art – Julie Wrote a Book

Saturday Distractions

One of my favorite artists, Austin Kleon, wrote this earlier this week: I love meeting my readers, but I am so aware that the person who writes the books that they read is the best version of me — the most hopeful, the most helpful version of me. In my day-to-day life, I am as confused, and stupid, and pessimistic as anybody. I’ve stayed offline lately because I’m having a hard time even finding my best version of myself during a national humanitarian crisis, and my rage won't help anything. But this blog is mostly about books and recipes and cocktails, and it all…

The Shape of Water

There were two women about my age sitting next to me in the movie theater. They smelled like wine, and they were loud and bawdy through the whole movie. I wanted to snap at them You are not in your living room! Please kindly STFU. But I didn’t say anything because God knows I love a tipsy night out with my mains. They giggled like mad at the naked bathtub scenes, they debated the anatomy of the fish-man (“Do you think he even has a dick?”), they were not shy about scoffing and loudly protesting what they thought was weird…

Celebrity Deaths

At Denise's New Year's Eve party, we debated whether it really was a rough year for celebrity deaths, or if it was just our imagination. Maybe the collective noise of everyone complaining about celebrity deaths made it seem like there were way more than there actually were. My husband, as usual, was able to supply us with actual facts, and as it turned out, the numbers of notable deaths really was higher last year than in previous years. What I think is bizarre is how they slip from our minds so quickly. Going over the end of year compilations I…

Bittersweet Romance

this book Last week I was a little dismissive of this book, because it has a boring title. I stick by my criticism of the title but it doesn't matter. It is seriously one of my favorite reads of the year. It jumps between two stories: one love story just before World War II, and another one during the 60s. It’s got Nazis, Jews, glamour, a harrowing escape, a family that looks suspiciously like the Kennedys, buckets of champagne, and WOW is it ever fantastic. Highly, highly recommended. There are two other books about the Schuyler daughters, this is the last…