The Audacious Roundup
For the week of March 2nd
AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our March selection will be Tell Me How You Eat: Food, Power and the Will to Live by Amber Husain. We will be in conversation with Amber on March 21st, at 1 pm EST/10 am PST. Registration is open.
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
Sometimes, really unexpected but delightful things happen to a writer. Bad Feminist is the March pick for Dua Lipa’s book club. I made a playlist for readers. I also offer some feminist reading recommendations. And then, Ashley Ford writes some very kind things about our mentor relationship that has blossomed into a wonderful friendship.
This Saturday I will be at the New Orleans Book Festival, in conversation with Imani Perry!
The Forgotten Occupation is available for rent or purchase from your favorite video purveyor, including AppleTV.
Book and project links: Books I’ve Written, RGB Imprint Titles, Rebind: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; The Forgotten Occupation.
READING MATERIAL
The United States and Israel continue to bomb Iran.
It’s not really good news in that there’s always a nesting doll of terrible where the Trump regime is concerned but Kristi Noem is out at Homeland Security and some other asshole is taking her place.
As you might imagine, and as I have shared here before, conditions in ICE facilities are miserable. They are criminally bad. This is so unjust.
James Talarico won the democratic primary in TX so Jasmine Crockett is out of the Senate race but I am confident we will see her again.
There is a network of safe houses protecting people from ICE.
Another day, another group of young Republicans getting caught being absolutely abhorrent.
It’s always interesting to see that the billionaires that ruin everything are uninteresting and petty. Also, why haven’t our leaders done something about this prediction market nonsense? The way gambling can be so easily accessed by so many is… not going to end well.
Whenever I read about the healthcare system in this country, I am reminded of what an abject shame it is.
There are people who managed to refuse Epstein. Sometimes, all it takes is a cursory online search to learn that a pedo is a pedo.
Colin Gray, who gave his son a gun that the son then used in a mass shooting, has been sentenced to prison.
Why do the AI chatbots convince so many people to die by suicide? It’s… really chilling and unacceptable. That it has happened even once should be enough to rethink the whole thing.
You can’t copyright AI-generated art. That is a very good thing. What exactly are you copyrighting?
Because human nature is what it is, I shouldn’t be surprised that influencers are making a grotesque spectacle of Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping, but I am, indeed, surprised.
Rachel Aviv’s profile of Gisèle Pelicot and how her family has fractured in the wake of… all of it, was incredibly well done, and quite heartbreaking.
We often hear stories about how chefs are abusive and it’s appalling how common place it is in the industry. Anyway, Noma chef Rene Redzepi seems like he is (or, perhaps was) one of the worst.
Here’s a shocker: sexism was (is?) rampant at Pixar (and everywhere else).
Darryl Hannah speaks on the new FX show about JFK Jr. and how she is portrayed.
Car payments are getting very expensive because cars are getting very expensive. For most people, $800 is unaffordable, but here we are.
A WNBA player punched a man in a nightclub and I don’t need to know a single detail more to say FREE ARIKE! INNOCENT!
This past week I learned that marathoners have deep and passionate feelings about the medals they receive at the finish line and they are very angry that the LA Marathon is offering a shorter route (18 miles, NOT SHORT) because of the heat. The discourse is intense. Also, runners have lots of opinions about who gets to enter marathons and how fast they run the race. MIND YOUR BUSINESS. Goddamn.
As of late, we’ve had reason to consider the oddity that is the celebrity Go Fund Me. Are they really just like us? Or is it something a bit sinister?
A consideration of fancy bathhouses.
Finally, an airline is taking a stand on the menace of people listening to things on their phones without headphones.
Here is Padma Lakshmi’s Grub Street diet. I watched the pilot of her new cooking show and it’s… interesting though I don’t fully get it yet. She is awesome on it, tho.
An excerpt from Christina Applegate’s new memoir.
A man wrote Judy Blume’s biography and now she won’t talk to him. Now, I happened to once go to school with this writer so I find this story particularly interesting. Also, I gotta say, I hope a woman writes a Blume biography, someday.
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Adjacent.
Dimes Square, blah blah blah. I appreciate the mmmm the unique range of writing people are putting into the world but when I hear the phrase Dimes Square, I just zone out a little. This sort of “edgy” writing that isn’t really edgy, that is often imbued with careless
Timothy SkiChalet said some words about ballet and opera that were maybe just awkwardly phrased or maybe ridiculous. Who knows?
Fashion brand Hanifa is pausing production for the foreseeable future.
Shout out to the Staples Baddie. She is an absolute delight on TikTok.
The Brady Bunch house is going to become a landmark.
Anderson Paak comes from an interesting family; here’s a deep dive.
Here’s the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction!
Nominations are open for the Ursula LeGuin book prize.
Scratch is coming back as a newsletter.
What’s that? A new Rihanna album? OH, let this be true. Let her bless our ears, our spirits, our souls.
An appreciation of stamp design.
Even though spring is gently springing here is Alice Water’s chicken soup recipe.
I get so much joy out of your Roundups and often read bits and pieces to my family.
Terrific roundup. And the playlist!