Guest Algorithm-Free Reco List, No. 3

Angelina Mazza endorses reading on your phone, a reboot that actually works, and trying again.

Hello!

Welcome to the third edition of ~*GUEST*~ Algorithm-Free Reco Lists.

Each month, I’m thrilled to introduce you to a brilliant person and the things they can’t shut up about. If you’d like to write one, please feel free to respond to this newsletter (or email me directly).

My guest today is Angelina Mazza!

Angelina is a writer, editor, and producer based in Brooklyn, by way of Montreal. Her work appears in Slate, Defector, Literary Hub, The Creative Independent, Paste, The Poetry Foundation, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She is a Cancer. You can find her on Instagram and at angelinamazza.com.

Here are Angelina’s recos—straight from her:

via @bus20ceramics

Staying up all night to finish a book

Staying up all night is almost always a mistake. But staying up for a book you can’t put down, knowing you’ll pay for it tomorrow? That’s a top-ten human experience, right up there with swimming in the ocean and your favorite song coming on. Two novels that recently made me ruin tomorrow:

• Honey by Isabel Banta, a coming-of-age novel about the rise of a fictional pop star in the late ’90s and early 2000s. The writing is gorgeous and there’s an incredible slow-burn romance. I read it twice in a row.

• Awakened by A.E. Osworth, about a coven of trans witches battling an evil AI. Essentially Harry Potter for queer people in Brooklyn (and dedicated to “everyone who feels betrayed by J.K. Rowling”). Like Osworth’s banger of a debut, We Are Watching Eliza Bright, it’s super weird, hard to categorize, and unlike anything I’ve ever read. I can’t shut up about it.

A really great chorus

In a perfect pop song.

Reading on your phone

A lot of people complain that their phone has ruined their attention span, and that they can’t put it down long enough to read a book. To which I say: why not read a book…on your phone? Maybe with the Olivia-approved app Libby?

I have a pretty good relationship to my phone, in that I’m always on it and fine with that. I don’t feel the urge to toss it in the ocean or the trash, or whatever people threaten to do on Twitter. I think it comes down to this: when I’m on my phone, I’m usually reading. Books, essays, poems, newsletters—I read them on the subway, in waiting rooms, while standing in line. I love a print copy as much as the next girl, but in 2020 I started reading e-books on my phone. At first it felt strange—like being fourteen and reading Wattpad stories on my iPod Touch—but now I’m used to it. My phone is no longer the Doomscrolling Device. It’s my bridge to the art I love, and thinking of it that way has made all the difference.

Here’s what I loved reading on my phone this week:

• This essay by Patricia Lockwood on Sylvia Plath.

• This essay by Lauren Theisen, which gave me chills.

• This essay by Alex Sujong Laughlin, which also gave me chills, but in a different way.

“Sooooo true”

The Office reboot that’s about to drop

I am obviously watching The Summer I Turned Pretty through my fingers and wishing a thousand plagues on Jeremiah Fisher. But I have to shout about another show that’s captured my heart and is just about to debut: The Paper, aka The Office reboot on Peacock. Did we need an Office reboot? Absolutely not. But this one, I fear, is a delight. The vibe leans more Parks and Rec than the original Office (which is ideal because Parks and Rec is a better show) and Sabrina Impacciatore (you know her from here) steals every scene. Best of all, it has the best slow-burn workplace romance I’ve seen in ages.

Any recipe by Zaynab Issa

I’ve been obsessed with Zaynab Issa’s zine Let’s Eat since 2021. It’s a self-published collection of East-African Indian recipes, and my favorite is her kuku paka (you can also find it here). I’ve never tried a recipe of hers and that I didn’t love, which is rare for me, a person who is Sometimes Weird About Food. Issa recently released her first full cookbook, Third Culture Cooking. I haven’t picked it up yet, but if it’s anything like the rest of her work, I know it’s going to be exceptional.

The Black Sesame Mochi from Trader Joe’s

Yum!!!!

ta-da!

This is easily the best one-man show on Broadway. ta-da! is a PowerPoint comedy by Josh Sharp, directed by Sam Pinkleton (who also did Oh Mary! and Can I Be Frank?). The show feels like a magic trick, which makes it hard to describe, but, like all the best art, it’s funny and weird and wonderfully existential. I saw it twice and even bought merch. That’s how you know I really loved it, since I live 80% of my life in a Big Sleep Tee. If you’re in NYC, don’t miss it before it closes.

Remembering you’ll try again

I tried a lot of new things this summer. I learned to play softball, which was scary at first and then fun. I applied for jobs I didn’t get an interview for, and interviewed for jobs I didn’t get. I keep a rejection log. It doesn’t make rejection feel any easier, but I like that it reminds me that I am someone who tries—over and over and over. Which is comforting, if you believe that trying again and again is how you eventually get somewhere. (Related: see Defector’s new podcast Try Hard.) Last week, I decided to start following a Couch to 5K program. I’ve tried this before and never finished. That could happen again—I might just quit tomorrow! But even if it does, I know I’ll probably try again soon enough.

A giant thank you to Angelina for sharing her recos!

If you were influenced, perhaps follow her on IG and/or read her impassioned defense of Goodreads in Slate!

This newsletter brought to you by:

• Whole Foods Jumble Walnut Cookies, which I assumed were discontinued forever.

• A thrilling update that I am no longer Team Jeremiah on my TSITP journey. While I maintain that Mr. Tortured Clown With Undiagnosed ADHD is more psychologically interesting than Mr. Doesn’t Communicate, Thus Girlies Project Whatever They Want On Him—the whole S3 frat thing is a bridge too far for me.

• A Reese’s Pumpkin. We are out of the elite shape drought that stretches between Valentine’s Day and Halloween. Rejoice!