061126_ReadingWatchingListening
It’s summer isn’t it.
Been on a bit of a great reading streak recently.
The Book of Ebenezer le Page - recommended to me by a friend with great taste, this one is a bit of an oddball but has a lot of heart. The prose is gorgeous and makes you feel like you’re living in Ebenezer’s head as he recounts his life on Guernsey. Some queer elements at play here as well.
The Wall Dancers - right up this Substack’s alley. Explores the wild world of the Chinese internet, tracking it’s growth during a time of reform in the Chinese economy through the authoritarian shift and subsequent crackdown on free speech / queer culture under Xi Jinping. Really fascinating book, working on an essay for Lurkline from it as we speak.
The Master - gorgeous novelization of a specific period in Henry James’s life. Bouncing around Europe and remembering a specific kind of life in America after the civil war, this book is a journey through both the life of the writer as well as character studies on many who surrounded him. Haunting in a way that reminded me of Sebald.
Lonesome Dove - unbelievable novel. The characters all have depth to be sure, but the nature writing in this novel is the best I’ve ever read. Some absolutely stunning visuals in this book.
Train on the Island by Aldous Harding
This fucking album!!! Melancholy and transportive… been listening on these humid evenings while reading on my roof. The opening lines of the first song are iconic enough:
I'm not afraid like you’re not gay
And you're not old, like I'm on the spectrum
Really loved this NYR piece on a recent book by Jon Savage on pop music and queer culture. Goes briefly into the queer history of punk and the creative / social paradox at the heart of what was once counter-culture becoming culture.
Specifically loved this piece near the bottom on what makes Lou Reed a gay icon.
Joshua Citarella’s Doomscroll is quickly becoming my favorite political / cultural / etc podcast. He recently premiered an art exhibition called the Online Marketplace of Ideas in which “each carefully selected item has been purchased online and is shown without the knowledge of its creator or author. Contributors range from canonized artists to podcasters, influencers, bloggers, memers, musicians, and even politicians; each represents an accidental avant-garde for 21st century media.”
I love John Paul Brammer’s work, and this recent substack on curiosity being his fuel behind reading more struck a chord. Really trying to consume less algorithmic/AI slop.
and this.
LOVE the aldous album!! jo just got it on vinyl