Table of Contents
bBorn in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1987, Yael van der Wouden is a writer and professor who teaches creative writing and comparative literature in the Netherlands. Her work has appeared in publications such as LitHub, Electric Literature, and Elle.com, and she has a David Attenborough-themed advice column, Dear David, in the online literary magazine Longleaf Review. Her essay on Dutch identity and Judaism, On (Not) Reading Anne Frank, received a notable mention in the Best American Essays of 2018 collection. CustodyPublished by Viking earlier this year, it is Van der Wouden’s first novel and is shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
1. Reserve
idle by James Frankie Thomas
A friend gave this to me and said it “changed your genetic makeup.” You would think that a novel presented with the promise of a life-changing experience could only disappoint, and yet! Willpower idle Disturb the mental balance of each reader? Unlikely. Will it send some of us into an existential spiral for about a week? Certainly. The novel is a familiar, well-executed three-act Bildungsroman, and at the same time, it is unlike anything I have read before. I’ve been presenting it to people as: imagine a teenage love triangle, only instead of love, the three axes are obsession, sexuality, and gender envy. A scary and fun trip.
2. YouTube channel
Dashner design and restoration
This summer while on vacation, my girlfriend looked over my shoulder in bed, saw that I was watching a 45-minute wardrobe refurbishment, and proceeded to brutally mock me. It’s grandma’s behavior, he said. Surely grandmas don’t refinish entire closets, I said. It is very physically demanding and requires years of study. I didn’t convince her, but I’ve been trying. There’s something about craftsmanship, about doing something extremely well and then applying that skill to undo the entropy, that leaves me feeling that people do know things and that mistakes can be undone. Or maybe I’ve never gotten over the amazement of a good makeover.
3. Music
Amaarae Baby Font
These past few years have been fantastic for pop, and my favorite genre is the weird and horny side of queer hyperpop. The incredible Chappell Roan was brewed in those waters, but also consider Peach PRC, Ashnikko, Cobrah, Lil Mariko. For a while now I’ve been obsessed with Amaarae’s latest album, baby fountainspecifically the song Sociopathic dance queen. A poppy, creepy, demonic dance club hit that combines the Minoguean refrain of “play, play, play!” with lyrics like “I buried all the bodies in the pool.” It’s addictive and disturbing.
4. Interior design
ceramic fish
In this case two things came together: the fact that I will soon be moving house and the fact that I am immersed in research on the former Zuiderzee (“South Sea”), which is now Lake IJssel: the body of water that It falls towards the center of the Netherlands like a big thumb. I’ve been researching what types of fish survived the transition from saltwater to freshwater, how it affected life in the sea, and people’s relationship with water. In other words, fish is on my mind these days. So when I started looking for things to put in my new house, I kept being drawn to…fish. Fish plates, fish art, fish shower curtains. Through my obsession with fish I could see that most were horrible, but I think this Italian ceramic fish collection is perfect in every way. Especially anchovies and sardines, cold blues and big eyes. I like them. I have come to understand that this is not a universal opinion. However, I have bought six. I’ll probably buy more.
5. Drink
Calvados Delfino Fino
I recently attended a writing retreat in Giethoorn, the “Schrijvershuis,” possibly the most picturesque town in the Netherlands. The canals, the bridges, the thatched roofs. My hosts were a wonderful couple who took me sightseeing and boating and, most importantly, texted me every other day writing: question mark wine glass emoji? And I would come down and there would be food, wine, laughter and, on my last night there, a glass of Calvados Dauphin Fine. It came with a story: when they were young, an older couple had let them try the drink and then they saved up for several months to buy a bottle. Since then they have made sure to always have one on hand. I was skeptical, took a sip and have been planning my own purchase ever since. Neither too sweet nor too dry. For those who love oak, honey, baked apples, and the fantasy of living the kind of life where you have exhausted writers in your spare room.
6. Museum
This is one of the most impressive cultural heritage museums I have ever seen. The story is this: in 1932 the Afsluitdijk, a barrier dam, was completed, effectively closing the Zuiderzee and turning it into a large, shallow, freshwater lake. As traditional marine life dwindled along the coasts and on the islands, the museum acted as a living archive: abandoned houses were transported en masse to the museum grounds. Desks, beds, chairs, fishing nets, sheets, entire tents. The museum is a large village of original and recreated houses. You can enter these houses and touch things, historians dressed in traditional clothes will tell you stories. It is both magical and tragic: the fact that you witness traces of life healed and locked away also means that it no longer exists.
WEB ONLY:
7. Podcast
Death, sex and money
Anna Sale is one of my favorite interviewers of all time. Before one of my first jobs as a moderator, I listened to almost every episode of Death, sex and moneyjust to see if there was something in his curious way of being with other people that could rub off on me. I wish I could laugh like her. One of my favorite recent episodes is Life at the Playboy Mansion, where Crystal Hefner talks about her life in the claustrophobic house and under Hefner’s control, about his childish and tyrannical ways. She talks about living there as a young woman and then into adulthood, eventually marrying Hefner, and how she sought and then found agency in small, secret ways. A beautiful interview.
