A book that destroys relationships
And it's not 'All Fours.' Also: DIY writing retreats, men in crochet shirts, and more in the weekend roundup.
When you don’t get into any of the big, fancy writing retreats you applied for—the ones everyone applies for—might I suggest creating your own version? (Feel free to insert the equivalent DIY ethos for your particular industry or aim.)
There was this utopian dream of a place that I’ve wanted to visit for a long time. The people behind it seemed cool, progressive, so I emailed and said: Hey, any chance you’d offer a discount for a group of women writers who cover x, y, and z topics to do a retreat? And… they said yes?
They said yes!
So, tomorrow it’s road trip time with a few other writers you might recognize from around these parts. We’re all working on books. There will also be cold ocean, a hot tub, and oysters. I’m determined to make oysters happen. This is all a very long preamble to tell you that this newsletter is going dormant for the next week. Because books and water and oysters. All back to normal the following week!
To the links…
This American Life put out a call for people whose relationships have ended after reading Haruki Murakami’s South of the Border, West of the Sun. Never been quite so intrigued by a search for sources.
Really want to visit this feminist bookstore in Oakland.
Rebecca Traister asks: How did Republican women end up like this? (I’ll add: And why are they so weird about dogs?)
I was just talking with Myisha Battle (go read all her things) about men wearing crochet shirts on Perfect Match. (There’s a woman on the show who actually seems to partner up with a man because she likes his crochet shirt so much.) Now it seems Travis Kelce is getting in on it. The feminine delicacy, the peekaboo quality? I like it. Also here for shorter shorts.
Speaking of that problematic entertainment genre that has its grip on me, Emily Nussbaum reports on the origins of reality TV, and how The Real World started with a pitch for “a youth-oriented soap opera… made without a script.”
This week I finished Susan Scanlon’s Committed, a stunning memoir of her institutionalization in the 90s. She also explores the history of the “madwoman” (see:
’s interview with her here). Highly recommend it. You will learn and cry and rage. A relevant excerpt, given so much of what I write about here: “Part of the appeal of becoming the madwoman, or the hysteric, was that she would be relieved of her domestic responsibilities.”Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to TCF Emails to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.