September 2026 Nonpareils: The Witches of Cambridge, Justified, & Cold Brew
📚 Reading
Full Disclosure. I am a bookshop.org affiliate so anything you buy clicking these links means cold brew money in my pocket
The Witches of Cambridge by Alice Hoffman
Am I ever gonna read a book not about witches? Yeah, probably not considering the next on my TBR is The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith but I’m halfway through The Witches of Cambridge and so far, I love it.
This historical magical fiction takes place in 1950s Cambridge, Massachusetts (shut up, Toofer)
and centers around Ava and Lauren, two roommates who are inducted into the Lillith Society, a centuries-old coven at Radcliffe College.
Being a fan of the entire Practical Magic series, I’m really enjoying it and if you’re looking for a seasonal read, this is a great one to dive into. Also, I would 100% have been more inclined to join a sorority in college if it was actually a coven. Why was this option not available to me?
How To Have A Frank Sinatra Autumn - In No Particular Order (Substack)
I have rediscovered Substack and I am obsessed. How obsessed? Like, reading articles instead of going back to bed when I woke up at 2:00am obsessed and scrolling while on the bike at the gym while listening to Olivia Rodrigo obsessed.
This piece by Corinne Passarello is exactly what I love about the platform - writing for the joy of writing, to evoke a sense of intimacy by sharing a feeling and all of your favorite things. A “Frank Sinatra Autumn” is exactly what I love, but I didn’t have a name to give it. May we all drink Pinot, spend rainy afternoons in bookstores, eat French onion soup and watch The Godfather.
The Grub Street Diet’s 20th Anniversary (New York Magazine)
Grub Street Diet is my favorite New York Magazine feature and the reason I got a subscription. I am fascinated by how people eat and judge them on whether I would want to share a meal with them. This article basically turns 900 pieces into one huge day of eating, highlighting some of the best GSDs to date including:
Mayor Zohran Mamdani - “Oh my god, chevda. It’s an Indian snack, but there’s a specific style that’s East African, from the Indians who came over 200 years ago, which is my dad’s family. That chevda is different. I worship that chevda. Kenyan chevda, they’re the kings of this. I was born and raised in Uganda, in Kampala. In Uganda, there was one Kenyan brand we used to wait for, called One Stop. We’d buy it en masse whenever it came. But this stuff I get here is not bad.”
Tom Junod - “I am willing to bet that no one in the history of the Grub Street Diet eats quite as much fruit as I do. I eat probably a dozen pieces a day and distrust any diet that says you can’t. I believe it’s what we humans are supposed to eat, and so I ingest it with an almost religious conviction—as a taste of lost paradise. You go to a house without fruit and you get the same feeling you get in a house without books. You wonder: how do they live?”
Diablo Cody - “Those giant tubs of Archer Farms goodies are my downfall; I would probably eat dead wasps if you tossed them with chocolate chips and dehydrated papaya.”
Jia Tolentino - “My friend Luce texted, “I’m gonna [redacted obscene phrase about the spicy rigatoni].” At literally 9:30 a.m., Emma texted, “Everyone please remember to eat an early lunch so we can [redacted phrase about the rigatoni again].” Well, I almost always eat an early lunch, around 11, because it gives me another lunch opportunity at two, but on this day I skipped my 2 p.m. lunch in preparation for fucking that rigatoni in the ass.”
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
I love getting book recommendations from friends because to date, I have not received a bad one (except for all the loves of my life who love fantasy smut. Guys. I just…can’t. I don’t wanna hear about a fairy just going to town on a selkie or whatever, but if you have something about 70s-era carpenter Harrison Ford? Yeah. I’m all in for that).
This is an excellent book and one of the more challenging ones I’ve read this year. It’s a literary matryoshka which reminds me a little of Interview with a Vampire and tells the dark and deeply satisfying tale of justice against colonizers.
Reads With Rachel (Instagram)
Rachel Hannah started off making book review content online and now, she fights fiercely against book bans, censorship, those dipshits at Moms For Liberty and the Hillsborough and Brevard County school districts. It’s easy to look at Florida has some sort backwards backwoods precursor to Idiocracy but that does a massive disservice to the incredible people who live, work and raise children here and how we’re fighting tooth and nail against the bullshit. Rachel is one of those people. Give her a follow.
