A summer's worth of recs

Movie catnip, an easy + tasty cookbook, and more

Hello, friends, it’s been a while! I’m back (with a special Friday edition newsletter) after April’s Camp NaNoWriMo. I “won” in the sense that I wrote 50,000 words in one month, but far more importantly, I felt that I won in the sense that I wrote a first draft for the sheer joy of exploring an idea, with that joy propelling me through 50,000 words in 30 days.

Summer is almost here, and there’s something special about summer reading and watching, so I wanted to give you as many recommendations for things I’ve loved recently as I could. I hope this list helps you discover a new story or idea that inspires you.

Credit: Netflix

Midnight Mass (Netflix)

Midnight Mass is exactly the story the streaming medium was invented to tell. A movie wouldn’t have been enough time, while a full-length TV drama series would have been too much. Seven bingeable episodes is just right for this unique genre-bender that starts with two people returning to their small hometown with no concept of the darkness they’re about to encounter.

Please don’t look up anything about the plot in advance, if you can help it; even knowing the genre beforehand feels like a spoiler. But if you’re familiar, Midnight Mass comes from creator-producer-director Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor) and stars actress-writer Kate Siegel. The married couple were also the creative team behind Netflix’s Hush (they co-wrote the screenplay, with Flanagan directing and Siegel starring).

Credit: Apple TV

Mythic Quest (Apple TV)

Back in the olden days when bingewatching meant pressing “play all” on your DVD copy of a show, I started watching a then-new-to-us season of Gilmore Girls with my mom and my sister. We immediately wondered if we’d accidentally skipped a disc — or even a whole season. Luke and Lorelai (for the uninitiated, they’re the show’s longstanding “will they or won’t they?”) were in her kitchen acting as if they were not only in a relationship but also had been in one for quite some time.

If you remember, that was the season 3 premiere of Gilmore Girls, and (spoiler alert) Lorelai was having a dream. But starting the very first episode of Mythic Quest gave me a similar feeling — in a good way. The pilot doesn’t feel like a pilot; it feels like the first episode of a third season, or even a fifth.

I’d love to know why the writers didn’t choose to begin Mythic Quest with creator Ian first imagining his own game, or with engineer Poppy working frantically ahead of the release date. Instead, the pilot launches the viewers into a world where Mythic Quest has been the biggest multiplayer online game for two years and is poised to release its first expansion: Raven’s Banquet. The characters are already fully formed, with layers of history that are real, even though you didn’t see them unfold as an earlier season.

It’s hard to find a comedy packed with so many quirky characters and not have any of them seem redundant; rarer still to find one that strikes a balance between old-school sitcom restraint and new-age-of-streaming freedom. I listed Mythic Quest recently on my list of “TV shows I don’t have time for,” but now that I’m in season 2, it’s more about trying not to watch all of the episodes one after another.

The Batman

I think the criticism that movies and TV are overwhelmed with sequels and reboots is a legitimate one. That being said, there are stories we return to over and over again for a reason, and in the best-case scenario, it’s because someone has found a really fun way to re-tell it.

My reaction to the news that yet another Batman was coming to theaters was akin to my reaction to hearing that we were getting a new Little Women movie. I thought it was unnecessary … until I heard who was involved. Greta? Saoirse? Timothée? No further questions.

I felt similarly when I first watched the trailer for The Batman. It’s an atmospheric reimagining of the DC comic that has (imo) lived up to the hype of the movie release date being postponed approximately 100000 times.

This is a crafted 3-hour journey through a fully reimagined world. Robert Pattinson plays the title role as only Robert Pattinson would — or could — play it, not as the slick businessman or arrogant playboy of Batmans past, instead alternating between a self-consciously larger than life caped crusader and a breakable Bruce Wayne with just the right touches of wry comedy and vulnerability.

I’m pretty sure a meeting was held where they decided to put all the things I love in a movie into The Batman (Zoë Kravitz?! The line “you got a lot of cats”?!). So take my recommendation with a grain of salt, but everything about it felt thoughtful to me, from the choices for the plumcake-rich supporting cast of character actors to the pulsing soundtrack and surprisingly lush use of color in a very dark (both literally and figuratively) film.

