Summer Selections
June came and went and here we are mid-way through July! I had the great fortune to attend the Nantucket Book Festival and the Nantucket Film Festival. Both were incredible and if you ever have the chance to go, you should! The author events are free, and the films are reasonably priced. Here are some of my picks from the festivals — and from just life:
Book Recs:
The Author Weekend by Laura Zigman
I have loved Laura Zigman's writing since I read Animal Husbandry. Her latest is a wickedly funny publishing satire — think The Devil Wears Prada meets The White Lotus, meets Agatha Christie. Bestselling mystery novelist Faye Wader throws her first-ever fan retreat on an island off the New England coast, complete with artisanal doughnuts and a menopause meditation session. But things go drastically awry when her publishing nemesis shows up, her biggest fan uncovers a damaging secret about Faye’s past, and several of the guests turn up dead. Told from four different points of view, including Faye's long-suffering assistant, her agent, and her editor, this is a great one for anyone who's ever wondered what really goes on behind the scenes in the world of book publishing.
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
Elizabeth Strout leaves behind the Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge universe to introduce us to a new cast of equally compelling characters. Artie Dam is living a double life. He spends his days as a high school teacher, his nights with his wife of thirty years, and his weekends sailing on the Massachusetts Bay. On the outside, he’s the kind of steady, decent man nobody worries about. But on the inside, he’s drowning in loneliness. When he learns a family secret that’s been hiding in plain sight for years it threatens to upend his entire word. I loved this book, and in my opinion, Strout writes the ache of being almost-known better than almost anyone.
The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love, edited by Alice Hoffman
Fourteen bestselling authors, including Elizabeth Strout, Laura Zigman, Jodi Picoult, Amy Tan, and Emily Henry, each write a personal essay about a dog who shaped their life. Some are funny, some are silly, and more than a few will absolutely wreck you if you've ever had to say goodbye to a pet. Read it in small doses, with tissues nearby and your own dog within petting distance. This also makes a great gift!
Series Recs:
Beef, Season Two
New cast. New conflict. When a young engaged couple who work at an exclusive country club witness a brutal fight between their boss and his wife, they decide to use what they saw to curry favors, coerce promotions, and settle scores. Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan are just so good! While Season One’s beef was overt and aggressive, Season Two is more slow-burning -- and the result, in some ways, is even more unsettling.
Off Campus
If you want something light, a little smutty, and easy to binge, Off Campus, based on Elle Kennedy’s bestselling book series, is it. Hannah is a hockey-averse music major with a crush she can’t quite land, and Garrett is a womanizing star hockey center who’s in danger of flunking one of his classes. They strike a deal: Hannah tutors Garrett to help him bring his grades up, and in exchange, Garrett coaches her on how to get her crush’s attention. Naturally, spending all that time together fake-strategizing turns into real feelings, and the “no strings” arrangement gets a lot more complicated from there. Steamy, soapy fun. I’m already looking forward to the next season.
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed
If you’re looking for something edgier, this is for you. Tatiana Maslany plays a newly divorced fact-checker and mom, mid-custody-battle, who starts paying for video chats with a charming young cam performer to vent about her life, until he’s kidnapped on camera and turns up dead. What follows is a genuinely strange and funny thriller that’s twisty without taking itself too seriously.
Documentary Rec:
The Crash
This documentary explores the case of a teenager who drove her car into a brick wall at high speed, killing her boyfriend and their friend, and the investigation that followed as a tragic accident started to look like something far more deliberate. It leans on courtroom footage, prison interviews, and the driver’s own social media trail to build its case, and it left me thinking about it for days afterward. Hard to watch, but also hard to turn away from.
Knife
Directed by Alex Gibney, Knife revisits the 2022 attack that nearly killed Salman Rushdie, told largely through footage his wife, the artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths, began filming just days after he was stabbed onstage in upstate New York. It doesn’t shy away from the aftermath, Rushdie’s injuries, and the recovery, but it’s ultimately less a crime story than a portrait of a marriage and a mind that refused to be silenced. Rushdie narrates his own history too, from the decades under threat after he published The Satanic Verses to the moment he finally returned to the stage where he was attacked.
Podcast Rec:
Betrayal
A true-crime podcast built around a simple, unsettling question: how well do you really know the person you love? Each season follows someone whose partner turned out to be living a secret, often criminal, double life, told with real tenderness toward the person left to pick up the pieces. I am only on season two, so there are many more seasons to binge.
Wildcard Rec:
Ponyflo Hat
Okay, I'll admit I saw this innovative item on Instagram and purchased it ASAP! A baseball cap with a wide opening in the back so a high ponytail or bun can actually pull through instead of getting smushed flat. I've worn mine constantly since I got it — for runs, dog walks, and tennis! Genius!
That’s all for now! In the meantime, send me summer recs and book therapy questions!
Sincerely,
Greer
Thanks for reading Greer’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.