editor’s note: I confused Mueller for Sedgewick, but totally forgot that I have seen Cookie in films before! She has shown up in a handful of John Waters films. Since filming this, I’m about a third of the way through the collection, and this is what she has to say about our Pope of Trash: “John was as thin as a string bean with shoulder-length brown hair and a pencil-thin mustache. He wore thrift-store shirts, drank Coca-Cola, and smoked Kool Midgets nonstop. He made me laugh.”
notes of a crocodile is soooo good, nyrb does such a good job with their editions. also really interested in the gus van sant novel and that movie shot on that rare film!
Yessss, I’m finally getting to Big Swiss this season too (spring for me). Cookie Mueller has some great, hilarious stories in Walking Through Clear Water… I still need to watch some John Waters too. I read Benjamin Moser’s Sontag biography and it was a slog and painted her in such an unflattering light at times so I’m procrastinating on ‘On Photography’ which has been sitting on my shelves for a while.
I did instantly think of the Intermezzo blue when you mentioned blue, it is a stunning shade. I have been intrigued to read Notes on a Crocodile, so looking forward to your thoughts. Ps. Wearing a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt when you mention them, spooky. PPS. the thumbnail moment, amazing.
Hi, commenting for the first time because I just have to say I LOVE how you edit your videos... Also, totally relate to being my true sad self in autumn. the first book on my tbr is Good Morning Midnight by Jean Rhys. Give me All the depressing books!
@@nathansnook same actually! the only Jarman I really liked outside of his work for Pet Shop Boys and The Smiths was Edward II, I'd recommend it for a great gay film!
I've read The Diary of Laura Palmer. It was only okay, but fun! I always thought it was written by Lynch's wife. One of my favourite 'blue' books is The Only Story by Julian Barnes.
ahhh so many awesome fall picks!!! 🍁 glad you’re picking up Amrita! though as an avid yoshimoto fan, i’d suggest starting with her other novellas (eg., Hardboiled and Hard Luck, The Lake) and saving Amrita for last. Amrita has a meandering quality to it which i hope you don’t mind! yoshimoto is adept at writing about grief, loss, people growing apart - and that’s something i think might resonate with you at the moment! susan sontag’s Notes on Camp is a fascinating essay too. it’s published as one of those little pastel green Penguin Modern books. it covers the varying definitions of camp, painting a picture of the zeitgeist of the ‘60s. got to know this through the MET Gala 2019, whose theme was inspired by it. i read Notes of a Crocodile in early Fall 2018 and oh boy my emotions were so heavily affected by its melancholy. not for the faint-hearted but curious to hear your thoughts on it! you can pronounce Qiu Miaojin this way: Qiu (her last name): Ch-iu, like how you’d pronounce chew Miaojin (first name): like “Meow” + BTS’s Jin
oh how wonderful! i actually have Hardboiled and Hard Luck on dek! maybe i'll get to that before Amrita, but honestly don't mind the meandering in books! reasons why i love Murakami! right! Sontag came back into popular culture for the Met Gala and then i wondered how many people have actually read Notes on Camp, let alone Sontag? sort of the seedlings of where my interest in wanting to read Sontag began, but had also realized that she had written a bit about Vietnam and was just not ready to know her thoughts and ideas on it because of my background. and thank you for the note on pronunciation! will always try to do better!!! you're the best!
against interpretation is definitely the sontag litmus test, seminal book for my canon and its the only sontag one that i would reread in a heartbeat. and if delving into more of her works i suggest reading regarding the pain of others after on photog, its gonna be smoother!
Such a good list ❤ interested to hear your thoughts on Sontag. I've only ever read her fiction. I picked up In America a few years ago and it was such an unusual historical fiction. She's definitely one of those authors I feel I should have read more of!
Nathan, Im sure you’ve seen the David Lynch documentary from 2016 called, “David Lynch: The Art Life”, but for others here or if you haven’t, it’s on Prime. I’ve been meaning to rewatch it. I think available elsewhere too. Just as weird as you want it to be. Just when I had some vague ideas of what I might get to in the months ahead…and TOO many holds coming at me from the library….this! I am going to re-read Mrs. Dalloway, I’ve decided. I first read it in the Fall of 2022. Blown away. Also, her first book. Now, after To The Lighthouse - which I feel expands on what she was doing in Mrs. Dalloway - I want to turn back to Dalloway before moving forward to her other works. Yay!
To add to this, I just watched Lynch/Oz on Criterion Channel and it was fascinating! There are so many Oz connections in his work that I never noticed before. Highly recommend.
quite a recent reread this will be for you! need to ask, how much time passes for you to garner a reread? i know you just read To the Lighthouse, and i need to pay that one a revisit, but i haven't read Mrs. Dalloway since maybe 2016? and with this edition with the Cunningham, i thought why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone!
@@nathansnook, I’ve actually just become a re-reader this yr! So, if I feel like the first time I read a book I was so blown away that a 2nd read would be helpful …that’s what’s been happening this yr.
against interpretation was my first sontag ( her art criticism holds up WAY better than her gender stuff imo) but On Photography is the Sontag that i rec to everyone ( very seminal in my art school days). Intermezzo is a library hold book for me. It's on hold but it's going to take two months to get to me. I think it's a gauge to see if I really want to read a book. A library hold that I am excited to read and it's coming up soon though is Near to the Wild Heart ( I bit the bullet and read some Lispector... three actually.) and now I just want to read all of her novels. The blue that I reccommend is Gerry ( the forgotten Gus Van Sant movie with Casey Affleck and Matt Damon) it's a muted blue that contrasts so well with the salt flats and the desert.
i gasped when i saw notes of a crocodile by qiu miaojin! it's one of my favorites last year. it's so so good. i can't wait to hear your thoughts about it !!
Have you seen Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Blue?? It’s part of his Three Colors trilogy 🇫🇷 and this one is the best IMO. Btw the Trader Joe mini totes are back in stores here…can’t recall if you’ve mentioned wanting them 😮
Think martin sheen will be remembered more for badlands than apocalypse now. Never read Rooney not because I’ve heard she’s not good but it’s more a generational thing. Just barely managed to get thru big Swiss but my opinion is the cover is better than the text though still not worth the eighteen dollars I paid for It at BN. I have it on good authority Sontag’s novel the volcano lover isn’t very good but most of the other stuff is especially the cancer book.⚛️ ⚛️
Hi Nathan. I haven’t even watched this video yet but in the last video you looked glum and I realised I have to write to you! Listen, the life you are living is the life I wish to live reading going around cafes and ohh the way you speak English so confidently! Is the way I would like to speak. So be happy and don’t loose it. 🧡 and omg you are so hot 🥵
