Sunday culture
Life has been busy in drdbunks land and this edition comes to you from Italy! a the pinnacle of culture for me is sipping a cold glass of vino in a piazza watching the world go by….
What I’ve been listening to
White Lotus season 2 soundtrack. I’m in Sicily, maximum vibes. Yes, I’m that basic. Season 2 theme is the best of the 3, fight me.
What I’ve been reading
The buzzy ‘Yesteryear’ by Caro Claire Burke, in which the protagonist is a tradwife influencer who inexplicably finds herself in the time she romanticises, had me hooked from moment I heard the premise. It’s not quite what I thought it was going to be based on the marketing hook although I raced through it on day one of holiday. It’s marketed as having a ‘twist’ and I genuinely had no idea where it was going. All in, I found it a bit superficial and written dripping with disdain for the protagonist rather than a serious or sympathetic examination of the tradwife revival. Interestingly, the book was optioned for a film by Anne Hathaway when only in draft form and she is credited by the author as helping her develop the character….perhaps I was reading a long treatment for a movie and not a novel in and of itself….Original concept, regardless of the execution and there are many aspects of it I am keen to discuss.
A bit of a niche reference but the author’s approach reminds me of what Ainsley in the West Wing says about Democrats’ view of those who oppose gun control. ‘You don’t like the people’.
Any excuse to shoehorn in the West Wing!
An exciting Baroque palazzo
I had the pleasure of visiting Palazzo Moroni in Bergamo this week. An opulent Baroque residence built by Francesco Moroni in the 1630s, its conception lay in the ideas of the ‘Accademia della Eccitati’ (literally the ‘academy of the excited’). This was a group dedicated to promoting art, nature and culture. Just about the most Sunday culture thing I can think of, g’wan the lads (presumably no lasses in this club in the 1630s).
Pals watch in A+E After Dark
Still only a brief cameo and now it’s on hiatus….But I saw one of the pair of them in real life during my own blog hiatus so it’s all good.
I’m embracing the slowing down of pace here. May this find you if it is what you need in the week ahead. I’ll be taking another break until June.
A presto,
Deirdre
