What's getting me through

Books, TV shows and podcasts that have been getting me through a tricky time

Hello and TGIF!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a reading recommendation round-up, and I have lots of things—beyond books—to recommend. The recovery from the three nasal surgeries I had in late April has been slower and harder than I expected, and I have to rest my brain and body often. While I’ve been resting, I’ve been consuming all sorts of healing entertainment that I’m grateful for. Here’s a rundown of the people, products and diversions that have been keeping me sane this month.

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People: YOU!

My readers and fellow writers are the goshdarn best!

One of the great privileges of platform is access to community, access to people who share your hopes, your dreams, your struggles, who understand your craft and the toll of working hard. It’s one of the great joys of my life to have this space where we can slug through the highs and lows of writing difficult work together in real time.

Having a community of supportive writers around oneself is as necessary to the work as the work itself, and finding your true people and your voice takes time. Good writing can not happen quickly. It can not happen on demand. It would actually be a disservice to you if I modeled the opposite. So thank you for supporting me during a sluggish time in my life—it’s a privilege for me to support you back. Thanks for being here.

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Shows: The Dog House UK (HBO Max)¹

My power outlet, my relaxation station, my current cathedral.

Given everything awful that’s happening in the world and the tiny struggle under my own roof, I’m not sure what shape I’d be in if it weren’t for the heartwarming, heartstring-pulling, totally wholesome program “The Dog House: UK.” In each 45-minute episode, we meet three different people or families who want to adopt a dog, and then we meet the pups that the professionals at Wood Green rescue have guessed as their best match. While many of the humans and canines have had rough stories in their pasts, other then some understated background music when we learn about their respective issues, there’s no forced misery or drama as there often is in American documentaries. The tone of the show is positive and optimistic, and realistic, also—the families don’t always leave with the pup the shelter picked. Mind you, I’m not even a dog person—I’m a cat person! But I’m totally obsessed with this dog show. I have also become a fan of Lurchers? Surprises never cease!

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Reverse consumption experiment: UNDER THE SKIN / THE ZONE OF INTEREST

Movie first, book after: that's reverse consumption

Generally, most people like to read books before they watch any movie based upon the book in question, but during my bedrest, I embarked on a reverse form of consumption where I watched a movie and then I read the book the film was based on to understand why the director adapted the material as they did. This exercise only works with arty projects and it doesn’t work with franchises. When we’re in the realm of blockbusters like “Game of Thrones” or “Twilight” or “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the fandom around such books limits what liberties the director can take with the material. The more fans a book has, the less the director can stray from what was written on the page, is something that I’ve noticed.

The first time I did this reverse form of consumption was with Charlie Kaufman’s adaptation of the novel “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” by Iain Reid². The film was phantasmagorical, multifaceted, experimental, a little bonkers. The book? Creepy, propulsive, utterly controlled.

Last weekend, I repeated this experiment by first watching the film “Under the Skin” directed by Jonathan Glazer, before reading the novel of the same name by Michael Faber. Is there a support group for people who have read this book? Because I would like to join it. (That might not sound like I’m recommending the title, but I absolutely am. It’s a hypnotizing, disturbing and disturbingly realistic sci-fi read.)

My backwards viewing process of the film/book duo was enhanced by the fact that I’d read “The Zone of Interest” by the late Martin Amis which the same director, Jonathan Glazer, turned into an award-winning film of the same name. Let me tell you, if you read the bombastic, morally repulsive satire by Amis and then witness how Glazer reigns in the material, and then you read the controlled and somehow realistic Faber title and watch what Glazer did with that, you’ll take yourself on quite the mind trip. In any case, I think it’s fun to dissect directors’ adaptations of literary fiction—does anybody else do this?

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PODCASTS: “You Must Remember This” and “Say More with Dr? Sheila”

I’ve long been a fan of Karina Longworth’s podcast “You Must Remember This” in which she looks at different eras in Hollywood through a feminist lens, and I’ve been particularly taken with the special edition of this series called “Make Me Over” where Longworth invites guests to look at the intersection of Hollywood and the beauty and dieting industry.

I’ve also been listening to the parody couples’ therapy podcast “Say More with Dr? Sheila.” (The question mark is there for legal reasons because Dr? Sheila may or may not have doctor credentials.) This is an improv show where Dr? Sheila has a couple on to talk about problems that Dr? Sheila worsens. The thing that makes this podcast so inventive is that Amy Poehler, who plays the therapist, avoids low-hanging fruit in her improv. She’s innovative with the ways she screws up on the job, and (my favorite) she rolls ads into the therapy sessions so she’ll segue from talking about “the importance of partnership” in marriage to “the unbeatable partnership that Kroger Markets has with their fresh produce.” This is a weird podcast but it’s fun as hell. (And it happens to be produced by two friends which I realized only upon hearing the credits—shout out to Adam and Suzanne!)

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BOOKS:

Books I’ve been loving on top of the novel that I have been trying to love revising.

