivor in the sport, [USAG] would’ve just brushed it to the side.” I recommend reading this opinion piece about Simone and USAG, and I also recommend reading this recent Aly Raisman interview. This organization is irredeemable and needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.
Anyways, I’m not sure I have a larger point here besides that I have felt conflicted watching the Olympics this year. I feel upset that Simone is not competing, but also glad she made that choice for herself. I feel so happy for Suni!!! I feel upset for the nearly 200 Olympic-affiliated people who have tested positive for covid. I feel happy to watch Caeleb Dressel on my television doing anything, or doing nothing, I don’t care. And I feel so mad on behalf of everyone who has been screwed over by an organization that is supposed to support them and should have done better.
TV
Never Have I Ever: I love this show so much. Season one was a bright spot in last year’s horrible summer, and I thought season 2 was just as good. This is a Team Ben newsletter. Despite being very good looking, Paxton has no personality and is not nice to Devi in ways that are annoying and also is a 30 year old man!!! This simply cannot be overlooked, I’m sorry. This show is funny and heartwarming and just a true joy. I demand a Season 3. On Netflix.
Ted Lasso: This is not really something I would usually watch, but it got so much praise (and *so many* Emmy nominations) that I had to do it. It’s very good. I just watched season 1 a few weeks ago, and now season 2 episodes are coming out weekly, on Fridays. I really like Jason Sudeikis (this recent profile of him was very good) and everyone in this show is giving great performances. It’s very heartwarming and funny, and I am a person who could not care less about sports. Recommend! This is on Apple TV+.
Love is Blind: After the Altar: This is peak trash tv. Like everyone else, I got very invested in this show last year, so I obviously watched these three reunion episodes. What a MESS. If you liked the show, this is probably worth watching. Or, just read a summary to catch up on the gossip. I did like that they showed some of the people who didn’t get main story lines in the first season. On Netflix.
Things I Bought
I promise that after this week I will shut up about the beach, okay. But for now, three things I bought for this trip that I really liked:
Coverup: This was the perfect coverup. Super lightweight, you can wear it buttoned or unbuttoned, and it dried really fast if it ever got wet. I have it in white and I got my normal size.
Pillow slides: Unfortunately, I was tricked by an Instagram blogger into buying these ugly dumb shoes (read: she posted about them one (1) time and I bought them). BUT, they were great to wear on the beach! I don’t like to wear flip flops in the sand because I end up kicking sand all up the back of my legs while I walk and I am high maintenance and do not enjoy that experience. These do not do that, they stay on, are easy to walk in, and because they are so thick they are pretty comfortable. They look very dumb, but I simply do not care. Mine are white.
Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bum Bum Body Cream: This body cream is such a luxury. It smells *amazing* and is the perfect consistency. You know I am applying sunscreen like a mad woman when I am spending all day outside, so I find that my skin gets very dry when I do this multiple days in a row. I brought a little travel size of this with me and it was so nice to put this on after a shower, and this is exactly what I want to smell like on a beach vacation.
One Last Thing…
This is CAMP. I will be watching.
Ok I will shut up now, this is so long! I hope you all have a good week.
TTYL,
Emily