Happy Friday babes,
I’m writing to you from my new apartment in Brooklyn where I’m surrounded by boxes and objects in strange places. A cactus in the middle of the kitchen table? Why not! Said kitchen table in front of the couch? Yep! This move has taken a toll on my writing practice (and sanity) but I’m very happy to be in New York… indefinitely. My life for the past many years has involved being in one place for a finite period and not really settling anywhere because I know I’ll have to go soon. At drinks recently, a friend asked me how moving was going and reminded me of how I simply never unpacked at a few apartments, which is true. I’ve been extremely nomadic but am really looking forward to feeling more tethered and grounded.
I said I’d write this more regularly so here I am trying to keep my word. Thank you Diana who wrote an incredible guest post last issue (?) on Post-Soviet writers which I absolutely loved.
This week, I’m bringing you just a couple of books that brought me a real sense of joy when I unpacked them. Please keep in mind I have only unpacked three of …many book boxes so this could be another theme next week.
Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury - Sigrid Nunez
If you’ve subscribed to this newsletter for a bit then you probably know that I am a Sigrid Nunez stan. I think all of her writing is so beautiful, sparse and precise. She also just seems like a very principled writer and her books come off as being very kind. Mitz is the biography of Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s pet marmoset. Yes, this is a real story! It’s a beautiful portrait of the couple told by focusing on the life of their beloved pet, Mitz. It’s so creative and quick and it made me cry. I love how Nunez writes about animals (hi, The Friend which wrecked me). This one flies under the radar but it’s quick and lovely and is an ode to making art and the animals that enrich a life.
Tonight I’m Someone Else: Essays - Chelsea Hodson
I was lucky enough to work with Chelsea Hodson at Bennington and have followed her career with great interest and admiration - she recently announced her new independent book press Rose Books which just put out its first title, Someone Who Isn’t Me. She also leads a Morning Writing Club which I’m a member of and have been attending more regularly (pre move) and has led to a lot of progress being made on my book. If you’re a writer, join! Anyway - Tonight I’m Someone Else is Chelsea’s debut collection of essays which explore sexuality, work, art making, Phoenix, Arizona, desire, intimacy and her time as an American Apparel model. It’s a beautiful collection that’s told with a razor sharp precision and I recommend it a lot to writers looking for a good essay collection. If you want to flag that you’re a hot literary girlie, have this peeking out of your bag Kendall Jenner was famously photographed reading this on a boat in Miami. Read this profile of Chelsea in Nylon, too!
I was going to include a few more but… I’m going to stop there. I actually like this combination because there’s an intersection of women, art and animals that feels right. I know that Chelsea has an extremely smart and hairbow-wearing Poodle named Magic and Sigrid Nunez’s work focuses largely on art-making and animals so I’m going to leave you here.
May your weekend be filled with art and animals - two of my favorite things.
See you next week?
xo,
Ariél
PS - since this is short, here are some essays I’ve recently enjoyed. This beauty “The Atomic Disease” by Rachel Greenley (another Bennington alumni <3), “Mommy, Baby, Tyrant, Serf” on dyke relationship dynamics by Julia Gold Harris (PLZ lmk which you are), and this one on the split in the Free Britney movement on Vulture by Rebecca Jennings.