The Week In Recommendations 4.12.23

Psst... a beloved podcast returns, a Tik-Tok approved shoulder bag, and a classic denim shirt.

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 episodes 9-11 of “Love Is Blind” season 4. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!

We’ve been reading…

Rebecca Fishbein’s excellent Bustle article on the scourge of mainstream therapy language. “Is Therapy Speak Making Us Selfish?” asks Fisbhein, and the answer is, as most things are, complicated. It’s not so much the language that’s the issue, but the one-sided, manipulative way that it can be deployed, and the way that terms that feel clinical or official can give statements more weight than perhaps they deserve. This is something that we’ve thought a lot about when it comes to the labels people throw around towards reality TV figures. The more expansive our language comes — which is a great thing — it also requires us to take stock of how we’re using that new language. - Emma

“Terrace Story” by Hilary Leichter, whose previous novel “Temporary” was one of my favorite 2020 reads. “Temporary” made a whimsical, funhouse fable out of the existential nightmare of gig work and financial precarity. “Terrace Story” focuses more closely on love and family, but Leichter’s interest in scarcity, loss, and insecurity — economic and personal — haven’t gone anywhere. The book opens with a young woman, Annie, returning to the office after having a baby and inviting her work friend, Stephanie, home for dinner. When Stephanie arrives, Annie and her husband are embarrassed by their poky, poorly lit apartment… until a closet door opens to reveal a sunny, expansive terrace that certainly had not been there before. Mark your calendars for August if you enjoy books about women trying to find space for themselves in dreamscape worlds that shift under their feet and slip from between their fingers. -Claire

We’ve been watching…

“Succession.” I know Claire already recommended the last season of the HBO show, but it is one of the few shows that my partner and I can agree on, and this week’s episode was…. WILD. I love the big swings the writers are taking, and I am excited to see how we conclude the Roy family’s dark saga. -Emma

All I managed to watch this week was “Love Is Blind” (see the subscriber pods) and “Love and Basketball” (see the “Love to See It” feed! We just kicked off our Bachelor off-season Rom-Com Rewatch: Spring Break Edition episodes on classic teen romances), but they were both eminently satisfying. Especially “Love and Basketball” — that movie holds up. -Claire

We’ve been listening to…

“Normal Gossip,” of course! Our bud Kelsey McKinney’s hit podcast is back, with a juicy — literally! It’s about peaches! — story kicking off this season. Samin Nosrat is such a vibrant guest, and I have truly missed getting random goss in my ear, so I am so happy NG is back. Plus, I had a long drive out to Long Island last week, and it was such a joy to have my friend keep me company the whole time. -Emma

An oldie but a goodie this week: I turned to one of my favorite indie rock bands, Frightened Rabbit, over the weekend to cope with being anchored to the bed for 36 hours with a second round of the stomach bug that has been pinging around our toddler’s daycare for months. This round was worse, both for me and the toddler (especially the toddler, to be fair!). In the midst of it, even stirring in bed or listening to people talking made me feel more ill, but the raw, despairing melodies and anthemic choruses of “Good Arms vs. Bad Arms” and “The Woodpile” was an entirely sufficient reminder that beauty still existed in the world. They’re one of the artists whose music remains just as potent every time I return to it, and I usually end up in tears. -Claire

We’ve been buying…

This oversized denim utility shirt from Old Navy. I’ve been looking for a denim button-up for awhile now but didn’t want to spend a lot. I’ve heard great things about this Levi’s one, but opted for the cheaper option from Old Navy instead, and it’s great! It’s a little too heavy to be tucked into everything, but it still works with a wrap skirt, or unbuttoned as a little jacket layer. And the quality feels great for the price point! -Emma

This TikTok-approved shoulder bag from Uniqlo — a sleeker sub-$20 option for me, the mom who has been using Jansport fanny packs as her only handbags for the past two years. It’s a basic, but it’s spacious, functional, and looks way better slung across my chest than the aforementioned fanny packs.

Plus, more compression socks… yeah, I’m 34 and I have bulging varicose veins, who ever said pregnancy wasn’t glamorous?? -Claire

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