Postmark | May 2026
Looking back at last month
At the end of last year, I moved my monthly reading recaps off Substack, off the Instagram feed, and into Instagram Stories. That still stands.
But as I’ve been thinking about how to make this space more sustainable — and a little more fun (or less pressure) — I realized I missed having a place to talk more directly about some recent reads.
So, we shall begin with the first monthly installment of Postmark.
Looking back at May…
ON THE PAGE
It was an interesting reading month. The first half was dominated by the SBL 2026 Summer Reading Guide (ooo, she pretty) — and the second half was me emerging from that swirling system of chaos and rediscovering my own reading.
Plus, I’m continuing my struggle between loving how well audiobooks are serving my reading AND wanting to get my butt back to reading print books. Some of that struggle is my amped-up ADHD, courtesy of perimenopause, and some of that is how busy some days can be and how easy it is to multitask. I remain grateful, but I am looking for better balance.
For May, I had two strong contenders for a top book, and I did waffle between the two. But ultimately I went with the one that dove deep into the art world. It’s too early right now to say for sure if I will be sharing this one on an upcoming Double Booked or not. So I have to hang onto my thoughts about it for now. And some of you won’t like it, but my favorite book of May was the 4.5 star one and not the full 5.
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith (2016) works within the framework of three separate timelines, each touching on the art world in a different way and from a different era and vantage point. I adored being embedded so thoroughly in this book with its messiness and snapshots of beauty. It barely beat out Fear and Fury by Heather Ann Thompson (2026), which was definitely a remarkable and standout read in its way. My love for the art world and the depiction of creating or critiquing art will always push something up those extra notches. (4.5 ★)
ON THE SCREEN
This summer, with my younger son back from his freshman year at college, and us all being movie people, we are hoping to clear a bunch of films off the watchlist that cover both the “we watched that when I was too little to get it — let’s rewatch it” camp and the “we’ve been meaning to watch a few of these for a long time, and they happen to either be a remake or have one” side of things. So those are our main to areas for movie watching at home.
The Wicker Man (1973) was the first we tackled. It’s weird. That cannot be overstated. It’s folk horror and weird in the way that only an early 1970s movie can be. There is lots of random nakedness that felt fairly gratuitous (in that post-1960s way). It was also trying to do several things — largely around pitting religions and practices against each other. Now, I do have to caveat this with the fact that I don’t respond in a typical manner to horror. I am not scared easily at all. I don’t freak out over many things. And because of that, I am typically bored. I will say, this was so odd that boredom didn’t settle in for the long haul. So, there’s that. (5/10 ★)
The Wicker Man (2006) was the remake. It has Nicholas Cage and a really low IMDb rating, so we knew we were in for some less-than-fantastic movie watching. And it did deliver on that expectation. This was a WASTE of Ellen Burstyn, but maybe baby just needed to make bank. I respect that. (Plus, she looked gorgeous.) This had far less nudity (maybe none), but it also made far less sense. It was so disconnected from any semblance of plot that it made our opinion of the original go up a notch. (3/10 ★)
BOOKMARKED
As I write this, Whistler by Ann Patchett was delivered to my door straight from Parnassus (by way of the post office) and of course I dove right in. Aside from Tom Lake, which I DNFd twice, I always love the voice Patchett injects into her narratives with these fantastic characters. I’m thrilled to return to it this evening — and it’s in print. So, yay me.
And, let me just say… ”In case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!”
What have you been reading or watching lately? Any standouts, unexpected DNFs, or total surprises?
Happy June!
—C.
My husband is a Jason Bateman fan, so we had to try DTF St Louis. It was excellently acted, so well-written, but my husband said "I've never spent so much tv time thinking about another man's penis in my life."
He's not wrong.
Ok, so June not May, but I never watch movies and so this is reportable. I watched Hamnet on the plane today on the first leg of our journey. I struggle with O’Farrell’s writing (and wish I didn’t) but this movie was EXQUISITE. So moving and absolutely gorgeous.