Current Recs: May 2024
*Personally curated, unaffiliated, positive reviews only. If I didn't enjoy it, I won't recommend it!*
TV & Movies
📺 Hacks: I am thrilled that Hacks is back while frustrated that I can’t binge Season 3 all at once. If you’re new to the show, go back to Season 1 to catch up on the story of Deborah Vance, comedy legend and sparkly Las Vegas stalwart, and her approach to work, relationships, and life. It is a true delight to watch an incredibly flawed, wildly talented, and deeply idiosyncratic woman figuring out how to reinvent her career and do better as a person, in her 70s. At the heart of the show is the complicated relationship between Deborah and Ava, a young writer who works for Deborah, as they both struggle to define and manage their conflicting feelings about each other. I’m in pre-mourning for the end of this season: it’s the rare TV show that delivers deep emotional truths and belly laughs.
🎞️ The Idea Of You: this fun, steamy romance reminded me of the best romcoms of the 90s and 2000s with an aspirational premise (absolutely gorgeous 40-something woman falls for 20-something mega-famous pop star), delicious scenery (Coachella! the South of France!) and a hard-won happy ending. Based on a bestselling book, this is a great movie for solo or group girls’ nights…
🎞️ Challengers: Zendaya stars as a tennis prodigy turned elite coach at the center of a love triangle with two male players. While it’s billed as an erotic psychological thriller, there’s more action on the tennis court than in bedrooms, and I enjoyed it for exactly what it was: beautifully filmed entertainment (Zendaya glows!) without any real depth.
📺 Baby Reindeer: I hesitated to recommend this limited series, which is based on a true story, due to the many difficult themes involved, including stalking, sexual abuse, and generational trauma. I ultimately decided to include it, because these issues are handled with nuance and empathy, which is an extraordinary achievement. Like Fleabag, this series grew out of a one-man show by writer and actor, Richard Gadd, who plays the lead role in this TV version. I watched the entire thing with the sense that while the unfolding disaster was incredibly hard to witness, I felt pinned to my sofa, transfixed, desperate to know how it all would end.
📺 Sugar: Colin Farrell stars as a troubled private detective with a heart of gold, a penchant for classic black and white films, and a mysterious background, who’s been hired to find the missing granddaughter of a famous movie director. He’s joined by Amy Ryan playing a friend of the missing girl with secrets of her own. Reviews have been mixed – and I understand there is a shocking twist toward the end of this limited series (episodes are released weekly) – but I am enjoying this show for its stylish homage to old Hollywood and the sense of mystery. Watch it and let me know what you think!
📺 Girls5Eva: I am a late arrival to the ridiculously silly low-stakes delight that is Girls5Eva, a sitcom-style series about a Spice-Girls-inspired girl band who reunite decades later to chase their dreams of pop music success. Starring musical theater heavyweights, Sara Bareilles and Rene-Elise Goldsberry, along with Busy Philipps and Paula Pell, the whole cast seems to be having a great time, and I love the flashbacks to the band’s “original” 90s songs and performances. One of my favorite parts of the show is the terrible but catchy theme song (there’s a music video!) that I can’t help but sing along to at the beginning of every episode, “cos forever’s too short.” I’ve been inspired to listen to 90s pop classics when I’m making dinner in the evening, and in an oddly satisfying way, the show makes me feel like it’s never too late to follow your creative dreams!
Books & Articles
📖 Funny Story: Emily Henry’s latest romance novel is set during summertime in a lakeside Michigan town, where our heroine, Daphne, is unceremoniously dumped by her fiancee who belatedly discovers he’s in love with his longtime female best friend. Homeless, friendless, and pining for her mother, Daphne readies herself to leave town and start over, while finding herself attracted to her ex-fiance’s new fiancee’s ex-fiance. Yes, you read that right. I always love Henry’s clever writing and in this book, I particularly enjoyed the delicious summer romance vibes and the heartwarming emphasis on the importance of friendships.
