Casual Consumption No. 5

A photo posted by Carina Santos (@presidents) on Sep 9, 2014 at 6:08pm PDT

Books

According to my GoodReads account (let’s be friends!), I have finished quite a few books since I last a Casual Consumption update posted weeks (months?) ago. Most notable was John Williams’ Stoner, a book that has been recommended to me enough times that I decided to finally pick it up when I ran across it at the NYPL bookstore. I don’t like this cover… but that doesn’t matter because the novel is wonderful. To explain it would risk creating an impression that it’s dull, when it’s the absolute opposite.

I also finally finished Sophia Amoruso’s very widely-lauded #GIRLBOSS, which to be honest was more “meh” than anything. Like I told my friend, it just felt like having a conversation with a friend that goes on for far too long. This is honestly very lackluster.

I finished two audiobooks: the BBC adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (which is, in book form, perhaps my favorite Gaiman novel of all) and Veronica Roth’s Divergent. On Neverwhere, I don’t love it, and I think the book is way better and James McAvoy’s Richard Mayhew made me dislike Richard a lot. On Divergent, sorry, but I don’t hate it?

I’m currently in the middle of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, because of course, and Peter Mendelsund’s What We See When We Read, which is all kinds of amazing (so far, but this is unlikely going to change, because I am a biased P.O.S.).

Music

I was able to catch a few shows on vacay, namely: Beach Fossils (Chicago), Tweedy (SFO), The Drums and Beverly (SFO), and Thurston Moore and Sebadoh (SFO), but lately, all I’ve been listening to are variations of pop (via the US radio) and The Drums.

I’ve been thinking of making mixes more, though. I think I process music in a way that I like more when I do.

Film

I caught two films in the States: Gone Girl and 20,000 Days on Earth. Both are great in different ways, but me taking notes in my journal while watching 20,000 Days can probably tell you just how much I liked that one. 20,000 Days is about Nick Cave (and his own 20,000 days) and it is beautiful. We saw it at an old theatre-turned non-profit and it was just so nice that there was a place dedicated to showing films that don’t have a lot of distribution.

Other Things I Have Consumed

I watched a hit play! My sister and I caught The Book of Mormon and had a grand time. It cost an arm and a leg, but I really, really liked it.

As for food… I’ve been really loving everything bagels, cream cheese on any type of bread-food, sushi, french fries, and Things Doused in Truffle Oil. Gordon Ramsay would die at my plebeian taste buds, but I can’t say that I hate truffle oil, nosiree.

I haven’t been regularly watching television, because I had no idea when things are actually on and when I do, I have somewhere else to be, but I did enjoy binging on Shark Tank! If that counts?

OK, y’all. I think that might be it? I’m running behind on both errands and posts and my work stuff, so fingers crossed that I’ll get to do all of them in a timely fashion, and that I’m not being a delusional wishful thinker.

What have you been enjoying lately?

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