The Week In Recommendations 9.25.24
Fragile patriarchs, desirous women, the Sally Rooney monoculture, and shopping our closets for fall!
This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter about cultural obsessions from your Internet BFFs Emma and Claire. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Our latest podcast was about S4 of “Emily In Paris”! An episode about “Nobody Wants This” (the hot rabbi show!) is coming soon! Rich Text is a completely reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!
Claire has been reading… 📖
A little of this, a little of that! I’m trying to get into my next book after “The Long Island Compromise,” and my bedside book stack is stupidly high. I’ve been meaning to get into “The Happy Couple” by Naoise Dolan (whose first book, “Exciting Times,” I liked), “Tehrangeles” by Porochista Khakpour, Olivia Laing’s “The Garden Against Time,” “Martyr” by Kaveh Akbar, and “Tremor” by Teju Cole — and those are just the ones at the top of a rather wobbly pile — but nothing has stuck yet.
So I’m excited for a bit of informally assigned reading: Sally Rooney’s latest, “Intermezzo,” which is the book you must read now in order to be culturally current. Sally Rooney is the monoculture, she is the moment, she is the Harry Potter of white millennial women who now have jobs and bills to pay and years of bad experiences on dating apps. Yesterday morning, I almost ran out when my local bookshop opened to buy a copy, then talked myself down. I’d go when I had a natural break in my work, and it would be fine. Reader, it was not fine. There was not a single book on the shelf. The bookseller at the register had a stack of copies in front of him, but they were all reserved by more enterprising Rooney fans. He put me down for a copy from the next shipment, which thankfully arrived before daycare pickup. When I got there an hour later to pick it up, the store clerk told me the new shipment had sold out. And yes, we all love Sally Rooney, but isn’t part of it just the thrill of being part of something? And what’s wrong with that something being a book we can all read and chat about at parties? Honestly, I love that for us.
Emma has been reading… 📖
The Cut’s deep dive into disgraced parenting vlogger/convicted child abuser Ruby Franke and the culty life coach she became entwined with, Jodi Hildebrandt. The piece doesn’t really offer much new information about the aftermath of Franke’s arrest, but it does provide a lot of details about how Franke went from a seemingly prototypical LDS wife and mother, to believing her children were literal demons deserving of physical and mental punishment. The details of those punishments, as described by reporter Caitlin Moscatello, are truly chilling. So is her conclusion:
“The answer to what happened might be fairly simple. Ruby, primed to follow an authority figure and prize obedience, was the perfect prey for Hildebrandt, a woman with a God complex who had won the trust of their community leaders. That Ruby would come to trust her, too, and offer up her platform to spread Hildebrandt’s message, isn’t so much a deviation as an extreme version of what she’d already been taught.”
Also, my copy of Sally Rooney’s “Intermezzo” arrived. (Am I a white millennial woman with bills to pay and years of bad dating experiences who also deeply misses the thrill of a Harry Potter midnight book launch party?? Yes! Read me for filth, Claire!!!)
Claire has been watching… 📺
The first episodes of “Kaos,” a contemporary, Baz Luhrmann-esque take on Greek mythology, and “Sister Wives” season 19. Both feature fragile patriarchs who are losing their grip, terrified of becoming irrelevant and baffled by the hatred they’ve earned through years of exploiting their power. In the former, it’s Jeff Goldblum as Zeus, who struts in designer athleisure around a manicured mountaintop palace and enjoys the mandatory worship and human sacrifices of humanity; in the latter, it’s Kody Brown as the most famous polygamist in the world, now reduced, unwillingly, to a monogamist after three of his four wives left the family. After a few seasons’ of viewing, I’m familiar with the whole “Sister Wives” thing, which is mostly Kody being an exasperated and exasperating narcissist while his long-suffering (now ex-) wives sigh and maneuver around him. I’m curious to see how “Kaos” ends up going for me. It’s having a lot of fun modernizing mythological stories like Orpheus and Eurydice and letting Goldblum chew the scenery as Zeus, but some of the splashy devices — like the freeze-frame title cards that introduce new characters (with snarky commentary from the narrator, Prometheus) — feel a little tired.
Emma has been watching… 📺
This week I gave “Three Women,” the long-awaited Starz adaptation of Lisa Taddeo’s 2019 creative non-fiction book, a try. Having absolutely DEVOURED the book, I was excited to dive into its on-screen version. Unfortunately, I found it… unwieldy. It is wonderful and often essential to have the author of an original work intimately involved with and leading its adaptation. But that closeness can also lead to a resistance to changing things that need to be changed in order for a story to properly translate to television. It feels like that is a bit of what happened here. The structure of the show is inconsistent and the timeline quickly becomes confusing, in part because it is trying to mirror the weaving in and out that happens in the book. The voiceover of “Gia” (a Lisa Taddeo stand-in, played by Shailene Woodley) often pulls so directly from the original text that it hits you over the head and repeats the messages we are getting from the on-screen actions. A bright spot is the performances of the three women themselves, especially Betty Gilpin’s, who plays repressed housewife Lina so deftly that you can practically feel her repressed desires beating up against the surface of her skin. I’ll keep watching the series, but it has left me, like its characters, wanting something more than what’s on offer.
