Things I Loved in April and Looking Ahead
Monthly Digest | April 2024
Hello and welcome to Notes from the Town Hermit. My name is Tiffany, and I write personal essays crafted to give you a unique perspective connecting abstract ideas to real life.
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Dear Inklings,
I began this month with an ugly bout of two illnesses at the same time, which was as fun as it sounds. That’s what happens when you decide to push through sickness with the I’ll-rest-when-I’m-dead philosophy and your body makes the unhappy decision for you. Or I have the worst luck in the world, either one, or both.
In this post, I share seven things I enjoyed this month—a shift from reviewing everything I’ve consumed—including a reread of one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read, a case for “quiet novels,” and the best heated blanket.
Below the paywall, I talk about my decision to leave my job to homeschool our children, plus an update on the anthology I wrote with my oldest child, Ren, and exciting news for NOTES FROM THE TOWN HERMIT.
Important Note: May is a difficult time for my family and me. It’s both what would have been Ren’s 21st birthday and his 3rd death anniversary. I’ve already scheduled all posts for the month ahead of time, but will otherwise be much less active than usual and completely off-grid for half the month. Monday Discussions will be on pause until the end of the month. Thank you for understanding.
Table of Contents
In Case You Missed It…
For Everyone
Seven Things I Liked
Switching up the reviews section to share seven things that brought me joy during the month (* indicates a reread/rewatch), though if you prefer the old format where I review everything in 1-2 sentences, vote in the poll below.
🎧 Quiet, compelling, and wildly popular novels (What Should I Read Next podcast). I’m a lover of slow, “quiet” books—the ones most people complain are too boring, the character-driven stories where plot is merely a vehicle to show the depth of the humans. I’m glad there’s still a market for these books.
💻 Susanna Clarke: Breaking the Rules (Erica Verrillo, 2021). An exploration of how Susanna Clarke doesn’t bother grounding the reader in her novel, Piranesi, and how this works for her. I love this book, and I think Susanna Clarke is a literary genius, so I appreciated this article.
📺 A Murder at the End of the World (Brit Marling & Zal Batmanglij, 2023). So fucking good. A tightly-constructed murder mystery psychological thriller with oh-so-human characters and deep emotional core.
📖 On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (Ocean Vuong, 2019)*. This is one of those books where the prose makes me stare at the page after certain phrases and mouth the words so I can sear them into my mind. I want to study those sentences and words and understand how he crafted them to make my heart twinge the way it did when I read this.
💻 The Ransom of Miss Coraline Connelly (Alix Harrow, 2020). I am on a mission to binge-read everything Alix Harrow has ever written, and was delighted to come across this adorable gem of a short story. It further convinces me what a master storyteller she is.
🛒 Cosiest heated throw blanket. According to my husband, I have a blanket-buying problem, and admittedly it’s not like it gets very cold over here in Southern California, so why? Even so, I have a love affair with throw blankets, and my latest one is this electric heated blanket from Target that I’ve taken to carrying around with me to every room, and no, I don’t care that it’s 70 degrees out.
🎧 Facing Fears in Writing and Life with Rachael Herron (The Creative Penn Podcast for Writers). As a risk-averse type of person, I related so much to this interview, especially as Rachael talked about highlighting and honing in on the parts of your work that make you the most uncomfortable, since as she says, that usually tells you where you need to go.
wrote a post about this recently as well. Dig deeper, be uncomfortable, be too much; that’s when you know you’re starting to do it right. talks about this a lot in her challenges, and I’m learning to put this into practice in my own writing, terrifying as it is.
Articles I enjoyed this week—
Beautiful essays:
- who reflects on blue as a colour of safety and escape, sips her imperfections in the mornings, while basks in the magic of imperfection.
- remembers loved ones during Passover, writes about grief and finding community, and gets through grief with gratitude.
In literature:
- wrote about the hope of resurrection drawing on Tolkien’s example versus George R.R. Martin. discusses Gollum and the fragmentation of the self and Tolkien’s homosocial relationships contrasted with his treatment of women.
- says we owe what we gained from Shakespeare to his peers.
On Substack & writing:
- gives advice on how to find places to submit your work and asks people to stop bashing the publishing industry.
- doesn’t always enjoy writing, invites you to unsubscribe, and reflects on finding his voice after six months on Substack.