Best Reads of April 2023
what worms loved in April
Hey Fertilisers,
Here's what we enjoyed reading the most in March 🔎
Worms x
CAITLIN
How meaningful relationships (with yourself and others) can offer a way to reimagine how we live, the hopeful idea that together we can come up with new solutions to take care of each other while the structures we currently rely on constantly fail us.
Not a book sorry! On Wednesday night I went to Radical Intimacy, a talk at the ICA hosted by Amelia Abraham and with author Sophie K. Rosa. Radical Intimacy is also the title of Sophie’s book which *disclaimer* I haven’t actually read yet. Sophie began the talk defining her use of the word ‘radical,’ signifying a politics that is grounded in transformation and that is wholeheartedly anti-capitalist. Her book explores how meaningful relationships (with yourself and others) can offer a way to reimagine how we live, the hopeful idea that together we can come up with new solutions to take care of each other while the structures we currently rely on constantly fail us. But it also charts the ways in which the conditions of our lives under capitalism make this incredibly difficult; the ways that the current structure of our society not only prioritises certain forms of intimacy, but makes it difficult to live outside these permits. The state defines what a ‘family’ or a ‘relationship’ looks like and that determines the way we can access the most basic utilities, such as housing. Living with friends, being in a queer relationship, having multiple partners, co-parenting, being alone, are all states of being that if not prohibited, are at least restricted or made incredibly difficult. On top of this the constant drive to be productive, to optimise, to succeed leaves us exhausted, feeling unable to nurture intimate friendships – capitalism disorders our priorities – love is scarce under capitalism. Ultimately though, the talk was optimistic and if anything it was just so affirming to hear these conversations that I so often find myself having with friends, in a room full of strangers. Looking forward to reading the book.
ARCADIA
Getting Lost by Annie Ernaux
I started reading the published diaries of Ernaux´s incendiary, all consuming affair that is captured in her seminal book, Simple Passion this month. In contrast to the former, Getting Lost is a detailed descent into madness, that traces the day to day minutiae of her obsession with the younger Russian diplomat. I'm finding it equally hilarious as I am worrying. She has such a disregard for correctness - as fits a novel about absolutely losing your mind over getting laid - and writes side-splittingly of the lack of depth in their relationship: “He calls from a public phone, which isn’t working. Now I know because of the time of day that it’s him. He can’t come until next week. The words are always the same, ‘You’re well?’ - ‘Yes and you?’ - ‘I’m fine,’ etc.” She is so candid about how hot she finds the complete lack of intellectual exchange between them, and in my eyes represents this complete physical exchange in a successfully titillating way. My friend Maeve has been advocating for 2023 being “the year of the bimbo” meaning she wishes we all thought less about what happens in our lives and we intellectualised things less, and I feel Ernaux has a lot of bimbo energy in Getting Lost, but don’t believe me listen to her, “Naturally there’s very little thinking, or more precisely, thought goes no further than the present: flesh and the Other.¨
She opens up the dialogue about the impact of transitory lovers on your life, how a physical attachment can be as fertile as a profound companionship.
Her erotic descriptions are savage and sincere. What I find so empowering of this book is her transcendental approach to a fling, an affair that she openly admits is “an erotic diversion in my life” and nothing more. She opens up the dialogue about the impact of transitory lovers on your life, how a physical attachment can be as fertile as a profound companionship. I’m halfway done with it now and I’ve had reports that it gets repetitive and grating, but I’m microdosing the book, crumbs from a muffin, so as to not satiate the appetite.
