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From July 14, 2025:

Reading: I’m loving Francesca Wade’s Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife and I highly recommend five books I read in the last month: A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle, by Julian Jackson; Stolen Fragments: Black Markets, Bad Faith, and the Illicit Trade in Ancient Artifacts, by Roberta Mazza; Evenings and Weekends, by Oisín McKenna; The Light of Day, by Christopher Stephens and Louise Radnofsky; and Zofia Nowak’s Book of Superior Detecting, by Piotr Cieplak

Podcasting: I sat in for Steve Metcalf on the July 8 Slate Culture Gabfest, talking about indie movie Sorry, Baby, the HBO/Max documentary Dear Ms., and Marc Tracy’s New York Times piece about the plight of straight, white, male literary novelists. I also made an appearance on Episode 3 of the great new podcast Queering the District

From June 12, 2025:

Naming Conventions: I was called “an icon and an elder” in the writeup for the “Queer Women/Queer Spaces” event at Lighthouse on June 4, which served as a double paperback launch for Jane Cholmeley’s lovely A Bookshop of One’s Own and my A Place of One’s Own! As always, Lighthouse made a recording of the event available on YouTube.

Reading: It’s apparently the month of re-reading. So far in June, I’ve read four books, one for the second time, and one for the third! A Bookshop of One’s Own, by Jane Cholmeley is the inspiring, infuriating story of the travails of running a feminist bookstore, specifically London’s Silver Moon (1984-2001); I loved it. Mean Moms, by Emma Rosenblum is a fabulous summer read set in an exclusive private school in downtown Manhattan. Very dishy, but restrained in the best possible way. The first re-read was Parisian Lives, by Deirdre Bair, in which she takes readers behind-the-scenes of the writing of her biographies of Samuel Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir. So clear and controlled and absolutely gripping. (Having read this “making of” twice, it’s definitely time to read one of her biographies!) I also re-read Rubyfruit Jungle, by Rita Mae Brown to prepare for the Queer Fiction Reading Group at Topping in Edinburgh. The response—including my own!—was so interesting and unexpected. This was also my first ever reading group! I loved it and signed up for the next two meetings!

Podcasting: I sat in for Steve Metcalf on the Slate Culture Gabfest, talking about indie movie Sorry, Baby, the HBO/Max documentary Dear Ms., and Marc Tracy’s New York Times piece about the plight of straight, white, male literary novelists.

Stationery: Stationery-wise, I’m either in a rut, or I’ve found my ideal tool set. I’ve been using Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks (B7-ish and A6-ish), Uni One P gel pens, Spoke Design Axle S, Kaweco Sport (after a run of mediocre nibs, I finally got one a great one—thank goodness I kept trying), and Schon Dsgn fountain pens. None of this stuff is particularly showy, but it’s working.

Tech Toys: A couple of months ago, after hearing Matt Gemmell talk about the Supernote Nomad on an episode of the Mac Power Users podcast, and then watching a bunch of his YouTube videos, I ordered one of these e-ink devices, and I love it. Highly recommended.

Browsing: August is just around the corner, so I’ve been browsing the catalogs of the Edinburgh International, Edinburgh Fringe, and Edinburgh Book Festivals.

Slate: It’s June, which means two things, Pride and Supreme Court decisions. Slate’s Outward podcast is great every month of the year, but especially this one, and between the Amicus podcast and the Jurisprudence department, Slate will answer your legal questions.