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I went to Miami for Art Basel and by the end of the weekend I was filled with hangxiety so I spent an extra day sitting on the beach reading Stephanie LaCavaās newish novel I Fear My Pain Interests You. Itās about the daughter of two punk rock stars who suffers from ācongenital analgesia,ā which means she feels no physical pain, and though itās definitely not a breezy beach read, it destroyed me, in a good way.
Jan 23, 2023
Related Recs
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For months since the start of the pandemic, Iāve had trouble getting back into reading for pleasure. I graduated from my Masterās program in May 2020, and was experiencing a lot of literary fatigueā¦ I was studying medieval English literature, and had been up to my ears in readings for months, so I think at the end of it all I was just incredibly burnt out. This book changed that. Set in a post-Covid, semi-fictionalized version of Palm Beach, itās incredibly fun, and just of-the-moment enough to feel like an inside joke for our times, without veering into the hyper-current or crinegworthy.
Apr 15, 2021
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I hadn't read a novel in about 45 years (I only care about stuff that is true) but I absolutely fell in love with this book and truly could not put it down. Nolan's novel is about obsession, sex, love and booze and boy addiction-- all the hits. I've never brought a book (or myself) onto the elliptical, but cut to me last month at Equinox absolutely devouring this book while taking little slidey steps to and fro. By the way, last week I saw a girl on the treadmill with her hair down?????? Someone send an ambulance!
Jul 29, 2021
As someone who was unmoved by Daddy but enamoured with The Iceman, I was unsure of what to expect when I cracked open Clineās latest novel, The Guest. Revered as the Play It As It Lays of Gen Z sex work, Uncut Gems for chicks and the ābook of the summer,ā the novel tells the story of a twenty-two year old named Alex who is ousted by her sugar daddy in the Hamptons and determined to drift her way through the island until Labour Day. A stressful read in which an unreliable protagonist makes nothing but bad decisions, the sentences are clean and the plot grows tense with every page.Ā
Most piercing, however, is the precision to which Cline illustrates how whiteness and its perceived docility can permeate the gates of wealth and class at ease. Chapter by chapter, constructed episodically so the rising action mirrors the high (and inevitable crash) of a drug, we read as Alex flattens herself to become fluid, to leech, to exploit. Cline's understanding of how these spaces function, and how the right (or white) wallflower can encroach on a territory that is not theirs, undetected, is acute. As a result, Alex's powers of manipulation come not from an aptitude for obscuring her identity. It's quite the opposite. Instead of a disguise, she offers herself - a blank canvas of a girl - and allows her surrounding environment to assume how she might fit in their world. Upon completion, I thought of a new comparison: Parasite amoungst the privileged.
Jan 22, 2024
Top Recs from @brock-colyar
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People are constantly asking me where to go out in New York, but thatās kind of a hard question to answer. What I try to encourage people to do is get together with a group of people they love and go somewhere they would normally never go. People are far too fucking pretentious about their nightlife in this city and if youāve spent every weekend for the last three months at Basement or Bossa or whatever, youāre probably chasing something youāll never actually catch. I have the most fun when my friends go somewhere out of our ordinary, with people weād never normally associate with. All of this to say: Itās ok to go dance at ACME sometimes.
Jan 23, 2023
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Bethenny Frankel is the true queen of the Real Housewives, and her TikTok is just as good as Bravo. Mostly itās Bethenny looking hot and reviewing beauty products with profanity and gusto, but lately, for whatever reason, sheās also started reviewing things likeā¦ fast food coffee and cans of tuna? Itās brilliant and batshit. Sometimes she shares her thoughts on the culture, which are the best, such as her thoughts on Harry and Meghan. I donāt like them either. But I love Bethenny.
Jan 23, 2023
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I like a chilled red but what I really enjoy is drinking dry red wines over ice āā preferably crushed ice. I know thatās against the rules or whatever but the first boy who broke my heart in New York was a sommelier at Le Bernardin and also thatās how Diane Keaton drinks her wine so I donāt give a fuck what anyone thinks.
Jan 23, 2023