The Week In Recommendations 9.27.23
A gripping podcast about institutional failures, a suspenseful novel, sensible fall heels and Kathleen Kelly-inspired school supplies.
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 first drop of Love Is Blind season 5! 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 Becca Freeman, author and host of the Bad On Paper podcast. Her debut novel, “The Christmas Orphans Club,” came out on Sept. 26!
Becca has been reading… 📖
“The Nigerwife” by Vanessa Walters: I’m not usually a suspense reader, but I saw this book comped to “Crazy Rich Asians” and “The Last Thing he Told Me”, both of which I loved. The book follows a British expat who moves to her husband’s home country of Nigeria. In the past timeline we see Nicole’s swish life in rapidly changing Lagos, while in the present her aunt comes to Nigeria to investigate when Nicole vanishes without a trace after a boat trip.
Becca has been watching… 📺
It feels like everyone I follow on Instagram is re-watching “Gilmore Girls,” so I jumped on the bandwagon. I watched the show when it was on the air, but haven’t rewatched in 4 or 5 years, and am seeing it in a whole new light—Rory is more annoying, Lorelai is more toxic, but I am still flying through the episodes at an alarming clip.
I also highly recommend the new Netflix YA-romantic dramedy movie “The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight” based on the novel of the same name by Jennifer E. Smith. I laughed, I sobbed, and overall thought it was a delightful way to spend a weeknight evening.
Becca has been listening to… 🎧
The audiobook for “Tom Lake” by Ann Patchett (which is our Bad on Paper book club pick for September): and get this… it’s narrated by Meryl Streep!! Unsurprisingly, she’s incredible.
Also begging somebody—anybody—to write a smutty romance novel based on the song “Trust Fund Cowboy” by Leah Marie Mason, which I’ve had on repeat for a month.
Becca has been buying… 🛍️
September has brought out my inner Kathleen Kelly from “You’ve Got Mail”, and I can’t stop buying school supplies. I bought two dozen colored legal pads to use for longhand book drafting. I stocked up on my beloved large lined Post-It notes for to do lists. I upgraded my highlighters and sticky tabs for annotating books. I am a Virgo, and I am LIVING!
Emma has been reading… 📖
I have long excitedly read anything Rebecca Traister publishes, and her latest feature in The Cut, “The Return Of The Marriage Plot,” is no exception. In this piece, she unpacks the increasingly mainstream hand-wringing over declining and delayed marriage rates, and the lengths to which many pundits — often male (cough Ross Douthat, cough David Brooks) — are going to sell the general public on the idea of marriage as some socio-cultural, compulsory, cure-all. Coupling this read with this story in The Atlantic, about the ways in which Republicans are increasingly going after no-fault divorce in states like Texas, paints a pretty terrifying picture. We’d be better suited talking about the ways that intimate relationships of any kind — marriage included — benefit people, the reasons that such partnerships break down, and what policy changes might support these sorts of intimate social ties.
Also… just reading this Vanity Fair list of the 31 best feel-good movies gave me a much-needed hit of dopamine during this aggressively gloomy week.
Emma has been watching… 📺
Whenever my partner and I can agree on a show to watch together, I am game, because I am a huge TV person (shocker, right?) and he is not. We found common ground with Netflix’s “Painkiller,” the latest scripted series about the Sackler family, OxyContin and the rise of the opioid epidemic. It’s far from a perfect show — the tone is all over the place — but we’ve been enjoying watching it. It’s also made us dig even further into the many ways that our institutions (both private and public) failed us and allowed this devastating epidemic, which still rages on today, to go unchecked and untreated.
Emma has been listening to… 🎧
If you, like me, were gripped by “The Retrievals,” then I suspect you’ll feel the same about “Exposed: The Cover-Up at Columbia,” Wondery’s new podcast about Dr. Robert Hadden. Hadden was an acclaimed OB-GYN at one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country, who spent decades assaulting hundreds (if not thousands) of his patients. I somehow had missed this story, despite the fact that Evelyn Yang (wife of Andrew) had gone public with her story of assault during her husband’s presidential campaign. The podcast is well-reported and thoughtful, and explores the way that those in positions of power can take advantage of women in their most vulnerable moments — and why an institution like Columbia failed to prevent it.
Emma has been buying… 🛍️
I’ve been on the hunt for a pair of sensible, low-heeled, classic black slingbacks that I can actually walk around in through fall, pair with jeans, and won’t break my feet or the bank. I finally landed on these J. Crew Factory ones, which are an additional 20% off right now if you sign up for J. Crew’s (free!) Passport rewards program. (We love a sale!!!)
I’ve made this recommendation before, but I’m now on my third refill of Nécessaire’s The Body Wash in Eucalyptus and it continues to elevate my daily shower experience. (We love a practical luxury!) If you’ve been looking for an excuse to try it, it’s currently on sale at Space NK.
Also, this is probably my least fun and sexy rec to date, but I signed up for an Earth Breeze subscription because these eco laundry sheets have been truly life-changing. I first tried Earth Breeze because they sponsored Love To See It, but I now pay for these sheets — small squares that replace your laundry detergent and take up almost no space. I personally hate doing laundry. It’s one of my least favorite chores, so anything I can do to make it more efficient and less annoying, I am very on board with. (Also, eliminating one source of single-use plastic is pretty great!)
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“...A bouquet of newly sharpened pencils....” !!! I love it! 😄👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 I LIVE for my 7yo’s school supplies right now. Kids these days... she totally takes them for granted. 😂