Worth It #19

summer reads, good sandals, Jon Hamm

BOOKS

It’s been a while since my last edition of Worth It, so the book recommendations today are plentiful. I left a couple books off this list that I didn’t love—so if it’s here, it’s a winner. 👍🏻

Tell me what you’re reading in the comments because I am almost at the bottom of my TBR!

The Float Test, Elon Musk (bio), Heartwood, I Hope This Finds You Well, Broken Country

The Float Test,

Lynn Steger Strong

This is a literary, character-driven novel, somewhat in the vein of Claire Lombardo. Adult siblings come together in the wake of their mother’s death; misunderstandings ensue and long-held hurts surface. Really beautifully written.

Elon Musk, Walter Isaacson

I could talk about this book forever, but that’s another post, I think. Isaacson gives a pretty unflinching portrait of the man running American money. But I was surprised to come away from it hating Elon less, not more. I even bought a copy for my 11-year-old nephew, though the quantity of f-words has me nervous to give it to him.

Heartwood, Amity Gaige

A woman is lost on the Appalachian Trail, and narration switches between her and the people searching for her. Satisfying, accessible read.

I Hope This Finds You Well, Natalie Sue

This workplace comedy is hilarious in a NSFW way. So I was surprised when, near the end, it made me cry. Very fun beach read.

Broken Country, Clare Leslie Hall

Probably my favorite of this whole bunch. Compelling, emotional, moving. A complicated love story and murder trial are intertwined, and you’ll have to think hard about whose side you’re on. I read a hard copy, but my mom listened to the audiobook version and highly recommends it.

Isola, Run for the Hills, Wild Dark Shore, Small Rain, Real Americans

Isola, Allegra Goodman

Not the kind of book I usually go for, but I enjoyed it. A 16th-century aristocrat is stranded on an island and must figure out how to survive. Good book club book.

Run for the Hills, Kevin Wilson

Adult siblings take a cross-country road trip to find their long-lost father. Quirky and funny like only Kevin Wilson can be.

Wild Dark Shore, Charlotte McConaghy

Beautifully written, mysterious story about a family on a remote island and a woman who washes ashore. A good suspenseful read that’s a little dark.

Small Rain,

Garth Greenwell

When a poet ends up in the ICU, his reflections about everything from American healthcare to romantic love are bound to be profound and beautifully rendered. This reads like a long poem, so it’s a book for language lovers.

A tiny excerpt:

It’s also why we need poems, I think: they exist in a different relationship to attention and to time; it’s impossible for harried students worrying about exams, for harried readers checking their phones, to see and feel what’s happening in them. Whole strata of reality are lost to us at the speed at which we live, our ability to perceive them is lost, and maybe that’s the value of poetry, there are aspects of the world that are only visible at the frequency of certain poems.

Real Americans, Rachel Kong

Another favorite. In three separate sections, this novel follows three generations of one family as their lives intersect in surprising ways. About race, genetics, and destiny.

SHOWS

Your Friends and Neighbors

My husband and I both enjoyed this one, but perhaps for different reasons. Let’s just say I called it “the Jon Hamm show” and he called it “the Olivia Munn show.”

Warning: If you get squeamish when people do bad things and might get caught (🙋🏻‍♀️), it’s going to get a little tense for you.

The Studio

Seth Rogan grates a little IMO, but this silly, low-stakes show about the movie industry is fun after a long day of contemplating the future of artificial intelligence. Or whatever it is you do with your time.

Tangentially related to both of these shows, here’s an interesting question from a Substack I love:

When Did TV Stop Worrying About Money?

GOODS

Sorry to the fellas—I promise this is not usually a women’s style guide (lol), but I have two urgent recommendations this month…

One: I bought these shoes to walk around Greece, and they were amazing. They arrived the day before we left and required zero breaking in. Better than my Birkenstocks.

Two: I also got this black dress for travel. It was a splurge, but the weird, springy, jersey fabric is IMPOSSIBLE to wrinkle, and you can get a 20% off promo online. I didn’t want to confess to y’all (or any spouses of mine who might be reading this) how much I spent on it, but it is too much of a miracle to keep secret. I wore it more times on my trip than I care to admit… I just kept taking it off and leaving it in a puddle on the floor, and then the next night when it was time to go to dinner, I put it on (with the above shoes) and it looked perfect again. I was finally ready to wash it when I got home, but the care tag literally says “WASH LESS OFTEN.” So I was like who am I to argue and just hung it up. Ha.

(P.S. I could write a whole essay about how it’s called a nap dress… like what woman is napping in this? What woman is napping at all?! 🙄)

ANOTHER THING

The first (intro) email for The Away Club Challenge goes out tomorrow!

If you want to join us this round, you only have a couple more days to jump in.

It’s 10 days of challenges plus a closed community space, all to help you make intentional choices about your tech habits and how you spend your time more generally. The Away Club is the culmination of every book I’ve read, essay I’ve written, and thought I’ve had about the role of tech in modernity, and I’m very excited to share it with you.

If you’ve been around Between Two Things very long, you know everything I write is finished with a generous dollop of philosophy… less of a “tech is bad” vibe, more of a “what are we doing on this planet anyway?!?!” vibe. But like, super chill.

More here.

If you want to participate, become a paid subscriber and the emails will come straight to you.