“—Enjoy your unicorn. / —I will.” – Kim Fu, “Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867”
It’s Friday and the good weather is really here. The four months of the year where Chicago really sucks are gone. Matt Yglesious can cry his way back to the D.C. suburbs—Chicago is happiness and glory from here on out, homies! Or at least until next January. Make the best of it and tip generously!
What I’ve Been Reading This Week:
Got back into fiction with an absolute BANGER this week, a book I bought purely based off of title (Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century? Are you kidding me?!) and press (Tin House is like the A24 of publishing, assume a basic floor of high quality and a ceiling of “is this the best book I’ve ever read?”). Book lived up to the hype! Hype I entirely created for myself, but still.
These stories really excel at being about something different from what the action is focusing on. The best example of this is probably “#ClimbingNation,” which has an almost True Crime Podcast setup but whose last paragraph will haunt me every time I use Twitter from here on out. Or the audacious opener, “Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867,” which depicts how the opening of Total Recall should’ve gone. “Liddy, First to Fly” and “The Doll” are the best stories starring kids I’ve read in I don’t know how long, like R.L Stine got an MFA from one of the interesting programs. Mom and Dad can skip “Scissors” for the same reason they didn’t like that Aimee Bender story about the librarian, but it is a wonderful and fascinating description of a show, something I don’t think I’ve read since I last read Steven Millhauser’s The Barnum Museum. And of course for my personal interests: “Bridezilla” features a trashy cruise ship and a sea monster. NEED I SAY MORE? Read this book.
LINKS!
“Guy sits on the side of a mountain and plays a stringed instrument” is a fun genre of YouTube video. Here’s Özgür Baba playing “Sáu Mươi Hai Năm Qua.” This video features cameos from a cat and a couple chickens, making it extra worth the watch.