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.
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL NEWS
There’s a new review of Frighten the Horses in Cleaver Magazine and its a beaut.
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
The brilliant Debbie Millman wrote about how Trump is trying to impose his brand on American democracy.
In Gaza, a ceasefire and agreement to return the remaining hostages. Let’s hope that something good comes of this and that Palestine will know freedom.
ICE/DHS is lying, of course, about an incident in Chicago where they shot a civilian.
Sort of unexpected, but Marjorie Taylor Greene (always and forever odious), is breaking ranks with her fellow MAGAts.
True story: Trump wants to build an Arc de Trump and I’m sure he will get his way, as per usual.
The resistance is wearing inflatable costumes.
The regime’s USAID cuts are having a devastating effect on the rest of the world. Children are starving, literally not metaphorically.
In news that should surprise no one, most Americans don’t want the military deployed against us. Unfortunately, the regime has not gotten that memo.
That said, the great news is that Trump did not win the Nobel Peace Prize. How he could, for one fraction of a second, think he was eligible is beyond me. Anyway, it went to someone actually deserving—Maria Corina Machado. ETA: Maybe she isn’t deserving because she dedicated the prize to Trump?!?!?! But, I suspect, this is a politician politicking so Trump doesn’t retaliate for not winning a prize he will never earn or deserve. The Literature prize went to László Krasznahorkai.
A grand jury indicted Letitia James on trumped up (literally) charges as the president continues to try and avenge his fragile ego,
AI data centers are bad for so so many reasons!
One of the men who raped Gisele Pelicot appealed his sentence and received ten more years. Sometimes you should just sit there and eat your food.
A profile of a woman who helps former Pantex employees file worker compensation claims.
Taylor Swift has released a new album. It’s not good.
Denmark wants to restrict social media for children underage of fifteen; it’s not a bad idea!
The Onion made us a little movie about Jeffrey Epstein.
CBS News is now being run by Bari Weiss who was once rejected as a permanent host at The View. She has asked news staffers to write a Musk-like memo about what they’ve been up to and what is and isn’t working within the organization. This is all very alarming.
An arrest was made in the Palisades fire; it looks like it was arson, as authorities suspected.
Susan Orlean has a new memoir, Joyride, out this month. She will be at Symphony Space, in conversation with Sloane Crosley, on October 15th, which may or may not be my birthday.
If you have ever wondered about Revolutionary War reenactors, Caity Weaver has some insights to share.
A cultural history of the “foodie.” A conversation with Alison Saar. A conversation with Bryan Stevenson.
Some spend the weekend at Camp Crystal Lake in Rutledge, GA, and look out for Jason.
After her sister asked for prayers for Dolly Parton’s health, Dolly had to release a video statement to assure us all that she is fine. Thank goodness.
Laura Kipnis tackles Elizabeth Gilbert’s new memoir which is a really interesting pairing, if we were to think of criticism as wine.
Truly, there is something wrong with men who are… betting on WNBA players’ menstrual cycles. WHAT? That is weird.
Here are the winners of MacArthur genius grants this year and here are the National Book Award finalists.
This is a rough one… RIP Diane Keaton.
Brandon Taylor’s new novel Minor Black Figures was reviewed in the Times. Stay tuned this coming Tuesday for an excerpt from that novel, in this very space.
An excerpt from Malala’s new memoir.
Oh no! Trump-fan Machado doesn’t “deserve” the Nobel Peace Prize…