Nicole Chung Archives - Reading the End

Apparently We’re Two Weeks In: A Links Round-Up

Gin Jenny — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 13:02:14 +0000

Well! Well! Well, I just simply do not know what to say about *waves hands* all this, except that we are at the end of a second week of Definitely Crisis Mode, and everyone but me seems to be making bread. An admirable goal! Drop into the comments and let me know what else you’re doing to get by. My two main things are listening to “Back to Before,” a Broadway standard from a musical I don’t know, watching The Repair Shop on Netflix, and coloring in my coloring app, which is called Happy Color (it’s worth investing in the ad-free version). Anyway, here are some links!

Remember I told you about bookshop.org, where you can order books and it’s like indie bookstore Amazon? Well, they have a wonderful list of March and April book releases, and we can help them gain exposure and visibility in this time of coronavirus! And here’s how to support indie bookstores in a time of pandemic. For my own part I have preordered four books that I’m excited about from the queer-owned SF indie bookshop Tubby & Coos, using Bookshop dot org. Thanks Bookshop dot org!

Speaking of March book releases, we interviewed Intisar Khanani, author of the brand new (and terrific!) YA novel Thorn, for the podcast this week! Listen and buy her book — it’s wonderful!

And in case you’re still not sure why March/April book releases matter, here’s Amy Klein on what it’s like to have a book released in the midst of coronavirus.

Nicole Chung will only have a few more opportunities to see her mother alive. So what should she do about traveling in a time of pandemic? (This, uh, is a slightly older article, in that it’s quite recent but still feels like it’s coming to us from the past. WHY IS CORONAVIRUS HAPPENING SO MUCH.)

The Decameron has become, um, extremely relevant allasudden.

An expert on gatherings answers questions about how we’re going to view our social lives, businesses, etc., during and after this time of pandemic.

That time JRR Tolkien got mad at WH Auden for trying to write a book about him. He found it very distracting from his important project of finishing The Silmarillion, because of course he did.

In defense of Jessica on Love Is Blind.

“To save you two hours of hearing Hooper explain over and over why cats are cats but also not cats, we’ve pulled out 20 highlights from the director commentary for you to enjoy.” Dispatches from the directory’s commentary on Cats.

This is a very useful Q&A about COVID19 as it relates to groceries, delivery, and getting takeout. This is also a very useful piece about not panicking re groceries and delivery services.

The downfall of a school of witchcraft and wizardry.

Triaging COVID-19 patients based on their presumed likelihood of recovery is wrong.

….What.

“I’m going to say a silent prayer for Mr. Ronald now and roll for him later.” So this is how this is going. tw: distressing COVID-19 content.

Looking back at these links, there are… more of them about coronavirus than I necessarily intended. I am tired of having incompetent national leadership, and I would like to go on break for that. Plus nobody seems able to tell me whether our stupid stimulus checks are going to be taxable income, but I assume that they are and it makes me want to punch everyone in the dick.

ANYWAY. Federal incompetence aside, I love all of y’all a great deal, and I hope you will drop a line to let me know what’s been keeping you sane. We could all use some good ideas!

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Lili Loofbourow Changes the Game: A Links Round-Up

Gin Jenny — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 13:09:46 +0000

This concept of “the male glance” is p. devastating, and the more I think about it, the more I feel it’s going to change the way I conceptualize art and art criticism. Lili Loofbourow on the underrating of art by women, which by the WAY, the fact that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend isn’t winning every prize every year is proof positive that the “we” Loofbourow identifies is unable to recognize the intentionality of female performance AGH that show is so fucking good.

This is the story of a woman whose childhood was filled with disruptions and changes that she didn’t understand — until her mother summoned her to a hotel to tell her (finally) the truth.

Alyssa Cole talked to Vulture about writing a black princess heroine in her latest romance novel.

Robot love stories are always stories about consent (says the terrific Emily Asher-Perrin).

Claudia Rankine has written a play! How cool is that? AND WITH ME SO FAR AWAY FROM NEW YORK WHERE IT WILL EVENTUALLY BE ON THE STAGE.

More book designers and how they work! I will never tire of this genre of links, so I’m hoping that you like them too because otherwise you may find my link round-ups repetitive.

The romance diversity stats for 2017 are actually worse than the ones for 2016. People need to do the fork better. And this is before the news arrived that Crimson Romance is shutting its doors.

Rahawa Haile is typically brilliant on the subject of Black Panther, a movie I have now seen so consequently I can finally read all the awesome takes on it that people have been writing.

Octopuses might not even be all that great. That one octopus that escaped from the zoo might not even really have done it.

Why are TV detectives all so sad?

Nicole Chung writes about writing a memoir while grieving one of its central figures. I got choked up, friends.

Sherman Alexie’s flaws and failures were evident long before the sexual harassment claims came out (but white readers declined to see them).

Daniel Mallory Ortberg has come out as trans, and he’s been typically thoughtful and funny on the subject of his transition and his new book. An interview with Nicole Chung. Another interview with Heather Havrilesky.

A South African writer considers the question of whether people like Bari Weiss and Katie Roiphe are being censored. (They are not.) It is the best. THE BEST.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Post-Election Links Round-Up

Gin Jenny — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 13:48:54 +0000

Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham

A whole bunch of writers of many genres

Stay safe, guys.

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