Welcome welcome! How are we this week?
My partner went on a week-long work trip and has come back with a nasty sickness. The sounds they make in the middle of the night as they’re hacking up something in their body is truly the stuff of nightmares.
And, considering that all the menthol cough drops have been sold out everywhere, I’m going to assume it’s going around. Be well out there everyone!
I made them some homemade chicken noodle soup, using some store bought rotisserie, and it was so freakin’ good. I used this recipe.
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In more positive award news, Vashti Harrison became the first Black woman to win the Caldecott Medal!
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Hunger Games fans! An illustrated edition is set to be released this year. Thanks to Heather S. for sending this one in!
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This link was sent in by JuHi: “She Wrote a Best Seller on Women’s Sex Lives. Then Her Own Fell Apart.”
What timing as Emily Nagoski is our guest for this week’s podcast episode, which is out 600th!
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Stephanie sent in this YouTube video. They say:
I have spent an unusual amount of time thinking about the lighting of scenes in historicals. Particularly how characters can always see someone’s eyes “flash” when there’s only one lit candle in the room! This video describing lighting and candles in 17th and 18th century England cleared a lot up for me. Now I just need a rebel character who illegally made their own candles!
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Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
I literally did a happy dance when I saw Emily Nagoski is going to be on the podcast this week!,
Re: menthol cough drops shortage – there is a herbal tea called Throat Coat that really works. Mint tea is nice too.
@Rachel, same!
I read the article and I really liked the quote that “pleasure is the measure” and I think this lack of ability to value pleasure in and of itself is something we really struggle with in society in a way that ties back into romance novels, really.
I think adults (and maybe especially adult women) struggle with giving themselves time and permission to feel pleasure and *define* pleasure for themselves, whether it be sex, or a bowl of ice cream, or romance novels.
@Stephanie: Thank you for the lighting video and for setting right the idea of seeing another’s eyes (or eye color or *anything*) across a dimly-lit room. I never thought about it and, harking back to the Netfix Bridgerton series as an example, or any historical work, that would have been a metric ton of candles or oil or whatever for every fancy ball. Can’t even imagine trying to dine or read at night with a single candle. And forget being outside or walking down the stairs. Well, I’m riveted now.
Speaking of women’s pleasure, the Outside magazine podcast posted a great interview with E. Jean Carroll regarding a feature she did for them about having sex outdoors. The transcript is available if you don’t want to/can’t listen. Love her so much.
https://www.outsideonline.com/podcast/e-jean-carroll-conversation/
@Stephanie I think I read a romance in which someone is searching for …hidden treasure? Ugh my memory is Swiss cheese – it might be an inheritance, it could be about uncovering a crime, but there’s some plot point in which the dead wealthy person had nevertheless illicitly made their own candles and it’s probably a good thing I can’t remember anything else, like the name of the book, because it might be a spoiler. But! I am reasonably certain the romance novel you want is out there.
@Rachel, me too! I was just thinking about her previous podcasts and how good they were. Very enlightening and empowering!
REALLY GOOD think piece at Reactor (formerly Tor.com) today: https://reactormag.com/why-are-we-talking-about-books-like-this/
I think we can all relate
@kkw @stephanie there’s a recent KJ Charles novella where one MC’s father is notoriously cheap and made his own tallow candles – A Thief in the Night.
@omphale – Thanks! I will check it out.