📰 Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever by Gary Shteyngart: satirist Gary Shteyngart spent a week on the world’s largest cruise ship, so that the rest of us can read about it from the comfort of home. I laughed out loud several times as Gary, who describes himself as “old and tired, having seen much of the world as a former travel journalist,” experiences cruise ship land. He attempts to make friends with the denizens, samples the food and drink, and learns how to attain privileged status, while mostly wearing a t-shirt that proclaims him as “Daddy’s Little Meatball.”
📖 Listen for the Lie: I read this novel based on the glowing recommendation of What To Read If and it did not disappoint - I devoured it in two days. The book follows a fictional true-crime podcast investigating Lucy, a young woman who was never charged with the murder of her best friend but is considered guilty by everyone in her small Texas town. One of the fun things about this book is that none of the characters are perfect - from Lucy, the suspected killer, and Savvy, the victim, to Ben, the podcast host and Lucy’s “supportive” parents, author Amy Tintera portrays believably real people dealing with mixed emotions and conflicting motives.
Podcasts & Playlists
🎧 So Into That with Caro Chambers: I was fascinated by
’ interview with Robinne Lee, the author of The Idea of You novel, which the movie starring Anne Hathaway is based on. Lee details her background as a writer (she’s also an actress), how Duran Duran provided inspiration for the novel, how the book rose to bestseller status, and her mixed feelings about the movie adaptation. One thing Lee loves: the music created for the fictional boy band, August Moon. Inspired, I created a new playlist, which is heavy on my boy-band-era favorites, including Robbie Williams (plus the Spice Girls for balance) and a couple of August Moon songs, too. I’m listening to it as I write!🎧 Wiser than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus: Julia Gets Wise with Ina Garten: I have listened twice to this podcast interview with 76-year-old cook and author Ina Garten, who is delightfully down to earth and honest about everything from her difficult childhood and decision not to have children, to what she really has for dinner!
🎧 Say More with Dr? Sheila: Amy Poehler is joined by talented friends, including Tina Fey, to send up the extremely popular genre of wellness and self-help podcasts. In each episode, the self-proclaimed therapist (she’s not a doctor) “counsels” couples and individuals on her podcast, which includes a ridiculous theme song, and strategically placed asides during which Dr? Sheila breaks down her “psychological theories” to the audience. Every episode is a gem, and two of my favorites are Analysis Paralysis, where Dr? Sheila needs an emergency session with her own therapist, who in turn needs an emergency session with her therapist; and Chris Chatman, a canceled podcaster in search of a female audience.
Tennis-Themed! 🎾
Late To The Ball: by New Yorker and New York Times journalist, Gerald Marzorati, this memoir details his attempt - aged 60 - to become a seriously good tennis player. As a reader you vicariously experience, and can draw inspiration from, the difficulties, frustrations, and triumphs of his quest.
Open: Andre Agassi's excellent memoir about growing up as a tennis star and his difficult and ambivalent feelings about everything from his childhood, marriage to Brooke Shields, and life beyond center court.
String Theory: David Foster Wallace’s collected essays on tennis, a game he played competitively as a junior, including his 2006 homage to the beauty and grace of an all-time-great, Roger Federer as Religious Experience.
Winning Ugly: Brad Gilbert’s indispensable guide to making the most of your game while exploiting your opponent’s weaknesses draws on lessons learned from his professional career. I’ve read this book so many times - and listened to Gilbert’s commentary at professional tournaments - I often hear his voice when I’m playing, telling me not to skip his “microwave warm-up” and making sure I pay attention to the all-important “point before the point.” Fun facts: Gilbert is currently Coco Gauff’s trainer and taught Zendaya to play tennis for her role in Challengers.
The Inner Game of Tennis: famously one of Bill Gates’ favorite books, the Inner Game is ostensibly about achieving peak athletic performance, but author W. Timothy Gallwey’s advice and techniques for quieting your inner critic and achieving relaxed concentration apply to every aspect of life.
Apples Never Fall: Liane Moriarty’s thriller/family saga featuring the Delaney’s, stalwarts of their community who have just retired as owners of a successful tennis club and coaching program. What happened to Joy Delaney, and did her husband Stan - or one of her four children - have something to do with it?