This is the Friday Mood Boost, where I’ll share some recommendations, thoughts and general vibes while you slack off on a Friday afternoon.
Long time no… thing. Last weekend I spent ~15 hours in the car with Kiddo and Mrs. Reads. One of the downsides of an electric car is stopping to charge it on long trips and if those long trips take you through a major city on a Friday afternoon when it’s pouring rain, you’re gonna have a bad time.
This week Mrs. Reads purchased a tidy 10.8 tons of gravel for our driveway, and I’ve spent the last two days shoveling and raking it into place. It’s not as bad as what you imagine moving almost 11 tons of stone in the hot sun might be like, but it’s not sipping Pina Coladas either.
The upside of being locked into monotonous tasks is that I’ve been listening to a lot of audiobooks and filling in my resting time with the paperbacks of the same, so I’ve gotten a lot of reading done. I polished off:
Outline by Rachel Cusk - was pretty meh on this; didn’t live up to the hype
The Vegetarian by Han Kang - interesting and weird, not quite up to the level of hype but really good
The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica - also weird and a little spooky. I loved Tender is the Flesh and if I get around to reading Nineteen Claws and a Blackbird, I’ll probably do a post about her work. I’ve dug it so far.
Worth pointing out that these are three short but completely different novels. This wasn’t something I had intended; it happened with to line up with my library rentals. I also didn’t purposefully pick three female, non-American authors on purpose either but since I’m being so worldly, I want the damn credit.
My current read is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, which is decided not-short, clocking in at over 600 pages. It’s a weird and wild one, all over the place but I’ve been enjoying it. I’ve got about 50ish pages left and I don’t know if my loins are sufficiently girded.
Speaking of big books, I will still owe you all my write-up1 on The Lucky Star. That’s coming when I get more open time to sit and write thoughtfully. I’ve been reading a lot of Substacks recently and I’m wanting to incorporate some of what I like about how others are writing about books into my own posts here, but mostly I just need to do my least favorite thing(s): re-read and edit.
Unsolicited Recommendation(s) of the Week
Thunderbolts*
Mrs. Reads and I watched this over the weekend and were pleasantly surprised. Florence Pugh is exceptional, and David Harbour is always fun. Some of the visual effects are definitely new and different for Marvel and I enjoyed them. As other folks have pointed out, this is a more personal/interior superhero film versus a villain-of-the-week motif. There is a line toward the end that Pugh delivers that - on paper - shouldn’t work but moved me to the verge of tears. Here’s hoping they expand the role of Princess Irulan in whatever DUNE sequels are to come.
Stoop/Porch/Garage Drinking.
Something I’ve noticed living in the city, the burbs, and now the country: each area has their own kind of “I’m gonna have a beer, but I don’t want to have it inside anymore” drinking. Around here, folks seem to post up in lawn chairs at the edge of their garage with the bay doors open. It’s odd but endearing to drive around near sunset and see folks just sitting in their garage having a beer.
Obviously not everyone has access to the same sort of architectural features, but this sort of half-inside, half-outside quasi-socialization is my rec for the weekend.
Mood Board
That does it for another edition of the Friday Mood Boost. I’ll be back with the Weekly Digest on Monday morning, and a couple of book-posts in the near future. Hopefully the weather’s nice wherever you are.
- V
I’m gonna stop referring to them as “reviews,” I’ve decided.