What I read in February
A 69-page stunner, a buzzy rom-com, and the new Sheila Heti
It’s no surprise that I’m one of those people who lives by the creed “the movie is never as good as the book.” There are tons of examples of great books turned into terrible movies. There’s also a category of great books turned into great-but-not-quite-as-great-as-the-book movies.
But then last week I saw Dune: Part Two and, honestly, I can’t imagine that the book is better than that cinematic experience. Yep, I’m saying this and I haven’t even read the book. I know—I’m sorry. But Dune, the novel by Frank Herbert, is 896 pages and I just don’t have time for that right now! If you do have time—read it, I’m sure it’s amazing. What I will say about this movie is that it is 2 hours and 46 minutes (which really means over 3 hours with trailers) and I am seven months pregnant but I was so entranced by the film that I couldn’t leave even for a second to pee. Which is probably the highest compliment I could give a film? I got to see it early at a press screening and loved it so much I’m going to see it again this weekend. See you there?
Also, starting tomorrow AMC theaters are releasing three brand new Nicole Kidman ads that will play before the movie starts. Calling it “Phase 2” makes me laugh—is AMC waging a war to get people back into movie theaters? Maybe. Well I’m sold!
Enough about Dune. Here’s what I read this month:
The shortest, most surprising, most brilliant book I’ve ever read
I went to Three Lives bookstore recently and my friend Miriam, who works there and has recommended most of my favorite books of the last decade, could not believe I hadn’t read The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt. It’s only 69 pages and—OMG!!! Storytelling at its finest. It is so special and brilliant and my only plea to you is that you look up nothing about this book before you read it so that none of the magic is ruined for you. Therefore I will be saying nothing more except: read it. Read it!!
A re-read of one of my all-time favorite novels about love and marriage
In last month’s newsletter I suggested you re-read a book that you’d loved at a different time in your life. Well I followed my own advice and revisited Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill (and I wrote about it in the “Actually Great Love Stories” post). This little novel—179 perfect pages—is truly one of the greats. Offill’s shimmering prose captures the intimacy, tenderness, and disappointments of marriage. It’s not happy but it speaks to a relationship’s raw and beautiful nature in a way that few books manage to capture.
Who said that rom-coms were dead?
Dolly Alderton is a British writer who gives a little bit Lena Dunham meets Bridget Jones. She’s massive in the UK but hasn’t quite achieved the same household-name status in the US. Basically, you can read her here and still seem ahead of the curve. And you should, because her new novel Good Material is fun, fast, and compulsively readable—about a stand-up comic in the wake of a breakup. It feels like a classic rom-com set in London. If you just finished binging One Day on Netflix or you loved Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld, this one is for you.
What I’ve been reading at 3am when I can’t sleep
The concept of Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti is fascinating: Heti took her personal diaries from the past 10 years, sorted the sentences from A-to-Z, and then cut it down from 500,000 words to the 60,000 which make up this book. The result is a poetic experience for the reader, filled with contradictions: exposing and withholding, boring and brilliant. It’s interesting to learn about someone’s life in a completely non-chronological way. In art terms, it’s a mosaic, not a painting—a composite of her friends and lovers, reflections about her work, money struggles, and philosophical wonderings with no cohesive narrative thread. I wouldn’t call it a riveting read but the experience of wandering through Heti’s thoughts is beautiful and unique. This is for lovers of Theft By Finding by David Sedaris, Anaïs Nin’s diaries, and Marina Abramović’s art.
READING LIST
The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Good Material by Dolly Alderton
Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti
Happy reading!
Love,
Ali