Monday Miscellany: What a shock, this light

Notes from May 26 - June 1

Jun 02, 2025

Greetings from an exceedingly pleasant afternoon in North Carolina! I’ve left this letter for the very last minute, having whiled away the earlier part of the day reading on the front porch and running on the greenway trail. Here’s a moment of zen captured this morning, as the chorus of neighborhood birds greeted the day:

I’ve relocated to the back deck to write and the soundtrack here is pretty similar, with the addition of an enthusiastic woodpecker, a neighbor mowing his yard, and—just now—a roving kitten stomping through the brush! Phoebe is interested.

But enough rambling about local wildlife. Onward, to the books!

Read this week

Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan caught my eye a few weeks ago as I was browsing upcoming releases on Netgalley. Dinan’s previous novel, Bellies, has been on my to-read list since it came out in 2023, and though I haven’t gotten to it yet, I decided to take a chance on her newer one in the meantime. It’s about Max, a recently single trans woman who just turned thirty, and her quest to get her life together after falling down the stairs at a New Year’s Eve party. Much of the story focuses on her new relationship with Vincent, who seems kind and normal and who treats her well—but in flashback chapters we slowly learn about something in his past that he isn’t proud of. When it inevitably comes to light, Max will have to confront her ideas of who Vincent is, how he might have changed, and what sort of forgiveness is possible.

It’s a difficult feeling to describe, and I’m not sure everyone will get it. The thing I can most relate it to is those moments when I’ve been on the dance floor, happily shifting my weight from foot to foot, but then intrusive thoughts about rising sea levels, or how we might not save the bees, or how my parents will die one day flood in. Is that something which happens to everyone?

Though it covers some dark topics, I enjoyed this book. The characters feel extremely real and the emotional stakes are high; I could anticipate what was coming, but I was still compelled to keep turning pages, to find out exactly what would go down and how Max and Vincent would handle it. If you like reading about messy, queer millenials, or enjoy slightly gloomy literary writing that ultimately ends on a note of hopeful possibility, this is for you.

After Disappoint Me I picked up Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley for The Stacks book club.1 I was aware of this novel as a classic and a trailblazer in its genre but had never read it or any of Mosley’s other work, so I appreciated the nudge to expand my horizons.

Plot-wise, here’s what I know for sure: the story starts with Easy Rawlins meeting a white man at his friend’s bar, someone who wants to hire him to locate a white woman named Daphne Monet. From there, a lot of people, many of them side characters whose connection to the situation was unclear to me, get murdered. And it’s all explained at the end? Kind of? I was legit relieved to hear on the book club discussion episode that Traci was also confused about the details of who all died and why, because I’d been worrying that it was just me. Ultimately this wasn’t my jam, but I’m glad to have tried a classic author in a genre I don’t normally gravitate to!

And finally, my McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern selection for May, which I technically finished on the first of June (don’t tell on me), issue #61. This installment was published during peak COVID times, so the letters section at the beginning has a lot of references to lockdown and uncertainty. And what a solid lineup—my favorites were from Maria Bamford,2 Ingrid Rojas Contreras,3 Melissa Febos,4 and Julia Dixon Evans. I don’t have a ton to say about the rest of the collection, besides:

“Meemaw Fucks a Wolf” is a HELL of a short story title,5 and
The visual components of this issue were especially interesting, namely the photographs by Melissa Schriek and these modified furniture catalog images by Gabrielle Bell.

Another spread in this section featured a woman lying faceup on fancy carpet, apparently deceased, as her three cats were serenely eating her eyeballs

Anticipation station

While it’s important to read books by and about the LGBTQIA+ community year-round, there’s something extra exciting about choosing what to prioritize for June. My friend Casey has been hosting a Pride bingo reading challenge for the past few years and I was so happy to see her post a few days ago about its return! This month I’ll be using these prompts to guide what I pick up from my shelf at home.

caseythereader

A post shared by @caseythereader

And when I say I’ll be doing that, I of course mean that I already looked through the unread books I own to figure out which one(s) could apply for each square, and made myself a list. The only categories I couldn’t fill this way were “asexual or aromantic” and “YA or middle grade,” so for those I’ll be re-reading or borrowing from the library. Here’s the plan.

Literary Fiction: Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Trans: The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels
Essays or Short Stories: Thin Skin by Jenn Shapland
Sapphic: The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
Any Queer Rep: Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
Asexual or Aromantic: To Be Taught, if Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Memoir: The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser6
Bisexual: Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress
YA or Middle Grade: We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

Of course, I also have several book club selections on deck, so I don’t know how many of these I will finish, but the planning and aspiring makes my brain so happy! Your girl loves a list.

What are you reading for Pride?? If you’re on instagram, feel free to join me in attempting Casey’s bingo challenge! 🏳️‍🌈

And another thing

I’m a sucker for a shared experience that brings people together, especially when it involves gazing up at the sky in awe. The photos in this article about Manhattanhenge are stunning!
This weekend Jordan and I will be in the Richmond area for a family reunion, so obviously I did some light research today and found two new-to-us spots to maybe check out while we’re there: Small Friend Records & Books and ILYSM Books. Time permitting, I’m sure we’ll also try to make stops at a couple of old fave places like Shelf Life Books and World of Mirth.
This interview with Gretchen Rubin about aphorisms is so good! I didn’t realize she had a new book out, but I now I definitely want to read Secrets of Adulthood and perhaps try writing some aphorisms of my own??

The hydrangeas in the front yard are blooming

Haiku round-up

Haiku is a poetic form that originated in Japan, containing seventeen syllables in a five-seven-five pattern. At the beginning of 2024, I started writing one every day, and while traditional examples include thematic reference to the seasons, mine tend to be a bit more all over the place. Here are this week’s efforts—enjoy!