Lit Hub Recommends: Nell Zink, Jia Tolentino, and Jane the Virgin
Man, it's a hot one.
The night before two terrorists entered the office of the French satirical publication Charlie Hedbo and killed 12 people, injuring 11 more, contributor Philippe Lançon attended a showing of Twelfth Night. He intended to write a review of the show the next day. He was preparing to fly across the ocean and take up a teaching post at Princeton. The trajectory of his life changed rapidly, however, when he found himself in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and Lançon’s monumental memoir, Disturbance (Europa Editions, November 2019), is a close examination not of the politics around the attack itself — though this scene is one of the most distressing that I’ve read — but of what it means to survive the unimaginable, to be a ghost among the living whose sense of time, love, and self has been irreparably fractured, though not entirely lost.
–Aaron Robertson, Lit Hub assistant editor
I recommend reading Nell Zink’s Doxology if you like funny novels full of sentences whose wit exhausts you in the best way. If you don’t like those things, I recommend taking a long walk off a short pier. Just kidding! Unless that sounds refreshing—it’s still rather hot. Because I like to mix up the media of my recommendations, I’ll also plug the Hulu show This Way Up, starring an incredibly winning Aisling Bea and the always delightful Sharon Horgan. It’s sharp but warm-hearted and features some very cozy-looking sweaters.
–Jessie Gaynor, Lit Hub social media editor
I finally finished watching the last season of Jane the Virgin, which I had consumed at a very slow pace because the show means a lot to me and I had wanted to savor its ending. I have very little to say about it here because the show is packed with so many twists that it feels nearly impossible to discuss without giving away a major spoiler, and the last thing I would want to do is rob anyone of the joy of experiencing (or guessing) one of JtV’s shocking reveals for themselves. But everyone should watch this show—if not because of its clever narration, addicting storylines, or emphasis on strong female relationships, then because it exists as a whole, comprehensive story, embracing a degree of continuity rarely seen in multi-installment entertainment. It’s always a privilege to watch a show that remembers its own insignificant details and throwaway lines. (My biggest pet peeve is when shows contradict or forget things that were said or done earlier.) But one of the best parts of watching JtV is watching it remember where it came from and what it has done. It is a show that grows, meaningfully, instead of simply moves along. It reflects on itself.
And, not to sound like a broken record all over this website, but I absolutely, totally loved the movie “Ready or Not.”
–Olivia Rutigliano, CrimeReads editorial fellow
This month, I inhaled Susan Steinberg’s Machine, a slim and brilliant and sharp-edged novel that I can only sum up as being about experience, in the best way. There’s also a dead girl, in case you need a hook, but that’s not exactly the point. I also regret to inform you, and my writing assignments, that I have finally succeeded in my quest to find a game that approximates the feeling of playing Baldur’s Gate. It’s called Divinity II: Original Sin, and it now consumes my life. Goodbye internet, I am off to cast spells and loot mysterious chests and solve the mystery of the demon in my head. See you in a few weeks.
–Emily Temple, Lit Hub senior editor
This month I’m recommending the unrelentingly grim first season of The Leftovers—the HBO show that examines the rage- and sorrow-filled lives of group of broken people in a small upstate New York town, three years after a global event that resulted in 2% of the world’s population disappearing—which everyone told me was meh but which I found to be delightfully dour late-night watching (put Ann Dowd and Carrie Coon in more things, please). I’m unforgivably late to this, but over the past week or so I’ve also been working my way through the New York Times’ 1619 Project (a re-examination of the history and repercussions of slavery in the US) which is every bit as brilliant and harrowing as you’ve heard.
–Dan Sheehan, Book Marks editor
If there’s one thing I am not qualified to write about, it’s jazz, but here I go: Dayramir González is producing some of the best music I’ve heard lately, blending Afro-Cuban jazz and modern pop styles with other musical traditions from different eras of Cuban history, and I recommend you check him out. He has a concert coming up in New York, if you’re able to go; otherwise, you can find him on Spotify or YouTube.
–Corinne Segal, Lit Hub senior editor
Hear me out, Scooby Doo was a fixture of my childhood. Not only because I loved it but because Scooby Doo was not easy to come by when I was growing up in Greece. Not only did they air the same episodes but they preferred What’s New Scooby Doo? which was far worse than the original, Scooby Doo, Where Are You!. On top of that, it was dubbed in Greek—not well—and so my mom had to tape the episodes when we visited the US and then, somehow, the tapes would get damaged and skip, and some mysteries remained forever unsolved during my childhood. In light of Scooby Doo’s 50th anniversary (it first aired on September 13, 1969) I’ve been re-watching the show and am about to indulge in the recent, serialized, far more horrifying Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. I’ll hold any opinions until then.
–Eleni Theodoropoulos, Lit Hub editorial fellow
I’ve been reading Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror little by little, and let me tell you: she is a great morning commute buddy. Her essays—which cover the history of the Internet, her brief stint of time as a reality TV contestant, scammers, the Glossier/sweetgreen trend (me and my peach and burrata salad felt very called out), sexual assault on college campuses, and much more—feel sort of like conversations I’ve had with friends. And there’s something really reassuring about that sliver of recognition, that moment when you’re reading an essay and you think, “Yes, exactly! I was just thinking this, but much less eloquently.” Her clean, thoughtful prose feels like the day’s first cup of coffee.
–Katie Yee, Book Marks assistant editor
I recommend the song “Smooth” by Santana, featuring Rob Thomas. Especially if you like to dance cha-cha.
–Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads managing editor