🎧 Listening To
Karaoke Bar - Angus & Julia Stone
Oh, it was all over for me the second I heard Chateau by Angus & Julia Stone. References to an iconic Los Angeles landmark and the romance of a roadtrip speaks to my soul and is the reason why Chateau has appeared on pretty much every romantic playlist I’ve made since I first heard it.
The Aussie sibling duo’s newest release has been playing non-stop for me this month - especially Monroe and Celestial Bodies. Pour yourself a glass of plummy Shiraz and check it out.
Olivia Rodrigo
Olivia Rodrigo makes music for girls and the people who love them. I wish her music was around when I was fifteen but it’s here now and as a 43-year-old mom, I would ride at dawn for Olivia Rodrigo, the founder of the incredible Daisy Chain Fields Festival and the writer of the truly excellent All-American Bitch:
I know my place, I know my place, and this is it
I don't get angry when I'm pissed
I'm the eternal optimist
I scream inside to deal with it
Like, "Ah"
Like, "Ah" (oh my fucking God)
🎦 Watching
Justified (Hulu)
I have been banging the drum about this show since it debuted in 2010 and not just because…look, the joke about banging and Tim Olyphant is right there. Do I really have to connect the dots?
Anyway, my husband has never seen it so I became militant about him watching it. Thankfully, he loves it because if he didn’t…
Kidding. Kinda. I mean, I’ve divorced worse men for more, but anyway.
We’re on season two now which I firmly believe is the best season of television ever written - yes, please shut the fuck up Breaking Bad and Mad Men fanboys because it’s always boys - and I love the fact that John likes the show so much and that he laughs as loudly as I do and appreciates how clever and smart it is.
Share the things you love with the people you love. It’s just that simple.
Autumn Ambiance Channels on YouTube
I am surrounded by rambunctious boys - husband, son, perfect dog who has never done anything wrong in his life - and lately, the hallway has become a soccer pitch which means a broken cabinet door, several deflated balls, at least one broken wine glass and a coffee table which has absorbed everything from sparkling water to wine to grapefruit juice.
My chaos meter has a limit and this pushes it into the red, so I retreat to the comfort of my bedroom, light a candle and read to my heart’s content while playing an ambiance video of YouTube. It’s surprisingly effective at calming me down…
…which makes sense because Will popped his head into the room the other day, glanced up at the television and told me that his kindergarten teacher plays the same thing to calm the class down.
Hey, effective is effective.
🍳 Dining
Pistachio Banana Cold Brew - The Surfinista
The world’s smallest surf shop is also one of my favorite coffee spots. With locations in Cocoa and Indiatlantic, this cozy, artsy coffee joint has a great vibe, super sweet staff and some of the best coffee I’ve had all year.
The pistachio banana cold brew is not on the menu but I strongly recommend it.
Tawa Pulao
Tawa pulao is just boiled rice finished on the stove with a bunch of vegetables and spices. I whipped some up last weekend and packed it with crispy paneer, fresh green beans, fresh carrots, peas and corn.
And then, I topped it with pomegranate arils, fresh green chilis, a mustard-seed pickled chili (Mom made it and it was so spicy, I think it corrected my vision) and a green sauce made with green onions, chilis, raw peanuts and jalapeños.
Perfect dish and weirdly enough, even better airfried the next day.
I recently was a part of a conversation where someone said, “I don’t like too many flavors in my food,” and I swear to God, I heard the voice of my ancestors saying, “This is a very stupid man and you shouldn’t talk to him anymore.”
People didn’t die in the spice trade for you to underseason your meals.
🤷🏽♀️ Misc.
Jeselnik Book Club (Podcast)
I wrote about Anthony Jeselnik’s Book Club in July. Since then, The Ringer network (I have such mixed feelings about Bill Simmons) picked up the concept and now, it’s a weekly literary/pop culture podcast which drops on September 30.
I’ve stopped listening to podcasts lately (with the exception of NPR’s Up First and the random episode of The Midnight Boys here and there), so this couldn’t come at a better time. Also, we all agree that Jeselnik is basically a Followill cousin, right?
Cocoa Beach
We spent the weekend in Cocoa a few weeks ago on a little strip between the Intracoastal and the Atlantic. It rained a lot, I read a lot, I drank coffee with my dog outside when it was sunny. It was perfect.
I will remember your small room
the feel of you
the light in the window
your records
your books
our morning coffee
our noons our nights
our bodies spilled together
sleeping
the tiny flowing currents
immediate and forever
your leg my leg
your arm my arm
your smile and the warmth
of you
who made me laugh
again.
-Charles Bukowski
