robotnic.co

Reading Week #56

05.29.2015 by Nicola //

There have been no gorgeous vistas and very few blue skies this week, but a girl can reminisce.

I’ve been back to work with a thud, but am gearing up for a fun book-and-friends filled weekend and a trip to Sheffield Doc/Fest next week. Not bad, not bad.

What’s new in your world? Some links, perhaps?

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

Bookish Blether Episode 10 – Bookish Catch-Up, and lots of spring cleaning.

And on my business blog, even more bloody links.

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

Every writer has read, or should read, William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. He passed away recently, and his former student and friend Mark Singer wrote this lovely piece in remembrance: Tuesdays with William Zinsser.

I’ve recommended the She Does Podcast once before, and especially loved this episode with radio producer Bianca Giaever – Always Talk to Strangers.

WOC vs Black Women, critical reading from the blog fille de glissant.

When Jezebel launched with a vengeance in 2007, it offered a corrective to the lies proffered by Cosmo and its competitors in service of the “celebrity-sartorial complex.” But ladymags have since jacked Jezebel’s style and staffed up with sarcastic smarties. Now even Maxim is marketing itself as a feminist rag.

The brilliant Amanda Hess on why she left ladyblogging.

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So fuckin true bro. The “Inside SoCal” Series Is Transcendently Good And Kyle Mooney Is Possibly A Genius. Here’s my personal favourite. (This is all nonsense if you’ve never been to SoCal; absolutely genius if you’re from there.)

How the eff do people get their lives to revolve around Evernote? This post on Using Evernote (the right way) sheds some light, and is incredibly useful if you need a few pointers.

Laura Olin is a great person to follow online. The Mailchimp blog reported on How Laura Olin’s Emails Got Her Freelance Work and a Book Deal.

–– ON PAPER ––

This week I’ve mostly been reading Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrerra, translated by Lisa Dillman. It’s my book club pick for tonight and it’s remarkable. Wish I could read it in Spanish.

For the coming week I’ve designs on hitting up some essays – Virginia Woolf, Susan Sontag and Joan Didion in particular.

What are you reading this weekend?

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My friend Jess blogged about a familiar foe: The Bully Inside My Head.

What if You Don’t Have “One True Calling”? As this list will attest, I related to this. (It also makes me want to rewatch Frances Ha.)

Read anything good this week? Hit reply or tweet me with a link.

Have a lovely weekend, friends!

Bookish Catch-up | Bookish Blether #10

05.27.2015 by Nicola //

We decided to keep things simple this week and chat about what we’ve been reading and thinking about lately, book-wise. We also took a deep dive into some bookish spring cleaning blether.

Follow Bookish Blether on Twitter and Tumblr for more book chat.

If you have any questions or comments tweet us or send an email to bookishblether@gmail.com!

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Reading Week #55 – Home, Sweet

05.22.2015 by Nicola //

The prodigal blogger hath returned pickled, relaxed, and an ever-so-slightly darker shade of white.

Massive thanks to Kevin for curating last week’s links. Isn’t he great? He’s obviously too modest to plug himself so I will: go follow him on Twitter and Tumblr.

I spent a week in Croatia: 5 nights on Hvar island bookended by nights in Split. It was gorgeous and delicious, totally chill and waaaay overdue. How have your last couple of weeks been?

Strap in for teh links.

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

My podcast, Bookish Blether Episode 9 is up and it’s about Gifting Books.

On my business blog, I waxed lyrical about Podcatching (but really just about my favourite podcast app, Overcast).

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

Speaking of being home, Anthony Bourdain was here last year and the Glasgow episode of Parts Unknown screened last week. As a fan of the show, it was really weird to see my home street on screen… as a bar fight broke out. Oh, Glasgow. Anyway, here’s his blog on the subject, which is of course entitled C***. Thanks, Tony.

The Lack of Female Road Narratives and Why it Matters by Vanessa Veselka, with lots of follow-up reading material (including The Truck Stop Killer). Tingles of every sort.

Love Jill Lepore’s droll yet maddening yet hilarious Why Marvel’s Female Superheroes Look Like Porn Stars.

It’s college graduation speech season, so here’s your vital reminder to read David Foster Wallace’s This is Water speech from Kenyon College, 2005. Here’s a text PDF, here’s the audio. I draw on this for strength all the time.

–– DIGITAL ––

If you can’t get enough link lists, try Jessica Furseth’s Reading List. There might be some cross-over with here, but this one was a particularly great selection.

Stealing from there, Durga Chase Bose’s Reading List for The WW Club is stellar. I’d been dithering, so bought The Lover by Marguerite Duras and Susan Sontag’s Reborn immediately after reading this.

Also from New Yorker, this guy’s personal taxonomy of Hahahas vs Hehehes correspond quite closely with mine. No lols, though? I mean, come on.

The latest in Facebook’s attempts to become the entire internet. (It already is, for a lot of people. Terrifying.)

Anna Hart on The Rise of the “Digital Nomad”. Does hanging out at my father-in-law’s in the California Central Valley summer for a few weeks each summer count?

Something I’ve considered: The Curious Conformity of YouTube’s Beauty Tutorials. BookTube isn’t so far off.

–– ON PAPER ––

It’s been a pretty great reading week, you guys. I finished 6 books – here are highlights:

The Lover by Marguerite Duras – mentioned above. It’s £2 on Kindle, will take maybe 2.5 hours to read, and holy shit do I wish I could write like that: just divine. Next purchase will be her collection called Writing, SOON.

Jesse Eisenberg’s forthcoming collection, Bream Gives Me Hiccups and Other Stories is hilarious and creative and OMG can this man can pathos the hell out of sweet 6th graders and disaffected millennials. I’m down on this whole actors with cutesy personal brands can write books now! trend (though that doesn’t keep me from reading them!) but this was excellent. It’s out in September, I’ll try to remind you.

I also listened to approximately 2 million podcasts and am really looking forward to purchasing/reading Spinster by Kate Bolick (which sounds amazing and awful all at once lolz) and Leaving Orbit by Margaret Lazarus Dean.

Got a book recommendation? Hit reply.

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No lunch. You refused to buy us Lunchables, and now you must pay. Grab a seat at a standing desk because this afternoon you work an unpaid internship in dubstep. When the beat drops, admit that it is no longer feasible to put oneself through college working a part-time minimum-wage job. In the millennial revenge bunker, we can’t hear you scream over 23 years of earbud-induced tinnitus.

This Millennial Revenge Fantasy from The Hairpin made me laugh.

Let’s talk about periods! Ann Friedman is never irrelevant.

A nice feature on Amy Poeler and how she’s making herself uncomfortable.

Have a lovely weekend, friends!