My Substack Summer
What I read in Summer 2024
(Otters—if you miss seeing the usual me in your inbox, you can come back on Monday!)
I am basically doing this because I am short on time and also because the Substack gods themselves are asking me to write it and post it and share it and whatnot. Plus I wanted to get ahead of the trend before the trend stopped being trendy. And also, autumn starts on Sunday!
So without further ado… this is… my Substack Summer.
Now. Obviously these numbers are INCREDIBLY inflated. I am subscribed to a great deal of Substacks that I don’t read very often at all.
This makes me sad as a Substacker myself who, like any good Substacker would do, puts a lot of effort into her posts.
But I absolutely did not read 433 Substack posts this summer. I maybe read a quarter of that number. I’ve tried to make it part of my morning routine for years now but it hasn’t exactly sticked the way I want it to.
In high school when I had a 6amish wakeup time I would carefully go through my emails one by one, really parse through them. Substack really was the catalyst for all of this. For some reason once I started reading one Substack I’d find another and the gravy train would just keep rolling.
Now, because of this, my inbox is now in eternal flood mode and has been for some time, so over my breakfast and morning coffee I try to go through them very quickly. Just click click click click click and that’s it. The ones that pique my interest I read, but the rest are just in one ear and out the other.
Regardless, though, here are some stats that the Substack gods were kind enough to put together for me:
Highlights
☕ I read the most in the morning.
💌 I subscribed to 32 new Substacks.
❤️ I liked 18 posts.
💬 I left 5 comments on posts—I really should do this more.
📜 I scrolled 2 meters in Notes (lol—literally could not give less of a damn about that feature when I already have a longstanding addiction to Twitter)
Top Substacks, according to the Substack gods
JoeBlogs by
Essays that brighten up your day from “Contemporary sports writing’s biggest star.”
Top post this summer: “Isn’t Willie Mays Wonderful?”
I love Joe. He is so prolific and I wish I had more time to read all of his posts. He is the kind of writer I want to be. When I write stuff about sports I am trying really goddamn badly to be Joe Posnanski. He makes it look so easy.
David Moscrop by
A critical look at politics, policy, democracy, and economics around the world from an author, full-time journalist, and sometimes-academic
Top post this summer: What Does Collapse Look Like?
David is just so sharp and on top of things. Another guy I wish I had more time for.
Not gonna lie, I do read a lot of nonpartisan political Substacks. I am just that kinda girl.
This guy covers everything going down in Toronto City Hall.
Ahmad is crushing it at Queen’s Park thru POLICORNER.
He’s more of an international relations guy, but Chris Hedges is just so sound.
Erin Reed does a phenomenal job covering trans and LGBTQ+ policy in the US.
Mehdi Hassan is completely taking over the indepdent journo space with his new venture Zeteo that he just launched this year. They pump out so much high-quality stuff it’s insane and I can’t keep up with all of it.
I have literally been reading Gabe Fleisher’s Wake Up To Politics since I was fourteen. I got a shoutout in his podcast once. He also replied to one of my emails once. So basically we are best friends.
Clouds of Gaia by
A film school graduate's ramblings on pop culture. Stick around for articles about films, video games, and a lot more!
Top post this summer: Do Critics Hate Fun or Do Audiences Hate Nonconformity?
I’ve talked about Jaime before on here and will continue to sing their praises until the end of time. Just wrapped up their I think 5th(???) summer of TIFF coverage. What a gonzo. Adore them.
And two miscellaneous shoutouts to:
wnba rough notes by maya goldberg-safir, as this year I have become a big WNBA watcher and by extension a big Maya reader!
the homie yong-yu who I affectionately refer to as tongs, writes lovely stuff on her substack, only the good die young
Share your own Summer Recap
You can see your own summer recap in the Substack app. I’d love to see what you’ve been reading. (Maybe I am one of those people you’ve been reading! That would be crazy. I might die from happiness if that happened.) I think you gotta click the button below for it to pop up.