P.S. June in Review

Plus: a disco ball candle, an essay on fanfiction, and an excellent train video.

But Wait, There’s More is a blog + newsletter that features careful musings on culture, lifestyle, design, nostalgia, and how they all intersect.

P.S. is like the little sister to But Wait There’s More – a bite-sized love letter filled with things I’ve read, watched, enjoyed, or contemplated that week.

Dear Friend,

I’m writing this to you from the kitchen table of my husband’s childhood home. We’re visiting our quaint (read: tiny) hometown in Michigan (and yes I said “our” – we were high school sweethearts) for the summer, and I’m looking forward to doing all those quintessential small town summer-y things, like… eating a hot dog? And getting soft serve? And probably ending up at the WalMart late at night because there’s nothing else to do… You get the gist.

Anyways. Summer? Not my favorite season. It’s probably actually my least favorite season. I hate being hot, I hate the clothes, I hate trying to decide if I’m dressing for the blazing temps outside or the sub-arctic conditions that await me in the air conditioning of every building I spend time in. But there is something to be said about the glorious nostalgic Americana of a small town summer. Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, I had the thought, “Man, I want to go to a county fair.” Who am I????

Anyways, hope you’re enjoying the heat, or staying out of it. As for me, I’ll be seeking out some fresh watermelon and blasting Bruce Springsteen.

Book Updates

What I Read in June

June was a sloooooow month for reading. I only managed to finish two books (but don’t ask me how many I bought in June).

All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers

★★★☆☆ 3/5

I liked this book. It was… fine. I’ll be honest, if I had realized beforehand that it was written by a true crime podcast host, I probably would have skipped it. Something about that feels just a bit too voyeuristic for me (and I do like true crime content! I’ve just tried to be more conscious of what I consume these days).

All in all, I think it had exactly one too many plot twists. I found the ending frustrating and a bit unnecessary, personally. Overall it was a compelling story, even though it largely felt like a thinly veiled rehashing of the Jon Benét Ramsey case. I gave it a 3-ish out of 5 stars.

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

★★★★☆ 4/5

"I think of the twentieth century as one long question, and in the end we got the answer wrong. Aren't we unfortunate babies to be born when the world ended? After that there was no chance for the planet, and no chance for us. Or maybe it was just the end of one civilisation, ours, and at some time in the future another will take its place. In that case we are standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something."

I decided to give Ms. Sally Rooney another try after Normal People left me less than impressed, and I’m so glad I did! I really enjoyed this book. The characters were realistically flawed, but overall had likable, relatable qualities that I just felt were missing from Normal People. I almost want to re-read that book, or watch the Hulu series, to see if I was just in a bad mood the week I read it, but idk. Anyways, reading this the week that Trump bombed Iran really hit different with the ongoing themes of the past and the future and when history ended, and all that good stuff. The quote I pasted above really stopped me in my tracks because it so eloquently summed up the conversations that myself and my friends have been having for the past 15 years or so.

Currently Reading

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Guys. GUYS. I started this book last night, as of the writing of this newsletter, and I’m halfway through. I really didn’t think this type of book was for me, but great news – I can still enjoy books that don’t include personal tragedies, violent crimes, or supernatural elements! I am really loving the writing style and the characters. This book feels like the equivalent of cheesy potatoes or a warm cup of coffee on a rainy day – a cozy, feel good, comfort food-read.

August TBR

• Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

• I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

• Girl on Girl by Sophie Gilbert

• First Love by Lilly Dancyger

Filing Cabinet

Things I’ve read, saved, screenshotted, lusted over, or laughed at this month.

• I was raised by Tumblr, DeviantArt, and Fanfiction.net, so reading this piece by Tara Larsen for Lit Girl was both vindicating and fascinating.

• How Sex and the City Exemplifies Late 20th-Century Feminist Despair by Alice Bolin for Lithub. I never liked Sex and the City. I did watch it, during one of the worst depressive episodes of my life, and maybe that’s why. Anyways, this essay by Alice Bolin (who wrote another favorite essay collection, Dead Girls) pretty much encapsulates my feelings on this institution of pop culture.

• If you didn’t know, I’m a graphic designer by trade, so I really enjoyed this piece on Zohran Mamdani’s campaign logo and design.

• Whoever is running the Amtrak Instagram needs a raise stat, because this video made me laugh out loud. Now if only the US hadn’t decimated the rail network… 🙃

• This is a couple years old now, but I guess it doesn’t really matter… This piece for Dazed on “Why Has Everyone Looked the Same for 20 Years?” is a fascinating look at how our culture has stagnated over the past decades.

• Lithub (can you tell I just subscribed to Lithub?) published this very moving “Against AI: An Open Letter From Writers to Publishers” signed by tons of big name authors.

• The revelation that the boner pills that Hims has been touting are essentially the same things you can buy at any midwestern gas station or truck stop has absolutely blown my mind.

• Personally, I definitely need a disco ball shaped candle. Maybe you do too?

• I just discovered The Dive Motel and now I need an excuse to go back to Nashville ASAP. Guys, there’s a party switch in EVERY ROOM.

• I loved this touching piece on the fear of childbirth by Emily Jace McLaughlin for The Cut. As long as I can remember, before I truly even understood what it meant or what happened, I have been terrified of the concept of childbirth. And reading this made me realize it might go deeper than just watching too many pseudo-feminist sitcoms and rom-coms from the 90s. My mother absolutely had what people nowadays would call a traumatic birth. And I wonder how much of that ended up embedded in my very cells. Makes you think!!!!!