May was a busy month but I am grateful for the warmer weather, baseball, and a 3 day weekend at the coast! There has been some great pop culture this month, a sad farewell to Colbert, and some decent reading has happened (finally!) Here’s what I’m loving…
Reading
Like every other woman these days, I FINALLY read Yesteryear. It was un-put-down-able. I freaking loved it. I know people have a love/hate with it, but I thought it was super smart and had THE most unlikeable and unreliable narrator and I loved it. We all secretly loathe influencers and this one was at the top of her chaos. If you liked this and haven’t yet read Everyone is Lying to You, get on that right away, I thought about it a lot while reading this.
I really enjoyed the oral history of Parks and Rec, it took me back to my happy place and all time favorite show. I didn’t love how the author inserted herself into the story on occasion, I get that she’s a TV journalist, but it kept feeling forced to me. If Lil’ Sebastian is also your spirit animal, this book is for you. I’d heard great things about These Summer Storms and thought it might be a good weekend getaway read and it WAS. I love rich people behaving badly, AND I evidently really need to go to Rhode Island (despite RHORI) so this book checked all the boxes for me.
Listening
I finished The Secret World of Roald Dahl and it was great. He was a fascinating person and this podcast was a good help in understanding him. Somewhere along the way Girlscamp was recommended to me (by my dad I think?) and I’ve caught a couple of episodes so far from this ex-Mormon woman talking about pop culture and leaving the church. It checks a very specific niche for me.
Paula Pell was my favorite guest this month on Good Hang and on the drive back from the coast I listened to a new to me podcast – Under the Influence (the host is the author of Everyone is Lying to You!) She did a great episode “We Need to Talk About Spencer Pratt.” I know no one wants to, but it was a fascinating deep dive with a NYT reporter about how fame is the new politician and how smartly Pratt has been at being famous for being famous, and how it got him to where we are today. If you care at all about local/regional politics (and we all know I do!) this was a fascinating conversation…
Watching
Like a lot of folks, I spent the last few weeks being sad about the loss of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show. Having grown up with Letterman it was great to see him on the show one more time, and for all the folks who came through to wish Stephen well. I can’t wait for what’s next, but in the mean time, this was pretty great.
There’s a new season of Pop Culture Jeopardy on Netflix this season and I am really enjoying being smarter than people (occasionally) but also it’s just the right amount of fun and escapism because the Real Housewives of Rhode Island isn’t cutting it for me.
Top Chef continues to be fantastic, EVEN with the latest elimination challenge and resulting drama. I am not ready to say goodbye to Hacks. I am also loving this season of Your Friends and Neighbors, James Marsden is PERFECT for his role. Also if you didn’t catch Running Point it’s time to catch up this fun sports family comedy on Netflix!
I was late to Widow’s Bay and I am sorry about that. I kept hearing it was a horror comedy and so I finally checked it out, and my husband and I mentioned how it was creepy but also had a Parks and Rec vibe that we thought was interesting. Then we realized that the creator worked on Parks & Rec, which I realized because I was reading the P&R book and had just read the creators name. What a small pop culture world. It’s for sure a creepy show (maybe don’t watch it in an old creaky house when you’re home alone) but it’s also very funny and clever, and the cast is FABULOUS.
Okay, that’s what I’m loving lately, what’s getting you in the mood for summer?
