I’m a big lover of art, and am constantly consuming media — whether it’s movies, books, or concerts so I thought I’d put together some of my favorite things I’ve watched and read lately. Since it’s the end of the year… I actually read 35 books this year (thank you Libby), saw 33 movies (thank you AMC A-List!), and went to 40 concerts. Phew! Let’s just say I like to be entertained.

FYI If you sign up for a library card at your local library you can get eBooks and audiobooks for free on Libby. It’s a huge help, or you can easily buy books used on apps like Pango Books, eBay, Thrift Books, or Amazon used books.

What I Watched

• Nosferatu: Horror is one of my favorite genres, and this one did not dissapoint. Everything is absolutely stunning — the cinematography, the costumes, the set. And the acting is superb. Bill Skarsgård is literally unrecognizable as Count Orlock, and actually kind of terrifying. 10/10.
• A Complete Unknown: I wasn’t sure what to expect with this movie, but it was actually such an interesting story about Bob Dylans origin. I liked how it wasn’t just about Bob Dylan, and incorporated lots of other musicians stories into it as well like Johnny Cash and Pete Seeger. After a while it was really crazy how at the beginning of the movie it felt like “that’s Timothée Chalamet” and then over time he really transformed into Bob Dylan and looked just like him.
• Nightbitch: So this was a movie based on a book that came out a few years ago and I only got about 1/3 of the way through before giving up on it, so I had no idea what to expect from this movie. I ended up loving it because it was so bold and edgy on how women are treated as mothers. It really puts a spotlight on how women have to sacrifice their life goals and ambitions just to ensure the well being of her kids.
• Queer: I’m a big Luca Guadagnino fan so I couldn’t miss this movie. It’s beautifully shot, and. based on the semi-autobiographical novella by William S. Burroughs. It follows an American expatriate wandering around Mexico City in the 1950’s, being addicted to drugs and alcohol, falling in love, and a crazy ayahuasca trip. It ended up being so surrealist and trippy, and full of metaphors to unpack and analyze. This is one where it had so much to think about that I can’t wait for it to stream and rewatch it to really unpack everything that happened. Also Jason Schwartzman really stole the show even though he was only in the movie for a few minutes. Oh, and the soundtrack is amazing.

What I Read

• The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop: If you’re a Gilmore Girls fan this one is a must. I loved learning about Kelly Bishop’s life, and she is such a boss. It’s not super heavy on the Gilmore Girls lore but definitely worth the read. I actually listened to the audio version which was narrated by here and amazing. Her views and thoughts are inspiring, and she is a true icon with an incredible story. What a woman.
• Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly: This novel follows siblings –a brother and sister– in New Zealand and goes back and forth between their perspectives. It follows their struggles follows as they navigate queerness, multiracial (M?ori-Russian-Catalonian) identity, and the dramas of their big extended family as they try to find themselves and their happiness. This is one of those no plot, just vibes kind of books. This one was okay for me, I enjoyed it but got a little bored at times.
• I’m Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself by Glynnis MacNicol: This is one of the rare non-fiction books I’ve read this year and I really loved it. It follows her life during the early days of the pandemic in Paris and is really a story that celebrates the simple things in life like friendships, good food, and pleasure. I loved it and would totally read it again. It kinda of feels like a modern A Moveable Feast to me. Just a little love letter to Paris.
• The Most by Jessica Anthony: This is one of the shortest books I’ve read this year. It’s about a 1950s American housewife who goes for a swim in her apartment complex’s swimming pool one morning and won’t come out. The whole book takes place in about a day and is about a marriage at its breakpoint. I didn’t love this one as much as I expected to, but it was a super quick read.
• My Husband by Maud Ventura: In this story a French wife is obsessed with her husband to an insane degree. It’s actually so funny how crazy she gets, and makes this novel suspenseful and darkly funny. She basically spends her life obsessing over her husband and is desperate to be a perfect wife for him. It was surprisingly entertaining, and the ending has a fun twist that made me laugh.

That’s everything for December! It was actually a packed month as far as books go. I really wanted to hit that Goodreads goal, hah! Have any books you love? Drop them in the comments or DM me on Instagram.

xx Erika

The post What I Watched & Read in December appeared first on Erika Carlock Blog.

I just finished reading the book Stray by Stephanie Danler, and loved it so much that I breezed right through it. I adored her first novel Sweetbitter, and her second book is a memoir about growing up in a family shattered by addiction. It was so painfully honest and raw that I couldn’t put it down. I don’t come across many stories that put such truth and feelings out there for everyone to see. Something about it feels so raw to read about her childhood trauma, and how it shapes her future relationships. I think most of us can relate to this struggle, and the attempt to find life beyond the limits of how you grew up.

