Show & Tell: Lolita, Chappell, and Love Is Blind
Unstacked Digest for the week of February 10-16
This is Grown-Up Show & Tell where I tell you some things I loved from the week and the one thing I hated, plus round up everything else going on around these parts. The first half of Show & Tell is free to all. The adoration and hateration are for paid subscribers only.
I feel like I have been battling the biggest baddest most brutal reading slump of my life. I can hardly read a thing. More than halfway through the month, I have read a total of three books in February1. I have also DNF’d at least three more. It is not good over here. As you’ll see instead of reading I wasted a lot of time doing something else this week. I regret nothing2.
This Week in The Stacks
Kendrick Lamar won the Super Bowl.
The brilliant and devastatingly wonderful Eve L. Ewing came on the show to discuss her latest book Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American.
I couldn’t get enough of that Kendrick halftime show, so I forced friend of the pod, David Dennis Jr. to come and talk to me about it for this month’s bonus episode. We also dropped it a week early so you’d still be into whatever we had to say.
Books I Read This Week
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
I finished The Stacks February book club pick, Lolita, and I have a lot of thoughts. Most of which I will save for the episode that drops on Wednesday February 26th with
For those who don’t know this book is the story of Humbert Humbert and his sexual obsession and abuse of a twelve year old girl, Dolores Hayes (aka Lolita). I think there is a lot of skill that goes into this book on the part of Nabokov. The way he tricks the reader into rooting for a monster, as unreliable as he is, is a wild thing to experience as a reader. Especially one who feels like they should know better3. I did find parts of the book ,toward the back half, to really drag. I get why people love Lolita, I also get why people like it. I think any adult male who makes it their personality has some explaining to do.
Fave of the week!
Housekeeping
You can catch me on NPR’s “Here and Now” sharing the books about relationships that I think you should read4.
I was a guest on “Edit Your Life” talking about reading habits and hacks.
Things I Love…
Book News
If you’re reading Lolita with us this month (or even if you’re not reading it) you should check out this “Lolita Podcast” from Jamie Loftus5. The book is a deep dive6 into all things Lolita, from the book to the movies, to the Lana Del Rey of it all. There are ten episodes, and I gave up at around episode seven, but the first four (or so) really added to my thinking around the book and the dissonance that exists between what I actually read and what the idea of a Lolita means in the culture. A lot of what she covers in the show I expect
and I will discuss on the book club episode later this month.Pop Culture
Love is Blind is back and I already watched all six of the episodes they dropped on Friday7. This season takes place in Minneapolis and the nice nasty is out on full display. There is so much I want to talk about, but also I don’t want to spoil anything so I am just going to say this season is weird as hell8 and you should watch it so we can talk about it.
Here are just a few (spoiler free) thoughts and observations for you, because I can’t help myself.
This isn’t a spoiler but a prediction…this season is going to be thin as hell, because they don’t leave the pods for their little romantic trip until episode seven. That is not a good sign for the quality of content they have post lovers getaway.
All of these men look exactly the same and after watching a full six episodes I still can not tell you what their names are. Dave? Daniel? Michael? Aaron? Alex? I have no clue.
When one lady asked her dude about how he would feel about her sister being gay he basically said, I’m cool with that community some of my best friends are “that way”. So yeah, he sucks. Also I won’t spoil his response to her asking him about BLM but, it is not good.
There is a love square this season and I love that for us.
One chick talked about aliens, ant tunnels, and Joe Rogan IN THE SAME STORY. Talk about walking red flag.
A lot of these men have the same name as these women’s dads and apparently the women “love” it because they love their dads. No one finds this strange (but me, I guess).
There is a guy who is really into Christmas and it gives me the creeps (but, maybe I’m the asshole here).
There is a love triangle with two very unlikable people and a third person who is also pretty unlikable, but somehow they are all irritating to me in very different ways, which shows that representation matters.
Ok, I am done for now. I have a feeling I will be back to rant about these people, because no matter how boring and annoying they are, I will be watching. If you want LIB content, two friends of the pod, David Dennis Jr and Mina Kimes do a recap show that is so good. It is called “Love Is Kimes”.
Politics
Should I just move this whole section as a bonus thing I hate? I have nothing for you here, again.
I would like to take this space to just say that trans people exist and they are not only a part of American history, they have and continue to shape the story of this country. Taking the Q and T out of LGBTQ on the Stonewall plaque (or anywhere else) to try and divide the queer community or otherize trans people is so depraved. It is not okay. I hate it. Deeply.
I wanted to make sure I said this to all of you above the paywall in case anyone here didn’t know what we do around these parts.
If you in any way feel like it is okay to erase, ignore, attack, or otherwise harm our trans siblings, you can see yourself the fuck out.
Also, now is a good time to remind you about the Trans Rights Readathon coming up at the end of March.
Oh, and before I end this rant, fuck Trump, RFK Jr., Elon, and all those nasty ass hoes. They are losers, and I know they all have bad breath. You can tell it is hot and funky just by looking at them. All that money and you can’t even get some gum. Sad.