The Crush Letter No 176: Fall Reading List, More Amusing Texts w/Friends, More Things I’m Crushing On
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Hello Crush,
Last week‘s entry in Songs That Make You Wanna F*ck was from Joe, who wrote that it was a tribute to his wife: “My wife. Always my wife. She is my world. We’re 35 years and going. I adore her,” he wrote. He also wrote this:
“Can you ask your readers about their favorite briefs and/or boxers? I’m looking for an upgrade and I wonder if there are ay good suggestions, particularly if I get them online. Super Soft, please! Cotton (or cottony feel).”
And so, for Joe (and anyone else) interested in the softest cottony briefs or boxers out there. If you have a favorite, will you please help a poor guy out? Thank you, CRUSH Readers. You’re the best.
In This Letter. +Actual Text Exchange with a Girlfriend: The Eyes of Tammy Faye “we need to do an intervention.” +Three Things I’m Crushing On: More Transition Dressing. by Dish Stanley These Are For A Trip! +What’s Next on Dish’s Nightstand in the PrimeCrush Bookshop. The fiction on Dish’s Fall reading list +dishing A happy rant on the ludicrousness of The Perfect Couple +Social Media I Loved This Week +Our Song of the Week Well, we’re gonna have a cook out
Actual Text Exchange with a Girlfriend: The Eyes of Tammy Faye By Dish
JILL: Hey Dish. Need your help.
Me: Sure. What’s up?
JILL: It’s Natalie.
Me: I just saw her.
JILL: Then you saw that we need to do an intervention.
Me: WHAT? For NATALIE? Can you talk now?
JILL: No, I’m in a full car. Jack’s driving +kids.
Me: What’s going on? Sounds serious.
JILL: It is. It’s her fake eyelashes. Somebody needs to tell her she looks like Tammy Faye on Adderall.
JILL: You’re good at this, Dish. You’re the one who told us about our mustaches. Remember?
Continue reading here
In this series, readers like you share recommendations for the things they love the most, right at this moment. (PrimeCrush doesn’t earn any commissions off these links!)
Three Things I’m Crushing On: More Transition Dressing. These Are For A Trip! by Dish Stanley
I am spending most of October in Europe on a trip that will incorporate eating, drinking and shopping in the South of France with one set of friends, followed by a hike with girlfriends on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. As CRUSH Readers know, I don’t check luggage. So I have to get a lot out of what I’m packing. As I plan, I’m starting with these core pieces.
Yeah, I know that everybody already knows about Rothy’s. But I just wanted to make the point that this particular color is perfect for the transitional summer-to-fall period. It will look so good with my new Julia Amory Betty Dress in Noir, and I this style has the additional comfort insole, which will be great for walking. These work with primary colorway for the trip, black/tan, and will be both comfortable and versatile (for pants and dresses).
Continue reading here
Fall Fiction: What’s on Dish’s Nightstand
(Pssst, you can get them in the PrimeCrush Bookshop)
These are the fiction books I’ve already bought, or pre-ordered, for my Fall and Winter reading. I’m so excited about this reading list. Next week, I’ll share some historical fiction picks, and after that the nonfiction reads I’ve lined up. (We earn a nominal fee for purchases from the PrimeCrush Bookshop, which we are very grateful to you for, as it is currently our only source of income. Thank you for purchasing through our bookshop!)
Fiction
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
A Maine reunion with beloved characters Lucy Barton and Olive Kittredge from Pulitzer Prize-winning Strout. Yes!
Olive Days by Jessica Elisheva Emerson
Orthodox Jewish woman, clandestine atheist, wife swapping, passionate affair. Is this not a brilliant set-up to contrast our twin pulls toward obligation and desire?
The Women Behind the Door by Roddy Doyle
Give me a nuanced, complicated Mother-Daughter story written by a Booker Prize winner and I’m sold.
Don’t Be a Stranger by Susan Minot
Always hungry for well-written stories about women going through a midlife erotic obsession. Vicarious thrill, anyone?
I will read anything the great Rooney writes, including this one about family, grief and love.
