By Josh Gondelman — 06 Jul 2026

#191. (Book) Readers and You

Hi everyone,

This is the 53rd installment of That's Marvelous on Ghost, which means a bunch of paid subscribers signed up a year ago! I am not a great salesman, but it does cost me a little money (and substantial time) to keep this newsletter running, so if you have a few bucks to spare, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber or reupping for another year if you already are one. It would really mean a lot to me! Okay thanks that's all!

Maris and I are moving into our new place today which means our 100-degree holiday weekend was largely comprised of packing/tidying/logisticsing through this short-notice move. Our new place is slightly smaller than our old place, but there's more closet space overall, so we're getting rid of a few pieces of furniture and kind of just hoping all of those things offset one another and we end up okay. Neither one of us has an exceptional sense of spatial awareness, so we're really flying by the seats of our respective pants. Pants we are unsure if we have sufficient storage space for any longer.

For a bit of context: Maris has a habit which I find extremely charming, which is that when she's shopping online for home goods, she often orders something WAY BIGGER than she needs. Two weeks ago, she was replacing Maggie's dog bed after our place flooded, and she texted me: "I did it again." That text was followed by a picture of Maggie the pug next to an enormous cloth donut, probably five times her size, too daunting for her even to scramble up and into.

I haaaaaate moving, which is part of the reason we've lived in this apartment for nine years minus three weeks. But, the longer you go without moving, the harder it becomes to dislodge yourself from your current home. I wouldn't say I'm a hoarder, but I definitely have slob tendencies. So, as push has come to shove, I've found myself googling questions like "will i go to jail for throwing out my 2013 tax returns" (no) and "what to do with stack of old dead laptops and also one old dead printer" (take them to Staples to recycle) and "will someone with a truck please come here and take away the furniture we don't need and/or run me over" (no again).

Because of our task-intensive weekend and a "reel feel" (gross, sounds like a proprietary condom technology) temperature in the triple digits making it unpleasant to be outside as well as the Potemkin Birthday Party being thrown for America, I've never experienced a limper, less exuberant July 4th. There have obviously been the World Cup and Taylor Swift's wedding to focus on, but that will have to wait until next week's newsletter.

Now it's back to packing or unpacking depending on when you read this!

Fortunately, the whole thing (my move, not America, as far as I know) will be over soon *finds a cardboard box hopefully with something wooden in it and knocks on that* and I'll be back to thinking normal thoughts and not just "How many phone chargers does one junk drawer need?" over and over. We'll also have to break the habit of living in total chaos, using our ruined couch as a napkin, and letting spills absorb into the floor or evaporate, since as of tonight we won't be living in an apartment on the verge of being torn to shreds anyway. Wish us luck!

In other news: Last week I was on my pal Gabe Dunn's podcast! We had a great time, but I remember nothing about our conversation because there was constant work being done on the apartment below me while we recorded, and it was driving me "Telltale Heart" level insane.

ALSO!!! Tickets are on sale now for my shows in Irving, TX (10/21) and Houston, TX (10/22). My night at The Comedy Studio in Cambridge, MA (two shows on 9/19) is also on sale and tickets are moving pretty quickly! San Diego, Chandler, AZ, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and more dates this fall and winter are going on sale SOON! I can't wait to take this hour of jokes to the cities where I haven't told them yet!

If you're in NYC on the weekend of 8/6-8/8, I'm performing as part of the Lions & Legends recordings at Little Island. The shows are free and family friendly. They're live episodes of the new podcast from Rebecca Sheir and Eric Shimelonis, formerly of Circle Round. I can't wait for these!

Tonight, assuming I'm still on my feet, I'll be hanging out at Frankenstein's Baby at Union Hall!

PEP TALK FOR (BOOK) READERS

Jo, Alison, Jenny, and Maris's books! — Pug hair left in for authenticity.

I'm going a little short this week because of move stress, and I just want to recommend some excellent books by people I think are great!!!