• I read Sloane Crosley’s “Grief is for People” during the worst days of recovery when I had two traffic cone-like things stitched inside my nose and no ability to breathe through said orifice even though I was bleeding and had a traffic jam of mucus stuck behind my eyeballs. (TMI, I know.) Henceforth, I will associate Crosley’s memoir with me surviving something, something that paled in comparison to what Sloane herself survived, which was the loss of her best friend to suicide. In my opinion, Crosley can be a little slick with her nonfiction, so I appreciated how vulnerable and raw she is in this memoir. It’s a moving, frustrating read about a moving, frustrating person. Really recommend.

• During this same time, I read Rita Bullwinkel’s “Headshot” in one literal sitting because I was supposed to sleep in a seated position the first week—not good at that—so I read HEADSHOT instead. This extremely original novel portrays the fears, desires and envies of eight teenaged female boxers preparing for a career-defining match. It made me think of another sports book, “The Striker and the Clock: On Being in the Game” that the former professional soccer player Georgia Cloepfil sent me to blurb because of my own sport memoir, “The Year of the Horses.” (Can we give it up for lady writers and their athletic side pursuits? I’m sure I’m not the only one waiting for a boxing memoir from Laura van den Berg!)

• I turned to Claire Dederer’s “Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma” the second week after my surgery when the nasal cones were removed and I could breathe out of my nose again. This was maybe not the right book to start week two with because some parts made me want to laugh out loud, which I couldn’t do because laughing would tear my stitches. This book, which takes society’s obsession with the male art genius to task, is a must-read for intellectuals who don’t know where to come down on say, Michael Jackson, or Hemingway, or even Doris Lessing (because Dederer also takes some lady “monsters” to task.) This book is so smart and timely and also deeply compassionate—it’s a title interested in doing the impossible, which is examining both sides of the divide. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend you gift this book to friends.

• I’m currently in the middle of the brand new essay collection “First Love” by

  Lilly Dancyger
  which I am gobbling up. So much of this book takes place in Alphabet City where I used to live myself, and I can’t get enough of Lilly’s exceptionally well-written ode to mistakes and grunge and youth and grief and the gift of female friendship.

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DRUGS: Coast Cannabis

Have I mentioned that while I’m healing from all this nasal tomfoolery, I’m also trying to ween myself off Ambien for my insomnia? Accordingly, I’ve tried many alternative non-chemical solutions to my sleep problems, and the winner winner chicken dinner is the Boysenberry 1:4:1 formulation gummy (THC: CBD: CBC) from the Cape Cod-based Coast Cannabis. In general, I find that gummies formulated to soothe aches and pains work better for me than “sleep” specific gummies, because the latter usually comes with loads of melatonin, which I don’t do well with.

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SAVIORS: George Saunders

A thousand blessings upon the subscriber who suggested that

George Saunders

’ “Story Club” might be a welcome companion as I reevaluate the novel that is kicking my patooty. I’m a longtime fan of Saunders’ fiction but—oh Nellie!—is his writing advice finding me at the right time. The man is just so compassionate and hardworking and patient. He is also maybe writing specifically for me and my specific problems with my specific work-in-progress? Here he is, saving my dang life:

Excerpt from George Saunders “What to do with a potentially book-ruining problem”:

But we’re trying to cultivate a “no-panic” attitude about these problems, in which we practice saying to any problems, as they arise: “Glad to see you.  Your appearance means that my book is challenging me, i.e., is not a trivial slam-dunk.”

And maybe (maybe) the more existential and seemingly intractable the problem is, the better. 

A problem is, as Stuart Dybek once put it, “the story talking to you.”  What’s it saying?  In my experience, it’s often saying, “Yes, wow, good question this book is asking.  This is going to take some real doing.”   

Bless you, sir. By thinking about my novels’ problems as a privilege I get to explore and solve for; by thinking of my book as a living thing that wants me to transform it into something complex and intricate, I’m able to—if not override—at least mitigate my self-defeating thoughts about how long and hard I’ve been working on this novel to get the storylines to flow.

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That’s all I’ve got for you today. Open calls for material are a comin’ for paid subscribers soon, so hold on to your pencils. As always, if you’d like to join us for feedback sessions, book giveaways and discounts to my writing masterclasses, consider upgrading your subscription.

On that note, congrats to subscriber

James Blase

for winning a copy of Chloe Caldwell’s novella WOMEN! (If you missed my “Craft from the Couch” session with Chloe, tune in to learn why Chloe said no to literary agents who wanted to work with her and how she managed to resurrect a micro-press book that went out of print ten years ago into a buzzy relaunch headed at us this June! That discussion is viewable (it’s a video!) here.

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Thanks for being with me and have a lovely weekend! If you feel so moved, please share the books, podcasts, films and other saving graces that are getting you through May!

xoxo

Courtney

1. I know that HBO has rebranded to “Max” but I don’t like the abbreviated brand name and therefore I won’t use it. It reminds me of when TJ Maxx tried to make “Maxanista” work. I’m just not having it.

2. With the exception of my own titles, books with blue highlights include an affiliate link to Bookshop.org where I use affiliate earnings to purchase books there myself.