5SR - December 5, 2023

Today’s #5SmartReads contributor is Abigail! Abigail is the founder of This Needs Hot Sauce, a food newsletter and community. She lives in Brooklyn, works in PR for some fantastic food, beverage & lifestyle brands and is not a fan of early sunsets. She's currently very into reading with a holiday candle burning and cozy smiley face slippers.

This Needs Hot Sauce 2023 Gift Guide (This Needs Hot Sauce)

Forgive the self promotion but I wrote my 4th annual gift guide and it's really good. I know there are a lot of gift guides on the internet but what sets this one apart is that everything in here is something I own or have gifted to a love one.

I get to try a lot of stuff and most of it does not make the cut. I love hearing that this guide helps people shop for loved ones and it's chock full of gifts from small businesses, including food gifts, home gifts, and a candle section.

I limit myself to one Amazon link per year and usually start planning this over the winter. Happy gifting!

Lucy Yu’s thriving New York bookstore burned down. How can she rebuild without burning out? (The Guardian)

Yu & Me Books is New York's first Asian American woman owned bookstore and it suffered a terrible fire earlier this year (the damage included about $60,000 worth of book and the beautiful space which had been painstakingly designed).

Owner Lucy Yu, 29, quickly launched fundraisers to rebuild the shop in its original location, opened a temporary space in the Essex market and scheduled a full calendar of readings and events. Not surprisingly, she's burned out and talking about it.

I hope Yu & Me Books is a part of the fabric of New York for a very long time and that means Lucy and her team need to be able to take care of themselves and prioritze rest, which is impossible to do in a state of emergency.

This article includes advice from a few experts and I'm glad Lucy is normalizing admitting when we're not okay and need help. You can support her shop on Bookshop.org or by visiting their temporary location.

Is the campus Novel Dead? (Esquire)

Sticking with a literary theme, is the campus novel dead? I've read so many books set on a college campus and remember my own less than stellar college experience vividly.

The pandemic changed the college experience dramatically and that's being reflected in literature. Campus novels are such a time capsule because the experience changes so rapidly—I remember reading The Idiot, which takes place right when email became a part of the college experience. Now it would be hard to imagine college (or life without that).

Now college is farther away from the campus itself and the books will be too. I'll be reading.

I’m a media reporter and diehard Swiftie. I don’t cover Taylor, but here’s how I wish someone would. (Nieman Lab)

I have been a Taylor Swift fan since Debut and have spent more minutes than I care to admit watching Eras tour clips on TikTok this year. Taylor hasn't spoken to the press in a long time so the question of how to cover her is a big one.

I'd love to see more nuanced coverage of her that's somewhere between fan service and full on investigations—her influence spans so many industries and even with so many headlines about her, it can feel like we've barely scratched the surface.

When War Sells Serum (The Unpublishable)

Jessica DeFino's writing on the beauty industry always makes me pause and think and this newsletter is so no exception.

Beauty brands are using the current Israel-Palestine conflict to sell serums. Military language is deeply embedded in our daily vernacular but it's really jarring when there's an actual military action going on . This quote is something I'll be thinking about for a while,

If you’re enjoying this newsletter, might you consider referring it to those who may as well? Referrals unlock perks such as merch, books, and mentoring sessions with our team!

Thank you for being a part of this smart community - it means the world to us.