Consumption diaries No. 7
An April consumed
April’s consumption diary is coming …17 days late. That is about 15 days too many for me to remember much of anything about whether April felt like a good month or not, but I did read five books and watched a whopping 18 movies, mostly buoyed by Studio Ghibli.
I finished five books this month and the better part of a sixth before deciding it wasn’t worth continuing.
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai — as a fairly slow reader (which, speed and dedicated time are two separate things), I tore through this, and not only because I procrastinated reading it for book club. My friend Sarah (one of the smartest readers I know!) chose this book for us, and we shared similar sentiments: It was a fun read that made us think about true crime as entertainment, but not necessarily in the way the author intended because her intention remains unclear. IHSQFY is doing a lot, some of which is done well, some of which eats its own tail.
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward — this book made me cry in a way a book hasn’t in a long time, but Jesmyn Ward is just like that. The family’s dedication to each other and the reminder of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation, particular on poor communities, was a gut punch. There need to be several content warnings about dog violence and death, and several scenes involving the dogs made me feel ill, though I recognize their importance.
March by Geraldine Brooks — I ended up not finishing this one about two-thirds in. It’s told from the perspective of Mr. March, the dad in Little Women, and follows his journey through the American South during the Civil War. He’s supposed to be one of the good guys — as good as a white man could have been during slavery, let’s be real — which leads to this coming off as either naïveté or white saviorism, depending on the scene. It won a Pulitzer 15ish years ago, so it’s not to say March is objectively bad or Geraldine Brooks isn’t a good writer. It just seems very of its era.
Letters of Note: Cats compiled by Shaun Usher — this series of books (and social media + blog) contain letters from relatively famous historical figures to the people in their lives, organized by subject. Obviously, I picked the one about cats. It was cute, but the real takeaway for me is just that we should we writing each other letters more often.
Communion: The Female Search for Love by bell hooks — the irony of bell hooks being bell hooks is that her work is so influential that all these years later, I didn’t feel like I was reading anything groundbreaking. But sometimes the things we need to hear most aren’t groundbreaking; because they’re so obvious, we overlook them. I wished this book weren’t so heteronormative, but I see its immense value. The most fascinating part of Communion for me was seeing how things have changed, and, distressingly, how they haven’t since this book was first published.
Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh — I thought this was so eerie and fun. I’m recommending it as a summer read just because the whole thing feels like a heat-stroke-induced fever dream. It’s based loosely on an actual historical event — a mass poisoning in a small French town post-WWII — but Mackintosh’s poetic writing makes it feel like something entirely different. It’s clearly in contrast to her other two, The Water Cure and Blue Ticket, and I can see even fans of those being left dissatisfied by Cursed Bread. I loved the mystery and fluidity of it, though, and it reminded me a lot of Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (a favorite of last year) in that way.
I watched a ton of movies in April, mostly thanks to the fact that I became fixated on getting through all of the Studio Ghibli movies. I haven’t done it yet, but it’s truly been so fun and even calming. So far, I’ve watched (or rewatched, for the few I’d seen as a kid):
The Secret World of Arrietty
From Up on Poppy Hill
Princess Mononoke
My Neighbor Totoro
Spirited Away
Howl’s Moving Castle
Castle in the Sky
Whisper of the Heart
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Ponyo
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
I’m hoping to finish the rest of the studio collection this month. I’d love to do a Studio Ghibli book recommendations post some day, if I can ever muster up enough creativity, but these posts from @bgl_bookstagram are done so well and edited so beautifully and I couldn’t ever top them
Other movies I watched:
The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson) — good
You People (Kenya Barris) — bad
Weathering with You (Makoto Shinkai) — meh
Your Name (Makoto Shinkai) — beautiful
Rye Lane (Raine Allen-Miller) — cute
The Nun’s Story (Fred Zinnemann) — long
The Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell) — wtf
pasta maker — technically my partner bought this and only my partner has used this, but seeing as I’ve benefited from the homemade pasta, which is stupidly easy to make (apparently), it’s getting included.
I also spent the largest chunk of money this month on two tattoos, because idk, I love to spend large chunks of money on things that don’t do anything I guess.
More large chunks: the Sephora sale, the two times of the year I tell myself it’s OK to drop all that money on skincare and makeup because it’s 20% off. My favs:
Lawless forget the filler lip plumper line smoothing gloss — this name sounds so stupid but it does fill in lines well. This was a repurchase, but I realize now they have this in balm form.
Hourglass mini ambient lighting powder — I have the ambient lighting palette, and I don’t know what the hell Hourglass puts in this powder, but it gives the most subtle natural glow I’ve ever found because it’s not quite a highlighter and you can just put it literally everywhere. I got the mini because the palette is expensive to replace (ashamed to say I’m on my third one) and I don’t love one of the shades on me. The shade range is better for different skin tones on the palette, but there is also a bronzer line, and I have the blush too. Help
Glow Recipe plum plum hyaluronic acid moisturizer — I’m a ride or die Cerave moisturizer girlie, but this moisturizer from Glow Recipe is one I’ve repurchased because you can just buy a refillable pod and keep the original glass container. I’m very acne prone but also very dry, and finding a moisturizer that makes my skin feel hydrated without making it break out is really hard.
Maison Margiela REPLICA under the lemon trees — I got the travel spray size of this to try, and I don’t think I’ve found a Replica scent I don’t like yet. The lemon notes aren’t too overwhelming (even for my very sensitive nose), so it feels like it’ll be great for spring and summer. I am allergic to buying full-size scents for absolutely no reason, but . And I’ll always be basic enough to keep coming back to Flowerbomb, but my summer Replica scent is Beach Walk and I’m currently debating getting a diffuser of Jazz Club because I want to smell it constantly. I’m also trying out the Dedcool discovery set right now, so stay tuned to see if I waste my money on any full sizes in May.
I didn’t stop at the Sephora beauty products because I’m weak and pathetic! I had to go and place an Olive Young order as well because I wanted to try the Round Lab birch juice moisturizing sun cream, Isntree mugwort calming powder wash, and ma:nyo pure cleansing oil. I love all three. Korean skincare, but especially Korean sunscreen, is simply unparalleled. I’m also trying to decide if I like the rom&nd juicy lasting tint or the peripera ink mood glowy tint better, but both are a nice formula and layer well under gloss.
OK, let me save both you and me from myself and stop there! I would say have a great May, but you only have 2 weeks of it left, so. Read some great books, watch some great movies, don’t spend all your money, and send me your recommendations.
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