Sunday Sundries 014: Cozy Books & Election Night Activities

Plus, so. many. links.

Welcome to Sunday Sundries, the antidote to—or at least a distraction from—your Sunday Scaries

Hello,

I missed you last Sunday, but I was too busy frolicking upstate to bash out a newsletter. I went to visit my podcast co-host

Olivia Muenter

and participate in an adult book fair she put together. The only word I have for the trip is dreamy. The event was at a brewery on a perfectly crisp fall day. Intermittently, leaves delicately tumbled from orange-tinged trees like we were in a freaking movie. I got to hang out with so many favorite authors and meet so many lovely readers.

Olivia was a consummate host. There was a town tour including both Martin van Buren’s birth place and a yoga studio where Taylor Swift (allegedly) took a class. She told me all the town gossip and brought me to adorable small-town bookstores, then fed me copious amounts of wine and apple cider donuts. Like I said, dreamy.

This weekend, however, is less dreamy. I imagine Sunday Scaries are at an all-time high: the clocks went back last night and its getting dark at 4:30, there’s a very casual, not stressful at all election happening in the US on Tuesday, and the vibes are… unsettled. The New York Times is predicting it’s going to take a while to call this election [gift link], so I’m devoting today’s issue to cozy ways to calm your nerves.

Let’s get into the sundries, shall we?

🇺🇸 Cozy Election Night Activities

On this season of The Kardashians, Kim tells Gypsy Rose Blanchard about her Instagram mantra: post then ghost. I think it’s appropriate to take a similar tack with the election—vote then float? I haven’t worked out the catchphrase. In other words, do your part and then do anything else.

Personally, I’m having early drinks with a friend visiting from out of town, but I know by 9 p.m. I’ll be crawling back to my one-sided, confusingly-sexually-charged relationship with CNN map daddy John King. But, may I recommend having a second activity to balance the vibes:

• Make beaded jewelry: This was my side activity of choice for election night 2020. I bought a couple of bead kits on Amazon (I got this one and this one; these could be fun to mix in, too), and made necklaces. It keeps your hands busy (and off your phone), requires focus, and you can make some fun “just because” gifts for your similarly stressed out friends. I made this necklace with the pony bead kit linked above over the summer and it got a lot of wear.

• This is the time for a puzzle: Another option? Puzz! I can lose hours to a good puzzle. Let your cable news outlet of choice take a backseat and slip into a puzzle trance. If you get a big one, this can last you a few days of election uncertainty. Here are a few cute ones that are available on Amazon with Prime shipping: a pretty town; a zen place to imagine yourself; a bookish haven.

• Decorate for the holidays: Last week, I talked on my IG story about feeling festive earlier than usual. Turns out, a lot of other people do, too. Someone DMed me to say that they were planning to decorate their tree on election night. Genius! It’s a happy activity that requires a decent amount of attention, and doesn’t everything feel a little better in the glow of Christmas lights? I think this is going to be my distraction of choice!

📚 Books That Feel Like A Hug

Or maybe you want to skip the news coverage altogether and dive into a book (admirable!). Here are some books that feel like putting your brain in a bubble bath. Nothing too bad happens and you’ll finish feeling like there’s good in the world, a feeling we could all use right about now.

1. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: A curmudgeonly bureaucrat is sent to inspect an orphanage for magical youths deemed dangerous. His heart grows exponentially bigger. Already read it? A sequel came out in September.

2. The People We Keep by Allison Larkin: Hear me out: I sobbed my way through this book about a teen runaway making her way through the world, but, like, in a cathartic way? At the end, I’ve never been so certain there are good people in the world.

3. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna: I’m realizing that protecting (optionally magical) children is a key ingredient in warm hug books. In this one, an adult witch takes a job as a caretaker for three young witches in hiding.

4. The Guncle by Steven Rowley: Would you like your protected children less magical? Okay! Gay uncle Patrick, an aging sitcom star, takes over the care of his young niece and nephew in his very child-unfriendly Palm Springs life.

5. When In Rome by Sarah Adams: You don’t want any children, magical or otherwise? I got you. How about this sweet small town romance about a pop star who escapes her life and finds herself staying with a man who runs his grandmother’s pie shop that she has a growing crush on?

6. Evie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes: This book got me out of my early-pandemic reading rut, and I think it could help you through this election, too. A widow in a small town in Maine takes in a lodger who turns out to be an ex-pro baseball player with a case of the yips.

For my part, I’m probably going to make the newest TikTok viral sensation, The Pumpkin Spice Cafe, my election week read. Honestly, I don’t even need to know what its about, I’m sold on the title alone.

🎄 A Book Lover’s Ornament

One more quick thing that’s not directly related to calming your election stress, but I thought was worth mentioning because it requires some lead time. How cute is this bookish holiday ornament? You can customize the books inside with your favorites from the year OR if your book club does a holiday gift exchange, you could include all your monthly picks.

Extra links today because we need all the distractions we can get.

• Taylor Jenkins Reid announced a new book coming next June. I’m not totally sold on the premise—it follows a female astronaut in the 1980’s—but TJR is an auto-buy author for me, so I’m willing to follow her anywhere.

• If you were coveting my colorful checkerboard skirt a few weeks back, this one from the Christopher John Rogers x J.Crew collab might be a good alternative. (Heads up: it’s sold out in larger sizes, but you can sign up for alerts)

• Celebs on pap walks with books: very relevant to our interests.

• I have a lot of friends who aren’t drinking right now for various reasons, so when I hosted mahjongg the other week, I whipped out some of the Ghia canned non-alc cocktails the brand sent me. Turns out: I’m kind of obsessed with the lime and salt flavor.

• I got some sparkly new earrings and a matching(-ish) bag for holiday party season. These are going to be so fun to jazz up a black dress.

• I devoured this episode of the

  Culture Study
  podcast all about BookTok, featuring Alyssa Morris from
  Romancing the Phone
  .

• PSA: The Diplomat starring Keri Russell (AKA my favorite show of 2023) is back for season 2. I’ve already finished and might watch it again this weekend. Also, there’s a cameo in episode 5 that blew my mind.

• When Reese Witherspoon announced her debut novel the other week, I asked the universe for a piece about how these celeb books work. The universe (or Vulture) delivered.

See you tomorrow for my monthly book report!

Becca