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Weddings are always a good backdrop for a funny, insightful consideration of the paths we’ve taken, or haven’t, and the one we’re on.
An Iranian immigrant goes on a sojourn to discover a family secret and ends up in the Brooklyn Museum. A National Book Award Nominee.
What is on your fall reading list? I’d love to know. Write me at Dish@PrimeCrush.com.
dishing.
Things I thought you might want to know about, and some you probably don’t. Usually I write about a slew of things, but since I binged The Perfect Couple this week this is all I got.
The Perfect Couple is a lightweight confection as far as murder mysteries go. Obvious, patently farcical at times, with flat characters and unfathomable, nonsensical twists. It was perfect, unserious, laugh-out-loud fun. I could not stop watching it. In one scene, the most obnoxious of the many obnoxious rich people was carrying around a frosted wedding cake as if it weighed one pound — when everyone who has ever picked up a cake knows that they’re quite heavy. And I thought, “that’s an apt metaphor for the show!” All frosting, no cake. On the other hand, who doesn’t want the corner piece with all the frosting? Why not just do away with the cake? The Perfect Couple included every cliché about rich people doing every manner of obnoxious rich people shit we’ve already seen, on The White Lotus, only done better. The deplorable rich people are contrasted with a few non-rich people who have values and character, also a cliché.
So many things made me scratch my head. Am I the only one who thought there was something wrong with Nicole Kidman’s wig? And why was she dressed in silk blouses with bows and understated wool suits as if she were a private banker from the Upper East Side on her way to meet with her best client, a very serious Fortune 500 CEO, when in fact she wrote romance novels beachside in Nantucket, where all of the rich people wear mostly linen? But, to my mind, the bad wig and duck-out-of-water attire just added to the fun.
I will say this. The opening flash mob dance sequence alone was enough to keep me going back. It made no sense; a weird, joyous complete non sequitur that in no way reflected on any aspect of the storyline. Actress Eve Hewson explained that the director dropped it on the stars on the last day and the stars initially mutinied. “Why, they said, are we dancing? Is this a musical, or a murder mystery?” Some called their agents in protest. Until Liev Schreiber (god love him) said “I’m doing the dance!” and they all eventually sauntered in to join the line dance. (Schreiber, it should also be said, did the finest acting in the series and created the fullest, most believable character.) As these things sometimes go, the weirdness and joy of the dance was the best thing in the show. It didn’t fit in; it wasn’t believable; nobody danced “in character” — it was a raucous festival.
As soon as somebody (anybody) posts a video sharing the moves to this Meghan Trainor song I’m inviting my funnest friends over for Paloma’s to bust out the moves.
Snaps from the Today Show interview with Eve Henson
Everything about the show was ludicrously, scrumptiously, laughably ridiculous, and so very delicious. I had a sugar buzz throughout.
What did you think of The Perfect Couple? And if you found the choreography, please send it to me! Dish@PrimeCrush.com.
Social Media I Loved This Week
Song of the Week
Heartbreakers Beach Party (Live) by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
This week’s Song of the Week (and the next two week's) comes to us compliments of CRUSH Reader John Kirk, a guy with a lifelong passion for finding great versions of great songs and author of Building the Perfect Music Collection. Scroll down to read more about his wonderful, highly personal book. Thank you, John, for dropping by.
CRUSH Readers, take a listen to “Heartbreakers Beach Party (Live)" by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. It was originally a tossed off B-side of a 1983 single with a forgettable A-side. In 2022, a large compilation of live Petty recordings ("Live at the Fillmore") were published from a 12-day residency at Fillmore West (San Francisco) in 1997. The audience participation is outstanding, the band swings this largely improvised song wonderfully. It's a big favorite since the first time I heard it two years ago.
Thanks for being here! And don’t forget, Joe is looking for the softest, most cottony boxers. Can you help him out?
Dish
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The Crush Letter is a weekly newsletter from Dish Stanley curating articles & intelligence on everything love & connection - friendship, romance, self-love, sex. If you’d like to take a look at some of our best stories go to Read Us. Want the Dish?