The December Archive

December. This heart full of tears and of night. (Albert Camus)

some recommendations based on what i’ve been reading, watching and using in the month of december.

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— to read

The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen. (1967)

• (you can read my review here)

a quote that stuck with me: Childhood is dark and it's always moaning like a little animal that's locked in a cellar and forgotten. It comes out of your throat like your breath in the cold, and sometimes it's too little, other times too big. It never fits exactly. It's only when it has been cast off that you can look at it calmly and talk about it like an illness you've survived.

Tove Ditlevsen is today celebrated as one of the most important and unique voices in twentieth-century Danish literature, and The Copenhagen Trilogy (1969-71) is her acknowledged masterpiece. Childhood tells the story of a misfit child's single-minded determination to become a poet; Youth describes her early experiences of sex, work, and independence. Dependency picks up the story as the narrator embarks on the first of her four marriages and goes on to describe her horrible descent into drug addiction, enabled by her sinister, gaslighting doctor-husband.

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(articles corner)

Everything you need to know about St Lucia's Day written by Ciara Sheppard.

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“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” Isn’t a Feel-Good New York Story written by Perri Klass.

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— to watch

Under the Banner of Heaven created by Dustin Lance Black. (2022)

a quote that stuck with me: If there is not God, doesn’t it make this all the more miraculous?

A devout detective’s faith is tested as he investigates a brutal murder that seems to be connected to an esteemed Utah family’s spiral into LDS fundamentalism and their distrust in the government.

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The Family Stone directed by Thomas Bezucha. (2005)

a quote that stuck with me: I love you. And you are more normal than any other asshole sitting at this table.

An uptight, conservative businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family’s annual Christmas celebration and finds that she’s a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life.

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Pamela Anderson’s Closet Picks by The Criterion Channel. (2024)

The actor and star of THE LAST SHOWGIRL talks about being profoundly inspired by Barbara Loden’s WANDA, shares her passion for the poetry of Abbas Kiarostami, and praises the style and craft of actors like Romy Schneider, Katharine Hepburn, and Jeanne Moreau.

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— to use

— Jigsaw puzzle - Young Hare by Albrecht Dürer. (for a new hobby)

— Chappell Roan. (for a new artist to discover)

— Paper stars and chains. (for a little fun Christmas DIY)

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see you next month!

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