Wild and Dark? Sure.

Plus, PeeWee and a gay republican.

I watched the PeeWee Herman documentary on HBOMax, or however that channel is identifying today. I certainly do not want to deadname it. The two-part doc was quite excellent, and I assume the platform is airing it as penance for continuing to foist And Just Like That upon us. (Note that, despite hating it, I continue to watch And Just Like That, an empty shell of a show that erases all the good memories we collectively kept of Sex and the City like it’s one of those sticks that aliens hold in front of your face like in Men in Black. Also, send Aidan to Guantanamo.)

But back to PeeWee, the documentary is wonderful. One review raved, “This documentary was so moving as a portrait of an underrated genius and a meditation on the horrors of the closet, who gets/has to be in it, and how the tortured complications of it may fuel creativity. It’s also a great example of how the subjects of documentaries should never have control of the finished product.” This was actually my letterboxd review. And I meant it.

It’s cobbled together expertly from more than 40 hours of interview footage of Paul Rubens, and much of the intrigue comes from wondering just how much control he’s willing to cede to the director. We see the character of PeeWee come together from some very sad origins, namely cribbing some of his mannerisms from loved ones he lost over the years. You also get to see how handsome he was out of character, a fact that he no doubt tried to hide through grotesque character work.

As a big fan of PeeWee’s Big Adventure and PeeWee’s Playhouse (and of course PeeWee’s Christmas Special,) I always knew there was something queer coded happening, but I couldn’t have known the pain he was experiencing, being closeted. In fact, he was re-closeted after living an open life for a while. The politics of the closet are timely once again, unfortunately, and this documentary hints how his purposeful closeting might have actually helped lead to creativity.

I don’t to give away too much because it’s worth watching how he unveils the complications around his sexual orientation. Check out PeeWee As Himself if you can.

Plus, books!

THE LIBRARY IS OPEN

Wild Dark Shore

by Charlotte McConaghy (2025)

While I’m a little stuck in the Kindle industrial complex, I try not to give Amazon too much credit for anything. But I do have to hand it to them for picking Wild Dark Shore their Best Book of 2025 So Far. This one kept the pages turning, and I’m not even sure into what genre I would place it. Ecothriller? Family mystery? Whatever the opposite of a travel book is? Counter-programming for the insane summer heat brought along by climate change? Whatever it is, it’s good.

Dominic Salt and his three kids are currently the only inhabitants of a tiny island named Shearwater, chilling quite literally near Antartica. Dominic, rather than go to therapy after the death of his wife, I assume, has taken on the job of caring for the few facilities on this remote island, and his kids have come along with him even though they should probably be in high school or middle school in Australia. If you’re wondering what it’s like there, it’s based on real life Macquarie Island, which looks beautiful and terrifying. Speaking of, one day, disrupting their otherwise peaceful existence, a mysterious woman washes ashore. You’re not going to believe this, but as the family nurses her back to health secrets emerge, and nothing is the same ever again. Really unpredictable stuff happens. I was riveted.

To say more would be giving away some of the many, many plot twists that occur. And all those twists feel earned, and they’re never gimmicky. I put this book off for a long time because for some reason I assumed that a woman washing ashore meant this was set in times of ye olde ships having Moby Dickesque maritime adventures - my literary Kryptonite - but it’s set in current or slightly future times. As several mysteries unfolds, we also learn that the family has to pack up and leave soon because the island may no longer exists soon due to rising waters. So when it feels like it’s this family up against the world, it quite literally is. And don’t worry those of you who come here for the good gay shit, there’s a super bleak storyline for our community too. Anyway, this book rules. For sure one of the best books of the year so far.

Read it if you like: family mystery, lots of chapters ending in cliffhangers, environmental catastrophes, novels set in places you can’t believe actually kind of exist, books that will clearly be adapted into something great someday.