At long last, Jo Firestone has released her second Luella Van Horn mystery, Sex On Murder Island. The first book in the series (?) Murder on Sex Island was so funny and exciting. Jo is SUCH a brilliant writer, and I am extremely excited to read this new mystery even though the main character is clearly not at all a stand in for the author at all why would you even ask that.
Tomorrow!!! Alison Leiby launches her debut essay collection I'm A Lot. I'm performing on her launch event along with Liza Treyger (and an interview conducted by Ashley Hamilton and Claire Parker of Good Noticings) tomorrow night at the Bell House in Brooklyn. I work with Alison A LOT (on theme for the book!) developing stuff for tv (ideally) and co-hosting live shows, and she's so smart and funny and great. Her work is the kind of smart that lets itself feel dumb, which is the best, and the opposite of the worst kind of comedy (dumbasses acting like they are smart).
Jenny Hagel (longtime writer for Late Night With Seth Meyers) has a book of essays out now called Advice No One Asked For. Jenny rules. You probably know her from "Jokes Seth Can't Tell" which is one of my all time favorite late night bits.
I didn't have a copy on hand to photograph, but my buddy Sophia Benoit put out a romance novel called The Very Definition of Love. I went to her NYC launch event and it was so informative and delightful to hear her talk with Sarah MacLean about a genre I know so little about!!!
Last but MOST (not just not least), the paperback edition of Maris's essay collection I Want To Burn This Place Down comes out tomorrow. She's doing a live event at The Strand on the 15th with Megan Greenwell and Amanda Hess. It's going to be a lot of fun. If you haven't picked up a copy of Maris's book yet, you really should!!! She's such a talented and insightful essayist, and you will tear through the whole book in an afternoon.

PEP TALK FOR A READER

I am going to be sincere but a little more concise than usual here! So you're welcome or I'm sorry depending on how that makes you feel!

My dad is getting a pacemaker soon. He’s really excited, but I’m really scared! He is 76 and in pretty good health but I am still worried. I could use a pep talk with maybe a tiny pep talk on the side for my dad.
- Heart to Heart

Few situations feel as stressful as having a loved one in an intense medical situation. A sense of powerlessness looms over the whole ordeal. You want to be helpful, but it's not like you can do the operation yourself, as we all learned from the famous anti-sexism riddle. Also, most of us are not doctors. If I tried to operate on my son (hypothetical) I would end up in the same place I am now (no son).

Your father's enthusiasm here is a gift. It means you don't have to reassure him that this is the right choice and it's going to be okay. He knows those things. And, not to pile on, but it is great that the only worry here is the weirdness of someone close to you getting heart surgery, not an emergency situation necessitating it or a lack of access to necessary care. You are dealing with the top shelf medical worry. Experts are cutting your dad open. He feels great about it. You are, understandably, a little on edge. It's kind of unfair that you can't also ask for a sedative while he's under the knife. Although, if your dad is anything like my dad, you'll need to be awake and alert in order to (hypothetically again) hide his keys while he's conked out so he does't try to drive himself home when he wakes up.

While your dad has surgery under the influence of the kinds of powerful drugs Future writes songs about, you will do the hard part: Worrying. Then, he'll do the difficult work of recovering, as you do the relatively easier work of being there for him. This is the deal! And you've got to take it because, as previously established, you can't fix him yourself. The boy is YOUR mother this time. Or something.

To your dad I say: Keep up your good attitude even when people are yelling at you to sit still because you're not not on drugs yet, or to do your physical therapy exercises even when you super don't want to. You've got people who care about you all around you, and that doesn't fix whatever's going on with your ticker, but it certainly greases the wheels. Accept the grease. (Although maybe not as much in your diet. Although who am I to say? I'm no doctor after all.)

PICK-ME-UP SONG OF THE WEEK: Iceage - "The Weak"

This week we're dipping once again into the well of songs that are lyrically despairing but maintain a tonal exuberance. I learned about the Danish outfit Iceage from Yasi Salek's Bandsplain podcast episode where she and guest Bre Morell picked their favorite albums of the last few months. I learned about a lot of interesting artists, many of which are a little more electronic-leaning than my taste, but Iceage stuck as the one I was most excited to explore further.

"The Weak," not exactly an inspiring title, buzzes straight ahead like a Ramones song, even as singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt wails about the meaninglessness and loneliness of it all. "Had it with peace time/Found a new home in war crime" is some choice nihilism to listen to over July 4th weekend

But lest you think the group takes itself too seriously, we segue quickly into what sounds like a recorder duet, all goofy and warbly. It's a good time amidst the acute awareness of bad times. Maybe that's the best kind of time after all.