Call Me By Her Name
I am a raisined husk of a human.
I spent the last few days Arizona — we were there for the funeral of a beloved family member — and this is hitting your inbox as I head to the airport, ready for home.
It has been a heavy trip. Also incredibly hot. I am not built for that kind of desert heat. By the end of the day I feel as if I have sweat out the entire water content of my body. I am a raisined husk of a human.
For the wake following the service, approximately 300 pounds of BBQ was delivered. Brisket and pork and cornbread and beans studded with even more pork. Delicious, but on the third day I woke up needing a vegetable (coleslaw doesn’t count).
I absolutely love grocery shopping when I’m traveling. I love to see what other stores carry, what other goodies I can find. I loaded my cart with bell peppers and hummus and cucumbers and cottage cheese. Excellent-looking peaches. A ripe hunk of watermelon. A lime and mint Spindrift that we don't get at home.
I’m not cooking — as is my wont when I’m stressed — but I am making the girls plates of food and taking care of myself. Please pass the veggies.
How beautiful is this crocheted top from J. Crew? I love how they styled it with those navy drawstring pants.
Look at this chunky beauty!! Would look so good against bare skin this summer and then paired with all of your fall sweaters.
I have these shoes in red and they are my absolute favorites. Now I’m eyeing them in this fun bedazzled jelly version.
Over the past few days, there’s been barely a vegetable in sight (unless you count a side of coleslaw). I was so happy to have these Alkalize sachets with me — filled with seven nutrient-dense greens — to counter all of the brisket and cornbread.
This might be revealing a little too much, but for a stretch of time this spring my eyelids were swollen and painful (styes??), so I started washing my face in the mornings with CAP Beauty’s supremely gentle and lovely Blue Soothing Cleanser followed by a spritz of their Serotoner. Problem solved.
Thank goodness Season 2 of Rivals is here — so raunchy, so much drama. Small town England in the 80s so you get big hair, all of the outfits and a slew of gorgeous people behaving badly. It is an absolute ride.
I am so in love with this hurricane lamp — would be so dreamy on an outdoor table.
Nymph by Sofia Montrone
I was in need of a palate cleanser after the intensity of last week's read, and Nymph was exactly that. Languorous and sun-drenched and exactly what I crave over slow summer days. The back jacket promises Call Me By Your Name meets Elena Ferrante, which was all I needed to know.
I half listened (Libro.FM!!), half read it and it was an absolute escape. I started heading to bed early just to return to Nonna Tina's agriturismo in northern Italy. I wanted to make fresh bread and sip peach nectar and take long swims in the pool at sunset. I wanted to be young again, discovering pleasure for the first time.
Nymph opens when Leo is ten years old — a summer at the hotel where she tidies rooms, plays games in the garden, and listens to her father spin tales about Odysseus. There is a tragic before and after, though I found it added a welcome meatiness without heaviness.
Because in the after, Leo is a teenager who meets Dolores: an American with a big silver ear cuff and a shaved head and a violin case in her spartan room. Lust ignites immediately. Each word is heady and ripe and I loved the entire world Montrone created.
In the pool, Leo is a “great, gelatinous eel.”
Leo takes one of Dolores’s cigarettes out of the trash can, still wet with her lip balm. “Leo wants to eat it, ash and all. To feel the paper turn to pulp between her teeth. She feels feral and shivery.”
And then this line — perfection: “It takes many years, a lifetime, to leave the place where you are from.”
Everything that Ciao Lucia makes is begging for an Italian summer, but especially this sweet top and matching pants in a bright tomato red.
This Etsy necklace made it onto another Novel Pairing, but I can’t remember which one. Clearly, it’s a winner. I could see Leo adding charms to it, something to remember Dolores by.
To be honest, I don’t fully understand ear cuffs — or maybe my ears aren’t the right shape — but Dolores wears a silver ear cuff and this beauty is by one of my favorite jewelry brands. It also happens to be 50% off.
A striped short little number for quick trips to the local bar and hot nights in the olive grove.
Espadrilles that Leo would stamp down the backs of, slipping them on as she makes her way back to the kitchen in the mornings before anyone realizes she was gone.
There is a lot of World Cup happening in the background. Would show my support in this excellent t-shirt. Forza!
Jessie Randall writes one of my favorite newsletters and, obviously, she has excellent style. She wore this gingham Zara skirt all around Italy — I immediately bought one and think it would be perfect on Leo’s mom for swishing around the property.
These fabulous pasta bowls made in Siena would look perfect around Nona Tina’s table.
Leo wears a utilitarian one piece in the pool and this Missoni-esque one feels exactly right.
Hope you’re reading something good 💚
Coleslaw doesn't count," may be the wisest thing I've read all week. There's an old-school brand of self-care that absolutely begins with a grocery cart full of produce and a faint hope that hydration and bell peppers can solve existential crises. Thinking of you. ❤️
Not a book comment, but I absolutely loved the second season of Rivals!! Watched the whole thing in a few days!