Weekly Recs #61: The pleasure of community, romance fiction, and parenting
Featuring a fun Q&A about romance books with Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur of 831 Stories!
This is the Friday post at Downtime, a feel-good weekly roundup of recommendations and delightful distractions. If the email cuts off, you can view it on the web.
Happy Friday!
Lately, I’ve been craving something deeper—a sense of connection, of being part of something bigger than myself. This feeling hit me hard when I revisited an interview with Lauren Groff about her novel, Matrix. The book centers on the intimate relationships among nuns in a 12th-century abbey and the hard, physical labor they undertake to give the place a major glow-up. Oddly enough, I found it to be a comfort read.
At first, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why this strange book felt so soothing—until I came across this quote from Groff:
“A part of this book is this sort of repudiation of asceticism and a deep dive into sensory pleasure and the pleasure of community—the sort of spiritual pleasures that I think don't tend to be thought about or focused on that much in fiction….”
That phrase—the pleasure of community—jumped out at me. It perfectly captures the essence of the book, and it’s also something I’ve been searching for in my own life lately.
Maybe it’s the change of season, but I’m craving a new routine—one centered around community. Just this past week, I’ve been on a bit of a spree, looking up fitness classes, volunteer groups, baby classes. Not to better myself or get in shape, but simply to gather with others—purposefully and routinely. I haven’t found the answer yet, but I’m excited to keep trying. I think my spirit depends on it!
I’m curious: where will you find the pleasure of community this season? Are you getting into any new routines?
—Alisha
Before we get into today’s issue, a quick kid and reading-related thing I’m excited about…
We just got this play table with matching stools and this storage shelf from the new Eva Chen + West Elm Kids collaboration, and I could not be more in love. If you have little ones, you know how quickly their stuff can take over the house! We desperately needed better storage for Lily's playroom, so these arrived at the perfect time.
Eva is an author whose family loves to read, and you can tell she brought that love into this collection. Almost every piece of furniture includes built-in storage (perfect for books), and there’s even the cutest reading nook chair with a bookcase built into the side.
Right now, I’m using the bookshelf to neatly stow away her board books (I like to rotate the ones that are left out) and smaller toy pieces. I’ve stuffed that bottom drawer with the less sightly bits rattles, nail clippers, sunscreen, and little odds and ends. Closed storage! 🤌 The playroom now feels so much calmer, inviting, and (for now) organized.
The collection just launched, so definitely take a peek!
*sponsored mention in collaboration with Eva Chen + West Elm Kids.
x Alisha
👇 8 things worth trying…
Watch: We’ve been into the third season of Industry, HBO’s fast-paced and edgy investment banking drama. You might like it if you’re into rich people behaving badly, a la Succession. Kit Harrington, aka Jon Snow, stars in it if that interests you, too.
Listen: This episode of writer Jia Tolentino on Ezra Klein’s podcast, chatting about her New Yorker piece on Cocomelon. They dive into topics of parenting, screen-time, and pleasure in a way I found insightful and relatable.
Cook: I made two recipes that were a big hit and took less than thirty minutes to make, both from Caroline Chambers’s new cookbook. Coming from a harebrained mom of a toddler, I feel this is a pretty solid endorsement. (I made the turkey and cauliflower mash and the harissa lamb and hummus dish!)
Try: A lazy (or genius?) thing I do to make meal prep easier is utilize AI. I take a photo of the recipe, upload it, and ask ChatGPT to help me prep ingredients in advance. I pay for the premium version, but you could also just copy the text using iPhone’s live text feature.
Read: I’m diving into Big Fan by Alexandra Romanoff, a romance novella about a political strategist who meets her boy-band crush. I noted it in the fall books issue here!
Admire: This cozy series of women reading in bed by painter Frances Featherstone is 😍.
Cozy up: The new fall Chappywrap blankets look so good and would make a fantastic gift.
Wear: I bought this long-sleeved striped tee from a new-to-me brand and love how easy it is to throw on over jeans, plus the wider bell sleeve.
One thing worth skipping… The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives on Hulu. I was hoping for more of a documentary, but what I got in the first episode was a Real Housewives vibe… :/ Should I keep watching?
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Why We’re Hooked on Romance: A Q&A with 831 Stories
I chat with Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo, co-founders of 831 Stories—the hottest new romance publisher shaking up the genre. They spill on the inspiration behind their latest venture and break down the must-know romance tropes for every reader.
On why they started a new romance company…
Claire: We went down fandom rabbit holes where we discovered these wildly energizing, engaged, enthusiastic communities of readers. And while there’s no shortage of content to consume, it felt like they were being underserved as a fandom.
If you go looking for any other audience of this size that behaves in the way they do, what you’ll find is comic book fans, reality TV fans, or Taylor Swift fans—in other words, communities that are bolstered and served by large entertainment companies like Marvel or Bravo or Taylor Nation. That didn’t exist in the same way for romance fans, so we decided we wanted to build it.
On the recent, exciting shift in romance…
Claire: This genre that had been so stigmatized for so long—and that is so explicit and unabashed in its approach to sex and female pleasure—was now reaching mainstream audiences, a lot of whom you might even consider conservative. It was fascinating to us that it was being embraced in such a big way.
On choosing your first romance novel…
Erica: You know we’re going to say to start with Big Fan by Alexandra Romanoff, but It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey, Seven Days in June by Tia Williams, and How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang are also excellent entry points, if you ask us.
Once you’re a few books in, pay attention to the tropes you like—they’re kind of the zodiac of the genre—and let that guide you. Are you an enemies-to-lovers person? Forced proximity? Sports romance? (We have a hat for that.)
On how widespread romance readers are…
Erica: Everyone has someone in their life who is a huge romance reader! Whether it’s their mom with a serious, stressful job who shuts herself in her bedroom on Friday nights with her books, or a college roommate or, more and more, a niece who found her way to the genre via YA or BookTok. Romance is for everyone!
How they’d describe Big Fan in three emojis…
🎤🗳️🍆
Follow along @831stories.
This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
A few good extras:
How the heck do I make friends as an adult? Such a helpful piece from
with solid ideas.Can one person make a difference? I wanted to find out. (Vox) — A personal essay about volunteering. “I caught a charitable bug. None of this was hard, I realized. I just hadn’t prioritized any of it.”
“The life of a devoted hater looks curiously like that of a fan.” (Defector) — “As long as there have been celebrities, there have been fans who build identities off of their proximity to those celebrities.”
I loved learning more about the life of Tove Jansson, the creator of Moomin.
“18 things I give zero fucks about since becoming a mom” from
.The new SNL origin story movie looks so good. Out in October!
A reader comment:
“I am not anti-classic but I tend to stay away from them because I know they will take me longer to read and digest. So this fall I really want to pick up one of the classics I already own (i.e., Pride and Prejudice, The Age of Innocence, or East of Eden). Hopefully I'll stick to this goal! I am a mood reader to a fault and pick up whatever sounds good in the moment completely forgetting any TBR I try and create!” — Allie, in response to the fall books issue
See you next week! x Alisha
I deeply, deeply need community too. I signed up for a baby music class for me and my 7-month-old to hopefully meet some moms and get us out of the house one day a week.
This newsletter feels like a return to Friday Nights In and I am so here for it! 🙌🏽🙏🏽🫶🏽