Monday Morning #73

73th Monday Morning: some blogging and links

Los Angeles Venice

Venice, California

Back from L.A.!

I just spent a week of vacation at my friend Trish’s in Redondo Beach, in the South-West side of Los Angeles. The weather was ideal, warm and sunny; we enjoyed just a tiny bit of what LA has to offer: we hiked in the hills to see the Hollywood signs, we visited the Broad museum, ate at the Grand Market, walked along the beach and simply hung out. Trish is a good friend, I met her in my yoga teacher training when she was still living in Boston. It was good to spend some time with her.

I love Southern California: I feel in a complete different place when I’m there. Everything seems different, almost foreign to me: people look different, in the way they dress, or because they are obsessed with fitness. We are far away from the preppy style of Boston. Are you gonna move to LA then? Nah. I’m not ready for such a big change. I do enjoy going there, specially when it’s winter on the East Coast. It’s the third time I’m going there in February/March: it may start to be a new routine for the years to come.

 I wrote a city guide, What to do in Los Angeles

 Bouquiniste New York-1Chez un bouquiniste lors d’un week-end ski dans le Connecticut

Books

I am currently reading We were Eight years in power by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and recently I’ve been reading essays and memoirs instead of my usual novels. I love fiction but I’m in a mood for realness I guess. I’ve started Middlesex by J. Eugenides, but for now, my most recent reads have been:

  • This will be my undoing, Morgan Jerkins. I’ve heard her interview on a recent episode of Call your girlfriend and I bought her book right after. The interview was challenging, and I even listened to it twice. The book felt like a punch in the guts. We don’t think about race in the same way in the US, in France, we still have the universalist ideal, and Morgan Jerkins is challenging this idea. She writes about her, about being a woman, black, feminist, in today’s America. This is not my reality, and that’s probably why I was both interested and challenged. On a strictly writing point of view, I was impressed by her ability to talk about herself, it’s sometimes very personal, never rude or voyeur though.
  • Hunger, A memoir of (my) body, Roxane Gay. Two people recommended me this memoir, I follow their advice and read very quickly this incredible story. Roxane Gay talks about her body, her fat black body. She also talks about the fact that she was raped, and what happened to her body next. It’s a very powerful story.
Eight Years in power

I found it in the lucky day collection!
this will be my undoing morgan jerkins

It’s not an easy read, but I find it necessary
book and coffee

Coffee time
New Yorker Henry Worsley

Paper version of the New Yorker

What I’ve read on the Internet

Have a nice week!

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Mathilde

Mathilde

Rédactrice, grande organisatrice et réseau socialite du Blog de Mathilde. Quand je ne suis pas devant un écran, j'organise des visites guidées de Boston, là où j'ai fondé ma petite entreprise Boston le nez en l'air. Je suis aussi auteure de nombreux guides de voyages, de livres de yoga et de jeux chez des éditeurs français. Suivez-moi sur Instagram, Facebook ou Pinterest.

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