The articles I enjoyed this past week and the book I plan to read this Shabbos.

• Uncanny Valley: A Memoir, by Anna Wiener

  A MEM-WA??? IN THIS GOOD NEWSLETTER??? Indeed, indeed. When a liberal arts major lands in the tech industry, I surmise that perhaps it will help me understand my muzh’s fascination with startups.

• Why I Take All My First Dates to Olive Garden, by Kristen N. Arnett in Bon Appetit back in 2019

  I read this when I still worked in an office. Also when I could still go to restaurants – such fun times they were! I love it because it’s understated but totally over the top at the same time; it’s happy-go-lucky with severe emotional undertones. I aspire to get my dreary, depressing writing to this level of self-aware, self-referential comedy. And it’s short. (For the record, this gorgeous, eons-long Ann Patchett in Harper’s might have been a Weekend Reads, IF I HAD MANAGED TO FINISH IT AFTER THREE NIGHTS OF ATTEMPTS.)

• IMPORTANT – READ THIS: Should We Be Leaving WhatsApp?, The Yeshiva World

  This is from last week, FYI. I didn’t write a Weekend Reads last week (and I didn’t write a blog post this week, either) because my muzh and I were sleep training a child and I felt like a terrible human being for a very long time. In unrelated news, I bought myself a new Zoom hat.

  In case your echo chamber – like mine – focuses pretty exclusively on people who understand the need to download Signal, feast your eyes on this delicious motivation to Do Nothing. I love reading a fleshed-out argument made by people I used to listen to at Shabbos tables in Washington Heights because now I don’t have to stifle my laughter or incredulity. By the way, did you know Yeshiva World News has their own Telegram channel?