You're Excited its International Dog Day

Want a quirky book or are looking to get organized for fall

Hi friends,

Hope you had a great weekend.

A quick programming note before diving into this week’s recs: Next week’s newsletter, my fourth annual back-to-school edition, will be out on Tuesday due to Labor Day.

And, now, what to read if …

You’re Celebrating International Dog Day

Dog Songs by Mary Oliver

If you asked my dog, Ellie, every day is International Dog Day, but the official date is today, August 26. We will be partying with blueberries and belly rubs, and if we’re feeling really wild, a pizza.

If you’re giving your furry friend some extra love today, check out Mary Oliver’s Dog Songs, a joyful celebration of the relationship between people and dogs. Dog Songs is a reminder of why Oliver is such a beloved poet — her work is accessible, yet moving, with evocative, memorable imagery. It includes poems about her beloved pup, Percy, adopting a dog with an unknown background and the lessons dogs teach their human companions (in my case, the joy of living in the moment and the importance of naps).

As I wrote in a previous newsletter about a separate Oliver collection, “Her poems celebrate everything from peonies and beans to wild geese and blue heron. I especially love her poems about her dogs (I dare any dog owner to read this one and not feel something).” And I should include a warning for dog lovers: this one might make you tear up a bit.

I found an audiobook version read by Oliver and enjoyed it. It’s a quick listen and you can hear how much affection she has for her canine friends in her voice.

Reminder recs: Some of my fave dog books are The Headmaster’s List by Melissa de la Cruz (adorable service dog named Riley), Mike Chen’s Vampire Weekend (beloved Corgi named Lola) and London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency by Kate MacDougall.

You’re Looking for Something Quirky

Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

If you had told me last year that one of my favorite books of 2024 would be about a single mom making a living on Only Fans and her pro-wrestler father, I would have looked at you like you had three heads. And, yet Rufi Thorpe’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles charmed me so completely I’m still thinking about the characters months after finishing it.

Our title character, twenty-year-old Margo, does indeed have money troubles after her English professor gets her pregnant and promptly disappears after learning about the baby. After she’s fired for missing shifts due to lack of childcare and her roommates bail after too many nights spent with a screaming infant, Margo considers her estranged father’s offer to move in and offer childcare a godsend. When her dad, Jinx, mentions one of his former colleagues on the wrestling circuit now makes a living on Only Fans, a subscription website mostly known for adult entertainment options, Margo starts to consider a career that would offer her the flexibility to care for her child while paying her bills.

It’s quite the set up, and in the wrong hands, it could easily veer over into a disaster, but Rufi Thorpe beautifully threads the needle. It’s a warm, funny and surprisingly moving meditation on love, motherhood, daughterhood and what it means to grow up. Fans of Kevin Wilson won’t want to miss this one.

You’re Crossing Off the Last Items on Your Summer To-Do List

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

Every summer when I was a kid, my mom had me and my brother write a “summer checklist” of things we wanted to do during our vacation. It included things like “eat ice cream,” “go to Lake George,” and “go to the Saratoga Racetrack.” I made one earlier this summer when I visited my parents and it still included many of the same items (I really love ice cream). If you’re working through an end-of-summer list or are trying to get ready for the back-to-school season, The Checklist Manifesto is for you.

In it, surgeon and writer Atul Gawande describes how the simplest of organizational tools — the checklist — can not just boost organization but save lives. In hospitals and airplanes, medical professionals and pilots rely on checklists to ensure they get the basic, rote tasks correct. In Austria, a checklist protocol saved the life of a drowning victim who spent thirty minutes underwater, while in a Michigan ICU, a checklist nearly eliminated a common hospital infection. He explores these examples, as well the psychology of why such a simple intervention makes such a big difference.

For lack of a better term, I’ve been a bit radicalized by The Checklist Manifesto. My poor coworkers have heard a lot about it. Since reading it, I’ve established a few formal checklists in my own life (i.e. my morning routine, things I do every week at work, etc) and have found they do (probably unsurprisingly) help.

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Thanks for reading! I’ll be back on Tuesday.

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