what joanne is reading

This is about as good as the year gets, isn’t it? Unless you are having a particularly bad week, in which case, my sympathies. When it’s still summer, but the heat is fading, and responsibilities have yet to emerge on the other side of Labor Day—just can’t beat it.

I saw Ghost Dog at Vidiots recently and found it more affecting than I’d remembered. It’s Jarmusch, in the register I most enjoy, original and searching. I still think Patterson is one of the best films in the past decade. I’ve also been watching lots of TV due to anemia or depression or some delightful mix of both. Lately, The Great Pottery Throw Down and Succession, which I had put off watching for ages—completely annoyed by everything I knew about it—but found I could enjoy once the New York media self-reflexive hype cycle was out of the picture. I like how it captures sibling family dynamics—how they roast each other, well into their thirties and forties. And the way they team up to roast each other. I have some experience with this.

My sister was in town and we took a pottery class together. I was bad at it, she was great at it. The corner of my bowl fell over and the very kind probably stoned instructor smiled and said it looked like it could be a cool gravy boat. My sister appeared to agree, and I remember thinking, hmm, maybe it is a not bad piece, who knows. In fact, she took a photo when I wasn’t looking, sent it to my brother, who texted back, immediately, “Joanne better give me that pot as a wedding gift.” So now I kind of have to, because I cannot deny my brother the joy of pointing to this shitty piece of pottery and telling everyone it’s a wedding gift from his sister. She made it herself—can you tell? Like it was my idea!!

To follow up on the last newsletter, I have in my apartment, sixteen LURKING hardbacks left and I’d love to get them out of here. Pre-order WRONG WAY and I’ll send you one. (Also, if you already requested a copy and haven’t received it yet, just let me know. I might have written your address wrong or something (sorry about that)).

I don't know how international distribution works, exactly, but looks like you can pre-order it from non-Evil Store stores internationally like Librairie Drawn & Quarterly in Canada or Foyle’s or Blackwells in the UK. Pretty much any English language bookstore internationally should be able to acquire it like Shakespeare & Co, ABC in Amsterdam, or Dussmann das KulturKaufhaus in Berlin.

If you are in Los Angeles on November 15th, please join me at Skylight or join me, on November 27th at Harvard Book Store in Cambridge. Or join me a few other places that I’ll be able to share soon enough around those post-Thanksgiving weeks.

But enough about my books. Here are a few other books that I liked. And one I did not. (Do you see the restraint that went into the title of this newsletter? I could have titled it “Seven good books and one bad book” and everybody would click through).

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Sorry to be a hater, but I’m just going to get the book I didn’t like out of the way. It’s TRUST.

TRUST is okay. I remember hearing about it when it first came out and I thought it sounded interesting but also it looked like a book that Obama would have on his summer reading list so I never got around to it. But then it just kept racking up awards and I felt I had to read it to be part of the conversation and argh. It's so aggressively just okay!! And it is is SUCH an Obama book. That I wasn’t keen on it could be because I recently reread both The House of Mirth and Bleeding Edge (a seriously epic story of stock manipulation). I think the fuss has to do with this being a relatively rare contemporary novel where the class positions of the characters is made explicit, rather than muddled. But still, power and power imbalances doesn’t come through fluently—there’s a lot more telling than showing.

One thing I tend to do when I’ve got a book like this in my hands is, I just stop reading. First of all, because I’m not enjoying the book (most obviously). But two, that means I can stay positive like, if someone asks me what I thought I can say, honestly, “Oh, well I just read the first three chapters so I don’t know. What did you like about it?” I read TRUST to the end and thought to myself, when I turned the final page, “IS THAT IT???!” That was it!

But I loved BIRNAM WOOD. That’s my current go-to recommendation for just about everybody. Michael Crichton-esque techno thriller written with ultra-piercing insights by one of the best prose stylists out there. Slows a little in the middle (what doesn’t) but incredibly worth it.

Other books I’ve enjoyed lately:

Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely — The funny thing about used books is how the really torn up ones, in worse shape, might have more material value. Because to the person browsing, you can see the previous owner of the book ripped through to the end. This was a $2 find in the carts outside Raven Books. It struck me as the perfect follow-up to TRUST and THE GUEST. Published in the nineties, there are many deliciously cutting observations on white wealth from a Black housekeeper’s perspective, forward for the time.

The Guest — I mean, what else can I say that hasn’t already been said? It’s breezy, evocative, and not too deep. I’ve heard it compared often to an A24 movie, which concisely encapsulates its strengths and weaknesses. One of those strengths is it’s extremely readable, so absolutely go for it if you're in a reading slump.

Aesthetical Relations by Christina Catherine Martinez — She’s an art writer and comedian, which is a pretty amazing mix and as an essayist has a sharp and dreamy style. I don’t think it’s possible to read her ode to Mazda Miatas in the LA Times and not emerge a fan.

Doppleganger by Naomi Klein — Surprised by this one, how it stays focused while exploring ambiguous territory. Correct on where the left is losing the messaging on Big Tech. The best parts are when she interrogates her own public image—and her uneasiness about it. That she, at 29 years old, after No Logo came out, was fielding the same question again and again, “Aren’t you a brand?” Right at the middle where it seemed to begin to lag, she delivers a chapter containing some of the most thoughtful writing on being a parent I’ve read.

Strange Labor by Richard Penner — Great throwback to new wave sf. Realized I miss post-apocalyptic storytelling (when it’s done right, rather than played out and cliched, there’s nothing better). Instead of zombies, this one sees most of the population lose their sentience and form ant-like colonies building what seem to be nonsense constructions. Fun premise which Penner carries to the end.

Big Fiction by Dan Sinykin — Not only a strong systematic analysis of corporate publishing from warehousing to marketing, but it also shows how only certain authors thrive under these conditions resulting in a “conglomerate taste.” It made me think about how my own taste as a reader, starting in high school in the 90s, was shaped by publishing institutions and distribution channels that were, even then, on their last legs. Insightful, not only to writers, but musicians, filmmakers, graphic artists, and all other artists in industries perpetually squeezed (and the readers, listeners, and viewers who wish to see art thrive).

And this is my current TBR pile:

Right now I’m rereading The City & the City. Can’t believe how much I had forgotten of this book I love—one of my all-time favorites, but haven’t revisited since 2009. Miéville is peerless here, I think. He doesn’t have a sense of humor—more of a perpetually raised eyebrow—but makes up for it in, for lack of a better word, edge. Where are the writers with edges? I used to think this was a prerequisite for completing a novel; that you’d have to be the sort of person who follows their own rules, refuses to complete homework, rejecting reality for a world of your own. But the balance has tilted toward writers who really love doing homework—they see the novel as homework, something you get a gold star on.

ANYWAY! Having typed all that at a time when I should probably shut up about such things, I do HAVE A NOVEL COMING OUT ON NOVEMBER 14th than I hope (please) everyone will buy, love, read.

Thanks for reading.