The Maris Review, vol 9

In which I propose a "fashion brands pay to advertise in literary publications" challenge

What I read this week

Heroines by Kate Zambreno, introduction by Jamie Hood

I recently read and loved Suzanne Scanlon’s Committed, a memoir that reclaimed and celebrated the idea of “mad women.” Reading Committed reminded me of how much I adored Kate Zambreno’s writing in her memoir-combined-with-literary-criticism, Heroines, originally published in 2012, in which she details how the patriarchy (with a special eye toward the great modernist authors) has exploited and pathologized unruly women (Zelda, Viv, Virginia, etc). That, combined with my sometimes overwhelming nostalgia for Tumblr, led me to Semiotext(e)’s recent reissue. In her new introduction, Jamie Hood, a divine writer in her own right, nails the particular excitement of discovering Zambreno’s early writing:

It’s easy to forget now: the internet used to work for writers, and before everything was paywalled, sedimented, and streamlined, there was a kind of radical, ephemeral endlessness there, so much to sift through, to talk of, to get in comment wars over.

Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones: A Memoir by Priyanka Mattoo

Priyanka Mattoo is the same age as me but she is also who I want to be when I grow up. She’s got that magnetic combination of being a really savvy reader and business person but also a genuine nerd with a real appreciation for art. Her debut memoir is full of super sweet moments and funny anecdotes; it feels like sitting down with a bottle of wine and letting your most interesting friend tell you stories all night.

Ambition Monster by Jennifer Romolini

So I finally caught up on my former Radcliffe Publishing Course classmate’s memoir, and as I figured, it hit so close to home that I had to stop myself from repeatedly banging my head against a wall. Jenn captures something I’m still trying hard to deal with: many of us thought that hard work alone would save us. We were the generation that was taught to go above and beyond, to make yourself indispensable, to anticipate what your boss wants before they have to say it. So much energy thrown at corporate life, so few boundaries, fewer rewards.

Jenn has a perfect, sad, infuriating paragraph about what publishing and media used to be: fucked up and dysfunctional but in a less dire way. Why don’t I share it with you so we can all cry?

A note on the hottest genre of the moment

A short rant on fashion

Oh look, it’s another article about how fashion brands like books, the accessory of choice for signaling quality and intellectualism. It seems like every starlet has a book club, and every designer wants to curate a collection of literature that fits in with their mood boards. My favorite line from this piece: “There’s an air of luxury around the act of reading: it takes time to get through a book.” Luxury! Brands selling clothing I will never be able to afford think books are a luxury!

Here’s my challenge to brands: if you’re interested in literary culture and the proliferation of good books, why don’t you use some of your vast advertising budgets to book media? One ad from you in a literary magazine, or in a books sections of a magazine or website where coverage has likely been scaled back over the past few years, or on Bookshop.org, could do more for the health of book culture than “Thom Browne closing New York Fashion Week to Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven.”

New releases, 6/18/24

Big one today, so let’s go in two chunks.

The Myth of Making It: A Workplace Reckoning by Samhita Mukhopadhyay

Now that I’ve finished Ambition Monster, I’m ready for Samhita’s take on the hollowness of hustle culture. There’s really something in the air; my book that’s partially about how my professional ambition has burnt out gets published next summer.

Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi

Akwaeke Emezi has been prolific across multiple genres and has been known to be spicy on Twitter, which I think means they’re in the running to be our next Joyce Carol Oates. Excited to read the new novel.

Four Squares by Bobby Finger

What can’t Bobby do? When I first met him more than a decade ago, he was an active reader who was very online and very good at karaoke. Since then he has remained good at karaoke, has a hit podcast that makes caring about celebrity gossip feel fun again, and he happens to write really soulful fiction.

Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones: A Memoir by Priyanka Mattoo

See above!

Desperately Seeking Something by Susan Seidelman

I recently went with my friend Rachel to a screening of Susan Seidelman’s 1987 comedy Making Mr. Right at Metrograph and had so much fun. John Malkovich actually made a hunky leading man, who knew? I can’t wait to read Seidelman’s memoir of about her filmmaking career, but here’s Rachel’s piece on Seidelman to whet your appetite.

1974: A Personal History by Francine Prose

I haven’t yet cracked 1974, but Reading Like a Writer is an all-time favorite of mine. Can’t wait to read more Prose nonfiction…

Well, This Is Me by Asher Perlman

The Memo by Rachel Dodes and Lauren Mechling

I am fully prepared for this to be the beach read of the summer.

God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer by Joseph Earl Thomas

We Alive, Beloved: Poems by Frederick Joseph

End of Active Service by Matt Young

Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership by Brea Baker

Parade by Rachel Cusk

I’ve not heard many good things, but still. Even lesser Rachel Cusk is better than most.

One Week To Change the World: An Oral History of the 1999 WTO Protests by DW Gibson

A Little Bonus Content For Paying Subscribers