I’m ready to forget about June the moment it ends. Between the crazy heatwave and the busy schedules, I feel like I haven’t done anything productive this month. It just felt like work, home, survive and repeat. Making a promise to myself to do more starting next week. I’m blaming everything on the weather.
Hit 10k subscribers last week, which feels quite literally insane. Thank you so much for being here. I feel so grateful for my little corner on here! More on this coming later this week (hopefully).
Here is a moodboard for my June.
And here is everything I enjoyed this month.
books
Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos: I think this might be my first epistolary novel! The letter format took some getting used to at first, but I think it was a really impactful narrating choice. It starts off very slow, but it pays off greatly by the end. It gets particularly interesting when towards the end of the book we learn about the two main characters’ lives, and their motivations. I had to keep reminding myself that this book came out in the 1700s, because while the language and the societal conditions show it, I think the themes and the core ideas of the novel itself are very relevant today. I found it to be unexpectedly and subtly feminist. The one letter from The Marquise where she explains the reasoning behind her actions, how everything she does is viewed through her womanhood, and how she has taken it upon herself to ‘avenger her sex’ was by far one of the best thing I’ve ever read.
“When I came out into society I was 15. I already knew then that the role I was condemned to, namely to keep quiet and do what I was told, gave me the perfect opportunity to listen and observe. Not to what people told me, which naturally was of no interest to me, but to whatever it was they were trying to hide. I practiced detachment. I learned how to look cheerful while under the table I stuck a fork onto the back of my hand. I became a virtuoso of deceit. I consulted the strictest moralists to learn how to appear, philosophers to find out what to think, and novelist to see what I could get away with, and in the end it all came down to one wonderfully simple principle: win or die.”
You know when you’re reading a classic, and it’s very slow and hard to get into, and then that one part comes and you’re like, okay I get it now. This chapter was that part.
films
Vertigo (1958): I had been meaning to watch this for years, and I can’t believe I never got around to it before. I don’t know what I can say about this that hasn’t been said before. James Stewart is so unexpectedly charming. I obviously love Hithcock’s style and I want to watch more of his films that I haven’t soon!
Disclosure Day (2026): I have mixed feelings about this. The script is obviously not that good and very questionable, but I somehow really enjoyed watching it while it lasted. I think it was so optimistic that in the moment it feels so fun and enjoyable, but after it’s over you realize it doesn’t really make sense. Also the alien design was so goofy it took me out of it a bit. Nonetheless I appreciate a good Spielberg and this was an okay Spielberg so I’ll take it!
Voicemails for Isabelle (2026): I love Zoey Deutch for all she’s done for the rom-com universe. She is so fun and so charismatic as a lead and this film had me sobbing into my dinner 5 minutes into it. It’s everything I wanted from it!
Toy Story 5 (2026): This was actually much better than I expected. I think the ‘technology is bad’ parts were tasteful and not too much. It’s not super original and kind of moves around the same plots as the previous ones, but it’s heartfelt enough to keep you engaged. I wish more emphasis was put on the role of the parents but other than that actually really enjoyed it!
for next month…
So many films coming out next month, which I hope will take me out of this rut! Can’t wait to see The Odyssey, Supergirl, the new Spider Man, Eruption, The Death of Robin Hood, and I Want Your Sex. And still haven’t seen Obsession and Backrooms which I will!
Currently reading Waking the Moon, it’s great but I have been in a reading slump as of lately so I want to choose my next read more carefully.
see you next month!
love, asli
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.