This is Show & Tell where I tell you some things I loved from the week and the one thing I hated, plus round up everything else going on around these parts. The first half of Show & Tell is free to all. The adoration and hateration are for paid subscribers only.

Subscribe now

I woke up on Sunday to a bevy of texts about Lindsey Graham’s death. What a way to start the day! And sure, some folks will say its not a good look to speak ill of the dead, and to that I’d say, live your life in a way that people do not rush to social media to crack every single possible joke about you the moment they get wind of your death.

In other news, I have family and friends in town for the next few weeks so I’ll be giving a little less1 around these parts in order to celebrate my birthday2 and get some serious QT with my beloveds. I’ll still be but maybe a skipping a few posts and being more brief3.

This Week in The Stacks

Soccer. Soccer. Soccer.

A delightful conversation with about her new novel The Great Wherever. We discuss her choice to have a ghost narrator, sibling drama, and the thing she thinks authors are lying about when they come on The Stacks.

I collected a bunch of your random questions and did a little mailbag. I hope this is the first of many, because I loved talking about cake and soccer and Shakespeare. My holy trinity.

Things I Love…

Sports

The USMNT is exactly who were thought they were4. What a truly catastrophic loss to Belgium. They went from looking like a dynamic, precise squad to the goalie not knowing how to kick. They looked like every USMNT we’ve ever seen in the history of the sport. Mortifying.

Moving on to teams who actually are good at soccer. We’ve got our final four teams.

France. Spain. England. Argentina.

If you’re paying attention, those are your top four teams in the FIFA rankings. Which is sorta fun, but also sucks, because I love an underdog and there just really isn’t one in the bunch. All four of these teams have won the Cup before5.

France. Good. Black as hell. Very clean and clearly dominant. They’ve looked like the team of the tournament since day one. Mbappe is an all-timer. But Olise is my dude. He seems like the best hang on the team and that matters to me. Also he is so so so good.

Spain. This team has bored me this World Cup. I know they’re good and they’ve gotten better as the tournament wears on, but there just isn’t enough razzle dazzle for me. Lamine Yamal’s little brother is doing all the charisma work for Spain and he’s not even on the team.

England. I’ve said from the start they are my front runner team, and while I was sad to see Erling Haaland go, seeing Jude shine like the star he is as Harry Kane, Trump’s little friend, has been fizzling out feels great. Plus, I root for Man City, so I’ll be seeing Haaland just as soon as EPL starts up again.

Argentina has become even more hatable in the last week thanks to the refs overt assistance. But remember, you heard about hating Argentina here first!

I’m pulling for an England vs. France final.

Politics

One down, two to go.

Shoutout to for being the one to break the Lindsey Graham news to me. I must admit when she text me I was so confused, because I thought we were waiting on the official death details of ol’ Mitch and here go Lindsey beating him to the punch. We love a scene stealing diva.

Over the years I have had a serious love/hate relationship with Threads6 but putting up with all the bad “are audiobooks reading?” takes has been worth it for the Lindsey Graham jokes. People are so unserious over there, and it is much appreciated.

To all the folks thinking of spilling tea on Graham, please do not hold back. Your country needs you now more than ever.

Books

Read more