Monday Miscellany: Waiting for winter, when we will become tiger moths
Notes from November 25 - December 1
Well, well, well, if it isn’t December. This week featured Thanksgiving celebrations and a lot of travel, and hot damn, it passed in a flash. Now here we are at the beginning of a new month, winter holidays just around the corner and year’s end in sight, all of which means I’m itching to make some lists: seasonal things to read/watch/do, tasks to wrap up before 2025, gift ideas for friends and family, best of 2024 in books and music, intentions for the new year…
But first, let me tell you what I’ve been reading, listening to, and thinking about lately!
Currently reading
According to my library loan history, I checked out Luster by Raven Leilani back in May 2021. The buzz was pretty big at the time, which always piques my curiosity, but after hearing that it was about a messy twenty-something I decided it wasn’t for me and turned it back in unread. Cut to November 2024: it was chosen for The Stacks book club, I checked it out again from the library, actually read it this time, and… loved it.
Edie, the main character, is messy, sure, but not in the way I was expecting. Yes, her love life is in shambles and she isn’t doing great at her job. Yes, she ends up getting drawn into the open marriage of the older (white) man she’s been seeing, and yes, she becomes friends, kind of? with his wife and adopted (Black) daughter. On paper, girl, woof. But the mess is not shallow or frivolous like I thought it would be. Edie is an artist who thinks and feels deeply, and I loved getting to know her—she’s making mistakes, but she’s trying so hard to figure her life out. It’s impossible not to care about and root for her. Also, Raven Leilani’s writing is simply beautiful; the fact that this is a debut novel is pretty astounding. I’m so glad it showed up in my life again and I could give it the attention it deserved this time!
The other book I read this week, The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich, was also a book club pick—this one for Gretagram. Reactions in the Zoom discussion yesterday were mixed, but I really liked it. There’s a whole ensemble cast of characters in the North Dakota town where the story takes place, but we’re mainly following Kismet, a young woman just out of high school, and Crystal, her mother, who works the overnight shift hauling sugar beets from local farms. A lot is going on: Kismet is getting engaged to Gary even though she seems to love someone else, Crystal is trying to make ends meet and save money for Kismet’s college education, the farmland is constantly changing with the climate, the town gossip mill is still abuzz about a horrible recent accident involving Gary and his friends when Kismet’s dad suddenly goes missing…
Louise Erdrich is tackling some weighty issues in this book—racism, classism, and the environment, to name a few—but what stood out to me was the tone, which felt warm and even funny at times. I didn’t always agree with the characters’ choices, and there were a few people I actively disliked, but I loved the variety and amount of different voices present here, and the rich tapestry of community that Erdrich weaves them into.
A legally-required heads-up: if you purchase a book through the bookshop.org affiliate links in this post, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. ♥︎
Currently listening
The drive to visit Jordan’s family usually takes about ten hours, but because of the continued I-40 closure after Hurricane Helene, and a couple of accidents and other major traffic slowdowns, our trip on Wednesday stretched to about thirteen. So we had lots of time for music! During one of my reading breaks after it got dark, Jordan put on Straylight Run’s self-titled album (2004) and we had a really nice nostalgic sing-along moment. He first introduced me to their songs “The Tension and the Terror” and “Existentialism on Prom Night” back in 2005 when we were starting to hang out, and I still fondly associate them with that time.
Baby college sophomore Emily could have absolutely written this:
Darling, all of these awkward, jump start, stalling conversations mean much more to me than anything And it comes down to me and you, and whether we’re supposed to or not, we still will We’re so much better off than them
Listening through this album (twenty years old! I still have not gotten used to the way time just keeps passing) I was also reminded of some lyrics from “Mistakes We Knew We Were Making” that I had fully forgotten about but that still apparently live deep within my brain:
I’m convinced that giving in is the worst thing there is So we bottled and shelved all our regrets, let them ferment and came back to our senses Drove back home, slept a few days, woke up and laughed at how stupid we used to be
We returned from Tennessee on Saturday, largely so we could make it to the Mountain Goats show at the Ramkat here in Winston-Salem that night. This was the first time we’d seen the band since Peter Hughes stopped touring with them, and while I was sad about his absence, it was still a great time. One of the most memorable moments for me was when they played a favorite of mine, “Heretic Pride,” with a slightly slower tempo and an interesting new instrumentation (Isa Burke on violin! LFG!!), and when I looked around at the crowd as John sang “transfiguration’s going to come for me at last,” it felt like everyone was shouting along: “and I will burn hotter than the sun.” I live for experiences like these.
And another thing
Pizza Hut’s Book It! program turned 40 this year, and as a former enthusiastic participant (and current enthusiastic member of a book trivia team named Book It! Pizza Party), I loved this tribute.
The New York Times’ interactive Books We Love feature is here (though it will forever be called Book Concierge in my heart)!
First awarded in 2018, Aspen Words is a relatively new literary prize, but it has already become one I pay attention to. The 2025 longlist of finalists has been announced.
Haiku round-up
Monday, November 25
Raspily purring, you trail us around the house begging for scritches
Tuesday, November 26
Brushing tears from cheeks, I marvel at my fortune— to love this deeply
Wednesday, November 27
Beloved pinnacle surrounded by evergreens, please bless this journey
Thursday, November 28
Emerging, rested, to a fresh pot of coffee, the Macy’s parade
Friday, November 29
What a treat, to be asked about yourself and then fully listened to
Saturday, November 30
Shouting together that we’re going to make it: This feeling is life
Sunday, December 1
An open Sunday, demanding nothing of us but to rest at home
Until next time
I was standing by the fence on Jordan’s family’s farmland on Saturday, taking in the beautiful view and shouting a morning hello to the cows, when Jordan called to me from the house where he was locking up. The air was chilly, wind cutting straight through the hoodie I was wearing, my cheeks tingling and teeth chattering, and I jogged over to see what he’d spotted. It was a wee woolly bear caterpillar on the doorstep, dark brown and fuzzy, tucked just inside the storm door where it was safe from the piercing breeze. That’s me this coming week, and you too, I hope, if it’s cold where you live—just a bunch of little guys, doing our best, sheltered in the dry warmth and waiting for winter, when we will become tiger moths.
See you next week, and until then, please don’t be this person.
—Emily
If you have any feedback, or want to tell me what you’re reading or listening to, I’d love to hear it. You’re always welcome to leave a comment or reply directly to this email.