to be sorted later #28
in which I'm back on my bullshit, piling up books
One of my problems is I want to read everything at once. This is not new. You, my dedicated reader, most likely a blood relative, know all too well this is the “to be sorted later” origin story! You’ve heard this one before.
As I said then, sometimes this gets more out of hand than others.
Today, July 8, 2025, is one of those times.
Here’s the proof:
I’m racing through Shattered, slogging through Middlemarch, and have now read the first poem in Shapeshifter approximately 45 times, both in English and French. And this is only part of the current stack!1
Here’s the opening of that Rahon poem, in English:
“a woman once lovely
one day
took off her face
now her head was smooth
blind and deaf
sheltered from mirror traps
and looks of love”
This destroys me. “A woman once lovely” …! I have a lot more to say about discovering Alice Paalen Rohan, but that’s a work in progress.
What I want to say, right now, is that today, July 8, 2025, I have a gigantic pile of things I am either currently reading or want to be reading in front of me.
Today, July 8, is my mother’s birthday. She would have been 74 today, if she were alive. On her birthday, and the days leading to it, I miss her deeply. It’s a wild realization, to recognize that this, too, is not new — I have been missing her for 23 years. What a gift, that love does not die.
When I’m not sorting through a ridiculous pile of reading materials and 23 years of feelings, what the hell am I even doing?
What I’m Sorting Through, Currently …
Walking to the Lakefront
Turns out, the water is still calling me, and great news, I’m now only a 20-minute walk away. What an absolute dream. A point of wonder.
In Pursuit of … Whatever
Four more things that have my attention for at least the next four minutes:
“the 8-year-old version of me is so proud, and that’s the only vibe I need” | watch this when you need to take up space & make your 8-year-old self proud
Honestly, Emma has my attention for the next four minutes, and forever. | “How Jane Austen Pulled it Off: On Emma” by Jennifer Egan, The Paris Review
Suleika, and more specifically, her mother’s to-do list, got me real good | “To Keep or Not to Keep,” The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad
This song, which more accurately will keep your attention for 3 minutes, 37 seconds:
previously:
Pictured top to bottom: The Drunken Boat, Arthur Rimbaud; Shapeshifter, Alice Paalen Rahon; Poetry Magazine, June 2025; Middlemarch, George Eliot; Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come, Jess Pan; Shattered, Hanif Kureishi; Perfection, Vincenzo Latronico; The Mobius Book, Catherine Lacey; The Paris Review, No. 252, Summer 2025; Among Friends, Hal Ebbott; The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron; Harper’s Bazaar, Summer 2025; Women’s Health magazine, Spring 2025
You killed me with that quote… powerful 💙