The Curator: everything I read in June
manifesting only the best from here on out
This month, I finally finished that book you are probably tired of hearing about, snuck in three lighter fare, and started on another giant reading project. I attempted to keep up with my favorite Substacks, read articles for distraction, and leaned on my favorite shows for dissociation. I added pictures to my journal for manifesting like Chani said to do during the Jupiter Cazimi new moon in Mamdani. I am doing everything I can to keep myself sane enough to remember that life wouldn’t be worth living if there was nothing to fight for1.
What I read in June
Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
At the suggestion of a Subverse reader, I picked up Roseanna, a Nordic Noir first published in 1965 by married Swedish co-authors Maj and Per. First of all, I love when a married couple can make anything successful together - cheers to them for figuring out life. Second, it was remarkable to discover that such a foundational crime text was still so relevant and so good. I can see Roseanna’s influence on later novels, especially Henning Mankell with his Wallander series (Mankell writes an introduction to the 2008 edition, so the influence is provable). Detective Martin Beck was a bit of a sour Chief Inspector Gamache, but the moments of levity in an otherwise brutal genre were goofy and charming. Highly recommend, and I know this will end up high in the forthcoming Nordic Noir guide I’m working towards.
The vibes👻: Three Pines meets Sherlock Holmes meets any cop show
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
I read this fast-paced, madcap adventure novel to get into the mysterious state of mind for my Hitchcock summer. While I enjoyed the 1915 story about a young man caught up in dangerous global politics who must assume all manner of fake identities to save Europe, it has certainly aged. It did the job, but felt a bit silly. I recommend this to anyone deeply interested in Hitchcock foundational texts or this time period in particular.
The vibes👻: just watch the movie instead
Dissolution by Nicholas Binge
This was a fun, interesting, well-paced techno-thriller that I may or may not have picked up if I wasn’t sent a free ARC. I was surprised by the depths of humanity plundered - in navigating the idea of time travel through memory, Binge also touched on Western imperialism and our inability to see any other culture as “worthy” unless it directly benefits us. I was also impressed by the narrative layers, which I will not spoil here, but certainly took a madman-style wall map of who is telling what story to whom in whose head2. I thoroughly enjoyed this palate cleanser.
“Deep time humbles the human moment. What do the tens of thousands of years care for your plans?… When the colonizers first came here, they wondered, Why don’t these people have towns? Why don’t these people have cities? They think we must be primitive, little more than animals. But does deep time care for your cities? They’re a shallow thing, and in time they will all be dust.”
The vibes👻: for fans of Dark Matter or Stranger Things with a little less nostalgia and a dash of Secret History.
Solenoid by Mircea Mircea Cărtărescu
I almost stalled out trying to write this review. There is no way I can do it justice in a small paragraph. I started to take notes and filled an entire journal page on just the first 150, including over ten different important quotes. What you really need to know is that this novel is not for everyone, as most good things go, but if you have any interest in exploring the void through a masochistic narrator probing life’s mysteries in one big surrealist nightmare, then you too will enjoy this writer’s manifesto. Even though it tested me, I do not mourn the time spent reading and am proud I finished (and proved myself right eh??).
Here is an emblematic passage to give you a sense of what we are dealing with here:
As though an embryo didnt grow in its mother’s womb but arrived, from far away, and the only illusion of perspective made it seem to grow, like a wayfarer approaching along an empty road. A wayfarer who, after he passes through the lilac portal, continues his illusory rise, first an infant, then a child, then an adolescent, and in the end, when he is face-to-face with you and looks you in the eyes, he smiles at you like a friend from the other side of the mirror, having found you again, at last.
The vibes👻: I have nothing to compare it to except surrealist cinema, perhaps? Fans of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle would love.
now reading 🤓
challenging read: now that Solenoid has been put to sleep, I can focus on the Middlemarch group read. I find myself missing the Middlemarch townies when I am away - it’s like old-timey reality TV. I am thoroughly impressed by the joy in this novel and the experience of group reading with
. It is taking up most of my reading energy, but this is the year of quality over quantity, so apropos.treadmill book: Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg, another (you guessed it) Nordic Noir. However, I will say that this is borderline not a treadmill book because IT IS SO GOOD. The deeper into Reddit I get, the more I like the books suggested.
audiobook3: Murderland by Caroline Fraser. I had saved credits on Libro.fm so I took a chance on this one, as anything true crime is always on my radar. It’s a bit all over the place, and I am not sure how it will all tie together, but I am enjoying the [dark] ride.
Weekend links 🔗
at shares her 25 most iconic first sentences and you will be adding all to your TBR (Substack).Speaking of first sentences,
at legitimately hooks you from the very first in this piece about book Glass Century - a master class in getting people to read something niche they might otherwise not have been interested in (Substack). shares the books influencing her novel, a topic I find endlessly fascinating (Substack).After attending my first club meetup, I am now a lover of the Silent Book Club. What a lovely way to meet fellow readers IRL! They have groups all over the world, find (or start!) yours here: Silent Book Club.
10 Booker-nominated books for music lovers (The Booker Prizes).
NPR staffers pick their favorite fiction of 2025 (so far).
Time’s 14 best books of the year (so far).
The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century is so hot right now. I made my own ballot, but I have about 14 from the list I now need to watch = subject to change (NYT gift link).
Continued my Summer of Hitchcock by watching The Man Who Knew Too Much, which we liked much better than Vertigo. Doris Day is a TREAT.
Frankenstein!!!! My god I am excited.
and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders got a raise thanks to a few brave women putting their own boots on the line. Godbless the patriarchy.
until next time
What was the best thing you read in June?
Tell me your most fun journaling tips.
Or give me your full 10 movie ballot for the best of the 21st century!
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See you around the bookshelf!
Fighting a little less would be so nice though
I SAID I WASN’T DOING AUDIOBOOKS I LIED. But true crime only, those I seem to be able to absorb.
SO impressed and proud of you finishing Solenoid - you are my inspiration. I know if you can finish it, I can too. Ideally I'll return to it this winter, my summer attention span isn't lending itself to something so philosophical and frankly bleak. 'I do not mourn the time I spent reading it' really made me laugh - sometimes books are merely an achievement and little else.
CONGRATULATIONS on finishing Solenoid!!!! 🥳🥳🥳 I’m so proud of you!!!
I also journaled hard on the cazimi/lit candles/did all the intentions. I love that you love CHANI too 🥹 Love love love the sneak peak into your journal and the cameo from Minnie. I wanna snuggle her.
I have to say my reread of The Shining is giving me so much life right now that I’m secretly praying for a movie remake that isn’t so cold and flat. Better yet, I would take a 10 hour series.