Hello friends,
I know there’s no dearth of round-ups & what-nots ‘round here so I’m not going to try & make this sound like some cool new thing, but at the end of the day, (& the start of a weekend) there’s always more room for nudging us all into a slower, more writing-&-reading-friendly life.
So, here’s a little weekend brain snack pack: eight pieces worth your time, attention, & maybe even your feelings. No doomscrolling, no bite-size content that leaves you emptier than when you started. Just that sweet promise of a deeper intellect.
If you want to understand why the quietest writing often hits the hardest…&q2 how minimalism, when done right, can feel more intimate than any grand metaphor — read this.
Minimalism. It's Good.
Buku Sarkar Makes the Case for Clarity and Simplicity |
“What he meant was—as a writer, you really cannot be thinking in academic rhetorics. It’ll ruin you. Which is why I often think academia is a plague for any creative artist. In fact, in many ways, studying literature—at a (higher) academic level—is anti fiction writing.”
If you want to rethink Austen beyond the rom‑com & discover how she used clarity & wit to tackle power, inequality, & moral complexity — read this.
Did Jane Austen even care about romance?
Scholars contest novelist’s ‘rom-com’ rep as 250th anniversary ushers in new screen adaptations | Eileen O’Grady
“The marriage plot is not the thing Austen is most interested in,” Lynch said. “She’s interested in how difficult it is to be a good person. She’s interested in inequality and domination, and power. She’s interested in how people who don’t have a lot of power nonetheless preserve their principles. What is independence of mind even if you don’t have financial or political independence?”
If you’re tired of hand-wringing over the Male Reading Crisis & just want a quiet, true take on how reading habits actually form— read this.
There is a solution to the Male Reading Crisis, but it is boring.
That’s the thing about reading advice: the good stuff, the stuff that actually works, is boring. |
“When it comes to the Male Reading Crisis, I think we may have entered rationalization territory. We want comprehensive, structural explanations, preferably with a well-defined villain, for what is a rather boring continuation of long-running trends.”
If you want to trace how matcha went from ancient ritual to TikTok syrup swirl—& what that says about taste, memory, & cultural mutation — read this.
The Cult of Matcha
Matcha is at once a superfood, status symbol, and a source of viral pleasure. |
“On the internet, I only see the matchas in their pre-mixed, pre-sipped state. They exist in my brain as sweet, fruity, creamy elixirs where the colors are preserved, the ice never melts, and I have to imagine how it tastes. Matcha represents a kind of aspirational, ultra-feminine life—no clumps, no mess. I can have as many as I want, if I just keep watching.”
If you’ve noticed every “cool” novel now looks like a museum painting got vandalized by a graphic designer with a neon font pack — read this.
The Book Cover Trend You’re Seeing Everywhere
Take a genteel painting, maybe featuring a swooning woman. Add iridescent neon type for a shock to the system. And thank (or blame) Ottessa Moshfegh for getting there early. | Elisabeth Egan
“It tends to lay blaringly bright type in a sans-serif font atop a painting, usually a few centuries old but not always. Facial expressions are baleful or dyspeptic; an aggressive burst of spray paint can change the tone entirely.”
If your writing brain feels like a dragon’s hoard of half-formed thoughts & scattered tabs, & you want to actually learn how to think through an idea — read this.
amateur hour
research for amateurs |
“He said that it hadn’t occured to him that writing could be like that, a thing you study and do. And I told him that in fact, that’s all writing was. Learning how to do stuff.”
If you’re stuck on dating app filters & forgetting what actually makes someone a good partner — read this.
You're Screening Out Your Soulmate
maybe our perfect partner isn't even making it to the first date... |
“We should have high standards for our partners, but I worry that too often the qualifications we add to our “lists” are arbitrary, shallow, and not at all tied to what makes a good partner.”
If you’re wondering why everyone’s picking up massive novels this summer & want to reclaim reading as leisure — read this.
Is Summer Actually the Season for Reading Big, Thick Books?
In Which James Folta Wonders If Bigger Really is Better | James Folta
“A big book, especially a classic, is a self-improvement project. We have the time to read something we’ve been telling our-selves we have to read and have been intending to get to.”
Re the male reading crisis: there is an overshadowed point regarding how children see us read. My wife and I read in front of the grandchildren all the time (you can only watch Moana 2 so many times), but this article made me wonder if we need to be more aware of HOW we read. Often it’s on my phone, and I see there is value in picking up an actual book in front of them. Convenience isn’t an excuse to forgo role modeling. Consider me duly chastised.
Wow. Thank you Shannon. I’m honored