Hold Fast, M’love
It’s a wild time to be alive. Amongst everything that’s happening, the endless horrors and indignities, I do sometimes pause to simply think, wow. Fascinating. There are many periods in the history of Western civilization (all of them, perhaps?) when the present and near future did not look particularly promising for the average person, and yet they kept going. I remind myself of that frequently.
I wrote one MFY last month which, if you’re reading this, you probably already know. I also—scoop incoming for you very special blog readers and you VSBR alone—recorded some episodes of Season 3 of Reading Writers! A proper announcement about this will eventually happen, I assume, by mine own hand. But who knows when. (Probably in two weeks, when the first episode is out.) There are other details I’m still keeping secret because a woman must have her mysteries. Anyway, these new eps will be exciting so hold fast, my love.
Reading:
Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire — I hesitate to give this a blanket recommendation because its focus is so tight but if you’re interested in the subject matter and/or are a TNH completionist, it’s worthwhile. I learned a lot about Vietnamese history but that isn’t saying much given my complete lack of prior knowledge.
My Dark Vanessa — I was very impressed by this, which I read solely through the recommendation of Jamie. Novels about sexual violence generally have a take your medicine quality that does not appeal to me, and school/teenage exploitation storylines are especially off-putting (to me!) but this was excellent. I say more about it in a forthcoming Reading Writers.
The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh — I don’t have a special affinity for or interest in Van Gogh but this collection moved me deeply and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time. It’s also discussed on future RW episode.
The Persian Boy — is, you guessed it, discussed more in depth on RW. This is the sequel to Fire From Heaven and I’m glad I read them in order but this one is much, much better than its predecessor. It’s decadent and densely emotional and told in the first person which makes all the difference. I feel like Bagoas will live inside me for a long time. Five stars.
Ugly Love — This book was in my block’s Free Little Library, which was great because I’d wanted to read without spending money on it. (The normal library could have solved this problem, but I wasn’t so burning with curiosity that I needed to go to the great lengths of reserving it and picking it up.) I’ve read Slammed (and was baffled by how lame it was; also, no sex, and if I recall correctly maybe just one kiss?) and Verity, which I can’t remember anything about except it involves a wife who’s crazy or not crazy. I was shocked by comparatively enjoyable Ugly Love is. It’s a competent, sex-inclusive romance. I’m not recommending it, but you could do a lot worse if that’s the type of thing you’re looking to read.
Of course there are flaws that, in my opinion, a good editor could have fixed. (The nonstop numbering of words—as in, ”three words. but they turned my world upside down”— how often people are against walls, “Asian writing,” etc.) But if you look on Goodreads, where it has well over 2 million ratings and still sits at 4 stars, there are a lot of one star reviews going on and on about what garbage it is, and that is clearly a function of it’s popularity because it’s not more insipid or implausible than, say, most celebrity romance books. (By which I mean, books in which one or both of the main characters is a celebrity.) Because reading tastes are treated like a measure of one’s intelligence, people feel they have to make a show about how much better they are than various books; men, when they read, seem to do this with literary novels, and women do it with genre fiction. It’s absurd that a bunch of Taylor Swift fans would rant about Colleen Hoover this way. One is a billionaire destroying the planet while dragging American culture to hell with her, and the other is a self-made writer who’s so cute on social media. I’m not saying CH is without sin or that her books are objectively good. I just wish everyone would not choose this point for public performance of superiority and instead do jail support or something. In the grand scheme of what contributes to women allowing men to treat them like shit, I am confident that this book is so low on the ladder it’s basically buried under the ground. More about this momentarily.
It Ends With Us — This was also in the LFL, on a separate occasion. It’s much worse than Ugly Love in terms of cringe. (The characters’ names alone are real stinkers.) And worse on the whole. There is less sex (not a good or bad thing, just noting it) and the sex that’s there is more euphemistic. HOWEVER. Once again I think its badness has been overstated. The way people complain about it, I thought for sure the plot involved a woman who stayed with her abuser. But that is not an accurate summation. Also, Colleen Hoover has a huge soft spot for homeless people, and that is so excellent of her. To use one’s writing to insist on unhoused people’s dignity and blamelessness is beautiful.
It steams my beans that we’ve got people out here going on an extended tear about how Colleen Hoover is irredeemable dogshit while saying Emily Henry wrote one of their favorite books. (I came across this as a Substack post and no, I’m not going to link it.) I’ve read three Emily Henry books and I remember—maybe—2 things about them in total. They’re like late 90s romcoms without any laughs or star power or fashion. Of course they’re also utterly harmless and inoffensive. No one, if my extremely thin memory of her books serves, is getting hit in an Emily Henry book. No man is going to ejaculate inside a woman without a condom and then walk away without a word, something that happens in Ugly Love. She provides a different product than Colleen Hoover, but that doesn’t mean she’s a better or more moral writer.