How to Sleep at Night

by Elizabeth Harris (2025)

I rarely speak aloud to a book I’m reading, but sometimes a character comes along that makes me feel like I’m going so insane that I need to bargain with the novel in front of me. Can this person be real? Have they been created specifically to upset me or to push my smug, moral superiority button? Don’t I get enough exasperation by clicking on literally ANY news story these days? Like I said, this is rare. But How to Sleep at Night delivered me to the Village of Character Frustration by introducing me to doozy: a gay man running for Congress as a Republican.

Ethan and Gabe are the perfect assimilationist gay couple: house in the burbs, a child who behaves most of the time, movie star good looks. However, their political beliefs have drifted to opposite ends of the spectrum. (At this point, I’m begging Gabe to go anywhere else but here. Run, Gabe, run!) Ethan’s sister Kate is a reporter at a major publication and lesbian about town, and one day she gets an instagram DM from a former paramour from college who ghosted her and ended up marrying a man. The lives and fates of these four intertwine and collide during Ethan’s run for Congress. Regarding his run for congress, this would be the headline I recommend:

Now, this book was released very early this year, and surely Harris could not have predicted what the last six months could have looked or felt like. And this gay republican (gag) is certainly not portrayed as a hero, in my opinion. But the book made me feel all sorts of feelings because at its heart it’s about the way we talk to the closest people in our lives when we don’t agree with their politics, and, to a certain extent, their values. For all of this, the timing was spot on. Most people I know, including me, are dealing with family members whose values have not been changed, but exposed, by the current administration. I felt seen by the book, but maybe in ways I wish none of us had to confront. Am I prattling on about this? Sorry, I just visited my hometown in a very polarized Northeastern PA.

I really enjoyed the book a lot, and it’s so timely. However, gay Republicans can continue to stay pressed in places outside of my social circles.

Read it if you like: political intrigue, complicated family stuff, gay relatives, how we have to live now in 2025, pleading for a spineless character to leave his repugnant husband.

What is Wrong with You?

by Paul Rudnick (2025)

You need to know at the outset that this book almost goes off the rails a bunch of times. It’s kind of a big mess! However, it’s a really fun big mess that sneaks up on you with some moving moments. And that’s quite a feat for how much tomfoolery is afoot. Plus, I loved the last book by this author. It was one of my favorite books the year it came out, so I was ready to ride with this one no matter where it went.

A cast of characters. To wit: Trone is a billionaire eccentric along the lines of those who are trying to turn our country into an oligarchy/kakistocracy. He’s about to marry Linda, an airline stewardess who has been *through* it and also may still be in love with her ex-husband. That’s Sean, he’s a personal trainer and former television superhero. One of his clients is Rob, a book editor who is mourning his husband’s recent passing and fighting for his job against a rogue sensitivity consultant Isabelle. Rob is editing the work of an Appalachian memoir prodigy whose name is Tremble.

This book is silly, and Paul Rudnick is a playwright from back in the day with a wicked sense of humor. Imagine sitting at brunch with your bitchiest friend with the biggest vocabulary. That’s the storytelling vibe. We run the gamut of the whole human experience - death, sickness, cheating, horrible HR professionals, too much attention being paid to billionaires, etc. It’s zany and absurdist and worth your time if you’d like to spend a while with a bunch of occasionally relatable characters just trying to survive 2025.

Read it if you like: comedy ensembles, messy books, lines that make you actually laugh out loud, making fun of oversensitive young people, actually thinking: What is wrong with you?

LIGHTNING ROUND

The Millions is giving us a summer book preview, even though autumn can’t get here soon enough.

I don’t listen consistently anymore, but I’m kind of bummed that the WTF podcast is ending.

My sister-in-law asked if I would crochet her a bag, so, inspired by first-time Mary Tyler Moore Show watch, I made her a kitschy 70s style handbag.

I have a bunch of books read and ready to be reported, so I’ll be back again very soon.

Until next time…happy reading!