The Week In Recommendations 8.2.23
A chilling true crime pod, the continuation of "Barbie" mania, gift-worthy placemats, and heatless curlers that actually work.
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 the Barbie movie, with special guest
! Rich Text is a fully 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 author Jessica Goodman! Her latest juicy thriller, “The Legacies,” came out July 26.
Jess has been reading… 📖
“Their Vicious Games” by Joelle Wellington, a debut YA author. Here’s the pitch for this wild-as-hell book: A Black teen Adina loses her spot at an Ivy and enters an elite competition at her fancy (mostly white) boarding school in order to get it back. Doing so would also get her access to one of the most powerful families in New England. But once the game gets going, Adina realizes that most of the contestants won’t make it out alive and if she wants to, she might have to kill her fellow competitors. It’s basically like if “The Bachelor” (!) met “Squid Game” and was set in the world of dark academia.
Jess has been watching… 📺
“Barbie”! I saw Greta Gerwig’s masterpiece in a sold-out showing in Brooklyn and left the theater feeling not only joyful, but so creatively lit up. The film is like dessert for your eyeballs, so beautiful with its costuming and sets, but also for your heart. I cried! I laughed! I clutched my friend’s arm as one tear rolled down Margot Robbie’s cheek. A perfect theater-going experience.
In TV-land, I’ve been mainlining the new RHONY, which scratches my wealth porn and eccentric lady itch as well as the second season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” As a YA author, I’m always interested in watching the latest book-to-screen adaptations, and Jenny Han’s series is such an emotional feat, taking me right back to my most devastating moments of a teen experiencing heartbreak. Plus, all the Taylor Swift music cues have me screaming. (Team Belly btw.)
Jess has been listening to… 🎧
Last fall, four students were brutally murdered at the University of Idaho and the campus became engulfed in a national media frenzy as local police searched for the killer. They apprehended a suspect six weeks later, and though the trial is still not set, ABC News Correspondent Kayna Whitworth has been chronicling the crime and its investigation in a gripping podcast, The King Road Killings. As someone who writes fiction about crimes that affect young people, I prioritize consuming crime content where the producers take care to talk about the victims like they’re real people with real lives, instead of sensationalized stories. Whitworth does just that, and she also examines how armchair sleuthing and the media’s focus on a small college town harmed many people in the small, tight-knit community.
Jess has been buying… 🛍️
Enormous amounts of fresh summer corn! When it’s corn season on the East Coast, you’re legally obligated to eat it every other day. Them’s the rules. I’ve been buying dozens of ears, making raw corn salad with basil and tomato, grilling it on the cob, and dousing it with chili butter. (Also, it’s finally time for one of my favorite summer recipes: Smitten Kitchen’s baked farro with summer vegetables. Heaven.)
I was also overdue to get one of my closest friends a housewarming gift and finally settled on a set of easy-to-clean placemats from Chilewich. My sister always has these out at her home and they feel so fancy yet effortless. They are also incredibly durable and stain-resistant. When giving gifts, I like to buy things people want or need but don’t really want to spend money on (who wants to drop a ton on placemats?!). These fit the bill for my friend’s new home.
Emma has been reading… 📖
“Birth Control: The Insidious Power of Men Over Motherhood” by Ali Yarrow, a gripping examination of the ways in which misogyny permeates the way our culture treats pregnancy, child birth and new motherhood. Yarrow does an expert job of weaving original reporting and historical research together to paint a picture that is rather chilling and extremely essential to understand.
Also, Leslie Jamison’s gorgeous and devastating New Yorker essay about Barbie as a symbol of perfection we women grade ourselves against; just one of many such symbols. “Intimacy is never a pure feeling,” she writes. “It’s never as simple as unmitigated affection or adoration; it’s always striated with resistance and resentment. Perhaps this is what Barbie offers, the chance to feel both things at once: wanting something and wanting to destroy it. Wanting to become something and hating yourself for wanting to become it.” Gut punch after gut punch. Her writing is just so fucking good. -Emma
Emma has been watching… 📺
I know Jess already recommended it, but obviously I have been watching “Barbie” as well. I can’t stop thinking about Greta Gerwig’s candy-colored, anything-but-vapid, maddening, witty, complicated film. In fact, Monday it was my birthday and I treated myself to a second matinee showing. Happy 36 to me! -Emma
Emma has been listening to… 🎧
Dar Williams songs from the ‘90s. I grew up singing Dar’s “Iowa,” “Christians and the Pagans,” and “When I Was A Boy” at my Jewish summer camp, so her music has wedged its way into my soul like few other artists have. On Sunday, she paid a visit to my camp and did a concert for the campers, parents and alumni. (I wrote about the last concert she did at my camp back in 2011, and oh boy it’s a trip to look back on that baby writer’s essay now.) It was a phenomenally magical experience and made me want to be a kid at summer camp all over again. Also, “As Cool As I Am” really still slaps. -Emma
Emma has been buying… 🛍️
A heatless curling rod set from Kitsch! I had been seeing women using these on TikTok for months and months, and figured it must be hard to use or some sort of scam. Then in a fit of exhaustion one night I just bought one off of Amazon, and it arrived, and I tried it… and holy shit it worked?!?!?! I have found that a few things help these overnight heatless curls look their best: (1) Start with your hair fully or almost dry — sometimes I spritz my hair a bit before putting it up, (2) Wrap your hair tightly on each side, and try to continue wrapping tightly all the way down, (3) Spray your hair with dry conditioner and some light texturizing spray before bed, (4) Repeat that dry conditioner, and maybe add a tiny bit of hair oil, the next morning when you take the curlers out, (5) Give your curls some time to loosen on their own. -Emma
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