Reunion — Not pictured in the book photo because it’s an online comic but holy shit. I discovered this around midnight, read until 3:30am, went to sleep for four hours and woke up to finish it. I laughed, I squirmed around in glee, and I wept, multiple times. It is a masterpiece. That said, it’s still a vertical scroll manhwa and you’ll probably only appreciate how good the layout and pacing and art style are if you’ve read a bunch of them. Does it have the delicacy and sophistication of, say, Love in the Palm of His Hand? No, but it achieves something extraordinary, and the censored version is just as good as the mature one. (Better, maybe? Insane thing for me to be saying but the facts are the facts.)
The Way of Silence — There are profound moments in this that made a big impression on me, but I’m not totally enamored with Brother David’s style. He has a strong predilection for the style of wordplay/deconstruction that certain poets gravitate towards, where you can’t just say “revise” you have to say “RE-vision”… Do you know what I mean? I understand its function but it’s a little grating for me, not always effective, or not effective enough to be worth how annoying it is.
Watching:
Samurai Champloo, which is fun if repetitive, and simultaneously dated while still feeling kind of fresh. I was convinced that I’d discovered Nujabes 20+ years ago when I was looking at someone’s music collection on Napster. (R.I.P. to the service, the experience, and ヌジャベス.) But the timing of that doesn’t really add up. So HOW did I become aware of him? A music blog? It’s lost to the sands of time. The real musical gift of the show is this, a performance of uncommon gravity and reverence.
Meanwhile, The Summer Hikaru Died is a marvelous adaptation of the manga. It’s creepy, beautiful, and almost uncomfortably intense in some scenes. (The finale!!!) This is one of the few legitimate criticisms I’ve seen but otherwise complaints about it seem stupid and formed by people with bad taste. (The big fat cherry on top, for me anyway, is the story’s Hunter x Hunter parody/analog, Master + Master.) It’s one of the best anime I’ve watched this year.
Listening:
Taro Umebayashi — The Summer Hikaru Died. I don’t know why this album was delayed until after the season finale aired, but whatever. It’s lovely. The main theme is pretty, reminiscent of “Clair de Lune,” but I like the shorter pieces more. (The best stretch on the album is track 21 to 29.) Then there’s the school chorus song “Remnants” which is perfect, exactly the type of song a school choir would sing. And it WRECKS me. (When they sing “今”….) I can’t even think about this, actually, without tearing up. Please stop making me think about it. I have things I need to accomplish today.
Antiart’s 25 independent tracks — They ARE must-hear.
Tame Impala I went through a weird phase where I revisited all his albums for a weekend. (I didn’t know he has an album coming out….I only saw that just now, while writing this!) His whole project is very cool and sexy but aside from the singles I find most of his albums to be background music. This time around I got hooked on “Breathe Deeper” which I don’t remember making a big impression on me back when it came out. “I’m a Man, Woman” is also important and has always been though it felt quite different in 2015. (What didn’t?)
Soul Scream — The “Deep” Look…I don’t know what they’re saying. I don’t speak Japanese. But that does not present any impediments for enjoyment. This music is clearly so good and fun. Reminds me of “Concrete Schoolyard”-era Jurassic 5 which might be an embarrassing comparison (for me, a white woman with functionally no knowledge of hip hop’s history.) Well, here’s the verdict from a random person online who seems to know what they’re talking about: “I think this musically rivals some of the highest regarded albums from the jazzier side of boom bap’s peak in general- not just from Japan.” And this guy: “This album all-around I'd describe as blissful. The best track here is ‘黒い月の夜’ with those muffled backing horns and chiming piano loops making it unreasonably bright and life-affirming—genuinely astonishing.” Totally.
SUSHIBOYS—ひ Silly and fun. They have so many songs about food. I guess that makes sense given their name. Love how the handsome frontman kinda has the presence of a rock and the weird looking one is overflowing with charisma. Such is life. うどんソバ うどんソバ !
I actually went crazy on (excellent) music listening in September, in a way this list doesn’t reflect, but I’ll work on an autumn playlist to give a fuller picture. Sooooo much Japanese rap. (I had the delight of speaking a little with a Japanese guy this month who asked my favorite Japanese rappers. When I told him, he said “oh wow how do you know them… I thought you’d say Creepynuts.” CREEPYNUTS?!??!?! Sir. Don’t treat me like I don’t know ball; I know ball.) Plus, I’m finally listening to Fontaines D.C. I avoided them for a long time because the name is obnoxious but turns out everyone was right, they’re great.