June saw me taking a lot of long walks to nowhere, visiting Amsterdam, getting my fourth tattoo, and of course, through it all, continuing to query. I wrote a post about how I feel about the journey so far, which you can read if you’d like. I’ve allowed myself to go slowly, to spend a lot of time doing other things, including working on some new writing projects. Growth is uncomfortable and change is often frightening, but without them where would we be? So here’s to more growth and change in the latter half of the year, and here’s everything I loved in June <3
Books:
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig - Felt like the literary equivalent of an Enya song — dark and moody and vaguely medieval. In my wildest fantasies, I like to imagine that after some serious romantasy/”shadow daddy”/trope-based fatigue, publishing is (slowly, very slowly) starting to stretch in different directions, and this book feels like a good sign of that. Strange and lovely. Highlights include a talking gargoyle companion and a knight who wears eyeliner.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore - As someone who doesn’t read a lot of thrillers, I’m not sure if this is how they always feel, but this book had me staying up way past my bedtime desperate to find out what happened. A girl goes missing from a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains in 1975 and the story spirals out in all directions from there. I’ve been in a distinctly spooky reading mood this summer, and this book was the perfect fit for that.
Movies:
Brokeback Mountain (dir. Ang Lee) - I’m just as surprised as you are that it took me 20 years to finally watch this movie, but in my defense, I was 6 years old when it first came out. One of those cultural touchstones that’s just as beautiful, just as heart-wrenching as everyone always says it is. I was completely blown away by Lee’s direction and Prieto’s cinematography — every frame is a painting.
The Darjeeling Limited (dir. Wes Anderson) - Sort of like Succession if the only thing at stake to inherit was a set of animal-printed leather suitcases. I am always charmed by stories about weird little messed-up families and even more charmed by movies set on trains. Wilson, Brody and Schwartzman work so well together you forget that they look absolutely nothing like biological siblings. Also, the soundtrack is fantastic.
Music:
Deep Diving by After - So perfectly captures that late-90s trip pop vibe, it feels like witchcraft.
Nettles by Ethel Cain - All praise be to Ethel.
Girl of Your Dreams by Eli - Songs to listen to on your pink iPod nano.
Get Over It by The Greeting Committee - I love a song about the agony of being 26 that I can also dance to!
Nice to Each Other by Olivia Dean - The anti-boyfriend summer anthem we needed.
Afterlife by Alex G - He just keeps getting better, folks.
Buttercup by Quiet Houses - Dreamy indie-pop from an Edinburgh-based (!!) duo.
Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter - Shut up about the discourse. Listen to this banger.
Misc:
A trip to Amsterdam - I visited Amsterdam for the first time this month and completely fell in love with the city. I spent my time vintage shopping on Haarlemmerdijk, wandering through Tuinpark Nut & Genoegen and going to as many cafés and wine bars as I could. A very small sampling of my favorite spots includes dinner at restaurant calisto, the orange wine on tap from café R. de Rosa and the pastries at Fort Negan (all pictured below).
The Bear - Binged the entire show over the course of this past month and now I’m catching up on season 4. Richie Jerimovich, you are a princess to me.
New tattoo - Done by Mattys (mvttys on Instagram) at Mosel Mosel :) Couldn’t be happier with this piece!
Thanks for reading <3 Happy July!