The Week In Recommendations 11.1.23

Buzzy fall movies, the coziest home decor, a new scam pod obsession, and Emma tries to recreate a Taylor Swift outfit on a budget.

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 Britney Spears memoir, “The Woman In Me”! Rich Text is a completely reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!

While Claire is out on maternity leave, we’ll be featuring guest recommendations from some of the coolest tastemakers we know. This week, that guest is

Leslie Stephens

, the creator of the popular Substack

Morning Person

, a weekly newsletter packed with obsessively-curated recommendations, interviews, and essays around living an intentional life. (Also, her debut novel, “You’re Safe Here,” comes out in June 2024 with Scout Press!)

Leslie has been reading… 📖

Most weeks, I’m not so much reading as I am devouring several books at a time by Kindle, audiobook (at a chipmunk-voice speed), and hardcover, to be able to vet them for

Morning Person

. I recently paused to be able to soak up Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead,” a contemporary retelling of Dickens’s novel set amid the opioid crisis in Appalachia that’s absolutely worth the hype.

A recent reread includes “Stolen Focus” by Johann Hari, which I picked back up after I noticed myself compulsively reaching for my phone for no reason (gah!), and I’m queuing up for another hyper-speed read involving “Wild Girls” by Tiya Miles, the new Sigrid Nuñez, and “Day” by Michael Cunningham as soon as I get my hands on an advanced copy…

Leslie has been watching… 📺

Somehow with all of this reading, I never got around to “Lessons in Chemistry,” so I’ve been watching the new AppleTV+ series. No spoilers, but the end of the second episode literally took my breath away.

The recent fall weather has also sent me to the movies, which feels like the perfect activity (and date night!) for a cold evening. Danced my way through “Eras,” was entranced by “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and cannot wait to see “Priscilla” this weekend! I also recently moved into a new house, so I’ve been watching “The Golden Bachelor” while building furniture and doing errant to-dos.

Leslie has been listening to… 🎧

I’ve been really into teenage girl ballads that remind me of the “Freaky Friday” soundtrack, a niche desire if there wasn’t such a recent resurgence in exactly that. I’ve been loving Chappell Roan’s album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” Morgan Wade’s “Psychopath,” Olivia Rodrigo’s “GUTS,” and Taylor Swift’s rerecording of “1989.” 

As for podcasts, I’m looking for all the advice from wise women: We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle, Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Pulling the Thread with Elise Loehnen.

Leslie has been buying… 🛍️

Last year, I separated from my husband and partner of ten years, so I’m still fresh on the experience of living on my own. I’ve been filling my house with feminine details that make me feel happy and at home: I recently purchased this quilt and matching holiday stocking, this cowgirl print that reminds me of my Reno, Nevada roots, and way too many cookbooks and Trader Joe’s fresh-cut flowers.

Balancing school with a clinical internship and work has been chaotic, to say the least, so I’ve also been buying indulgences for some R&R (running and reading, in my case): Waterproof running shoes and a reflective vest for rainy, pre-dawn runs, plus a pound of my favorite tea and an electric blanket that my dog swiftly claimed as his own to warm up! Finally, I recently bought a Peloton Tread after a year of balancing my phone on gym treadmills to access the workouts — it was worth every penny.

Emma has been reading… 📖

Bess Kalb

’s newsletter,

The Grudge Report

has been making me darkly chuckle within an increasingly polarized, ugly public discourse about Israel-Palestine. On a more somber note, I also read this absolutely heart-wrenching (those words feel inadequate) New York Times op-ed by a pediatrician in Gaza. It’s a tough read, but a necessary one.

Emma has been watching… 📺

It’s almost made-for-TV holiday movie season and I truly could not be more excited. I got a screener of Amazon Freevee’s “EXmas,” starring Leighton Meester (forever Blair Waldorf) and Robbie Amell, who I’ve loved in “Upload.” This movie is SO FREAKING CUTE! With everything going on in the world, I’ve really been craving some frothy escape, and “EXmas,” which drops on Nov. 17, delivers. And it’s better than your average holiday rom-com.

Emma has been listening to… 🎧

Obviously “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” — the deluxe album of course — has been on repeat for me since it dropped. Last weekend I drove up to Beacon with my boyfriend and our friends, so we had a nice long(ish) drive both ways to soak up the delights of “Style,” “All You Had To Do Was Stay,” and “Blank Space.” Also… Kendrick Lamar’s re-recorded remix of “Bad Blood” really slaps.

Also, I found my next scam story pod: “The Wedding Scammer,” from Spotify and The Ringer. Journalist Justin Sayles comes to this story from a personal place. The scammer in question, “Michael Esposito,” took advantage of Sayles back in 2016 when he was looking for a journalism job in Los Angeles. This guy made up a WHOLE FAKE DIGITAL MEDIA COMPANY (named… Newsaratti, which as Sayles admits, is a red flag of its own). And on a personal note, I was dying over Esposito’s pitch of this faux media company as “The Huffington Post but better.”

Emma has been buying… 🛍️

After my new cups arrived, which I shouted out in last week’s recommendations newsletter, I moved on to other Hawkins New York kitchen upgrades. We snagged some Hawkins Essential Dinnerware — Low Pasta Bowls and Dinner Plates — in Mustard. (The bowls are sold out in that color on Food52, but still there in other colors and they’re on sale!) I am officially *obsessed* with this chic and simple brand.

Also, after I saw some friends reposting this simple fall outfit of Taylor Swift’s on Instagram — am I a sucker? probably! — I knew I had to try to recreate it. I already had a baseball cap and a few different pairs of knee-high boots, but I was missing a rugby shirt dress. I had no interest in paying the $850 it would take to get the exact Stella McCartney dress Swift wore, but turns out H&M has a great dupe in burgundy for $34.99! Results below.

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