#35: Let me tell you a story 📚
Also: international libraries, Earl Grey, and some really good pasta recipes.
I started rewatching Yellowstone this week, which has me walking around my apartment trying on different words with a Montana drawl. The way the words form is familiar, almost mountainous like the Appalachian-Southern-North Carolinian accent I grew up hearing. A little long of vowel, light of ings.
I’ve always had this little tendency, almost compulsion; when I hear someone speak with an accent, I want to know how it feels in my mouth. I went through a serious accent phase in middle school, partially inspired by Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls series. My friends and I were obsessed with those books. Each day, the spies-in-training at the Gallagher Academy spoke a different language to keep their linguistic repertoire sharp.
This ability to try on different languages intrigued me, almost as if by changing the tongue in which I spoke, I could try on a different persona. What would I sound like in Farsi, French, Portuguese? Would my tone, demeanor, turns-of-phrase still sound like me? Or, as I suspect, would my words take on a different pallor? Still me, but with the slightest variation of shade?
I think the words we use make us who we are, or at least have the ability to influence us from the outside-in. Readers and writers are acutely aware of the transformative power of word, that they transcend time and space to unite us in a singular act.
Actually, I think songwriters and musicians harness this power too. Oral storytelling might be my favorite kind right now, both musical and oratory. I’m either listening to an audiobook or a well-curated playlist right now because (I’m half-joking) I can’t be alone with my thoughts for more than three minutes.
“Required” reading:
This award-winning author confirmed that she used AI to write her book; so what do we do next? (CNN)
How reading romance can make you a better literary fiction reader (
for )Why is March the biggest month for books this year? (Lit Hub)
In 2023, I barely squeaked by my reading goal of 100 books. Here’s how the rest of the country stacked up with their reading goals (The Washington Post)
A charming read about Europe’s new wave of central libraries! (The Guardian)
On the nightstand:
Burning: this is my recent favorite. My mom and sister gifted me one of the big ones for Christmas and it’s my favorite right now.
Reading: 2024 is the year I finally read Anna Karenina. I’m listening on audio and following along in the book. This is the translation I’m using and it’s beautiful to read!
Sipping: since my post-Christmas trip to London & Edinburgh, I’ve been on a massive tea kick. Earl grey with a splash of milk and a spoonful of cane sugar is my favorite right now.
Listening: this anti-anxiety playlist and one of my favorite albums of all time.
Recipe box:
2024 is the year of the pasta sauce. This spicy carrot rigatoni, brown butter ricotta, and pumpkin pasta with Italian sausage are my go-tos.
I’m also experimenting with sourdough starters. I have no plants, dogs, or kids, so I needed something to fuss over. This account has allllllllll the videos I’ve been following.
Also, I’ve recently affirmed my love for the plate-bowl. My parents gave me a new set for Christmas; I can’t find them online but they look kinda like these. This set is GORGEOUS too.
To-do list:
🎥 Go to the movies
🍿 Eat some extra-butter popcorn
🍫 Sprinkle some chocolate chips or M & Ms that you snuck into the theatre on the popcorn
🎬 Enjoy the film
🥲 Leave the theatre with that ephemeral post-movie glow that is equal-parts joyful, nostalgic, and transportive
From the archive:
HH newsletter from 2022, Seeking movement