The Dig List, April 2023

6 things I love and one that I don't. Ft the new Jason Isbell doc, Succession, Pineapple Street, and Cheryl Strayed on drinking less.

First! I’m running my 6-week writing and meditation course, The Practice, from May 2 - June 13. Registration opens next Tuesday, April 18. Learn more and register.

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Hey heyyyy, Happy Friday!

I love sharing stuff I love (and occasionally yelling about things I don’t), so instead of trying to fit these things into other newsletters, I decided to start a little series here called Dig List, and this is the first one. I’ll do it monthly-ish. It’ll include books, of course, but also sometimes shows, podcasts/podcast episodes, and occasionally products (never sponsored).

I’m not going to do audio narration for these types of posts because lists and a bunch of links don’t translate very well in that format.

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Dig List, April 2023

1. ‘What to Do if a Friend Ghosts You’ (The New York Times)

The day after I published the piece about friendship ghosting, this article came was published in The New York Times, which is cool. It’s a short piece, but it talks about the basic psychology of ghosting, why it hurts so much, and some (kind of obvious) things you can do to cope.

2. The new HBO doc about Jason Isbell

I was afraid to watch this because I love Jason Isbell and his music fiercely, but I’m so glad I dove in over the weekend. A fair amount of it is about his addiction and sobriety and how both impact his work and relationship with his wife, Amanda Shires. (She comes out as the real MVP in it, though I already kind of suspected she was.)

Here’s the trailer. His voice, I cannot.

Also, let’s not forget this happened last year at sxsw. He was kinder than I even imagined and also hilarious.

We really went for the whole primary color palette.

3. Succession - Season 4, Episode 3

Skip this part if you don’t want spoilers!

Apparently, this episode marked a series high for the show at 2.5 million viewers. I’ve loved Succession from the beginning, even though it’s hard to watch sometimes because EVERYONE IS F*CKING TERRIBLE. There are literally zero redeeming characters on this show, and while that’s sort of the point, it can wear on the psyche. Still, all the season finales are among—if not the—best I’ve ever seen on television. But nothing tops the most recent episode, episode 3, of this final season.

Logan dies in this episode, but it’s not until the very end—when you see his body being carried off the plane in a bodybag—that you’re sure he’s died. This is both agonizing and perfect because Logan is haunting, oppressive, and unpredictable; how else would he go out?

Anyway, all the suffering and cringing and come ON-ing I’ve done at this show was worth it for this one moment:

I had to stop, rewind, and pause to look at them a little longer. Their expressions! Their hands! Sarah Snook! I die!

Overall, the writing in this last season is just insane. Like they took what was already level ten and turned it up to twenty-five. Vogue captured the best lines from season 4, episode 3 here. My favorite is from Roman: “Are you a c*nt? Okay! Give me a buzz!”. I love you, Roman.

Also, I’ve never before listened to a podcast about a show until now, but Kara Swisher is so great I have faithfully listened to her host the Succession podcast for the past two seasons.

This show will definitely go down as one of my all-time faves.

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4. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

I started by listening to it on audiobook (strong recommend; his voice is gravelly and grounding)—a little bit each night—and was surprised at how much I got from it right away. It’s a series of short lessons/meditations/musings on creativity, the artist’s mindset, the purpose of art, the myths of success, the comparison trap, and so on. A book like this could easily be vapid, arrogant, or saccharine, but it’s none of those things. It’s excellent.

I bought the hardcover too because it’s the kind of book I want to have around the house: bedstand, office, coffee table. Plus, it’s visually cool; they went with no cover flap and this super minimalist look. As my daughter would say, it’s ~aesthetic~.

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5. Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

Before I get into this one, because this book is one I very much did not like, let me say a few things. Art is always subjective. My opinion is just my opinion. I’ve loved wildly unpopular books and have hated wildly popular ones; it doesn’t matter. But part of the fun of consuming art is talking about it, and sometimes that means talking about the things we don’t like and why. I wouldn’t do this publicly, like on my Instagram feed, and I very rarely (maybe two or three times total) leave negative reviews on Goodreads or Amazon. In the cases where I’ve done those, they’ve been for massively successful books where I’ve been so offended and/or confused by the book that I feel compelled to say as much (*cough* Matthew Perry’s memoir *cough*). Okay, so…

Pineapple Street was written by Jenny Jackson, a superstar editor in the publishing world, the force behind books like Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which is in my top ten of all time. Clearly, she’s talented. This book got SO MUCH PRESS. It was, and is, everywhere. It actually came out the same day Push Off from Here did, and although I’d already pre-ordered it on Kindle, when I went to my book event that night in Harvard Square, I bought a hard copy because I had a feeling—based on all the hype—that I was going to love it. Plus, the cover is great.

The story is about an uber-wealthy family in New York City and all the dynamics and trappings of that type of privilege and money. The first chapter starts out with this dialogue scene where so brands are dropped—in a way that was unrealistic because people just don’t talk that way—that I thought I was reading satire. I thought, Oh, okay, this is a parody of New York wealth, but no.

I kept going, and I kept waiting for things to pick up, for something to happen, but…nothing—ever—happens. Nothing! It’s three-hundred pages of a sort of petering plot about privilege and wealth resisting change but also, sort of, kind of, in a totally formulaic and forced way, “waking up.” The characters felt one-dimensional, the dialogue was awkward, and the “awakenings” were so performative I hated every single character by the end. In fact, I hate-read the last half of the book.

I really wanted to love this one. I learned a lot reading it in terms of what works for me and what doesn’t, so that’s good? But, yikes. Was this a thing where nobody wanted to give her honest criticism because of who she is in the publishing industry? Did it get flattened or sharpened in the wrong ways during the editing process? Was it supposed to be frustrating? I don’t know, but I haven’t been that mad finishing a book in a long time.

6. Audiobooks, in general.

I’ve always liked listening to non-fiction books on audio because you can kind of jump in and out, go forward and back, without worrying too much about missing something critical, whereas with fiction, it felt like I’d zone out too easily or miss something essential in the book by not absorbing the words with my eyeballs. As of late, though, I’ve turned and am loving listening to fiction on audio, even preferring it sometimes?! These are three excellent audiobooks I’ve finished in the past month.

• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, read by Marin Ireland and Michael Urie

• I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai, read by Julia Whelan

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, narrated by Charlie Thurston

7. Cheryl Strayed talks about her decision to drink less.

Last month,

Cheryl Strayed

published a piece here about her journey to drinking less, titled A Problem Without A Problem (you need to be a subscriber to read). I thought it was great, not only because it’s beautifully written but because by writing about it, she’s giving so many people permission to talk about their relationship with alcohol, and I’m always for that, obviously. She also shared about it this week on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast and mentioned my work, which was 😍. (The drinking discussion happens in the first 15 minutes if you want to listen.)

That’s it for this round! As always, tell me what you think. See you next week.

Love,
Laura

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Offerings & Events

I’ll be in San Diego and Portland, Oregon, next week for book tour. Join me!

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