Hello there,
I'm back after a really rough summer involving multiple family and personal medical crises and months of oppressive heat, so I did quite a bit of reading and TV watching. Here are some highlights.
Watch
After we finished the Sopranos, my husband and I watched Boardwalk Empire, which is fun though not nearly as good as the Sopranos.
In the meantime, here are a few recent releases that I enjoyed:
Human Playground (Netflix) is a docuseries about various types of competitions around the world. It doesn't quite gel as a series but some of the competitions are super interesting and would merit their own documentary. It's a good distraction.
Beckham (Netflix) is something of a hagiography of David Beckham, but is really charming and surprisingly delightful to watch. (I was admittedly a little bored during some of the longer soccer parts, though).
Also, the very funny gay pirate show Our Flag Means Death is back for its second season.
Read
The Man Who Could Move Clouds is a perfect October read: a real-life ghost story that's exquisitely written. It's a memoir that focuses on the author's family and their involvement with witchcraft and the supernatural, her upbringing amid violence in Colombia, and her experience with amnesia.
I will read any and all updated feminist reimaginings of Greek myths, so I really enjoyed Medusa's Sisters and Clytemnestra. Perfect escapist reading.
Killers of the Flower Moon is an incredible feat of reporting about a series of murders on the Osage reservation in Oklahoma and the pursuit of justice to find the killers. It's not just shocking in the scope of the killings, but also how the government stripped the Osage of their rights to their own money as one of the richest Indigenous tribes in the country. I wanted to read the book before the movie comes out this month, and I'm glad I did.
Coyote America is a history of coyotes in the United States, which was more interesting than I anticipated; some of it was frankly shocking. I have so much appreciation for this incredible species of animal and its ability to survive in so many different climates and cities after the U.S. government tried very hard to wipe them out for more than a century.
The Great Displacement, by my talented colleague Jake Bittle, is a preview of what's to come in the U.S. as climate catastrophes destroy entire communities. I was worried it would just be really bleak, but it's not all doom and gloom, and the writing is so good that it's a quick read.
See the full list of recommendations here.
Until next time,
Rachel