We are well into summer now, and it’s been a good one! Here’s a recap of what I did, read, and watched in July.
LIVING
Ever since I moved out of the DC area almost two years ago, my friends have joked that I didn’t actually leave. On average I spend two months a year back in DC, split across multiple trips, and I don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. And to be fair, some of it is for work, and I traveled back to North Carolina at a similar rate when living in DC, so it goes both ways. Being able to visit the people I love whenever I want, no matter where they live, is one of the genuine joys of this season of life (single, working remotely).
And so, on my fourth trip to DC this year, I spent 16 days across late June to mid-July alternating between crashing on a friend’s couch and petsitting for a coworker. The other three trips were much shorter and more structured, but this felt like a window into old times — running familiar trails, visiting old favorite coffeeshops and trying newly opened ones, attending church and eating meals with fellow members after, and last minute, loosely planned hangouts with friends.
It’s that last one that I miss the most. I’ve been back in North Carolina for almost two years, as I said, and I haven’t quite found a solid friend group. I’ve made friends and I’m a member of multiple social clubs, but it’s not the same as having a group of people who both have the same faith and values as you and match your weird.
Nevertheless, life goes on. Despite the heat I drag myself to a run club every week, sometimes two. And because of the heat, I stay indoors most of the time, reading books at coffee shops and watching movies at the theater or on my couch. The $1.50 theater was my summer haven as a teenager, and it feels like a return to form to make the local indie theater my summer spot now. Two weeks of heat advisories followed by two weeks of thunderstorms have made it difficult to enjoy the outdoors, but finding joy in indoor activities has made it a good month.
READING
I finished eight books this month: two classics, three faith-related-ish, two science fiction, and one nonfiction.
The two classics were two of my summer substack book club picks: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton and Emma by Jane Austen. I loved both of these books, and wrote two separate posts about them earlier this summer — one more focused on The Age of Innocence and the other on Emma (with additional thoughts on The Age of Innocence).
Two of the three faith-related books were ones I was embarrassed not to have read before: Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton and Strength to Love by Martin Luther King Jr. Orthodoxy inspired C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, though Chesterton has a more roundabout style than Lewis, with a conversational way of writing about how he found his way to Christian faith. I picked up Strength to Love because I had never read anything by Dr. King before. I can only imagine how moving his sermons were to hear in person — these fifteen pieces focus on racial inequality, justice, contemporary society, and how the Bible speaks to these issues. Powerful and sharp, but full of love. The Present Age by Søren Kierkegaard, the third faith-related piece, is the reason for the “ish” in the category description. It’s not strictly faith-related, but threaded through all his work is Kierkegaard’s concern for living out truth no matter the consequences. The Present Age is an excerpt from his Two Ages, and he reflects on the differences between a “passionate age” and a “reflective age.” Kierkegaard thought the people of his age were too prone to thinking and overthinking rather than action. The edition I own has an introduction by Walter Kaufmann, a modern writer who draws a compelling parallel between Kierkegaard's age and ours.
The Simulacra by Philip K. Dick was this month’s sci fi book club pick. It’s a wild story. America is a sham — the president is a robot and the first lady is played by a series of actresses. Members of the government use a time machine to bring back a Nazi. There are hapless jug musicians, a paranoid telekenetic musician, a Mars colony, and a ban on psychotherapy. I never knew what was going to happen next and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The second sci fi read this month was The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin, a short novel (<200 pages) about a man whose dreams can change reality and a scientist who takes advantage of this ability for his own gain. Per all of Le Guin’s work — well written, engaging, no pat happy ending.
Finally, this month’s nonfiction book: Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit. I bought this at a bookstore in Bath, England a couple years ago and I don't remember why. However, it is an interesting read about George Orwell’s life and politics, the history and economics of roses, oppressive governments, and what is worth fighting for ("bread and roses," the necessities and the delights in life). Sometimes it’s a bit too rambly and there are a lot of historical figures mentioned that I lost track of, but otherwise it’s a decent read about topics I didn’t previously know much about.
WATCHING
Have you ever watched a movie at exactly the right time of your life? A movie that named something previously unspoken or illuminated a train of thought? Because that was how I felt watching The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier, Norway/France/Sweden/Denmark, 2021). The film follows a woman named Julie as she goes through life and relationships, trying to figure out who she is and what she wants. It sounds like every messy millennial movie — a genre I normally abhor — but something about this one felt more grounded.
During the triple digit heat of July 4th weekend, I retreated to my coworker’s basement theater room and re-watched Galaxy Quest (Dean Perisot, USA, 1999), The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer, UK/Poland/USA, 2024), and Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen, USA, 1952). All great in wildly different ways, all films I would rewatch again. Sometimes I’m hesitant to visit old favorites because they might not hold up, but I needn’t have worried with those three, nor with The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, USA, 2001), which I watched later in the month. The ramshackle house, the iconic costumes, the quirky characters, the unhinged plot — it all still works.
After finishing the novel, I watched the film version of The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese, USA, 1993). It’s a remarkably faithful adaptation, though after spending so long reading the book, I felt rushed by the movie’s runtime. I appreciated the character of Ellen Olenska more after seeing it; Michelle Pfeiffer plays her with a charming openness that’s difficult to dislike.
I’ve had Bullhead (Michaël R. Roskam, Belgium/Netherlands, 2011) on my watchlist ever since loving Matthias Schoenaerts in Far from the Madding Crowd. Here, Schoenaerts plays a cattle farmer named Jacky who is involved in the underground “hormone mafia,” and things go south after Jacky is framed for a cop’s murder. A sad, dark watch.
Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, USA, 1959) was made for Sunday afternoon viewing. The bulk of the film takes place in the courtroom, with James Stewart playing a lawyer defending an accused murderer. The audience knows the truth the whole time, so the fun is in watching Stewart concoct arguments and diversions on the fly to get his client free.
I haven’t watched a Marvel movie in years and was initially going to skip Deadpool & Wolverine (Shawn Levy, USA, 2024). But sometimes, it’s fun to be part of the opening weekend rush. The movie is exactly what I expected — a weak storyline, meta humor that’s only sometimes as funny as it thinks it is, gratuitous cameos, and a lot of in-jokes for the Chronically Online Marvel fans. And yet, I enjoyed myself immensely. Two and a half hours of pure silliness, surrounded by a hundred laughing strangers? There are worse ways to spend an afternoon.
Most of the TV I watched this month was disappointing. I slogged through six episode of the new season of The Bear and had to stop. It feels like a caricature of itself — the characters yell at each other because yelling is part of the show! Drama because drama! I had more success with the fourth season of The Boys, though I similarly felt like the storyline was a rehash of past seasons. I watched Endeavour season three in half-hour snippets across the month, and found it not as good as the first two seasons.
My family has been at me for years to watch Longmire, with the disclaimer that “it’s not as good as Justified but I still think you’ll like it.” And yeah, it’s not as good as Justified. But sometimes a simple Western cop show with a gruff old man sheriff is all you want. I watched the first season while taking a few sick days at the end of the month.
Unquestionably, the best TV I watched this month — and the best thing I watched overall — was the second season of Fargo. It has everything you could want — an accident that sets off an uncontrollable chain of events, Minnesotan accents, black comedy, a turf war, dimensional characters, aliens(?!), and 1970s fashion and music. Starts slow but quickly picks up to be the best thing I’ve seen in a long time. I savored every episode.