The contrast of her traumas against the backdrop of places I’ve spent most of my own life — Long Beach, Los Angeles, and central California — namely, was so heavy yet beautiful at the same time. It captures southern California in such intimate detail, alongside the very dark struggle of addiction and growing up in a dysfunctional family. Through flashbacks and her reflection she shows the deep scars addiction has on children and the trauma it carries into adulthood.

Each chapter is titled after a location and, like the title, Stray showcases how growing up in an unstable household can make you never quite feel at home — always a stray wandering from one place to another. The unsettling feeling of belonging to nowhere and having nothing concrete. As her parents age she comes back to California to face the difficult past she’d left behind: a disabled alcoholic mother, further handicapped by a brain aneurysm and a meth addict father who abandoned her as a child. The story moving, devastating and beautifully written. It looks at the pain from damage and the survival it forces, and asks the question is it possible to change the course of your family history?

It’s hypnotically heart-breaking and examines what we inherit, what we can get through, and what we have to face to move past what we came from to become who we want to be. Her story will rip you to shreds. One of my top reads of the year.

Shop Stray >>

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If you haven’t been living under a rock the past few years you’ve probably been recommended the book Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, or at least heard of it. And for good reason! This book was so intriguing that I finished it in just a few days, and I was literally sad when it finished because I wanted to keep reading. Now that’s the sign of a good book!

The story is about a young girl, Kya, with a really tough life who lives out in a marsh. She’s completed socially isolated from a young age after her entire family leaves her one by one. Surviving entirely on her own, and aided by a Black neighbor, she learns to cook and hunt in order to survive. She is shunned by most of her neighbors and must go above and beyond to survive and have basic essentials. When a murder occurs, she becomes the first suspect in a town that has ostracized her. It’s a beautiful story about being connected to nature, how much kindness goes a long way, and how sorrow can define a person.

Shop the book here >>

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Hello hello, I’m so excited to kick off my monthly book club! Quarantine has really got me back into reading, so I’m going to be reading a book each month, and sharing all the deets and my thoughts on them in this new column. The other month I shared a list of book recommendations some of you sent in on Instagram here, and I’ll be rolling through a different book each month. I’d love for you to join me in reading some so that we can chat about them!

Kicking off the first month is a book that I fell in love with right off the bat: The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman. If you’ve ever seen the movie Practical Magic (a favorite of mine!) this book is actually supposed to be a prequel to the novel that movie was based on. It’s such an interesting, heartbreaking story that I fell for right away. And if you’re worried about it being all about magic and witches, don’t skip over on this one. It’s such a wonderful world with rich characters, dreamy locations and major heartbreaks.

So what’s this story about? Hundreds of years after being charged with witchery in Massachusetts the Owens family has a centuries long curse of love. We find the Owens three children living in New York in the sixties–a strange time for these very odd, misunderstood children: Jet, Franny and Vincent. Though they don’t know what yet, they know something is different about them. Their mother places inexplicable rules on them: no walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love.They can’t escape the curse of love and the pain it brings them. The two sisters grow up to be those two eccentric aunts in Practical Magic, which is a fun way to learn the backstory of them.

The story is an enchanting reflection of the times in the 1960s, and it’s full of magical imagery that you can feel and smell. Wildflowers, herbs, and patchouli. It even takes you to the flower-filled Summer of Love festival, and the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967–three days of music, love, and peace with The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Otis Redding. It’s a story of family, self-discovery, finding your identity, embracing your fears, love, loss, and, of course, magic.

The siblings are so affecting and fascinating I honestly could have read a book about each of them. The mix of real magic, heartbreak, and the 60’s era made this so captivating. The magical realism and utter whimsy made me devour this story SO quickly. Page after page the writing is gorgeous, it’s full of wisdom, and reminds you of the everyday magic in our lives. I started missing these characters before I even finished the book.

Have you read the book? Comment below with your thoughts! xoxo Erika

Looking for book recommendations? Check this list here.

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Since we’re all stuck indoors for the foreseeable future I’m catching up on my reading. I recently asked you guys for your book recommendations on Instagram and I got SO many amazing recommendations. Including all of those, and a few of my favorites I’ve read in the past below! I have been using the Libby app through my local library to get free eBooks and Audiobooks on my phone and I highly recommend it if you’re looking to read some books for free. Tell me what you’ve read recently in the comments!

Books to Read

Fiction

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo

Sex and Rage by Eve Babitz

She Must Be Mad by Charly Cox

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins

The Dead Wife by Sue Fortin

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward

Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Non-fiction

The Upside of Being Down by Jen Gotch

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

The Chronology of Water: A Memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch

Open Book by Jessica Simpson

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

Untamed by Glennon Doyle Melton

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

What are you reading right now?? Let me know if the comments! xoxo Erika

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