Claire has been listening to… 🎧
Alex Goldman’s new show "Hyperfixed,” which they term a “help desk for life’s most intractable problems.” Super Tech Support was one of my favorite “Reply All” segments, so I’m into another podcast about Alex Goldman solving people’s random nerdy problems! The most recent episode, “Eva Needs to Measure,” not only gave me a thorough education on measuring ingredients with weight vs. volume, it gave me a minor existential crisis about the unknowability of even the most basic facts (like how many grams of butter are in a cup). I’m ready to buy a digital kitchen scale now.
Plus, “Bachelor in Retrospect” is back to cover Desirée's season! I haven’t thought about Desirée’s season since I watched it in 2013, so while I’m vaguely familiar with the source material, the insights are extremely fresh and fun.
Emma has been listening to… 🎧
“Spiraled,” a new investigative podcast from iHeart and Sports Illustrated. The series is a deep dive into Straitway Truth Ministry, a high-control religious group/cult that has faced charges of sexual exploitation, financial exploitation and other forms of abuse of its members. Reporter Kalyn Kahler’s way into this story was through retired Packers star Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila. The podcast includes interviews with the ex-wives of some Straitway devotees (including Kabeer’s). I am endlessly fascinated/horrified by cults and the way that otherwise thoughtful people are drawn into and kept in them, so “Spiraled” is extremely up my alley.
Claire has been buying… 🛍️
Nothing (or rather, to be honest, I’ve ordered a couple of things that haven’t arrived yet). The slight chill in the air lately has gotten me in that back-to-school state of mind, and while I’ve dreaded cold-weather dressing since I started having kids and jeans styles simultaneously started changing, I’m suddenly into it again. It’s as if, after four years of trying and failing to feel comfortable in wider-leg styles, I’ve finally internalized that this is how it’s supposed to look. I’ve been pulling out my jeans and sweaters from the last couple years of shopping, putting on crew socks under my sneakers, and throwing outfits together without a second thought. The visible socks and the wider pants have prompted me to reckon with my deeply rooted anxiety about highlighting my narrowest points, like my ankles and waist, and slowly I’ve become at ease in outfits that prioritize other things: comfort, coziness, inviting colors and patterns, interesting silhouettes that aren’t necessarily slimming.
My favorite transitional closet staples so far have included the Beyond Nine linen and chambray Mabel pants, Tradlands Shelter cardigans and crewnecks, Levi’s Ribcage straight ankle jeans, Madewell Perfect Vintage wide-leg crop jeans, my Storq cuddle up cardigan, Kiziks that slide on easily but look like regular lace-up sneakers (since I almost always have a baby in my arms), and square-toed Rothy's ballet flats.
Emma has been buying… 🛍️
Other than “Intermezzo,” not a whole lot. I, like Claire, have been shopping my closet for the transitional season. (A win for not immediately doing overconsumption when the weather changes!) I got practically giddy digging into my jeans and my light coats. It’s like discovering a bunch of new clothing, even though it’s just pants I haven’t worn in three months!
I’ve been drawn to a handful of already-owned pieces: the Claire and Kate jeans from Nelle Atelier (the short girl brand that I am basically fanatical about), my COS trench coat (it’s no longer being sold, but GAP has a similar one that’s on sale), the GAP x Doen Kids oversized denim jacket (my size L fits perfectly), Quince’s boxy cropped fisherman cardigan, the perfect oversized blazer and subtle barrel jeans from Everlane, my beloved STAUD Wally ankle boots, these Frankie Shop boxer trousers, and Adidas Sambas.
Claire has been making… 🧶
Egg and cheese veggie bites for my kids’ breakfasts! My baby has been moving up the milk ladder to try to get past his dairy allergy, and it’s been going well so far with full-dairy muffins and pancakes, so we got the okay to introduce cooked cheese. He’s tried pizza, but offering a small, consistent serving with breakfast is the easiest way for me to make sure he gets to try it every day. Meanwhile, my preschooler has, thanks to our permissiveness and free public school breakfast, been starting the day with two rounds of cereal, and I’ve been trying to steer things toward protein. So I made a big batch of egg and cheddar mini muffins with chopped spinach and tomato (which were the vegetables I had in the fridge), which Greg helpfully informed me were “just like Starbucks… but free!”
Plus, with slightly cooler weather, it’s time for my lazy-day chicken sheet-pan meals, which entail sprinkling salt, pepper, and dried herbs (I usually use Italian or herbes de Provence mix) on boneless chicken thighs, cubed sweet potato, and chopped vegetables. I toss them with olive oil and roast them all together, though the sweet potato gets a head start since they taken forever to soften up. Tonight I think I’m going to chop up the leftovers to put on top of boxed mac-and-cheese.
Emma has been making… 🧶
Martha Rose Shulman’s NYT Cooking recipe for Chicken “Piccata” With Chard or Beet Greens. I’m always a bit squeamish about cooking chicken, even though I understand it’s fairly simple to cook and so easy to incorporate into meals? It just really grosses me out when it’s raw. But I was excited to try this recipe with some Whole Foods chicken breasts that I pounded into thinner filets with a makeshift tenderizer (a.k.a. the side of a metal measuring cup). I thought the final result was absolutely delicious, though I did agree with a lot of the commenters that you need to double or triple the sauce serving in order to adequately cover the chicken. I would also make double the greens next time.
If you liked reading this, click the ❤️ button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack!
Give us feedback or suggest a topic for the pod • Subscribe • Request a free subscription