Sunday Smörgåsbord #071
This week: Hispanophiles, hidden figures, and cod cheeks. Plus: Jeremy Renner is lucky to be alive.
Happy Sunday, friends.
This is my first Sunday Smorg in a long old while, and I’m sorry for being M.I.A. It feels like the world right now is a never-ending rush of depressing news cycles and AI revolutions amidst the day-to-day deadlines and to-do lists. I think after having my week off, my brain has struggled to get back into gear, so sorry for the delayed posts.
What’s been helping me kick back into gear has been disconnecting from the various screens and getting back into nature. We spent last weekend in a super cheap last-minute airbnb whose last interior refresh was probably the year I was born. Think lots of brown glass, patterned bathroom tiles that would give ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ a run for its money, and a very odd painting of some scary-looking cats. The wifi didn’t work and we cooked in darkness most evenings as we couldn’t get the kitchen light to turn on, and it was heaven. It felt like it was 1992 and I was a kid at my grandma’s again.
It also helped that, as quickly as Spring arrived in Valencia, it already feels like Summer is usurping it. The weather here is glorious. The skies are della robbia blue, the sun squintyingly bright. Of course I’ve already spent the weekend losing, and then re-finding, my sunglasses. Must remember to get out into it more.
Have a great week,
Emma x
PS - If you’ve been following on with the Sixty-Minute Book Club, don’t forget that this week we meet to discuss a classic of the short story genre: ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. You still have time to read it if you’d like to join our live discussion: all details here.
🍳 Recent servings, in case you missed them…
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📰 Features & Podcasts
NB: [PW] signifies a paywall, though some providers allow you to read a set number of articles for free.
“‘Their pursuits are the cigar and the siesta’: how two centuries of British writers helped forge our view of Spain”, The Guardian. A new book, written in Spanish by a British author, investigates why so many Brits have been drawn to the Iberian Peninsula, focusing on the works of twenty writers. Given my own love of the country I’m keen to seek it out, even if I have to concentrate extra hard to read it. Though I must admit this Richard Ford quote does makes me a little nervous, given I’m writing a book set in the country: “Nothing causes more pain to Spaniards than to see volume after volume written by foreigners about their country.” No pressure… And, if you’re also interested in the topic, it brings to mind a special book which a friend bought me on my move to Valencia: Spain in Mind: An Anthology edited by Alice Leccese Powers. In it I discovered what is now one of my favourite passages on Spain, written by Hemingway about the fiestas de San Fermín (the running of the bulls at Pamplona). I’ll include it below under the Arts section.
“How Japan remade American Culture”, The New York Times. I’m spending more time reading others’ drafts of their novels at the moment than writing my own, which is a special form of self-flagellation (masquerading sometimes as procrastination). But through it, I’ve got to read some incredible work which I’m confident you’ll get to read soon, including a novel by a course colleague set between Japan and Rome. Talk about swoon-worthy locations! So it felt serendipitous to see the New York Times run a special Japan Life & Style section lately, including this piece on how Japan has taken American cultural imports (like convenience stores, ice, and whisky) and reinvented them with its own craftsmanship, to the extent their versions are now copied by Americans.
“Jeremy Renner: I was crushed by my own snowplough — and survived”, The Times [PW]. I knew Jeremy Renner, action star and Avengers hero, had been in a serious accident a couple of years ago but wow, I never knew just quite how shockingly awful it was. In a move which sounds like it was something out of a Mission Impossible movie, Renner tried to run along the top of a moving snowplough to save his nephew from an accident, before falling and being crushed by its treads (his nephew thankfully was fine). His account of what the machine did to his body is so horrendous that I advise you not to read it whilst you’re eating. He’s unbelievably lucky to be alive.
“Oprah & Jillian Turecki on Looking Within to Improve Your Relationships”, The Oprah Podcast [via YouTube]. In a sea of vapid instagram narcissists dressed up as experts, be a Jillian Turecki. I’m thrilled to see her hitting the big time for her no-nonsense advice, all delivered with the measured, calm voice of a trusted big sister. I had a listen to this the other night whilst making dinner and it's a great introduction to her advice. I look forward to the book.
🎨 Arts, Culture & Entertainment
Hidden Figures, dir. Theodore Melfi (2016). Once I got over the fact this film is almost ten years old, it proved a great choice for a Friday film night with Andy’s teenage girls. Putting aside a few icks (Kevin Costner single-handedly removing segregated bathrooms at NASA…) it’s still a fantastic and important film, telling the stories of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson during the early years of the U.S. space program. Plus it has a banging soundtrack, produced by Pharrell Williams and including Janelle Monae (who plays Jackson).
Bad Sisters, Apple TV (2022). I know I’m super late to the party on this one but I’m adoring this black comedy from Sharon Horgan. I felt like the latest series of the White Lotus was sadder and more dread-inducing than I was expecting, so it’s felt good to get into something after where the line between dark and funny is still kept very taut. And how good is Claes Bang as the awful John Paul. From episode one I was really to kill him myself.
Hemingway on Pamplona, taken from The Dangerous Summer (1985). Despite it being very of its time, I love how well this passage captures the craziness of a Spanish fiesta like San Fermín. Something very similar could be said about the Valencian fiesta Les Falles…
Pamplona is no place to bring your wife. The odds are all in favor of her getting ill, hurt or wounded or at least jostled and wine squirted all over her, or of losing her; maybe all three. It’s a man’s fiesta and women at it make trouble, never intentionally of course, but they nearly always make or have trouble. I wrote a book on this once. Of course if she can talk Spanish so she knows she is being joked with and not insulted, if she can drink wine all day and all night and dance with any group of strangers who invite her, if she does not mind things being spilled on her, if she adores continual noise and music and loves fireworks, especially those that fall close to her or burn her clothes, if she thinks it is sound and logical to see how close you can come to being killed by bulls for fun and for free, if she doesn’t catch cold when she is rained on and appreciates dust, likes disorder and irregular meals and never needs to sleep and still keeps clean and neat without running water; then bring her. You’ll probably lose her to a better man than you.
📺 What have you seen lately that’s worth a read, watch or listen? Let me know in the comments.
🍹 Lifestyle
Somos Raro, Pg. de l'Albereda, 10, Valencia. Ate an unexpectedly epic dinner at this spot last night, so it’s going straight into my weekly round up as a reminder to myself for future visits! We were with friends looking for a spot where we could grab a relaxed bite and Somos Raro could fit us in. It was a little more upscale than we anticipated but the food blew us away and came in at under 100 euros for four including a bottle of red. For that we shared a few plates including seasonal artichokes, fried cod cheeks, and golden brioches filled with hunks of tender lamb and minty yoghurt. Delish.
That’s it for this week. I hope you find something in this list that sparks joy or curiosity.
If you’ve got any recommendations on articles, podcasts, Substacks or shows for me to dive into, please drop them in the comments. Until next time!
❤️ Thank you for reading. If you liked this post don’t forget to hit the heart to let me know and help others find my writing.
📮 And if you’re not yet subscribed, all editions of Sunday Smörgåsbord are free forever. Sign up for free and get next week’s in your inbox.
Ohhh Bad Sisters sounds like something I’d like!
Love Hidden Figures and Bad Sisters! Great tips Emma. See you for the 60MBC 🤞🏼x