Helloooooooo! Everything is terrible!!!!!!! HAPPY PI DAY.
Things are finally starting to feel like spring here in Chicago, which is a welcome change. Earlier this week, I heard so much exuberant chirping that I found myself wondering whether the birds were exalting over Daylight Saving Time. Then I remembered, BIRDS DON’T USE CLOCKS, and they’re probably just happy about the increase in sunlight. Birds are free from capitalist constructs like DST! WHAT A DREAM.
Aaanyway, here are some things I’ve been enjoying these days, which you might like too!
I love Raddle, a word game that sort of feels like a mini-crossword. Like Wordle, there’s one puzzle a day, and it’s a nice little brain game. I have tried to get a couple friends into it to no avail, so if you’re a fan, holler at me in the #random channel of the GRETAGRAM discord server!!! (You can join the server if you hate word games, too -- all are welcome.)
I’m not sure I ENJOYED Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, but I’m not mad I read it! The premise -- a murderous governess (a murderess governess?) was probably my favorite part, but horror really isn’t my genre. For those of you who dig gore, you will love this one!
I first watched the Shrinking pilot right when I came out, and I thought it was a mess. But a friend recently told me to try it again, and I’m so glad I did. This show is so earnest and heartfelt and funny and kind, and it’s exactly what I needed to help smooth out my brain the last couple of weeks. There are 2 seasons on Apple TV+.
I liked this mushroom pasta from Smitten Kitchen!
This Outside article from the wonderful Blair Braverman about a Dachshund that likes to mush is PURE DELIGHT.
Book club updates!
This month, we’re reading Leyna Krow’s wonnnderful short story collection Sinkhole, and Other Inexplicable Voids. We’re meeting two weeks from this Sunday, which means you definitely still have time to cruise through this one! We’ll meet on Zoom on Sunday, March 30 at noon Central Time. Email me at greta m johnsen at gmail dot com for a link!
And in April, let’s read The Antidote by Karen Russell!
Also!
I have a galley of Nnedi Okorafor’s phenomenal novel Death of the Author to give away!!! I’ll do the drawing this coming Monday, and any paid GRETAGRAM subscriber who upgrades before then will be in on the drawing.
As probably know, I like to give a book to a paid subscriber now and then as my way of saying thank you to folks who help pay for my work. This is an alternative to having paywalls, which I think would be a huge bummer. So that’s all to say, if you like this newsletter and are able to support it, that would be real nice of you! You might even get a book out of it! Thanks to all 340 of you who are paid subscribers! I appreciate you!!!!!!!
Talk to y’all next week,
P.S. Do you like this email?! Spread the delight and forward it to a friend! (Or spam an enemy, lol!)
Just picked up my copy of the new Karen Russell yesterday! I’m a huge fan of her short stories and have long filled that’s where she really shines. Swamplandia didn’t really work for me but that might be because of the roots being in an excellent story that I felt was already perfect. It’s not like it wasn’t good though. I’m really excited to see what she can do in novel form from scratch.
If you weren’t already aware, Raddle was created by local Chicago puzzle designer Sandy Weisz!