May '26 Entertainment
esta locaaa, por besar mi
NOTE FROM THE WRiTER
I am going to continue this series, but I will be simplifying it. I’ve become significantly busier with Campus Fiction, and I also feel like these recs are better in a more casual tone.
BOOKS
SCRUPLES 2
by Judith Krantz
WHY I READ/CONNECTED
I had to hold myself back from reading this right after Scruples. I ordered it midway through the first book. It doesn’t hit the same heights as its predecessor, but it takes you along for a thrilling ride and it offers far more catharsis. We actually see Billy crack here and be made whole at the very, very end. Judith Krantz has converted me into a disciple, and I’m closely studying her writing to integrate into my own.
HIGHLIGHTED PASSAGE
EXILE
by R.A. Salvatore
WHY I READ/CONNECTED
I picked up the second book in the Dark Elf Trilogy, now that I’m back kicking it with my older brother in the city. He’s also forcing me to play Baldur’s Gate to get the full experience. I enjoyed this one even more than the first. Salvatore writes incredible action scenes—I feel like I’m fighting. And it is impossible not to root for Drizzt to overcome the evil of his world, and his family.
LUCKY JIM
by Kingsley Aims
WHY I READ/CONNECTED
I’m in the process of reading the campus novel canon, absorbing as much as I can for my own entry into the genre. This book is one of the originals, a 1950s British classic, that is full of well executed stereotypical English humor. Jim is the epitome of a cynical, neurotic academic who thinks the world is out to get him. Yet Aims writes his world with such precision and comedy, you can’t help but root for him. And the romance aspect in it was a big surprise, but a welcome one.
HIGHLIGHTED PASSAGE
THE ART OF FIELDING
by Chad Harbach
WHY I READ/CONNECTED
Another stop in the campus fiction canon, and one I have mixed feelings about. As on of the reviewers mentions, it does feel like a world all its own. There are passages that are breathtaking in this. But I have some feeling of it not living up to its fullest potential. Perhaps because every thread is too neat, every character too perfect in playing their part. I suppose that’s what happens when someone works on something for 10 years. It’s also very white. Still worth a read, and I actually probably would re-read, to sand down my own frustration with it.
HIGHLIGHTED PASSAGE
FUCCBOI
by Sean Thor Conroe
WHY I READ/CONNECTED
I know this is one of the most talked about contemporary debuts, and I’m particularly interested in anyone owning the masculine voice unapologetically. I’d say my hang ups with this book are:
The title is inaccurate. Nothing about the main character suggests a Fuccboi—he’s way too neurotic and doesn’t actually pull
I appreciate the prose he’s going for, and it comes across most of the time as natural/inevitable…but it’s just not pleasant
It’s a white book that’s trying not to be, but it’s self aware of this at least
My favorite parts all relate to the few cracks of vulnerability that don’t seem forced, and anything to do with the skin ailment arc. Ultimately I think Sean is a good writer—just needs to get out of his own way, maybe even write less about his own life.
WHY I READ/CONNECTED
PRACTICES IN APPARITION
by Gabi Abrao
WHY I READ/CONNECTED
Sighswoon (Gabi’s online name) was one of my first introductions to the new age spiritual corner of the internet. I never fully understood her content, but I almost always liked it. Her first book, Notes on Shapeshifting, had one particular passage that I cut out and added to my corkboard where I work on my theory of performance as ontology. It disappointed me that a good portion of this book was erasure with tweets, but there’s a couple breezy stories that made it worthwhile.
HIGHLIGHTED PASSAGE
MOVIES/SHOWS
BIG LEZ SHOW
A stoner friend of mine sat us on the couch to show us this…it gets a little too fixated on the meta at times, but it’s so one of a kind and ridiculous.
EUPHORIA
Finally starting this show for the first time. I’m only halfway into Season 1, but I can see why it received all its early acclaim.
TERMINATOR 2
Once my older brother’s heard that I had never seen the sequel, they sat me down for an education. Jimmy Cameron, you never disappoint. Also lol at seeing Davey Scatino be a ruthless killer.
MUSIC
CORSA
by Eladio Carrion
The cover says it all.
666 (Single)
by Panda Black & Yan Block & Cris MJ
Not an album, but I listened to this more than every other song combined, and continue to do so.
