Greetings, Attic Wives. I assume more than a few of you are here thanks to the long-running comedy podcast about books, Fuckbois of Literature, which saw its end earlier this year. A couple of ya are hopefully around because of the Girl Friday Mystery book series (which likely won’t be seeing any future releases ::womp womp::). And a few of you are here because it is just so hard to stay away from my sterling personality.
I’m not sure what kind of content you’ll all ultimately be here for, but I’ll start with basics: books I’ve read, movies I’ve watched, articles I’ve read, and thoughts about them. I’m sure it will change over time.
Books:
- A Pretender’s Murder by Christopher Huang doesn’t come out until January, but I assure you, it is worth a pre-order. It’s the second in the Eric Peterkin series (of which I have missed the first), but a really excellently plotted and set historical mystery. The politics of the post-WWI era are fully understood and deftly explained, and offer a rich tapestry of threads for Huang to pull on.
- The Dead Come to Stay by Brandy Schillace. Released in August, it’s also the second in a series (the Netherleigh series, which debuted with the celebrated The Framed Women of Ardmore House) of which I missed the first. Our sleuth in this cozy series is autistic (as is the author), and it’s really wonderful to show how Jo’s neurodivergence is an incredible asset to the mystery genre. She’s not the first neurospicy sleuth (obviously in the vein of Poirot and Holmes!), and there are lovely depictions of familial and romantic love throughout.
- Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe came out last year, but I just managed to get to it. It’s hilarious how often Cooper tries to paint his own Vanderbilts as the backwoods pig farmers of Gilded Age New York, but his acid aimed at the Astors is substantiated by chronicling the sheer avarice the family maintained in order to rise to the top, and fall to the bottom. It’s easy to hate them all, but Cooper does an excellent job of showing us who amongst us living today are the Astors re-incarnate.
- As a note, my Ticklish Business co-host, Kristen Lopez, has an amazing new book coming out in November: Popcorn Disabilities: The Highs and Lows of Disabled Representation in the Movies. Please give it a pre-order!
Articles of Note:
- Ben Schwartz wrote a piece about Billy Wilder and his familial losses during World War II.
- New music from the anti-fascist folk hero, Woody Guthrie, has dropped, almost sixty years after his death.
- Jaya Saxena’s The Food That Makes You Gay was nominated for a James Beard Award, and only a few months later, Eater has now fired her. It’s an incredible loss for American culture that Eater is being downsized and gutted like this.
Movies/TV
- Midnight (1939) – A classic screwball starring Claudette Colbert and Don Amiche, I chatted about this with the podcast Front Row Classics this summer. Not sure if the episode has come out yet, so be sure to follow them and await my sterling commentary! The film has a gorgeous Criterion release, and isn’t streaming anywhere.
- Okay, y’all were right about The Pitt. It’s great.
- I suppose I should list things that are first-time watches, but I did my annual re-watch of Porco Rosso, and just remember: I’d rather be a pig than a fascist.
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