Digest, 6/4/2023: Dearly Beloved

the ninety-second digest post

This Week’s Posts

Monday, May 29th - Goodbye to “Goodbye to All That”

We’re saying goodbye to New York, and I reserve the right to treat it as a decision like any other.

Wednesday, May 31st - Politics, Not Apology, or What My New Book is Actually About

Friday, May 2nd - A Housing Abundance Movement Can Help Save America’s Wild Spaces

YIMBYs are annoying so let’s do our own pro-housing thing.

Also the Beloved book club started!

From the Archives

My piece “Inequality University” in Jacobin from 2017.

Song of the Week

Non-Garbage Online Reading

You’ve likely already read this New York Times review of the new Hannah Gadsby-Pablo Picasso exhibit, but if you haven’t you should.

Book Recommendation

The Legend of Huma, Richard A. Knaak, 1988

Fantasy aficionados often treat the Dragonlance books with condescension, and speaking as someone who consumed a metric ton of these as an adolescent… they’re not entirely out of line. At its worst, this series really is low-effort high-volume D&D cliche dreck. But I think the original Chronicles trilogy has a certain verve to it, and the unapologetic soap opera approach fits surprisingly well with Tolkien-derived high fantasy. This book is not so much a prequel as a precursor to those stories, a fairly conventional “unlikely hero” tale that’s pulled off with style and which benefits a great deal from standing as one of the legends of a great past era - it’s an easy and effective way to achieve a more sweeping effect. Kaz the Minotaur is a highlight. Also love the gold dragon callback.

Comment of the Week

I shall expect recipe strands here, imminently. Now there will be no excuse to order in. - Mike Hind

See you tomorrow.