Some culture news
And Just Like That..., Fran Leibowitz, Mrs March and I finally read a Sally Rooney novel
Hello again! Okay, we are really rolling now and I’m psyched that more than a thousand of you managed to find your way here despite my douchey wrong-link thing.
As a thank you, here are some notes on things to read and watch.
At the moment I am re-reading the Da Vinci Code, that’s how bad things are. It’s not nearly as good as I recall and I keep remembering key details, like who turns out to be a baddie, mere paragraphs before the baddie presents himself. But before I hit this current reading drought, I read Virginia Feito’s Mrs March, which was excellent. It was so good that I gave my husband a copy for Christmas and I almost never give anyone a book as a gift.
It is a psychological thriller in the true sense of the genre, not the mad crap publishers can’t stop turning out at the moment, which are called things like BEHIND THAT DOOR or HOW COULD YOU HAVE KNOWN? or DON’T OPEN THE BOX and always turn on a gaslighting husband or a boring secret only made interesting by its long, long, long drawn-out reveal.
Mrs March is a claustrophobic, minute sketch of a personality in freefall, which is saved from an onset of bagginess in the third quarter by some actual plot. A brilliant ending and a tremendous amount of atmosphere.
I also finally read Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney, having not really been able to get on with her other books. She really is a genius to overlay all the explicit sex with a lot of chat about The World so that you can read the book on the tube and not be judged for reading a sexy book or a stupid book. Or a sexy stupid book like Fifty Shades. Rooney also makes some really brilliant observations about the madness and true horror of fame, the insanity of social media. I’m sure by now you have made up your mind about whether or not you want to read this book, but if you are still on the fence, I say go for it.
I was given A Fran Leibowitz Reader for Christmas and although I admire and respect Fran Leibowitz as a person, I don’t quite get her output. In both her writing and her conversations on the Netflix series Pretend It’s A City she reminds me powerfully of a precocious twelve year old called down by her parents to say three interesting things to their friends at a dinner party. I feel that in her work there is some fundamental truth about herself that is missing. No, come on Fran, what’s it like to be you? What do you really think? And that, for me, makes it all a bit indigestible.
I’m glad I didn’t cast too much judgment on the early episodes of And Just Like That… which if you don’t know - and I can never tell with you - is the Sex And The City re-boot, available on HBO Max (whatever the hell that is) or Sky Comedy. Putting SATC back on the screen was always going to be a bloodbath. It’s about a million years after the second, horrible, movie, the world has moved on immeasurably and there’s no Samantha.
They could so easily have not bothered. They probably knew that if they addressed the diversity issue they’d get accused of… something, not sure what… and if they didn’t then they’d REALLY get accused of some bad shit. We’d also be back in the same place, covering the same issues and the plain fact is that you have to modernise or die. Something the Toy Story franchise got hip to years ago.
Although there has been some slightly cringey stuff in AJLT, (I agree with whoever said it was inconceivable that Miranda would not know not to comment on how a black woman chooses to do her hair), SATC was also often quite cringey. Sometimes when I re-watch some old episodes it’s all really not as good as I remember. A bit like the Da Vinci code.
But I really feel that this series is improving. I like the sexy butch comedian, Che (though I could have done without her entire standup routine), I like the naughty know-it-all Seema and I really hope we see more of the hot, boyish cosmetic surgeon played by Jonathan Groff (the voice of Kristoff in Frozen and also in the brilliant-but-scary Netflix thing Mindhunter). He is just such a classic, old school SATC boy.
The fashion, (which, sorry was never such a big part of the original series, Carrie dressed like a TopShop ho like all the rest of us), is now just absurd and I found myself becoming actually angry when Carrie turns up at a picnic in a burgundy trouser suit and 6in black spike heels.
But, I noticed the other day that Samantha Irby is heavily involved in the writing and production of AJLT so I have revised all my opinions, as I am such a fan of hers. If you haven’t read her books We Are Never Meeting In Real Life or Wow, No Thank You, please check them out. She is also on Substack as Bitches Gotta Eat! and her most recent newsletter is on her experiences of being involved in the show. It’s absolutely fascinating.
Here’s an extract
“and just like that finds the demented comedy in life’s humiliations
i have to admit that i’m a little broken. i don’t think i understood, when offered the opportunity to work on a show whose VHS tapes were my constant companion when i was 19, the enormity of what i was saying to. i obviously understood that the show had a major cultural impact and was beloved across a wide spectrum of people, but i was not ready for the magnitude of…………….discourse there would be? and that’s on me.”
How about you? What culture news do you have for the group?
Esther, I obviously don’t know you but I have a very good podcast recommendation: Dying For Love. I so hope to read what you thought about it.
I am avoiding AJLT, what I’ve heard about it makes me cringe.
I am enjoying Emily in Paris season 2 though, it’s so silly and light but the scenery is gorgeous and for some reason my husband enjoys watching it too so it’s a nice thing to enjoy together when we have a moment from the children.
Recent random books I enjoyed:
The buried giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
No one is talking about this by Patricia Lockwood
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis