10 Things: Romance, Tragedy, Comedy

All my recommendations for what to read, watch, think about, do, listen to, cook, consider, and buy this week.

I have 20 things worth of 10 things to write about today, but I have to start with 10. There’s a lot to recommend lately! Is it the October of it all? Maybe. The first three are free; seven more below the wall.

1. READ: Without Her by Rebecca Spiegel

   

   This is a gutting memoir about loss — it’s the story of how Rebecca’s sister killed herself, and the aftermath of that tragedy. It’s unflinching and deeply readable. There’s this thing about really good writing about death: it feels oddly but totally life-affirming. While the story is heartbreaking, its humanity is on every page, begging to be read, held, understood. This story will touch everyone who reads it.

2. WATCH: Nobody Wants This on Netflix

   Lindsay Pugh, my internet crush, came and visited me in real life person last weekend. This was dreamy (except for a hard part with a possum, which you don’t need to worry about), and we got to watch most of this television series together. Here is the text Lindsay sent me before she showed up (and yes, I need to update her contact photo, I see that.)

   

   We watched six episodes together, and it was a genuinely good time. I don’t really know how I feel about the general resurgence of the rom-com, but this one was cheeky and fun; a fluffy opportunity for most of these actors to be Los-Angeles-funny. There is truly almost nothing to it (Hallelujah); if you watch the trailer and think, “Yeah! I could get behind that!” then you’re right, and enjoy.

3. EAT: Pistachio pudding

   

   So, my daughter is obsessed with all things Halloween, and we checked out this book at the library about Halloween snacks. I thought that it would have like, Oreos dipped in white chocolate with ghost eyes or whatever; but she only wanted to make this HORRIBLE LOOKING THING called “Zuppa Di Zombie,” which is like, sponge cake, pistachio pudding, blue whipped cream, and Count Chocula!? Anyway, she wouldn’t let it go, so we went and got the ingredients and made it. As I was mixing the pudding, I learned that instant pistachio pudding is VEGAN!? I had no idea, and I have been following this kind of thing since I was 16, so how did I miss this!? You just have to add non-dairy milk (oat worked great!), and then you get to have this pudding! And I was sort of shocked at how much I liked it; I have largely avoided pudding thinking it was loaded with dairy and maybe some other weird animal product, so maybe I’ve always been more into pudding than I thought. But anyway, this is a cool food, it is $1, it is green. Why the hell not!?