Hi Hello and welcome to LFLC dispatch #2!
With this dispatch, I'm officially three weeks deep into the public existence of Lost Friends and approximately one billion weeks deep into the existence of Life As We Now Know It, also known as COVID19 or the pandemic that triggered the end of the world. Such events (launching LFLC, watching the numbers on viewers and followers grow while simultaneously being trapped in the house and repeatedly saying "oh dear god I cannot possibly live another day like this" to myself at least 37 times a day) have put me in a very strange and teetering mind set- the kind of mindset that is not exactly conducive to organizing thoughts on [digital] paper for a newsletter that you have just launched. I guess timing really is everything.
Anywho, thanks for being here. This week, we have a conglomeration of reading recommendations, book news, and 233 words about how much I love the Goodreads app. Hang on tight, kids.
If you know me deeply, then you may know about my love for organizational methods. If you don’t know me deeply, that’s probably something that you’d never guess, due to the fact that my car/closet/purse/kitchen are all constantly in shambles. The physical manifestations of my life are about as pulled together as a beach shanty but the systems and processes that I use to organize my thoughts are extreme and all-encompassing. When it comes to keeping track of books, I am fully devoted to the glory that is Goodreads. I keep multiple lists of books in my brain at all times: everything from “bucket list classics” that I want to read at some point before death, to “books on hold” that I am too impatient to wait for the library to stock and instead must buy so that I can read them immediately (they rarely actually get read immediately). Goodreads is the only reliable system that allows me to organize all of those lists. It keeps my brain from exploding and simultaneously tracks my reading goals and the books I've already finished. If we have had a conversation about books in the last year, I have probably asked you if you use Goodreads- it is literally always open on my phone and it is bookmarked on every web browser. I am deeply in love. I would marry it if I could (sorry, Matt).
I've just added another bookshelf to my Goodreads line-up, and that is a very special bookshelf in which you can find every book that I’ve read and recommended in this newsletter.
And in the world of books, it’s been a busy couple of weeks:
-The Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists were announced last week, and you can take a look at the winners for the fiction, nonfiction, poetry, history, and biography right here. There are so many good books on this list that I can’t even pick one out to highlight here.
-Twilight author Stephenie Meyer announced that a new book that she shelved twelve years ago would be released this August. Titled "Midnight Sun," this book is the first Twilight book told from the vampire's perspective. I did NOT expect vampires to make an appearance during this apocalypse but I also didn't count on the murder hornets, so it looks like anything goes from here on out.
-A new novel, “Telephone” by seasoned author Percival Everett was published on May 5, and Everett had this to say about it to the NYT: “There are three different versions of this novel, they’re all published identically, and you can’t know which one you’re getting.” So. I guess that could be fun.
Most of the things I’ve read this week are accidentally food and quarantine focused, which was 100% not the goal. I don’t want to inundate anyone with more COVID reading and this isn’t a foodie newsletter, but it is what it is and I still stand by these reading recs:
I’ve been delving into other newsletters for research, and that’s prompted me to subscribe to more newsletters than any one person probably should. This post from Fruity (which is a newsletter about a little bit of everything from a former magazine editor) perfectly depicts how I think a lot of us are feeling about Quarantine cooking- I, for one, am super tired of it.
Nancy Drew #5: The Secret at Shadow Ranch. Fun fact: the Nancy Drew books were updated (and in some cases, rewritten) around the 1950s-60s to “modernize” them and the yellow spine hard copies that most of us grew up reading are the rewritten books. I accidentally read the original and didn’t enjoy it quite as much.
Here is a thoughtful take on the Alison Roman drama from this past week and it has literally exhausted me so that’s all I’ve got to say on that for now.
This edition of Vittles by food writer Ruby Tandoh which is an excellent look into how professional chefs make the most of their jobs at care homes, especially right now. Vittles is a newsletter about food as it relates to COVID-19; below is an excerpt from this edition:
I think of my own grandmother who was put into a care home during the last years of her life. My mum recalls that one of the major reasons she chose the home was the food, that cooking for a Benetton array of elderly Catholics meant that the chefs really listened to what their audience wanted and produced something delicious, something that gave them dignity at a time they needed it the most.
The last thing I want to share comes with a disclaimer: its got hard language, like, right there in the title. So if that’s not your thing, bypass this if you wish. BUT: I don’t believe in censorship and this was one of the most beautiful essays I’ve read in a very long time, exploring how we adapt to this weird new world and our places in it. I encourage you to give it a read. Here's the link.
That’s all I’ve got for you this week. Thank you for reading this far! I can’t believe this newsletter has followers. That is bananas. If you enjoyed this dispatch, please share it with a friend or follow us on social media at the buttons below.