Plus: Fake Twitter accounts, Britney Spears, and The Golden Bachelor

View this email online by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when there was sort of one last Beatles song. It was the week when, again, somebody made a very horrible decision about a Halloween costume and instantly regretted it. And it was the week when, yes, the actors strike continued. (Lots more at the news quiz.) Let's get to it. Reading is all about finding the perfect spot I was unable to resist a recent headline over at Wirecutter on a piece by Kase Wickman: "How I Customized My Kindle for the Coziest Reading Sessions of My Life." I have been an e-reader fan since the very earliest Kindles. I love having a ton of books with me at all times, I love being able to switch between them on a whim, I love not accumulating physical books I don't have room for, and with some books, I love being able to search for a passage I remember. A reader relaxes in London. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images I do not, however, always love the physical reading experience, particularly when lying in bed. Even if you find the right case, it's easy to end up sort of crooking your elbow funny, or having your hand in a weird position, or suddenly realizing you've got your wrist pulled back like a claw. What the Wirecutter piece suggests is a two-part solution: You put your Kindle on a stand, like the kind of bendy contraption you'd use for a lamp, so you don't have to hold it. Then, you buy a remote consisting of a clip that attaches to the edge of the Kindle and the actual remote (about the size of a pack of gum) that you hold in your hand. What this means is that you can lie in bed with the little remote in your hand but nothing else, press the button to advance pages, and read without moving. Now, when I duplicated this setup for myself (because of course I did), I rather gleefully told people I had discovered a new level of being lazy. And I still believe it. It took a little fiddling to get it all working, but when I did, I could indeed lie still, hold almost nothing in my hands, and read a book that hovered in front of my face. I am not necessarily endorsing this setup; it is the understatement of the century to say that I do not need it. If I lived with someone else, there is an excellent chance they would giggle at me, and I would have no defense. (By the way, setups similar to this can be very important for people with disabilities; I am speaking only about my experience as a person doing it because I feel like it, sheerly for the comfort.) But I do think there's something about reading. On the one hand, you can do it almost anywhere: in line at the bank, on a plane, in the back of a car, on a desert island. But on the other, it is such a profound pleasure to get your setup exactly how you want it. The chair, the light, the ambient temperature, the sound or lack of sound. (Some people can listen to music while they read; I mostly can't.) Nothing should take you out of the book. Nothing should disturb you. Nothing should bug you. You should be responsible only to the book; that's the dream. Reading is personal. You do it at your own pace and on your own schedule (book readers were debating the binge versus the little-bit-at-a-time long before Netflix). It is for you and nobody else; it is not even available to people who are in the room with you. It is the mental activity I find closest to meditation. And so, yes, I lie in bed now, my little remote in my hand, my dog asleep at my feet, my Kindle hovering in front of my eyes like a robot on The Jetsons is presenting it to me, and I read. The colder it gets this winter, the more glad I will be that the only thing that has to peek out from under the covers will be the remote hand. I have no regrets, just lots and lots of books to read. Newsletter continues after sponsor message We Recommend It's hard to believe HBO executives could spend their free time coming up with fake Twitter accounts to attack critics whose reviews they didn't agree with, but we learned this week that that's exactly what they did. I was so incredibly sad to hear about the death of Matthew Perry this week. He was such an enormously important comedic presence for me, and I admired the work he did to try to share his experiences with addiction to help other people. There was a lot of good writing about him and about Friends this week; you can start here and here. And don't miss this interview. I was fascinated by this story about "undead brands," which, among other things, answers the question, "What ever happened to Juicy Couture?" Listen to the Podcast Sponsor-Free Support your favorite pop culture junkies AND listen without sponsor interruptions with a subscription to Pop Culture Happy Hour+! Learn more and sign up at plus.npr.org/happy. Learn More What We Did This Week Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi in Priscilla. A24 Glen and I had a great time talking to Andrew Limbong about the Alexander Payne film The Holdovers, which we all liked. We shared a special episode of It's Been A Minute in which Brittany Luse talks to her guests about Britney Spears. Stephen and Reanna Cruz went deep on Five Nights at Freddy's, the big hit of the week. Stephen and I were thrilled to be joined by Karen Grigsby Bates to talk about The Golden Bachelor, a surprisingly charming (?) spin on the franchise. And Stephen and Aisha were joined by Reanna Cruz and Kristen Meinzer to talk about Sofia Coppola's Priscilla. There's great news on the "reading Aisha's reviews" front this week, because she has both a review of Priscilla and a piece about Martin Scorsese and Killers of the Flower Moon. What's Making Us Happy Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: Kristen Meinzer: The official Gilded Age podcast from HBO Reanna Cruz: TikTok food critic Keith Lee Aisha Harris: Bargain, on Paramount+ Stephen Thompson: Madi Diaz's new song "Same Risk" from her upcoming album Weird Faith Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+. Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free episodes. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: pchh@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Books, Daily News and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Pop Culture Happy Hour emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy