Hi friend,
Happy Sunday. It’s the end of the month and so I’m in “round up" mode, reflecting on the stories I engaged with over the last few weeks. And it starts like this:
I go through waves.
There are weeks I start three new books and finish two others. Write and plan weeks of Substack essays in just a few hours. Feel myself overbrimming with great ideas and excited about what they might turn into on the page.
Then there are weeks where I’m lucky to get 20-ish pages read in an entire weekend, or where I prefer to leaf through a magazine (and cut out all my favorite pictures) instead of reading anything with very much sustained attention. There are weeks when the type of story I’m craving is a video game or a movie or a new Hulu series or even the rare podcast (I struggled with audio-only formats, why is that?).
In September, I read Passing with our book club, and I also read this outstanding piece on the Darién Gap in The Atlantic and thought about it for days afterward. In fact, I’m still thinking about it. It’s brilliant journalism that puts you very much in the realities of desperation and exhaustion that fuel an entire industry around migration between countries. It’s a devastating read, and it really opened my eyes to the logistics of processes (and physical actions) that I admittedly and with great privilege have not needed to know that much about. The piece has inspired me to do a lot more reading and learning on immigration.
Other than these key readings, however, September was a month that I watched. I watched a bunch of stuff, thanks mostly to a somewhat disorienting two-week period of health stuff (thanks, PCOS, depression, and anxiety)! I got cozy on my couch with my favorite blanket in the whole world (it will go on sale on Black Friday and it will be like $80 and that is when you buy it!!!!!) and got my favorite popcorn and my favorite cookies. And then I sunk into some spooky stories. For some reason lately, there’s no greater balm for me than watching suspenseful and somewhat scary (but not terrifying) TV.
In a season of Meg Ryan Fall and romantic inspiration, which I do love, don’t get me wrong, I have felt tugged toward the scary stuff instead.
And so, this month, I watched:
A Quiet Place 2
I love the first A Quiet Place movie so much that I was scared to watch the second film or recent prequel, because I was afraid they’d not be as good. The second film is great, though not as good as first, in my opinion. I liked the development of the daughter’s bravery and intellect, and I felt really bad for the little brother who just seriously cannot catch a break. A bear trap and stuck babysitting in a tunnel with no air?! I maybe had to use my inhaler during one scene out of pure air panic.
A Quiet Place: Day One
I loved this movie. I thought it was very subtle and smart — Lupita Nyong’o was absolutely incredible and I loved getting to see Eddie from Stranger Things on my screen again. They made such an unlikely but perfect pair, and the storytelling was so beautiful. I also loved seeing someone go to the literal ends of the earth for their beloved cat, which is 100% what I would do at the end of days.
I highly recommend it if you like suspense, but not gore, and also if you like character-focused stories. My single criticism of the film is that I wanted more of the characters’ stories and connection in the dialogue. But because the movie’s monster species hunts based on sound…I get why they couldn’t have too many conversations. The ones they do have, though. Damn.
Cloverfield
How…had I…never seen…this absolute classic?! In the truly nostalgic style of a handheld camera horror movie, this story about the mysterious invasion of New York City, and the end of civilization as we know it, is a great time. It’s got weird monsters. It’s got mass hysteria. It’s got fantastic suspense. And it’s got Lizzy Caplan!
I read that there are, like, dozens of other Cloverfield movies and spin-offs but that none of them are anywhere as good as the first and so I will probably stop here.
Tell Me Lies
This is the sluttiest TV show I have maybe ever watched in my life (???) and I am absolutely in love with it. It’s mostly very shallow, but it also routinely surprises me with its insights into how narcissism traumatizes people.
I watched the first season in two days last year, when I was down with a head cold. And now they’re dropping season two on Hulu at the excruciating pace of one episode per week. Every week, I tell myself I’ll save it so I can binge it all again and every week I fail within 12 hours of the episode dropping. Sigh.
It’s a show that traces 8 years of entangled relationships across a very strained and totally baffling friend group (they all hate each other?) and, of course, there’s a mysterious death at the heart of it all. Secrets! Lies! Tension! It’s a big messy web and it feels like Gossip Girl felt back in 2008. I want more!
The Last of Us (again!)
I have watched and rewatched this series so many times. I love it so much. I love the video game, but I got burned out on playing it and I don’t want to ruin it for myself, so I came back to HBO Max and started the miniseries again.
If you don’t know the story, but you like zombies or monster movies or apocalyptic fiction…give this a try. They did an incredible job adapting the video game material to full-length, in-depth episodes and I’m literally counting down the days until Season 2 airs. Season Two comes out in 2025 and they just released an incredible new trailer for the show on the anniversary of the show’s Outbreak Day (September 26).
I hate watching episode 8 (it’s very dark), but I could watch episode 2 a thousand times. It’s so well done and it’s an incredible kick-off to what I think is the best zombie story ever written, in all of history.
Also: Melanie Lynskey is so beyond fantastic in her limited role in this series. If you like her work, you have to see her in this show!!!
Station Eleven (again!)
This has to be one of the best shows I’ve watched in recent years.
It’s another “end of the world” scenario, but it’s somehow super happy and hopeful even while being very realistic (in lots of unique ways) and also heartbreaking. I didn’t love the novel the show is based on (sorry!) and so I was really iffy on the show. But they adapted the story (and I feel improved upon it in a lot of ways) for TV and I just absolutely love it.
The story follows a young actress, named Kirsten, who is taken in my a stranger named Jeevan on the night that a massive flu takes over the world and ends up killing anyone who gets exposed. Eventually, they get separated and Kirsten joins a traveling acting troupe that performs Shakespeare for the communities that have cropped up around the Great Lakes region. We follow their stories and you sit on your hands and cry and wonder if they’ll ever find each other again.
A bunch of sub-stories emerge and they’re wonderful, too. If you haven’t watched this series yet, put it on your list!!!!
Agatha All Along
I just started the new Disney+ series that stars my queen, Katherine Hahn, last week and I’m already hooked. Plus…Patti Lupone!!!! Aubrey Plaza!!!!!
I can’t stop singing “The Witches Road” song and I don’t want to any time soon! It’s so witchy! (And you can totally tell the songwriters from Frozen wrote it, in the best way.)
I thought WandaVision was a perfect TV show and I’m so glad they followed it up with a spin-off that is perfect for Halloween!
What’s up next
This weekend, I read some of Edith Wharton’s fantastic ghost stories, which are such a vibe. And throughout October, I’m following our fall syllabus by reading Shirley Jackson’s most famous novels.
I’m very excited to sink on down into more spookiness as my favorite season unfolds, and to share what I love the most along the way.
If you’ve watched any of the films or series above, let me know! Which are your faves? Have I convinced you to put any on your watch list?
‘Til next time, happy reading (and watching!)
Loved this
I read Station Eleven and used it as part of my Master's work (MFA) but haven't watched the show yet (because I am bad at TV.) Always wondered if it was worth it so now I shall have to go bother somebody with an HBOMax login!