AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Book club news! 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!
Our August selection is Nice Girls Don’t Win by Parvati Shallow. We will have a live book club discussion with the author on August 28th at 8pm EST/5 am PST. Registration is open! I hope to see many of you there. I’ve put together an Audacious Book Club storefront if you want to buy current or forthcoming book club titles. There is a bookclub FAQ if you have questions about how it all works.
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL NEWS
I was interviewed for Corinne Fay’s “Big Undies” newsletter, where we talked all things sartorial!
On September 13th, I will be in Omaha, Neb., at the Get Lit Festival! On October 18th, from 11 am to noon, I will be appearing at the Chicago Humanities Festival, talking about a decade of Bad Feminist. 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 U.S. now owns a 10% stake in Intel which, well, I didn’t realize countries can own parts of companies but here we are.
Trump, meanwhile, is continuing his relentless attack on the arts because he has no taste among many, many shortcomings. He is also trying to relitigate slavery which, in another timeline, would be unthinkable but in this one, well, feels kind of predictable and pathetic. And, he is planning on sending National Guard troops into Chicago as his sad little power flex continues. He’s also using federal law enforcement to harass his political enemies. Incompetence is busy!
Deportation is definitely here to stay as evidenced by the fact that Kristi Noem wants to buy a fleet of deportation planes.
Clint Smith offers a necessary reminder that yes, slavery was terrible.
RIP notorious child hater and man who loves domestic violence James Dobson has finally kicked the proverbial bucket. Good riddance to this terrorist.
Despite state Democrats leaving the state to prevent a vote, Texas has gone further down the racism rabbit hole, to redistrict, mid-cycle, because little lord fuckleroy in the white house, wanted it done. California is responding in kind and I’m fine with that. Obama supports it, too! Fight fire with fire, I guess.
Someone connected to Eric Adams tried to give a journalist some cash in a bag of Herr’s sour cream and onion potato chips. Everything connected to this guy is just weird and half-assed.
JD Vance should be heckled whenever he pops out.
Given the general tenor of this country I’m surprised (but glad) that mass shooting hoaxes don’t happen more. This past week, there was one such event at Villanova.
Snoop Dogg, marijuana aficionado, is scandalized by lesbians, especially in Disney movies.
Tariffs are affecting everyone, even gamers.
It will come as no surprise that there is an inextricable link between beauty standards and class (AND ALSO RACE).
Age verification laws are a huge privacy infringement and are a detriment/danger to us all.
A profile of RF Kuang, with a new novel on the horizon, in The New Yorker. A short profile of designer Chip Kidd.
On the pleasures of reading online. It’s lovely!
I am not a fan of this “new” genre of clickbait/online engagement. It is wildly inauthentic.
Brooke Johnson skateboarded across the country and raised money for spinal cord injury research!
Air Canada has finally reached an agreement with its flight attendants.
I enjoy anything that reminds us that we do not need AI. Nothing will convince me otherwise.
Mormon women have a lot of thoughts and opinions on their new undergarments.
Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball is a good kind of mayhem!
I love a small, strange mystery, especially when it involves French fries just showing up on your porch.
Do you like villanelles? Here are ten for your delectation.
“A Small Good Thing,” a short story by Raymond Carver, who will always be a fav. Two poems by Genevieve Hudson, whose novel is forthcoming in 2026, from Roxane Gay Books!
This is totally covetous but I just love Wrensilva consoles. They are beyond expensive but they look so beautifully crafted. I want this new Larrabee edition console real bad. If I win Powerball, THERE WILL BE SIGNS!
If nothing else, we have THIS to look forward to. Let the bakes begin.
"A Small Good Thing" fucked me up decades ago and continues to fuck me up whenever I read it. Also, this is a very good newsletter.
How does the French fry story end?! I think I hit a paywall after reading most of the article. Help!