The Dig List: July 2024 (Dog Days Edition)

It's hot as hell. Here are some good things.

We’re in the middle of one of the hottest summers in recent memory, which makes perimenopause extra spicy, but there’s a lot of goodness around me, too. I’m sending this from Salisbury, CT, where we’re hosting our annual leadership retreat for The Luckiest Club. Look at these wildflowers!

A Weeping Beech tree. Stunning.

This is our fourth team retreat, which is hard to believe. The first was in Essex, MA, in 2021, and we were all so awkward and weird from the pandemic lockdowns that it’s hard even to remember. The second was in Chicago, and last year’s was in Boston. If you need sobriety support, we’ve got an incredible community. Join with a free 7-day trial. I lead the Tuesday morning meeting at 8 a.m. ET.

I’ll keep saying it, but I appreciate the patience with my slower-ish pace of publishing here these past few months. It’s the first time in my life that I haven’t buried myself in work to deal with a tough time—and not even because I don’t want to; I can’t, my body won’t do it! It’s been humbling, a little scary, but also necessary, I guess.

Alright, here we go.

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What’s The Dig List?

Sharing stuff I love is my favorite thing, so instead of trying to squeeze recommendations into the other newsletters, I started a series called The Dig List. It’s a monthly roundup of things I’m digging: books, podcasts, music, cultural moments, art, products. Nothing I share is sponsored. Read past ones here.

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The Dig List: July 2024

Books

The New York Times recently published The 100 Best Books of The 21st Century (gift link), and it’s so satisfying because, in addition to a summary and links to a review of the book, you can mark “I’ve read it” or “I want to read it” for each one. There were a few titles I was thrilled to see on it, like Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, which is in my top ten of all time, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, The Great Believers by

Rebecca Makkai

, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, and The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by

Junot Díaz

, all of which are on my All Time Favorite Fiction list on Bookshop.org.

My reading brain is not *quite* back yet, but it’s getting there. I’m about halfway through and very much enjoying All The Colors of The Dark by Chris Whitaker. It’s dark and heavy but beautiful.

Every woman I know has recommended All Fours by Miranda July, but I haven’t picked it up yet. Have you read it? Tell us!

I was thrilled to see Catherine Newman’s novel Sandwich hit the New York Times bestseller list this week. It is a hilarious, wise, and heartening story about all things midlife. Catherine herself is just one of the good ones.

Shows

It took me five episodes to get into this season of The Bear on Hulu. The first episode was like being stuck on a tarmac for me, but it’s delivered in a big way since then.

The Bear Episode 6, “Napkins,” was when I finally settled in. The character profile episodes have historically been my favorite, and this one showcases Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas). It’s also Ayo Edebiri's directorial debut. Episode 6 write-up (with spoilers) here.

The Bear Episode 7, “Ice Chips,” gutted me. After Season 2, I both hoped and feared that Jamie Lee Curtis would return to the show as the only mommy dearest Donna “Dee-Dee” Brezzato. In this episode, she does, and (((melty face emoji))). Most of the episode is a dialogue between Jamie Lee Curtis, “Donna,” and her daughter Abby Elliot, “Natalie,” in the hospital as Natalie is in labor.

Jamie Lee Curtis “Dee-Dee” and Abby Elliot “Natalie”

The part that wrecked me was when Natalie, lying in the hospital bed after another brutal contraction, says to Dee-Dee.

I feel like everybody’s mad at me all the time.

I ask people if they’re all right way too much.

If someone feels sick, I start to feel sick.

I feel alone.

Or ugly.

Or like I’m in trouble.

I feel like Pete’s gonna leave me. (her husband)

Like, I’m pretty well aware of the impact of growing up with an alcoholic parent. I’ve read The Laundry List and The Other Laundry List a dozen times. But seeing and hearing her say these words precisely the way she said them, with “I feel like everybody’s mad at me all the time” first. God, I could’ve used that thirty-five years ago. Episode 8 write up (with spoilers) here.

Presumed Innocent with Jake Gyllenhaal on Apple TV is a YES. It’s an 8-part legal-drama-thriller series, and new episodes are still being released. Watch the trailer.

Links and Other Stuff

This piece in The LA Times, ‘The Bear’ isn’t about the pressures of fine dining. It’s about the damage alcoholism inflicts, is spot on.

Sam Harris

is now on Substack, which I’m thrilled about.

We Are The Luckiest was featured in this Buzzfeed list of 17 life-changing books. 😱

Gen Z loves sobriety so much that America’s biggest nonalcoholic beer brand just doubled its valuation to $800 million - A piece about Athletic Brewing and the sobriety movement in Fortune magazine (paid article, unfortunately).

Last, a little story. On the way to this retreat, one of my team members stopped in a gift shop in Hudson, NY, and grabbed this little book called The Little Book of Encouragement made by Sugarboo and Co.

She opened it up and landed on this page:

She sweetly bought the book and gave it to me. I had to search to figure out where this excerpt came from. It’s from a blog I wrote years and years ago, which I moved over here last year, titled Forgiving yourself (Part 1). This blew my mind—both to be included in this book and that the quote came from something I wrote so long ago.

As always, thank you for being here.

Until next week—xo
Laura

You are reading Love Story, a weekly newsletter about relationships, recovery, and writing from Laura McKowen. Laura is the founder of The Luckiest Club, an international sobriety support community, and the bestselling author of two books, We Are The Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life and Push Off from Here: 9 Essential Truths to Get You Through Sobriety (and Everything Else).

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