You’ve got two days left to shop our biggest sale of the year. Get up to $100 off every single thing on the site now through midnight tomorrow. It’s the perfect opportunity to stock up in advance of Thanksgiving weekend and the coming onslaught of holiday parties, family dinners, and Q4 work stress. If you need recommendations for yourself, your cousin, or a particular event, just drop us a line at hi@gossamer.co—we’d be happy to point you in the right direction. And if now is not the time for you to be shopping, don’t worry. There’ll be a few more chances to treat yourself before the month’s over.
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This being a cannabis-related newsletter and all, I know exactly what you think this piece is about. But Bloomberg’s Lara Williams’ exploration of the future of chocolate is, in fact, a sobering depiction of the current state of the cacao industry and what that means for workers, businesses, and sweet tooths (sweet teeth?). It’s a well-designed feature and not all that long, so you might as well read the whole thing, but the upshot is that the age of chocolate alternatives (or alt-chocolates) is here. The cost and fragility of cacao as global warming continues unabated is destroying crops and livelihoods—and chocolate as we know it. Combined with a growing consumer demand from places like China and India, the real thing will increasingly be a luxury, and everyone has to get ready for passable alternatives.
-DW
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A longer and very different read, this rare look into the personal possessions of the late Cormac McCarthy is well worth the time. A noted recluse, taking stock of the things McCarthy owned (annotated volumes on topics from quantum physics, rare books on naked mole rats and sports cars, hundreds of tweed jackets) and the things he did not (WiFi, a computer) help reveal the man behind a dozen acclaimed novels and other writings. One detail that should make some of you feel better about your own habits: McCarthy wrote in bed. In a California king with high-thread-count sheets, to be exact.
-DW
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I was already planning to recommend Flesh before it won the Booker Prize earlier this week, but honestly, it deserves every ounce of the attention. David Szalay’s novel is slim and deceptively simple (a young boy in Hungary, a tragic encounter, a slow unraveling), but it’s written with such precision and restraint that you barely notice how deeply it’s cutting until you’ve finished. I can’t stop thinking about it.
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You might remember artist Brianna Lance from a High Praise recommendation I wrote earlier this year. (A color print out of Delicate Balance is pinned to the corkboard above my desk.) Lance, whose watercolor works combine razor sharp detail with almost liminal dreamstates, has a new solo show at New York’s Entrance gallery. “Relentless Suggestions,” on now through December 13th, offers a more holistic view of the dense little worlds she creates: each painting a tiny universe of color, repetition, and beauty.
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In their newsletter this week, Hyperallergic linked to a 10-year-old writeup for the paperback release of More Than Words: Illustrated Letters from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. Intrigued, I dug around a little and found a digital copy on that you could “check out” for free. It’s not the same as holding the book in your hands, especially since the topic is so visual, but you get a good sense of it regardless. As someone who’s been thinking a lot about how to best document life, time, and parenthood, the wildly different artistic takes on self-reflection and expression give me much food for thought. Though I lack the necessary talent to measure up, “leafing through the pages” (clicking a button a bunch of times) inspired me to at least purchase a physical copy of the book, if not start writing my own.
-DW
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