Bluestocking Catalogue #23
How fiction can change the world, my go-to comfort cookies, and #BridgertonMusical
Good morning bluestockings.
Powdered sugar snow is sifting down as I write. I can still see the colors of cars and roofs beneath the dusting. Our last few snows have been small and melted quickly - I'm hoping this one will stick but will enjoy it regardless.
I have a lot of good recommendations today, along with some that don't fit neatly into one category. I'm going to share those without a specific category here at the top:
Erin H. Moon manages to collect some of the internet's funniest things from the week in one newsletter. This week's made me laugh multiple times.
Two female composers are creating a #brigertonmusical on TikTok and Instagram and I am HERE FOR IT. Bridgerton Musical fits perfectly in the Venn diagram of my two of favorite things: musical theater and period romance. This trend might be what gets me on TikTok, y'all.
I've followed Austin Kleon for a while. This post, “Spend time on something that will outlast them,” resonated.
NOW FOR BOOKS & BAKES!
Recipe: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
I've been making these cookies since high school. My mom handed me the recipe, but I don’t know its origins beyond that. Oatmeal raisin cookies aren't sexy, but they're just about the most comforting thing I can imagine. I made a batch of dough a week or two ago and kept it in the fridge so I could make a pan of warm cookies whenever I pleased. 10/10 would recommend.
Tips:
1. Make sure the butter is truly softened before starting. You can cut it up into 8-10 pieces with a knife or bench scraper to speed the process along. I usually just keep a few sticks of butter out on the counter so they're softened whenever the urge to bake strikes. I've cheated with the butter on this recipe before (it wasn’t as soft as it should have been) and the cookies were subpar as a result.
2. Yes, of course you can play with add-ins. I've made them with craisins before, or with craisins and pecans, I think. My favorite is just raisins. The recipe doesn't specify so I eyeball it. If that freaks you out, google another recipe with similar proportions and see what it recommends.
3. DON’T overcook them. When it’s time to take them out, the edges should be slightly brown but the middles should still be squishy/ not fully set when you pull them out. They'll finish cooking as they cool, and they'll be beautifully soft inside.
Here's the recipe:
Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies
2 cups of brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs beaten
2 cups of flour (sifted)
3 cups of quick oats
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a cookie sheet.
Cream softened butter and sugar until it is light colored (about 5 minutes at medium speed - I get the dry ingredients together while this is going.)
Add eggs and mix for 30 seconds or so until they're incorporated.
Add flour, oats, soda, salt and vanilla and mix. Finally, add the raisins.
Pinch a piece of dough a little bigger than a walnut. Roll dough around in your hands until it is a ball. Arrange on greased cookie sheet. (Often I make mine bigger than this - I probably use two teaspoons of dough per cookie.)
Cook at 375 for 10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook.
You can add nuts, raisins, cranberries or chips - whatever you like.
Movie: Sylvie's Love
Last night Noah and I watched Sylvie's Love, which was recommended by my beloved Popcast. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would recommend if you're looking for a feel-good movie with some nuance. It's set in 1960s Harlem, where a young woman who dreams of being a movie producer meets an up-and-coming saxophonist.
I woke up this morning wondering about the title - the movie could almost be called Sylvie's Loves, because Sylvie struggles to negotiate her multiples loves/ identities. Although there's an obvious answer to who Sylvie's love is, what I loved most about this movie is that Sylvie didn't give up on herself, didn't accept a narrow narrative of who she could be. By the movie's end Sylvie has found a more integrated, less dualistic way of being in the world.
This new movie is on Amazon Prime and I would love to hear your thoughts if you watch it.
Book: Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson*
I continue my trend of reading popular books "late": this short, poignant book received a lot of well-deserved praise in 2020. I read this one on the night of January 6, 2021. I had already stress/ fury-cleaned the house and taken down Christmas decorations while listening to the news. After exhausting my body but not my mind, I tucked myself into bed a little early and opened this book, which my friend Taylor recommended and which I had been wanting to read. Now it will always be linked to that infamous day. At the time I didn't connect the title with the insurrection in the U.S. capitol, but in hindsight the irony seems inescapable.
It's not a spoiler to say that this book is about two children who spontaneously combust when angry. Because I had heard the premise of the book, I wondered how the author would deal with the "unbelievable" aspects of the story. Wilson pulls it off because he focuses not on the combustion as a condition but on the characters as humans. Wilson’s use of this narrative device reminds me of fiction’s ability to offer a different perspective on the world, and especially on what I think I know.
Fiction can reframe a storied reality around what matters most (in this case, the humans, not their condition.) When we read fiction, we are invited to re-frame how we see our reality, too. Perhaps the books that speak to us most are the books that help us see the world differently. Neuroscience teaches that when we change our perception, we change our reality. So it's not hyperbole to say that reading can change the world.
OKAY. Back to the book that inspired these reflections. Nothing to See Here explores the complexity of what it means to be human, what it means to suffer loss, and what it means to find love in unexpected places. My friend Taylor and I sent each other Marco Polos talking about it, and she mentioned that she loved that the message of the book wasn't to change the children, who represent society's "Other," or perhaps the "other" within us all that we'd like to pretend doesn't exist. Instead, the "solution" is to radically accept and love the children for who they are.
I didn't experience the book as particularly funny, but I think that's because of my aforementioned January 6 headspace. Lots of people, including my friend Taylor, found it hilarious. Nothing to See Here is short and readable: the prose is sparse in the best way. I'd highly recommend it.
I hope you find joy in unexpected places today. Have the best weekend available to you.
*affiliate link through Bookshop, an online bookseller supporting independent book stores. 🙌 If you buy a book using my link, I’ll receive a small commission. You can also find this book at your local library or on the Libby app!