Hi friends –
A few weeks ago, I wrote about one of the best books I read this year, Slanting Towards the Sea by Lidija Hilje. For that newsletter, I wrote about the characters and some of my favorite themes, and also shared a few albums that I could not stop thinking about as I read the book, including Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving, Corinne Bailey Rae’s self-titled debut, Giveon’s Beloved, and Lianne La Havas’ Is Your Love Big Enough.
I am still thinking about this book and its characters, which is why I am so excited to share my new interview with the author, Lidija Hilje.
For the conversation, we discuss so much, including:
How she came up with the storyline for the book in a writing group
The importance of having a journal and her first story
How her careers as a lawyer and book coach prepared her to write Slanting Towards the Sea
The themes within the book including love, longing and motherhood
How her home of Croatia was both a backdrop and an unofficial character within the book
Her winter reading list: Heart the Lover by Lily King, California Gold by Jodie Chapman and Seascraper by Benjamin Wood.
Please check out the interview on video, or listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Pocketcasts.
Also, be sure to subscribe to Lidija’s Substack, For Love of Words and follow her on Instagram at @lidijahilje.
I also wanted to share a few things I thought were worth sharing this week:
Things to read:
I have been in a reading… in print rut. I keep starting print books but find that I may be too cold to read, thus, I am moving to my Kindle. I am currently 2% in to Lionel Richie’s memoir, Truly, and hope to be able to share notes soon. I am particularly looking forward to learning about his transition from The Commodores to his solo career, a more detailed retelling of how he adopted Nicole Richie, and salaciously (is this a word?) I want to read the chapter about Michael Jackson and his jeans.
MYLEIK.’s latest newsletter on the shame of selling. This in particular, stuck with me: “So if you’ve been shrinking, whispering, or waiting for someone to “discover” you, here’s your reminder: It’s not your job to hope people notice. It’s you job to sell it.”
AI is touching everything, including the music industry. This was a great read from SNOBHOP about how AI can potentially impact both hip-hop and the music industry as a whole. I’m adding this to my list of why I’m kind of skeptical about AI because with the exception of Drake as Tupac, it’s sometimes not that easy to decipher what’s a real person and what is AI especially with autotune and all that jazz.
Aligned with this: A home that proves you can never have too many books (unless you run out of shelf and floor space I suppose).
One of my great friends, Ali, wrote the forward of a new cookbook, Back of House, and I’m so excited to get my hands on it. It’s out now. The book was assembled by artists Diana Albrecht and Ryan Stopera and is said not to be a traditional cookbook. Read about it via Racket MN, MPLS ST PAUL, and blck press.
I am currently on my 279742947947 Sex and the City rewatch so I enjoyed this article about Sarah Jessica Parker’s year of judging the Booker Prize. I like how this started from an Instagram comment. There’s also a playlist in the article, too.
Things to listen to/watch:
I was delighted last week to see that Khruangbin had a new album.
I started listening to ROSALIA’s new album LUX and everything I have seen about it so far has been on point. So, so, so, good.
Haven’t started this album yet, but BLK ODYSSY’s new album, MOOD CONTROL is out and I’m excited to listen to that.
BUTTTTTT…… SUMMER WALKER’s new album, Finally Over It, is out on Friday and I’m excited.
I’m also more excited for Wale’s new album after watching his interview on the Joe and Jada podcast.
That’s it for this week, catch you next week.
