The Week In Recommendations 12.3.24

It's holiday rom-com binge time.

Claire has been reading… 📖

Sally Rooney’s excellent Irish Times piece, “When are we going to have the courage to stop the climate crisis?” in which she names capitalism and its imperative for endless growth as the driving force behind the accelerating climate catastrophe. She also passionately articulates the injustice of our global order, in which “a handful of voters in US swing states have more power to determine the speed and scale of planetary overheating than billions of other people on Earth” and “[b]ecause the rich own things, and the poor do not, it is legal for the rich to destroy Earth and illegal for the poor to stop them.” It’s a painful essay to read, in part because it’s difficult to think about the reality she’s describing and in part because it points to our own individual failures to meet this moment, but it is also clarifying.

Also, Patrick Fealey’s longform Esquire account of being homeless in America, “The Invisible Man.” Once a journalist and art critic for the Boston Globe and other outlets, Fealey suffered a mental health crisis and was diagnosed with severe bipolar I. Unable to continue working at his previous pace, he struggled for decades to stay afloat with meager disability benefits and whatever work he could manage. And now he’s homeless, living in a car with his beloved dog Lily. His depiction of life on the streets – the constant harassment and “checks” by police, the glares of suspicion from passersby, the perpetual quest for bathrooms, the lack of proper health and dental care – should shock the conscience of every reader living a more comfortable life. What’s more, it’s a fantastic piece of writing.

Emma has been reading… 📖

I’m still savoring the back half of “Iron Flame,” alternating between reading the text and listening to the — very well-narrated — audiobook.

I’ve also gone down a rabbit hole reading about Hannah Neeleman a.k.a. Ballerina Farm’s cover girl shoot for Evie, a Peter Thiel-funded MAGA propaganda machine posing as just another women’s magazine. I especially enjoyed

Sara Petersen

’s piece on the subject. (Is this just more proof that influencers who felt like it would be bad for their brands to embrace a far-right ideology publicly, now feel a total lack of shame? Sure feels like it.) Neeleman’s PR team must be working overtime these days, because on the heels of the cover story, the NYTimes published a profile of the influencer — one that is far more complimentary than the Times of London profile from over the summer.

Claire has been watching… 📺

Holiday-adjacent romcoms! We’re taping episodes on three this week (“While You Were Sleeping,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” and Lindsay Lohan’s new “Our Little Secret”), so Very Important Work Research (multiple rewatches) has crowded out any other viewing.

Emma has been watching… 📺

Like Claire, I’ve been on a work-related holiday rom-com binge. However, my “Sleepless In Seattle” rewatch did lead me to detour into watching a bunch of “An Affair To Remember” clips — for the unfamiliar, the 1957 movie is heavily referenced in “Sleepless” — and then a rewatch of “You’ve Got Mail.” (A natural progression if you ask me.)

Claire has been listening to… 🎧

A new episode of Alex Goldman’s podcast “Hyperfixed,” which takes on a question I’ve actually wondered about before: How much energy is wasted by the open fridges and freezers in grocery stores? Unfortunately the answer is “a staggering amount,” which is not the answer I was hoping to hear. At at least one point he seemed a little quick to swallow the rhetoric of his interviewee – a supermarket layout designer assures him that the open fridges aren’t there to trick customers into buying more, then explains that it’s simply to make the process of buying the items in those fridges easier for the customers, which Goldman nods along with as if that isn’t simply a more flattering way of saying the same thing – but despite this, I did enjoy going on this journey of horrifying discovery with Goldman.

Emma has been listening to… 🎧

I’ve been catching up on some podcast faves. I hoarded a bunch of Normal Gossip episodes for my long drives to and from D.C. last week, and I was especially delighted by the episode with Caroline O’Donoghue about nosy neighbors, a messy divorce and a giant fig sculpture. Listening to Normal Gossip with Adam rather than alone is the best, because he interjects with his predictions and has very strong reactions to everything happening. Again… a delight!

Claire has been buying… 🛍️

Black Friday got me, and it got me good. Some purchases were planned in advance (a Dyson vacuum cleaner, a new bike for my preschooler’s upcoming birthday) but others occurred in the heat of the moment (Athleta fleece-lined leggings for myself [now sadly out of stock] and Uniqlo ones for my baby, a black leather crossbody bag from Quince). I’m not proud. But mostly these orders haven’t arrived yet, so it remains to be seen what will actually make the cut; I’m still living in the fantasy world in which I both will love everything and also will hate everything and get to return it all for a full refund. (It’s a Schrödinger’s shopping spree.)

Emma has been buying… 🛍️

My Black Friday purchases have also begun to arrive. The Reformation pumps I was hoping would work for the wedding are, indeed, absolutely perfect. (They are chicer and fit better than most of the designer shoes I tried! A huge win for me!) My Nelle Atelier barrel leg jeans also were delivered, and unsurprisingly, I am OBSESSED. (Truly, this brand can do no wrong. The life-changing magic of having clothes that are actually made for someone your height!!!!) I paired them in the photo below with my new Aureum No. 10 belt — in the chocolate suede and gold combo. I’m absolutely in love.

Claire has been making… 🧶

An old standby: sheet-pan sausage, potatoes and Brussels sprouts with a honey-mustard glaze. Greg and I are still trying to kick the lingering effects of whatever infernal shot-chaser of stomach virus and common cold we came down with two weeks ago, so I didn’t even manage to contribute anything to Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws except for my relatively quiet presence. (I had completely lost my voice by the time the turkey was carved.) But I’ve recovered enough to chop up some veggies, toss it all on a pan, and pour sauce on it.

Emma has been making… 🧶

So much Blood Orange tea from Trader Joe’s with hot honey and lemon juice. I got a cold just before Thanksgiving, and though I’m mostly feeling better, a nasty cough is hanging on and refusing to rid itself from my chest. My bachelorette party, which is actually just one fancy dinner with a handful of friends, is on Friday night, so I am praying to the gods that I stop coughing by then. Is one week of good health too much to ask????

However, I feel like I’m still within the window where I can talk about how my buttermilk biscuits, creamed spinach and bourbon pecan pie were big Thanksgiving hits. (Especially the pie. It’s just truly divine, especially if you halve the sugar and use more pecans than the recipe calls for.) And I am particularly proud of this year’s tablescape and Trader Joe’s floral arrangements.

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