Emily Grant
@emilymg91
lawyer & LA Public Library superfan. reading, thinking (and maybe writing) about a progressive Jewish future, civil rights, courts, and where justice, spirituality, and belonging intersect. plus literary fiction. views are mine.
You can’t even tell all the extreme weather indicators from this perfect looking picture from Malibu yesterday!!
Like… 🫠🫶 to Natalie Shapero (Can’t necessarily recommend sending it to your grandma, who might call you immediately with concern)
Also this is nearly a perfect issue to me— Molly Young, Natalie Shapero, Sheila Heti. Perhaps it will be this one that I read cover to cover.
7. (Sort of — this is out of order) Transcription, Ben Lerner. Reads like a fever dream (especially on an e reader), and has the wonderfully confounding experience of trying to locate where you heard, read, or thought something. A beautiful meditation that I’d like to return to in physical form.
Dispatches from the politics of grief and mourning—been pondering grief and futurism lately—and Shaul Magid’s piece on Tisha b’av hits (obv). Wishing depth and reverence, gentleness & interrogation, for all stepping into our calendar’s grief container tonight. May it lead us toward justice 🖤
A very specific vibe of coordinating protective presence for jummah prayers today in Ktown
accountability post, it’s *finally* time to crack this one open. (And a Gayle Brandeis response is the perfect way to say “you’re just on time”)
6. The Safekeep, Yael van der Wouden Stunning novel about how the Dutch treated Holocaust survivors (“returning Jews”) in the aftermath of WWII. Read if you like big empty houses, inscrutable women, and interrogating how post fascist society treats those most proximate to its violence.
5. The Wedding People, Alison Espach Cute/fun/light/self aware. “Wedding people perfect for this season of life” - text from one of my fav reading pals and close friends. Read if you like reading at least one “beach read” a year, making fun of elaborate weddings, and grief, perhaps?
not exactly what I had in mind with “sit,” but I’ll take a coworking buddy I guess 🤷♀️ @weratedogs.com
Had such a blast canvassing Brentwood with @faizahforla.bsky.social herself and a group of #JewsforFaizah. Brentwood is so ready for a progressive Los Angeles, and for real, healing change.
4. Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar I think this my new favorite contemporary novel. Of all time. 100 ⭐️s. I savored every page of this perfect book, took pictures of so many pages. Read if you like poetry, the Brooklyn museum, lucid dreaming, and your heart being ripped out of your chest.
See this is why you never run late in LA!! (Except I did make it in time to spend an hour kibitzing about Jewish politics within earshot of Paul McCartney, so, also take your time maybe.)
Great (surprise) bookmail today! An oft underlooked benefit to preorders: feeling like you’re getting a gift from past you 🫡 Cc @stschrader1.bsky.social (happy pub day!) and @unlawfulentries.bsky.social
@nithyaforthecity.bsky.social is very, very good at this—strong experience, progressive policy, and maybe most importantly, she’s a great, exciting, and dynamic communicator.
I was at the Shabbat observant No Kings yesterday, among many many other Jewish folks of varying observance, political affiliation, age. The protest marshals were trained by a local lefty trad egal minyan and were Shabbat observant themselves, too.
More pre-Pesach prep: beautiful speakers with @jewishcurrents.bsky.social this morning. Constantly reminded of the richness in our tradition that is ancient and also iterative.
3. The End of Romance, Lily Meyer 💯🌟Read if you like Hannah Arendt and Philip Roth, philosophizing romance’s impact on the human condition (lol), millennial DC, and—while perhaps niche—the experience of loving a book so much there’s a 99% chance you’re getting a tattoo of the turtle on the cover.
Being in AZ also means driving next to a guy decked out in Trump 2028 (including his hat)
Morning run pace leader 10/10* @weratedogs.com *so long as no squirrels are in sight