Books I read in February. I would love to see a tv show that features Porochista Khakpour and Jeremy Atheron Lin as hosts— they both bring this sharp, but eeyore-esque Gen-x narration to the Los Angeles (and the wider world) of yesteryear. They could just drive around LA and point at buildings and venues and say “that used to be good… but even when it was, it was actually really fucked up. I guess it’s a Sweetgreen now.” Or something. I’d legit watch.

The Rules of Magic was dreadful. Contained the phrase “this is an unexpected surprise.”

Found Tolentino’s and Baldwin’s books sparkling, crisp, razor sharp and horrifying.

In Trick Mirror, Tolentino references From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, so of course I had to re-read. Still holds up, missed the through-line of grammar policing — “…hide out in? run away to!? Jamie who talks like this!” — when I read it as a kid. The audio version I listened to had a very sweet afterward from E.L. Konigsburg that made me tear up a little.