Consumption Diaries No. 8
What I consumed in May
Another month, survived! I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with roundups this year — I have been doing monthly dumps on both my personal and book instagrams, there’s this newsletter, and I even …made a couple of tiktoks?? This level of reflection is bordering on obsessive dwelling, but I truly excel at that.
And to be earnest for a minute: A special shoutout this month goes to my very kind very supportive friends, who came to a panel event hosted by Politics & Prose that I was part of. I’m not convinced I didn’t sound incredibly stupid, but it meant a lot to have people in my corner who showed up without me ever asking. It was so fun to meet people I’d only chatted with on instagram too! Being vulnerable is one of the hardest things to lean into, but sometimes (sometimes!) it works out.
Anyway! On to the consumption part:
Books
Happy Place by Emily Henry — I think everything that can be said about this book has been said. People seemed to either love or hate it, but I fell somewhere in the middle. It didn’t feel like Emily Henry’s best, but it’s still Emily Henry. She still writes dialogue and characters better than anyone in the genre. And I’m not judging romance by the same standards as I would lit fic! I’m reading these books for fun, and at some point it’s exhausting to read so much into them. Even if I’d hated this, though, I’d still read whatever EmHen writes next.
Y/N by Esther Yi — A weird and philosophical stream-of-consciousness novel that examines stan culture and our parasocial relationships with celebrities. I almost never knew where it was going, and I could even say I grew tired of the spiraling narrative and feverish plot, but that contributed to the how immersive of an experience the narrator’s delusion was. It’s a smart book, and I enjoyed it. I wrote a longer review on insta.
Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe — not bad, but it probably won’t stay with me. It circles but never quite touches a woman undergoing both mental and physical transformation as a response to trauma, an interesting premise, but nothing really happens and nothing really gets answered. Plenty of novels leave you unsatisfied, but they have to make you care enough before they can do so successfully. I read this through netgalley (though delayed — it published in April) and wrote a longer goodreads review.
The Glow by Jessie Gaynor — also read through netgalley, publishing on June 20. I haven’t written my goodreads review for this yet, and I’ve waffled on how I really felt about it, but I’m not sure why — I did enjoy it. It’s a quiet satire on white wellness culture and those who buy into it, but it also delves into why we are so quick to do so: a sense of community, desperation to fill a void we can’t name, a failing health care system here in the US that leaves us feeling vulnerable enough to take our health into our own hands. It’s the latter point, the why, that makes it stand out in a sea of wellness culture takedowns. I’d recommend this as a summer read: easily digestible, sort of fun and sort of tense, but still with some substance.
Other
This Bon Appétit piece, “Hollywood’s Gruesome, Lurid Obsession with People Eating People” from Carmen Maria Machado was fun and insightful and honestly, I’m here for more weird, campy cannibalism in books and TV. My fav cannibal books are A Certain Hunger (Chelsea G. Summers), Tender is the Flesh (Agustina Bazterrica), and Manhunt (Gretchen Felker-Martin). I’m looking forward to the rest of the Anxious Carnivores series.
The Caroline Calloway Vanity Fair profile, obviously. What I wouldn’t do for a review copy of that book, if it even exists.
“The Devaluation of Care Work Is by Design” in The Atlantic — I read this article from last May for my one free link (The Atlantic has the stingiest paywall) and there’s a 90% chance none of you can read it either, but I feel so passionate (angry) about the undermining of labor we see as traditionally women’s work in heterosexual relationships and families.
Continuing the Studio Ghibli marathon, I knocked out five more this month, in addition to Suzume and …the Bama Rush doc. I’m almost done!
Suzume (Makoto Shinkai) — Shinkai’s movies are so visually stunning. Even the one I didn’t love, Weathering With You, was so beautiful I forgot. I also went to see this in theaters, which was so fun!
The Cat Returns (Hiroyuki Morita) — Fun easter eggs with this one and Whisper of the Heart, which I preferred. Classic cat behavior, though.
Porco Rosso (Hayao Miyazaki) — I just love the concept of a war movie where a guy gets turned into a pig and then delivers the line “I’d rather be a pig than a fascist.”
Tales from Earthsea (Goro Miyazaki) — sometimes the talent does not get passed on from father to son
When Marnie Was There (Hiromasa Yonebayashi) — I really thought this was going the gay route. I was very wrong, but I also cried.
Only Yesterday (Isao Takahata) — surprisingly tender and thoughtful for a movie I thought was going absolutely nowhere for the first half. It didn’t feel very Ghibli-ish in its themes, and it was nice to see something different.
Bama Rush (Rachel Fleit) — this could have been good, but the director used the documentary as a platform to talk about her alopecia, which was just a really weird juxtaposition.
Prehistoric Planet season 2 — oh boy did I WAIT for this. I’m sad it’s only five episodes considering we had to wait two years for season 2 and will presumably wait another two for season 3, but at least the imaging technology will only get even better. This season added little post-show interviews with paleontologists, which I appreciated because the one thing that takes me out of the show is asking “but HOW do they know that? They can’t possibly know that.” Sometimes they do!
Beis mini weekender in an obnoxiously bright green — my color of the year? But color aside, I really like the bag, and crucially, it fits both an absurd amount of stuff and under the seat on a plane.
Futurewise slug balm — I bought this slug balm at Target on a whim, and it unfortunately worked better than aquaphor.
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of Their Lost World by Steve Brusatte — someone stop me before I get too deep in this dinosaur hole
Misc
Best thing I cooked this month: Miso Butter Salmon with Sizzled Scallion Salsa Verde from
’s good mood food substack, and I’ve loved several of her recipes lately because they’ve all been nice to my sensitive stomach :’)I painted two ceramic dinosaurs (in addition to the one I painted earlier this year……….) at one of those places where you pick out a pottery piece, paint it, and eagerly await its return from the flames, only to be disappointed by your artistic abilities. But it’s actually so fun! Highly recommend as a friend activity. Just maybe find something better than three dinosaurs.
Farewell and happy June, happy pride month! As always, please send me recs for things to consume and maybe my taste will get better.
Where to find me: instagram | goodreads | storygraph | letterboxd