Worth It #17

the funny book you need, a candle you won't re-gift, and v. pink sneakers

Welcome to Worth It, where I tell you about all the things making me happy as the weather cools, the days shorten, and Elon Musk prepares to take over the world.

The Husbands, Holly Gramazio (fiction)

The day after the election, I googled “funny books.” This is what came up, so I read it. It did exactly what it was supposed to do: made me think about men who weren’t Matt Gaetz. And for that, I give it all the stars.

The Extinction of Experience, Christine Rosen (nonfiction)

Here’s the blurb:

“What kind of person is formed in an increasingly digitized, mediated, hyperconnected, surveilled, and algorithmically governed world? What do we gain and what do we lose when we no longer talk about the Human Condition but, rather, the User Experience?”

When I tell you this is a question I’m profoundly interested in, what I mean is, I’m writing a book very much like this one. Only difference is, no one is paying me to publish it. If only I could overcome that one pesky detail! [shakes fist at universe, sobs]

Even though it stole my thunder a little bit, this book deserves your time. It’s well researched but easily readable. It will (a) chill you to the bone but also (b) inspire you to live in ways that are more human. I put this book after the funny one because, well, you’ll need both.

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (fiction)

I’m working my way through all of Ishiguro’s novels. This is my third, including The Remains of the Day (in Worth It #4). The novels all have precisely the same effect on me, which is that I read them all the way through without too much feeling, and then they really sink in when I’m done, and then they haunt me FOR EVER AFTER.

I’d watched the film version of this years ago, so I knew the basic premise. Still, reading the book was worth it because Ishiguro does this wild distancing thing with his narrators that you have to read to appreciate. The sparse, detached way he writes really transcends the concepts themselves. This would make an excellent book club pick, if you’re into that.

The Most Fun We Ever Had, Claire Lombardo (fiction)

I read Same As It Ever Was in the last Worth It and decided I needed more Claire Lombardo. This author’s understanding of the complexity of human beings over long lifetimes is truly astonishing to me. She has an uncanny ability to articulate why people do the things they do and how familial relationships can become complicated. This is one of those books that builds your empathy when you’re not looking.

A Life Worth Living, Miroslav Volf and others (nonfiction)

If you’re interested, don’t forget to sign up for the Life Worth Living Book Club that starts January 6. We’re already at maximum capacity, but if people keep signing up I may set up a second time slot. (I can’t think of a better time since I’ve been alive to read this book.)

The Diplomat (Season 2)

This is, in my opinion, pretty close to a perfect show. It’s smart like Homeland or House of Cards but less dark, with some reliable comedic relief throughout. (And if you haven’t seen The Americans, that’s another Keri Russell gem.)

Detroiters

Okay, proceed with caution. If you don’t love weird, Tim Robbins-style humor (at its weirdest in I Think You Should Leave), don’t bother with this one. If, like me, you could watch raunchy buddy comedies like Broad City on repeat forever, you can’t sleep on Detroiters. It’s like the complete opposite of those high-brow novels I just wrote about, and thank God for that. Palate cleanser!

Linnea Candle: “Winter” scent

Remember that SNL skit about the endlessly re-gifted candle?

This is not that candle.

This candle costs $42 (!) and is, inexplicably, worth every penny. In my house everyone knows that, when the Winter candle is lit, it’s because the house is clean, the chores are done, and Mom is at peak happiness. Goes well with the best blanket on earth.

Emily Lex Watercolor Workbooks

Emily Lex has these adorable workbooks that make watercolor far less intimidating for newbies. Her new Christmas one is out, and I love it so much. You can practice the paintings in the book and then make homemade cards or gift tags. Peak holiday wholesomeness!

Dolce Vita sneakers

I got these shoes, and they’re even pinker in person.

Can you imagine? But having on happy pink shoes really helps when your dog tears into the garbage bag you left outside and scatters thrown-out Halloween candy across every square foot of your yard.

See—Don’t I look HAPPY in this photo?!

My Substack is telling me I’ve run out of space, but my heart is telling me we need a poem. Here’s a good one:

Small Kindnesses

By Danusha Laméris

I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead — you first,” “I like your hat.”