Happy Tuesday, friends. Glad to be back with you today.
A few weeks ago, I recommended Christina Dotson's debut novel Love You to Death as one of my most anticipated reads of the summer—and it absolutely delivered.
Love You to Death follows Kayla and her best friend Zorie, two peas in a pod who do everything together, including landing in jail after an act of vandalism at Kayla's dad's wedding got them arrested. Determined to turn over a new leaf after their release, they start working as housekeepers at a local hotel. But when money gets tight, the duo begins crashing local weddings to steal money and gifts they can pawn. What starts as petty theft escalates when one wedding turns deadly, sending them on the run in a journey that's pure Thelma and Louise.
I devoured this book in both print and audio—couldn't put it down. Christina crafted such compelling, flawed characters that I knew I had to talk to her about the book.
I'm so excited to share my interview with Christina, where we dive into her writing routine, the concept behind the book, who she’d cast in the Film adaptation and how Bravo TV inspired some of the characters. Watch the full interview below, or you can listen to it above. You can also listen to it on Spotify and PocketCast.
A few other things this week:
Sometimes the best discoveries happen when you least expect them. I went into Friday’s new music releases with minimal expectations. I knew that both Kaytranada and Mahalia were releasing new projects, but Juicy J releasing a jazz album was not on my radar at all. His new album, Caught Up in This Illusion with Endea Owens became my Saturday soundtrack, and was the perfect companion for reading on the couch. With Hurricane Erin (yes, my namesake) in full bloom this week, I imagine that I’ll be spending more time indoors listening to this album.
I did like the Kaytranda album on a first listen, but sadly, wasn’t feeling Mahalia’s EP Luvergirl as much as I thought I would, but I will circle back after my tenth listen.
On the book front, there are quite a few books out today that I am looking forward to reading, but first, I want to recommend Kaila Yu’s book Festishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty which is out today. I read this book a few weeks ago and left with a lot of notes, thoughts and questions for the book. It’s kind of a memoir, in the form of essays, and research and I thought it was really good. I know also from reading this book, the conversations that will come from those after reading it, will be very interesting. Here is the synopsis:
A “raw and lyrical” (New York Times) memoir-in-essays from former pinup model and lead singer of Nylon Pink Kaila Yu, reckoning with being an object of Asian fetish and how media, pop culture, and colonialism contributed to the oversexualization of Asian women.
Candid and intimate, Fetishized is a personal journey of self-love and healing. It’s both a searing indictment of the violence of objectification and a tender exploration of the broken relationship so many of us have with beauty, desire, and our own bodies.
A few other reads also, on my radar (some came out last week) are:
Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama by Alexis Okeowo
Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything: A Memoir by Alyson Stoner
And a few links to check out this week:
Soulection Radio # 697 is a perfect mix of Neo-Soul and Soulful House music.
My constant internal libra battle between Spotify and Apple Music.
Sports podcasts are the only ones I can get through these days, and I loved these: Kelsey Plum on Sue Bird’s podcast, Michelle Obama + Craig Robinson on All The Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, and Dawn Staley on Michelle & Craig’s IMO podcast.
I must also say, as a native Californian, Gavin Newsom, who I often refer to as “Gavy Boo” in my text chains is making me proud. Also, my Governor Wes Moore. No links, just sharing.
That’s all for this week!
