August Recap Pt. 1: Books & Feelings
I have not been sleeping in my own bed for over two weeks now
Hi everyone!
I have received many (well, three) texts asking me if Very Breezy is making an appearance this weekend after the unplanned 2 weekend hiatus we’ve been on. And the answer is: YES! IT IS! THE NEWSLETTER IS HERE!
Why did I skip 2 weekends? Frankly, we are on (sort of a) vacation - traversing from VA to Vegas to Palm Springs to LA to (currently typing this in) Puerto Vallarta. The first weekend involved an early Saturday flight to Nevada and a few days of trying to get the house in a state where it won’t spontaneously combust while we’re away, and the second weekend - well, I had COVID. My first! It was not a great time and I am glad it is behind me. And so, just like that (to paraphrase the main frontal lobe shaper of my early 20s), 2 weekends passed without newsletters. Life!
Anyway, I am healthy and in Puerto Vallarta, staying in a room named after a horse movie starring Liz Taylor (there is a statue of said horse next to my tub, which I highly recommend as a decor decision), in a house Richard Burton bought for Liz, when they were both married to other people but desperately in love, and prepping to attend a wedding of two lovely people who love books as much as I (we all?) do - so it makes sense to bring V.Breezy back into action in this setting.
This weekend, I’m serving an August recap in 2 parts:
BOOKS TODAY, VIEWINGS TOMORROW
Cool? Cool.
So, here are things I swallowed with my eyes and my reading glasses (now and forever) this month:
THE THRILLERS:
The Soulmate - Sally Hepworth - This was not great? I was kind of excited for it because I really liked “My Darling Girls” and the premise involving a family living near a known suicide spot, and a woman who jumps off (or does she?) sounded juicy, but the whole thing felt a little basic and, well, boring maybe? Is there anything worse than a kind of boring thriller?
You’d Look Better As A Ghost - Joanna Wallace - A pitch black thriller comedy about a serial killer attending grief counseling who is trying to figure out who is blackmailing her. This had deadpan shades of “Killing Eve” and “Fleabag”, which would normally be 150% my thing. However, the motivational undercurrent involved elder abuse and worse, and it was a little hard for me to get over that and go along for the ride.
Such A Bad Influence - Olivia Muenter - From an influencer culture commentary perspective - this was great, sharp and well-observed, a piece of incredibly timely writing. Fom a thriller perspective - the set up was great (a 18 year old mega influencer who grew up on social media goes missing, and her stage mother, who is an influencer herself, and her sister who wants nothing to do with any of it, are thrust into an investigation which seems to have more red herrings than a M. Night Shyamalan film), but it got a little too high concept to stick the landing fully (not unlike M.Night’s recent efforts, actually). FWIW,
writes an excellent substack as well, and I’m all eyes to find out what she writes next.The Perfect Couple - Elin Hilderbrand - I am not quite finished with this but putting it on here in anticipation of the Netflix adaptation arriving in mere days. A fancy Nantucket wedding is turned upside down when the maid of honor is found dead the morning of the nuptials. Bonus points for the central character (to be played by Nicole Kidman on Sept 5th) being a mystery writer who specializes in thrillers set in fancy locales. The premise is juicy, the meta-ness of it all is satisfying, and the Hilderbrand energy is very high. I hope she manages to tie it all together, because I would hate to not love it to the last page.
THE PERFECT BOOK-END TO “ALL FOURS”
I’m Mostly Here For To Enjoy Myself - Glynnis MacNicol
THE TWO BOOKS THAT SPLIT ME IN HALF
The Safekeep - Yael Van Der Woulden - This was recommended to me by Sarah Wildman, who is one of the most thoughtful writers and best readers I know, and I cannot recommend it enough to all of you. In 1960s Dutch countryside, a young woman, Isabel, lives a life driven by routine. Her life is turned upside down with arrival of Eva, her brother’s girlfriend, who is brash, messy, and yet also (obviously?) not quite the breezy, blonde party girl she has led him to believe she is. The less you know beyond this the better. But what is worth knowing is that somehow, in under 300 pages, Van Der Wouden manages, to blow every expectation of what a book that starts like this could possibly be about. It is structurally ambitious and one of the most accomplished plotting exercises I’ve ever read. It is emotionally devastating and also simmering with passions that ring incredibly true. It takes sharp turns and overdelivers on any and all clues left for the reader. It is, at its core, about identity in all its shapes and forms, and therefore, despite being incredibly specific, also completely universal. I was breathless by the time it was over.
The Most - Jessica Anthony - I bought this in a bookstore in Palm Springs - because the cover looked amazing, and the premise of a 1950s housewife who goes into a pool one balmy Delaware day in early November and refuses to come out sounded like just the ticket for the type of book I’d want to read in one sitting (preferably in a pool myself). And I was right. But it was also so much more: a meditation on men and women, on relationships, on sport, on the American dream, on secrets and lies, on love. And all that in 144 pages. This deserves to be read much more widely than it currently has legs to do - so lets reach hands across America/Substack/whatever and make it happen? One thing I can promise you: it will set your neighborhood book club on fire.
Books I keep failing to get to: Tehrangeles, The Sandwich, Long Island Compromise, The Wedding People, Bear etc - but there’s plenty of train commutes in September and I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
So, that’s it for the books - what were some of your August favs?
Thank you so much for reading and for the kind words. <3