AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our October selection is The Wilderness by Angela Fluornoy. We will have a live book club discussion with Angela on October 30th. Registration is open! I hope to see many of you there. For newcomers, there is a bookclub FAQ if you have questions about how it all works. We’re partnering with the lovely people at Allstora for the Audacious Book Club. Now, you can sign up to have the monthly selections delivered to your doorstep each month! Otherwise, I’ve put together an Audacious Book Club storefront if you want to buy current or forthcoming book club titles.
You can watch our conversations with Taylor Byas and Elaine Castillo on YouTube.
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL NEWS
A great review of Hitch in Publisher’s Weekly.
For the New York Times, I wrote about the fantasy of civility and the way it is weaponized as a means of discursive control. And then I appeared on Pod Save America and spoke with Alex Wagner about civility, the political climate, and how murder is bad.
I’ll join fellow Omahan Amber Ruffin on stage in Hartford, CT on October 8th. On October 18th, from 11 am to noon, I will be appearing at the Chicago Humanities Festival, talking about a decade of Bad Feminist. On October 22nd, I will be in Amsterdam, at the DeBalie festival. On October 25th, I will be at the Counterpublic “Circus of Life” convening. Come through!
Thanks to you guys and other readers, The Portable Feminist Reader is a NYT bestseller! So thank you! And if you haven’t gotten a copy yet, there’s still time! (And there will always be time, it’s a book.) And check out Love Letter to a Garden, by Debbie Millman.
Book and project buying links: Books I’ve Written, RGB Imprint Titles, Rebind: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.
READING MATERIAL
RIP Jane Goodall.
From 1941, “Who Goes Nazi?” by Dorothy Thompson.
The news from this country is perpetually embarrassing. There was an incident with an escalator at the UN that has become… a conspiracy theory? Ridiculous.
By the by, who is running the Department of Homeland Security?
ICE raided an apartment building in Chicago, in the middle of the night. They made a sizzle reel of their military theatrics.
Apple delisted the app ICEBlock but the app’s developer is going to fight it. As they should.
Dr. Brainworm and Golden Toilet Man have decided to target Tylenol as the cause of autism, a genetic condition. This is ridiculous and embarrassing and dangerous. Listen to actual doctors.
An FBI agent refused to perp walk James Comey after his bullshit indictment, so of course that agent was fired. The FBI also fired agents who knelt in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.
Fox News host Pete Hegseth summoned all the top brass to Quantico and then gave them a lecture on the warrior ethos. He was followed by the president rambling incoherently. In summary: No beards, feel free to use Americans as target practice, and lose some weight.
Puddin’ Pants DeSantis took over New College of Florida, to prove some kind of asinine point and anywhere, now things are going terribly there.
In Manchester UK, a man attacked a synagogue on Yom Kippur, no less, and murdered two people, injured several others.
Erika Kirk seems to be more than willing to serve as a symbol and take up where her husband left off.
Jimmy Kimmel is back on the air. He was taken off the air in an act of blatant censorship. Sinclair and NextStar then refused to air the show, so about 1/4 of the country still couldn’t watch his show. Oh no! (It’s fine. They relented.) This has all been a ridiculous mess. Disney lost about $4 billion and apparently a million people unsubscribed from Disney+, which, GOOD! Hit ‘em again.
Here is how the Haitians in Springfield are doing today.
Extremist Nick Fuentes continues to march toward some kind of self-loathing induced armageddon.
There was a mass shooting at a Mormon church in Michigan.
In Japan, they have elected their first woman prime minister.
Good news, I guess? Eric Adams is dropping out of the mayoral race, so there is one less potential menace in line to run the city,
This investigative piece about Amy Griffin and her memoir The Tell is…. mighty interesting.
The Ryder Cup was an embarrassing mess this year as American spectators harassed the European golfers.
Writer and podcaster Ira Madison III recently suffered a devastating fire and now has to rebuild his life. If you would like to help him in that endeavor, there is a GoFundMe.
Michael Chabon reflects on twenty-five years of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
A fruitarian went to Bali and… died. It is such a senseless tragedy. Some influences are very bad!
AI is not the future.
Though this essay is a year old and change, it is well worth your time—Christina Sharpe’s The Shapes of Grief.
It seems that Bluestockings, the venerable feminist bookstore has closed suddenly. I hope it can come back, on more stable ground.
A bunch of really famous and successful comedians went to Saudi Arabia to participate in a comedy festival, untroubled by the nation’s human rights violations, censorship, and journalist murdering.
I am loving the new NYT game Pips. Here’s a bit of behind the scenes as to how the game was created and who makes the puzzles each day.
A conversation with Mona Awad. A conversation with Isabelle Huppert and Hari Nef. A profile of Carol Burnett who still has something to say. A profile of Florence Welch.
There are some nice new restaurants in upstate New York.
Interesting news for people who might want to have a child without the involvement of a man: researchers fertilized human eggs with skin cells!
When a couple parts ways and each releases an album after the fact.
Reading Rainbow has a new host!
Cumbia deejays in Mexico!
The economics of publishing don’t really add up, but the industry keeps playing book roulette.
Are you an author whose worse was stolen by Anthropic? You can file a claim, now. Tangentially, Amazon, will be paying a $2.5 billion settlement for tricking people into signing up for Amazon PRime.
Best American Poetry is ending its run this year and while it is an overall loss for exposing a wide audience to poetry, it may not be a bad thing, given the series editor.
Everything old is new again. Universities are having to teach students how to read long books again.
Mend your clothing but make it fashion!
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are getting a divorce. WHAT DID HE DO? (A few weeks ago, Debbie and I were having dinner at the Corner Bar and who should be sitting at the next table but Keith Urban and a couple of his friends (I guess?). Anyway. That hair cut is a choice!)
The New York Liberty won the WNBA championship season last year; why on earth did the team fire their coach this year? And speaking of the league, the post-season is SPICY! Napheesa Collier dropped some real truth about how poorly the players are treated (and paid).
A love letter to a cat (a profound and lovely love letter).
Thee Solange Knowles has launched a community library/archive dedicated to Black writing.
Bad Bunny is headlining the Super Bowl. It’s a wonderful choice. Predictably, some folks (you know who) are losing their shit. The regime says ICE will have a presence at the Super Bowl and the only thing we can say to that is FUCK ICE.
Marion Cotillard visits the Criterion Collection closet. And take a tour of the David Bowie Archive.
Detective Benson is mother?
Really enjoyed the article about publishing.
Thank you for your NYT article. I have passed along to so many.