The pithiest Pithy

My mid-July talking points

Ok, it was the best of times (I’ve got freelance work!), it was the worst of times (I’ve got freelance work). I’m on client time, but I still want to play tennis, be with my college boys, garden, linger outside in the evening with the fireflies, and do all the summery stuff. Pithy suffers. I’m here now with a quickie just so you don’t forget about me. So, in bullet form, let’s get to it:

Biden

• I agree with Jeff’s magnificent uncle. I want a mini primary. Alas, it seems Biden shares with Trump this notion that he’s the only one who can do this. He refuses to see that there’s a deep vibrant bench of younger possible candidates, not least of which his vice president. If he’s not stepping down I’m “Ridin’ with Biden” (another H/T to Uncle James).

• I do like the line “Control guns, not girls” from Biden’s Thursday night press conference. Make the tees, please.

• I highly recommend watching John Oliver talk about Project 2025. The dems could present me with a wilted cabbage as their candidate and that cabbage would absolutely get my vote. A very old Biden in office is nowhere near as catastrophic as letting these hateful GOP turds anywhere near the nuclear codes.

• Let me reiterate that. Biden has been a tremendously effective president and reflects my values and priorities completely (aside from being too nice to Netanyahu). A second Biden administration would continue to do great things.

Books

• I tried to listen to Do Tell and Funny Story and found both boring. I know these are getting lots of positive attention but meh. Ann Patchett is a brilliant writer but Do Tell is the third book she’s recommended on her Parnassus Instagram feed that I have not really loved. 

• Here’s the headline I’d write if I wrote a review: ”Do Tell?  Actually, don’t.”

• Funny Story is by Emily Henry an author (like Colleen Hoover) who I root for but maybe I'm not their demographic. Book People worked better for me; I thought the dialog was wittier. This book is more rom than com for me, and it’s just cloying and slow. Do love the northern Michigan locale however.

• I listened to Solito by Javier Zamora. This book is beautifully written–and I’d say read, don’t listen because the narration wasn’t great. I expected a harrowing tale of a 9-year-old boy on the infamous coyote trip from El Salvador to Arizona. I didn’t expect to be presented with what I’m sure happens every day in the deserts of Mexico and on that horrifying Darién Gap: astonishing levels of human kindness. The bonds he forges with his fellow travelers diminishes all the political rhetoric, and frankly makes me feel shameful for how much I was looking for catastrophe porn (I will, however, never stop loving books about people in harrowing life-or-death situations). It’s easy to say “imagine if it were your kid,” this book makes that imagining real.

Other stuff

• Margo Price wrote on her Substack about getting her nose fixed and I loved it. I felt seen. I never got a nose job, although I wanted one, and her experience of adolescence sounds so much like mine. I was also the weird-looking kid growing up, and accepting my face was a… process, a journey, a topic for another day.

• Le Petit Marseillais body wash is awesome. The orange blossom fragrance is Caswell-Massey/Jo Malone-level fantastic. Order it from Amazon.

• If you like SuperGoops Unseen Sunscreen but also shop at Trader Joe’s, buy their version and save yourself some cash. It’s awesome and only $9.

• In between mainlining Pod Save America podcasts, I’ve checked out Plain English (Jeff’s recommendation). It’s good! Listen to the one about Breathing. I’m already a big believer in breathing, as I imagine you are too, but I learned many things in this podcast. I loved hearing why the yogic alternate nostril breathing is effective. I find it complicated because it feels like math; I also can’t dance or do aerobics. (For any pretentious yoga practitioners reading, I’m referring to nadi shodhana).

Let’s rank the unrankable

My real motivation to get this sloppy ad-hoc pithy to you is the NYT best books of the 21st century.  For book nerds like me, this week has been so fun. Maybe this is what Copa or the Tour de France is like for cool people? Every day, they’ve revealed a few more of their picks and you can click “I’ve read it” or “I want to read it.” They posted the top 20 today and I was so excited to see it, I opened it even before I did Connections (which was egregiously difficult today, by the way). 

I have read 42 of the 100, and clicked “want to read” on 29. I also want to read many of the books they suggest if you have read one of their picks. Naturally, I have a multitude of beefs about their picks, as I’m sure you do too, and I look forward to wasting hours poring over the top ten lists submitted by various writers. Check it out and leave a comment about how many you’ve read, what you disagree with, which you’d rank higher or lower, and most importantly—which books are missing.

Ok, not my best work but wanted to reach out. Let’s hope the Dems figure this out, and let’s hope the world doesn’t melt before the election. Mostly, let’s hope summer is giving you lots of reasons to step away from your laptop, too.