curledup roundup: Aug
Books, shows, plays—all comin' in under the wire
These monthly round-ups are becoming a game with myself to see if I can squeeze them in, successfully publishing a round-up of 10 items I’ve been loving throughout the month, every month of 2024, even through the swirling, unending tasks and duties of work and life. And let me tell you: I will not lose this game. Enjoy these 10!
I can not rave about Pachinko enough. I wrote a bit about in in my last post, but I’m still not over it. Mainly because I started with the AppleTV+ adaptation. It’s so well done, and the second season came out in August. These actors are phenomenal. The sets are perfect, bringing the gorgeous writing of the book to life. It’s told in Korean, Japanese, and English, with color-coded subtitles to match, a cool experience I hadn’t seen before. And I physically can’t not dance along when the opening sequence starts playing.
I got the chance to visit London on a work trip, and simply couldn’t leave without touching down in at least one bookstore. I am nothing if not a sucker for British book covers. I wandered around Old Spitalfields Market, a few tables covered in books to peruse, and then popped into Brick Lane in Shoreditch, and came out with a couple gems: A Philosophy of Walking and Blue Sisters. I was PUMPED about the latter because it had yet to come out in the US. A sneak peek! Spoiler alert: it was phenomenal. I also grabbed some very cute merch.
I read They’re Going to Love You and really enjoyed it. The lives of ballerinas will never not be fascinating. The main character dreams—yet dreams probably isn’t the right word—of becoming a ballerina dancer just like her mom, despite her differences in physical stature and overall sensibility. She also idolizes her dad, likely in part due to the fact that she only sees him once a year, distance making the heart grow fonder and all that. She learns more about her dad and his “friend” over the years, in the thick of the AIDS epidemic. The book skips ahead a couple decades, and she has to grapple with and recontextualize her childhood reality.
Oh, Mary! This show is everything and more. About Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of Abe, how she desperately misses her past life as a cabaret dancer, how she drinks herself silly from boredom in the role of First Lady, and that’s just scratching the surface. I did not stop laughing for 80 minutes straight. Cole Escola is a genius.
Saw this Library Science set-up at McNally Jackson, and I’ve got to say—I really love what Kaia Gerber is doing with this. I talked a bit about this new era of celebrity book clubs a few months back, and continue to be excited about the new approaches and ideas. It feels like such a fun side project, and I can’t help but relate with my teeny tiny version here at curled up. I was devastated to miss this t-shirt drop, but am excited to see what she continues to do with Library Science!
I visited my brother in Chicago and had a BALL at Unabridged Books, which was right around the corner from his place in Lakeview. They had a 🔥 sale section, so I walked away with many gems —
Self-Knowledge from The School of Life
Loved this article about the portrayal of subway throughout literature. Opening in 1904, the system has been around for 120 years. I’ve lived in New York for one of those years, and absolutely feel how the subway becomes a character in your life here. When you stop to think about it, it feels so surreal how local, public transportation—the idea of which inherently feels small and contained—can gobble you up and spit you out in entirely different worlds across the city.
They played Past Lives in Fort Greene Park the other week, and it reminded me what a phenomenal film that was. So subtle, yet so intense. Side note—I can’t think about Greta Lee without immediately thinking of Loewe and all her A++++ awards show looks.
Ran across this idea from Toni Morrison on Instagram 🤯 I’ve been thinking about this recently… about just how much horrible content we consume on a daily basis. Just when we think something is actually unbelievable, unfathomable, there’s a Netflix series about it. But goodness, that’s harder to come by. It can feel like we take the good for granted, it’s not salacious, won’t get views, it’s too obvious or cliche, but really, it’s not obvious at all. It’s precious, and I think we should make more of it.
I just think goodness is more interesting. Evil is constant. You can think of different ways to murder people, but you can do that at age five. But you have to be an adult to consciously, deliberately be good – and that’s complicated.
This quote… still holding out hope.
See you next time!