Because this is a very, very dark Batman. To me, the slow unraveling into chaos unfolded like the classic horror movies I love, with Bruce as the pure hero fated to make it through because good must ultimately triumph over evil (A LOT of evil). That’s a reminder we need in 2022 more than ever.

No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram

No Filter: The Story of Instagram by Sarah Frier is one of my favorite books so far in a year of reading a lot of nonfiction. I've been getting back into the Silicon Valley/narrative nonfiction/business case study genre of reading again after burning out on it several years ago. This may be the best example of the genre that I’ve ever read – and I’ve read a lot of books about Silicon Valley startups.

Expertly paced, No Filter delivers on its promise to genuinely be a book about Instagram and gives enough context but doesn’t linger on anyone’s back story. I loved the balance between a larger narrative about how Instagram has shaped and continues to shape our relationship with social media and the fascinating anecdotes sprinkled throughout the book.

As a writer who is currently tackling my own Very Big Project, I also loved the whiteboard creativity story of Instagram’s founding. The co-founders had the opportunity to develop an app, and they slowed down to think through 1) what problems they wanted Instagram to solve and 2) the right name to stick in people’s heads. Even though I’m writing stories, not working on a social media app that will revolutionize how people communicate forever, their moment of taking their time in the creative process to pinpoint what their audience wanted and needed was a concrete reminder that I need to do the same thing if I want to find success.

The Science of Breakable Things

I’ve been struggling to read middle-grade fiction for a while. I obviously loved middle-grade as a kid, back when the library was divided into the children’s section and the adult section and “middle-grade” meant reading all the Beverly Cleary and Claudia Mills books one after another. But I’ve been picking up newer titles with flashy premises in what is now a much, much bigger and more diverse genre and finding myself … bored. As every reader knows, flashy premises and shiny covers often don’t deliver on quality.

I realized my mistake while reading The Science of Breakable Things, a backlist title from Newberry winner Tae Keller, and while nodding along to this newsletter from middle-grade author and podcaster Claire Swinarski about why the books she loved as a kid and still loves wouldn’t be published today. I was reaching for what looked shiny and appealing instead of what felt real, which is what was so magical about Ramona Quimby and Lizzie at Last. I need middle-grade reads that are grounded in contemporary settings and thoughtfully written.

The Science of Breakable Things, the story of a seventh-grader who wants to use the scientific method to get her mom out of deep depression, wins on both counts. It’s a delightful adventure that also explores some very difficult topics. Natalie’s voice is clear and believable, and her realization that her parents are human and flawed is a journey that — like the Ramona books — would be worth rereading.

Damn Delicious: 100 Super Easy, Super Fast Recipes

I love using recipes from the internet, and I hate using recipes from the internet. If you need a break from looking through endless options, navigating pop-up ads, and kicking yourself for not bookmarking that one recipe that turned out perfectly that one time — give this cookbook from food blogger Chungah Rhee a try. It checks all the boxes: straightforward recipes, accessible ingredients, and a picture on every page. Smoked Salmon Cobb Salad, Bang-Bang Chicken, and Rhee’s take on Spaghetti Carbonara are now staples in our house.

Protip: Check out this cookbook (or any cookbook you want to try) from your local library so you can test out several recipes first and see if it’s the right fit. Once I’d successfully made half a dozen recipes from Damn Delicious and wanted to try more, I knew I needed to get my own copy.

Walking in This World: The Practical Art of Creativity

This 12-week creativity course is the natural follow-up to The Artist’s Way, but I’d also recommend it to long-term creatives in need of inspiration. It’s much more focused and much less time-intensive than The Artist’s Way. Each chapter features insights on a specific facet of the creative life and three or four simple creative exercises. Week 7, for example, is about artistic momentum and what to do when you find yourself creatively blocked because you’re overwhelmed with too many ideas.

I experienced so much synchronicity with this course when I completed it in the first three months of this year — the facet of creativity that Cameron was exploring each week was also what I needed in my creative life at that exact time. Week 10: “Discovering a Sense of Camaraderie” happened to be a week where I needed my creative community and reached out to a few fellow writers/friends for both critique and encouragement.