Featured Reader: Dispatch #10
Allison Hall tells us about her reading habits and the books she loves.
Howdy Cowboys and Welcome to the Lost Friends Literary Club newsletter!
How’s it going? We’re heading into week 26 of *waves hands around* all this, and I for one, have needed a break. I’ve ignored social media for the last week, deleting Instagram and Twitter from my phone, and consuming only things that feel like comfort food (comfort media?) while watching old episodes of Scooby-Doo. I didn’t pick up a book for a whole week and a half, and I’m easing back into reading because honestly, I’d rather watch more Scooby-Doo. That’s just where I’m at right now. Thankfully, you don’t have to listen to me talking about the books I’m not reading because this week we’re back with another Featured Reader (you can see the first one here), and a handful of super easy reading recs for your long weekend.
Dispatch #10’s Featured Reader is a familiar face: illustrator, muralist, proud Texan, and my very best friend- Allison Grace Hall. Allison is currently reading the entire Twilight series for the first time ever, and even though I’ve kvetched about the sparkly vampires in newsletters past, Allison has agreed to bless us with mini updates as she reads her way through the single most defining series of mid-aughts high schoolers everywhere.
See below for some fun facts and her thoughts on Edward Cullen thus far:
Are there any books you have on your reading bucket list? Something you've never read but would like to read one day?
Julie Andrew’s Memoir
Do you think books influence or inspire your art?
Children’s books for sure do!! I could spend hours in the kids book section studying the art and how different illustrators try to connect with kids.
Which non-literary piece of culture (a film, a song, a painting, a tv show, etc.) could you not imagine your life without?
Full House - The Sitcom
Do you have a reading goal for 2020? If so, what is it, how are you doing?
No specific goals but I always want to have a book in the works! I usually read one “fun” book and one self-help book at all times.
If you were to write a book, what would it be about?
I think about writing a book all the time. I want to get a kids book out there of some sort. But if I wrote a memoir, it would be about how I’ve had 15 roommates in the past 4 years and how wonderfully chaotic it is.
What is the book that made you love reading?
The Little House on the Prairie Series
And now the most important q of all: Team Edward or Team Jacob?
I’m only 9 chapters into Twilight so it's too early to tell… but Edward for now?
Lastly, Allison is on Chapter 9 in Twilight (the first book in the series) and has this to say so far:
“Bella now knows that Edward is a vampire but hasn't uttered it out loud yet. They’ve had a few meals together but Edward doesn’t eat and just stares at Bella angrily while asking her to guess what he is and then he shares no information. Bella’s truck seems cool.”
Big thanks to Allison for sharing her reading habits and vampire opinions with the Lost Friends Lit Club. You can view Allison’s artwork on her website and Instagram, or you can buy from her on Etsy and Society 6.
And now 5 easy things I’ve read this week, in case you need fresh reading material for your Labor Day weekend:
A Man Repeller listicle that was a lovely ode to libraries. Read on for one sentence reviews from 100+ library patrons.
“Italy Used "Wine Windows" During The Plague And Now They Are Open Again Because Of The Coronavirus”- aptly named and full of pictures, probably best read with your own glass of wine in hand?
This quick read about a jetpack sighting by multiple airplane pilots. I did not know that jetpacks were a real thing, so that was a bit of a shock.
The subtitles on Cowboy Bebop, an anime series my husband chose that somehow really roped me in.
Another listicle, but this one will tell you what the bestselling book was the year you were born.
Plus 2 not-as-easy reads:
I’ve been really feeling the burnout lately, so this piece from Bon Appetit on the way Germany handles wellness vs how America handles it was both very envy-inducing and also super interesting.
Afghan women were awarded a small victory this week, as the government announced that it would start printing mother’s names on ID cards as well as father’s (which have always been printed). You can read about that symbolic step in the NYT.
In book news this week:
Netflix has released a new series for children entitled Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices, where celebrity guests read children’s books by Black authors. I don’t have kids but there’s a good chance you’ll find this playing in the background of my house for the next few weeks.
Bon Appetit has finally hired a new editor-in-chief, Dawn Davis! Davis has deep ties to the book community having been a vice president at Simon & Schuster, where she is the founder and publisher of 37 Ink, an imprint that emphasizes marginalized voices. She’s written her own cookbook and has edited others, and I think she’s going to be a fantastic fit at Bon Appetit.
Finally, our vocabulary word of the week:
This week’s word is kvetch, which I used above and then realized I should probably define. It’s Yiddish, and it basically means to complain a lot. It is a word I use frequently, I think because it audibly sounds so perfectly like what it means. If you use it, please let me know because I love new words and would love to hear that you love them, too.