Sunday Bookmarks 8
A later edition of Sunday bookmarks than I would like, consider this an accompaniment for your Sunday evening dinner instead of lunch. This week I finally got vaxxed, which I couldn’t believe until I felt the puncture of the needle in my arm. I was prepared for the worst, having seen people with my illnesses, and others from the chronically sick community, talk of month-long flares post jab, but as of right now, I seem to have escaped relatively unscathed, so thank you dear body for cooperating for once.
READING //
Taking it slow on the reading front this week, something about documenting a hobby online can make it feel as though I have to read at a certain rate. That is not the fault of others who use the platform, instead, I consider it a personal flaw, and slowing down the pace serves as a reminder to myself that the joy I derive from books is located in the process of reading, as opposed to their completion. I was buoyed by the announcement from Atlantic books, as they acquire two new books from one of my most treasured contemporary writers, Elaine Castello. Author of America is not the heart, the Philippines to America immigration story, not dissimilar from my current read, is publishing a collection of essays and her sophomore novel. Her essays will look at the politics of reading, and dissect how, as a reading community, we should be striving for better, more inclusive art. Although we will be waiting until 2023 for the new fiction piece, I am already looking forward to it, currently described as a queer exploration of family trauma, set across the USA in an epic road trip, culminating in an abusive sibling’s funeral. Honestly, she could have said they were going to be about almost anything, and I would have been sold, but these both sound firmly in my literary wheelhouse.
As for my current reads, I am enjoying Of Women and Salt immensely. Knowing only vague details of the storylines going in has felt refreshing. Another side effect of living a book-related life online is knowing the ins and outs of a book before even cracking its spine. Garcia’s debut centres on the matriarchal linage of one Cuban American family, beginning in an 1800’s Cuban Cigar factory, and reaching all the way to 2018 Miami. Spanning 3 generations we see an evolution inside of a revolution, a passing down of toxic traits and inherited trauma. Its present-day narrative sharply critiques the inhumane processes entrenched in USA deportation, whilst its lookback on history (normally something I avoid) is refreshingly readable, and the added context fleshes out our modern characters well, a smart choice on Garcia’s part. I look forward to finishing it in bed tonight.
I have succumbed to yet another one of my unpredictable rabbit holes, last month I wrote about my fentanyl and opioid drug documentary youtube binge, and now I returned to an old favourite, a cause celebre for those amongst us who have an interest in bizarre pockets of the world: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. I am listening to North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters, and Defectors, on Scribd. I have read a fair amount of North Korean defector memoirs, and watched a host of television documentaries on the East Asian totalitarian dictatorship, but nothing as recent as this, published in 2018. What sets this book apart, for me, is its interrogation of the DPRK’s development into a quasi-capitalist state following the famine in the 90s, exploring the implications of this development for existing societal structures. From a state-mandated crystal meth problem to the millions of people imprisoned for owning and selling mobile phones, later chapters promise material from Kim Jong-un's meeting with Donald Trump, which, if not informative, will at least be absurd.
I also have my eye on this aesthetically pleasing photo book; Made in North Korea: Graphics from Everyday Life in the DPRK, for my non-existent coffee table. It documents life in North Korea through a series of photographs, many of the images have an almost Wes Anderson esque symmetry to them, adding to its eeriness. I saw it in person 3 years ago, in the beautifully curated downstairs of Daunt Books, filed neatly under its country shelf, the entire floor categorized by geographic location. This most recent jaunt into North Korean non-fiction, may be the catalyst I need to finally order a copy.
WATCHING // Son Of Sam
After expressing interest in mercenaries, drug traffickers, and the DPRK, it will come as a surprise to no one, that I binged the 4 episode documentary series ‘Son of Sam’, as soon as I saw it in the same sentence as Cult and Serial Killer. I will keep the details brief to avoid boring you with a rehashing of the Netflix synopsis: Across the 4 hours, we delve into the world of Maury Terry, an investigative journalist whose life has been dedicated to a string of killings that took place across New York in 1977. We see his life slowly deteriorate as he attempts to uncover an alternative explanation for the killings, oriented around the nefarious activities of a nationwide Satanic cult. Narrated from a first-person perspective, and interspersed with original news footage (Great 80’s outfit looks on the anchors), it spans decades of conspiracy, dead ends, and red herrings. It interviews the original police chiefs involved, some looking close to the end themselves, though almost all choose to stick to the official NYPD line, ACAB right?
Thankfully, Netflix took note of our pandemic attention spans and avoided their usual shtick, of stretching an hours worth of interesting content across 10 episodes and filling the rest with useless graphics and poorly constructed dramatizations of past events (Please see: Fear City / Screwball and Making a Murderer), and chose to keep it condensed. Much appreciated flix, keep it up.
Louis Theroux on Tiger King //
I missed the original boat on Tiger King, the TV documentary series that provided much-needed distraction and meme material when we first locked down. I felt, as with many viral pop culture moments, that I knew the general gist without sitting through a single episode. In this new realm of cultural commentary we are experiencing, it seems content created to comment on discourse is even more successful than the original content itself, discourse on discourse I suppose. And such is the case with Louis Theroux’s ‘Shooting Joe Exotic’, in which he combs through original footage from his initial meeting with Joe during his 2011 documentary ‘America’s Most Dangerous Pets’. Theroux takes viewers along as he and Joe’s self-declared nemesis, Carol Baskin, reflect on the fame and controversy the updated series brought him, as we are made privy to legal documentation sent to Louis by Tiger King’s producers to warn him off creating any new material about Mr. Exotic. Although in recent years, Theroux has fallen out of favour with many, myself included, for his misrepresentation of the college rape crisis, and (arguably more a failing of his commissioning editor) as the presenter of a documentary about mothers experiencing psychosis. However, his trademark awkwardness and self-deprecation are wonderfully suited to this double discourse setup, particularly when he is able to critique his prior journalistic missteps.
LIVING WITH //
If you caught last weeks newsletter, you will have read about the ongoing illness one of my childhood friends is trying to manage, as I continue to operate as a member of her support system, I am afraid I have no more words to give you this week, I have nothing else to say that can make her, and the 100’s of chronically sick people living with severe M.E, any better. I can tweet until I am blue in face, transfer my anger at our lack of support for M.E sufferers, onto my local political candidates, or an NHS trust. Nothing seems to make a difference, and that is a miserable place to be. I find myself dishing out positive mantras and self-help jargon, attempting to keep her spirits lifted, knowing full well if the shoe was on the other foot, I would be at rock bottom too. I feel so helpless, and all I have is words to give, I know they are not enough, I just hope they keep her going in the meantime, just until she can catch a break.
One of her friends is running the London Marathon, in support of Action for M.E. If you would like to donate, and in turn, support a UK charity that is funding vital research into this life-altering disease, and providing much-needed mental health support for sufferers, Please donate here.
Catch you all on another part of the internet,
Hannah