Ladles and Gentlebeans! Welcome to the Good Thing Going Digest- a survey of what we're reading, behind-the-scenes glimpses, favorite links, musings from me (Lena!) and the Good Thing Going team. You can expect a lot, but bibliophilic miscellany is our backbone (and front bone.)
Good Thing Going is, first and foremost, a production company- we create films, television, podcasts and theater. We love what we do, and that’s because because we love stories- watching them, telling them, hearing them and *reading* them. We believe, in this chaos mama of a world, that stories have the power to unite people profoundly and to offer us the sweet wink of self-recognition.
The root of storytelling is, for us, on the page- books are where we find comfort, inspiration, education and- the ultimate compliment- coziness. If it was up to us, Sundays would be spent in a padded nook with an endless pot of green tea, reading parallel to someone you love and hearing them gasp or snort with laughter.
A word about me, dear reader:
NAME- Lena Dunham
OCCUPATION- writer, director, occasional actor, Good Thing Going co-founder, certified speed reader because I failed freshman biology and a continuing education class in the subject was my only chance to atone. Best thing I ever did for my future, before I even understood what having a future meant.
READING STATS- 54 audiobooks logged in 2024 and that's not counting the pile by the bed...
WHY READ? - Reading has been the place I could escape, especially as a chronically ill person who hasn't always felt at home IRL. But increasingly, it's also become a medium for deep connection- by sharing dialogue with other readers and other writers.
FAVORITE WRITERS- That question changes by the hour, but some personal hall of famers include Elaine Dundy, Lisa Taddeo, Morgan Parker, Rachel Rabbit White, Bill Clegg, Maya Angelou, Rachel Aviv, Julie Salomon, Philip Roth, Nikki Giovanni, Nora Ephron, Raven Leilani, Deborah Eisenberg, Legs McNeil, Mark Epstein M.D., Sally Rooney, J.R. Ackerley, Cyrus Dunham, Tana French, WS Merwin, Melissa Febos, Michael Lewis, Carmen Maria Machado, Alissa Bennett, Charlotte Bronte, Annie Ernaux, Ariana Reines, Graham Greene, Leslie Jameson…
Recent books that have blown me away are by Emerson Whitney, Tabitha Lasley, Meg Howrey, Alice Carrière, Danzy Senna, Catherine Lacey, Jill Ciment, Tourmaline, Nina Renata Aron, Sarah Thankam Matthews…
There is no shortage of book clubs to suit the taste of any reader- whether you're into sexual dragon stuff or true crime or something more like this:
So how are we different? I would say our specialty here is a high-low mix (as it is when it comes to most things- shout out to free hospital socks worn with pre-loved JW Anderson shoes bought on Vestiaire, to a French new wave film festival followed by an episode of Dateline!), We’ll move between sexy, gossipy memoirs and poetry, overlooked classics and awkward auto-fiction, chick-lit and esteemed literary Jonathans. If something makes us twitch with recognition or itch with fascination, it's on the list, on our radar, or in our carts. We aren't simply surfing the winds of the internet (had to leave because I survived New York media in 2011 and all I got was this lousy t-shirt) but we know what we like and we know we want to celebrate it.
That will take many forms- just like our muse, the humble book.
My greatest hope is that when this arrives in your inbox you feel as though you can enjoy a moment- free of the anxieties, jealousies, fears and furies that plague a human day- and surrender to the comforting thought that every recommendation is a life-changing favorite you just haven't discovered yet.
Shall we?
