Sometimes we do things that aren’t tearing apart our kitchens, painting our bedrooms, or going to work. And for some reason, we sometimes think maybe you’d enjoy hearing about these things, because presumably you hang on our every word and model yours lives after ours? Or maybe because in this world saturated with more books, movies, and commercial crap than one person could ever consume in a lifetime, it’s sometimes nice to get recommendations from other people about what they’ve recently enjoyed. So whatever the reason, here are a few things we’ve liked recently enough to recommend to you.
Naomi
Ever since discovering that I can listen to audiobooks during my commute and transform it from a bummer to a highlight, I’ve been going through books at a pretty alarming rate. I mostly read/listen to sci-fi, and there is just so much good writing and so many exciting voices out there that I feel like I need to do a whole post sometime soon to describe them all and convince any non-sci-fi readers out there to give it a try. It has come along way.
For now though, I can share a few recent favorites. One that immediately comes to mind is The Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky which I’ve described as Speaker for the Dead meets giant spiders. It’s about evolution, morality, the development and progression of society… and what a world would be like with no humans but just really big, smart spiders who are actually quite nice when it comes down to it. Another recent read that I highly recommend is Lagoon by Ndedi Okorafor, a first contact story with fantastical elements set in Nigeria. It manages to make the story of aliens coming to earth totally fresh and much more real and human than I think I’ve ever read before.
In the world of television, the show I’ve been recommending to just about everyone is The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It’s the story of a Jewish housewife in NYC in the 1950s and her journey to become a stand-up comedian. I can’t say it is really historically accurate (more like what today’s society thinks the journey of a woman in comedy could have been back then) but it is funny and filled with great characters and plenty of plot/drama. I also like that it is feminist and feminine at the same time, which isn’t something you always see. And of course everyone has to be watching The Handmaid’s Tale?
Sage
I mentioned in our mid-year goals update a few of the books I’d read this year. The one I most recently finished and am recommending today is I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, a true crime story about the Golden State Killer, a serial rapist and killer based in California in the 1970s and 80s. It was mostly written by Michelle McNamara, who unfortunately died before she finished it. Ultimately it was finished by piecing together her notes, which her husband — comedian Patton Oswald– led the charge on, and right as it was published investigators made a break in the case after 40+ years and actually made an arrest. If you like crime this is a really interesting one, both in its own right and because of the unexpectedly timely connection to current events as the investigation has gotten back in the news.
In a similar vein (but not at all recent), if you haven’t watched The Jinx on HBO you’re missing out. It’s a mini-series about Robert Durst, which (trying not to spoil anything) inadvertently got involved in the actual solving of some of the cases against him such that as the series was airing, new evidence was being revealed and charges brought. If you watched it come out live like Sam and I did it was super exciting, but it’s still a worthy watch a few years later. It was directed and produced by Andrew Jarecki, who has a couple of other solid documentaries as well.
Now I’m just on a roll about true crime books/documentaries, but if you like this genre then I also recommend Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (at least currently streaming on Netflix). It’s really sad, though — don’t blame me if you watch it and then get really depressed about the state of the world. And similarly, Making a Murderer on Netflix is a must-watch in this genre, if only to remind you that our criminal justice system is really really messed up and things a lot of people just believe to be true about the system (innocent people never confess, the police and prosecutors always just want the truth, etc) simply are not. To be fair that’s a misconception that mostly only white people have the privilege of holding past childhood, but it’s an important lesson about the world no matter when you learn it. Also 13th on Netflix, if you want to better understand how the criminal justice system is a direct extension of slavery and Jim Crow that disproportionately, systemically, and intentionally impacts people of color.
And if you need some cheering up after all that, all of Parks & Rec and 30 Rock are on Hulu and are always worth a watch (or re-watch).
So there you have it, a random assortment of things we’ve enjoyed. Feel free to similarly regale us with the arbitrary things you’ve been liking recently!
