Reads
Reading with Molly Young + Joana Avillez
Re cap from our Mexico City retreat.
We recently returned from our literary retreat in April with new friends joining us from San Fransisco, LA, Portland and NY. We spent time reading, exploring, and enjoyed dinner with Veronica Gerber Bicecci author of Empty Set. Some of our fav spots include: "Reading a book set in a place I just landed, and then meeting the author behind that book—that was a first for me, and I feel like that's how everyone should experience books." — Tina Smith
^ [reads] film
Meet our June [reads] curators: Molly Young + Joana Avillez
[reads]: A lot of [reads] friends including us, don't have enough time to read. Where do you read the most, and how do you make the time? Molly: I read while eating and while commuting on the subway. Multitasking! Here’s my calculus: reading makes me happier than going to the gym or cooking
elaborate meals or, uh, any other hobby, so I prioritize it over anything else that I could theoretically be doing. Joana: I've noticed my phone makes me read less, and my boyfriend makes me read more. He consumes about twelve books a week, so when I'm next to
him, I truly better bring a book. [reads]: [reads] is founded by two bffs! When did the two of you meet and what's it like working together? Molly: We met in college when we dated the same guy. (Not at the same time— we dated him sequentially.) He evaporated from the picture rather immediately
and we became friends after college. I always knew Joana was the marshmallow to my cocoa. Joana: My friendship and workship with Molly is something I want on display at all times, like a forehead tattoo. If you had told
me a decade ago that Molly and I would one day meld our brains and birth a book together, I would not necessarily have believed you — but I would have been completely envious
and utterly enamored of that vision. I always admired her from a far, so now I love getting to admire her up-close. Everything I thought about her was true, but even better. [reads]: What has been the biggest high and biggest low of creating and launching your book!? Molly: High: bonding with my co-authoress and gaining access to her treasure trove of a brain. Low: constantly refreshing the “author portal” sales data to see if we’ve sold any books. Unhealthy habit.
Joana: The constant high was working with Molly and revealing in our deluxe kinship. The only low that I can think of was in the beginning,
trying to make finished illustrations for the book before we had really solidified it's look. It felt like walking on an imaginary bridge that hadn't been built, but knowing you wouldn't
fall. [reads]: What are each of you currently reading now? Molly: Andrew Martin’s “Early Work” is a scrumptious novel about being a youngish person. He’s like a male Laurie Colwin, which is all
I ever want in a novelist. It is coming out this summer but you can, and should, pre-order it. There will be underlining. Also reading Marcy Dermansky’s “Bad Marie” (sultry, wicked, highly recommended) and rereading Amelie Nothomb’s “Fear and Trembling”, which is the ultimate workplace novel and you can read
it in about 10 seconds. Joana: I often read whatever Molly tells me too (I just ordered "Bad Marie"). Right now I'm reading "Speak, Memory", Nabokov's
memoirs, because I've run out of his other books, and because I'm a loser who likes all my sentences tied up in quippy little sun-bleached bows with butterflies on top. That sort of
stylish writing is like getting to take a nap in one of those cordoned-off baroque bedrooms in a museum; indulgence mixed with trespassing. [reads]: What are you both working on now, any exciting future plans you can share? Molly: Writing a screenplay with my husband that I can only describe as a “real estate thriller”—stay tuned! And pray for us to finish. Joana: I'm pushing along my usual wheelbarrow of jobs, which tips my brain in a myriad of directions. I'm also attempting to put nose to paper
on a book of illustrated essays (about which this sentence contains a hint!)
**A copy of their latest book, D C-T is
included as a bonus in addition to the 2 books in the June [reads] box— sign up HERE with code "readsnews" for a special discount <3
--> [reads] on social --> once you receive this month's [reads] tag us on on social @reads.delivery and tag your BFF. In honor of friendship (Molly + Joana, Emma + Rachael) we're giving one of your BFFs a [reads] box on us! <3
