🫖 Hi, biscuit! This is tsundoku, my recommendation column for paid subscribers. The title of the series comes from the delightfully specific Japanese word for a stack of reading materials that you never get around to reading. This time around, we have a book, a film, an article and a few life suggestions. You can upgrade your subscription to read the whole thing, or enjoy a cheeky free preview. 🫖
✍️ Making a list of Unlikely Things
For the past few months, I’ve kept a list in my notes app titled “Unlikely Things.” It is a repository of the small wonders and oddities of life. Some good, some less good, the common thread is that something about their occurrence feels unlikely, and therefore special. I keep this collection for an occasional chuckle or to shake my head and say, huh. Sometimes these little half-stories make their way into my writing, but mostly they exist just for my personal amusement. Yes, despite vouching for keeping the occasional damn thing to myself, I will offer a few examples to get you started:
In an elevator: a pregnant woman scrolling through Spotify. I look the titles of her playlists. “Labor Playlist HYPE,” “Labor Playlist UPBEAT,” “Womb sounds,”
A man sits across from me outside, spits, burps loudly, spits again then starts smoking a joint.
Jogging past a man on Ave B who cheers me on, saying, If you want to be the best, KEEP IT UP! Lol.