Links & Lit

Thoughts on All the Way To the River, breaking literary news, must watch tv, great links & more

Sep 21, 2025

Hello!

I hope you’re having a good weekend. I’ve been enjoying time spent outside, a Saturday night spent playing euchre, and several fun hours researching backlist books with atmospheric, unsettling vibes. It’s sometimes the curse—but mostly the delight—of being a mood reader that I get into hyper specific seasonal reading moods and end up going down backlist rabbit holes.

In case you too are looking for these types of seasonal reads, here are a few books I came across that I added to my tbr: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, The Grip of It by Jac Jemc, and Julia by Peter Straub. I’ve had Ghost Story by Peter Straub (as well as Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier) on my fall tbr for years, so maybe this year will be the year I finally read those. I’ve also never read Kate Morton and I know many of her books would fall into the atmospherically unsettling fall vibes category. If you’ve enjoyed her books and have a suggestion on which one is a great place to start let me know in the comments:)

Recent Reads

All the Way To the River: Love, Loss and Liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert

**Thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for my complimentary audiobook

I’m sure by now you’ve heard of this new memoir, but in case you don’t know what it’s about….In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya. They became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare: The two were in love. They were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe.

Let me start by saying, I’m not an Elizabeth Gilbert super fan. I’ve read and loved Big Magic (bought a print copy because I loved it so much), thought City of Girls was fine, and have listened and enjoyed her Big Magic podcast series. I never read Eat, Pray, Love although I think I watched the movie. When I started reading the excerpts that were released before the book came out and all the negative opinions surrounding said excerpts, I decided to read it so I could form my own opinion. Within the first few pages I almost dnfed it (didn’t finish).

She starts the story by detailing how Rayya came to her in a vision (years after she died) and provides pages of what exactly Rayya had to say, most importantly seeming to be that she (Gilbert) needs to tell their story and that Rayya gives her permission to do so1. I should note, I listened to this entire book and hearing her start the story with a barrage of the words “dude” and “babe” was significant foreshadowing of just how much I was going to hear those words as the story progressed. That being said, Gilbert narrating her own story brought heightened levels of emotion to her story.

Gilbert goes on to tell a story of deep friendship followed by destructive love. She is an incredible storyteller and after those slightly cringey opening pages I found myself compelled by the story she was weaving. This felt like I was getting a behind the scenes glimpse of someone who had projected a certain guru like personna for so long and she was saying but wait, there’s actually way more to that personna than any of you ever knew. It absolutely comes across as risky because what Gilbert shares throughout this book is in opposition to the “nice Eat, Pray, Love lady2” she had been for so many years.

My listening experience reminded me of a roller coaster ride. There were times I was blown away by her sharp insight, times I wished I had the book and a highlighter because there were things she said that made me feel seen. And then…there were times I felt like I was being lectured to and/or attending a TED talk I didn’t sign up for. As someone with a background as a mental health therapist, there were times I felt she was using terms, diagnoses, etc in careless ways. I also felt heightened levels of frustration with certain “studies” she referenced as if they were the end all be all of facts.

I think it’s hard to criticize a memoir, it’s someone’s story as they experienced and reflected on it right? But I do have a two additional criticisms that impacted my experience of this memoir. One, the sheer number of times the word “dude” was used throughout this book was so annoying and detracted from the serious topics; listening to her saying it over and over elevated my annoyance. Two, toward the end, Gilbert said something happened involving herself, Rayya, and Rayya’s mother that went beyond stretching credibility for me3. Way beyond. It made me decide I probably won’t read Elizabeth Gilbert again.

I recently read this NYT opinion piece from Jessica Grose and found myself shaking my head yes to the whole article - I’m providing the gift link if you’d like to read it

Breaking Literary & Culture News

Attention Joe Goldberg fans (🙋🏼‍♀️), we’re getting a new book on June 9, 2026! You First by Caroline Kepnes will be a prequel and the very limited info out there says it’s about…. How did Joe Goldberg become Joe Goldberg? What led to his first love…first kiss…first kill? I mean we need the answers to these questions right? My first thought was are we getting teenager Joe Goldberg or college Joe? Either way, I’m here for it and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the audiobook because Santino Fontana IS Joe Goldberg as far as I’m concerned (I only listen to these books because he’s that good at narrating)
Mark your reading calendars! Coming fall 2026 is the new Emily St John Mandel book, Exit Party. It’s a new mind-bending epic: a story of crimes committed and loves lost across space and time. I don’t need to know anything else, I’ll be reading it!
New Literary Newsletter Alert! For the next eight weeks, Harpers Bazaar will feature a new literary newsletter called “A Closer Read” from novelist and features director Kaitlyn Greenidge. Kaitlyn has written her own Substack called What It Is I Think I’m Doing for the past five years. Each issue of A Closer Read will highlight a single book.
White Lotus Season 4 is in the works and they’re heading to France! Details can be found here. Can’t Wait!

What I Watched

Task (HBO) - This is a new FBI crime drama starring Mark Ruffalo. My husband and I watched the first two episodes and we both loved it. The task force is trying to figure out who’s behind a string of violent robberies targeting drug houses. The viewers know who’s behind them and this only increases the suspense. This is my favorite type of crime drama- the characters are unpredictable and the tension and suspense underly just about every scene.

Black Rabbit (Netflix) - We’ve also watched two episodes of this and at first we were quite sure if we loved it, but now we’re all in. I love the NYC restaurant setting and I love Jason Bateman as the hot mess he is as brother to Jude Law (owner of the restaurant). The opening scene was action packed and reminded me of some of the very best prologues in books, the kind where you just have to know how it all ended up going so spectacularly wrong.

Caught Stealing (movie out now) - I saw this with my husband and oldest son and we all loved it. It stars Austin Butler who unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of 1990s New York City when he’s forced to navigate a treacherous underworld he never imagined. This is action packed and very violent (and gruesome) at times. It was also quite funny in places. It’s based on the book Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston- I immediately downloaded book two, Six Bad Things.

Links I Enjoyed

How ultra low stress exercise can change your life - A great reminder that being active takes many worthwhile forms The Guardian
The Last Days of Social Media - an interesting article and timely for me because I’m taking a break from Instagram Noema
The 25 Best Mystery Novels of the Past 25 Years WSJ Gift Link
I still haven’t read Steinbeck but I loved getting this peek of the home where he used to write Homes & Gardens
One-Pot Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bon Appetit
The Best Nonfiction Books of 2025 So Far W Magazine
Backlist Dark Academia Books You Might’ve Missed Town and Country

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy Links & Lit, I love putting this type of newsletter together:)

Do you have thoughts on my review, any literary news to share or tv/movies you’ve watched?