June recap

All the books I read, movies I watched, and thoughts I had in June 2025.

June favorite: If An Egyptian Cannot Speak English

Books - 5

War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy - ★ ★ ★ ★

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga -

★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2

The Marbled Swarm by Dennis Cooper - ★ ★ ★

Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson - ★ ★ ★

Funny Story by Emily Henry - ★ ★ ★ ★

June favorite: The Worst Person in the World

Films - 5

Echo Valley (2025) - ★ ★ ★ 1/2

The Worst Person in the World (2021) -

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

White Material (2009) - ★ ★ ★ ★

How to Train Your Dragon (2025) - ★ ★ ★

Materialists (2025) - ★ ★ ★ ★

Thoughts

Filmmaking

I wrapped production on my first feature film this month! I am often dismissive when it comes to my work, but it is worth patting myself and the whole crew on the back for completing such an ambitious project just one year after graduating film school. While the weekends I spent shooting were quickly commandeered by my bookstore job, it feels like such a relief to be finished with a production that myself and the crew can all be proud of.

I learn so much about the craft of producing with each project, and this one was so drastically different from the short films I made under the watchful eye of film school. We were running around the streets of Los Angeles with our camera in a suitcase, working quickly and discreetly (as much as we could on the side of the road) and being open to whatever might happen. I have so much trust in my fellow creatives, and more than ever I feel reassured that I am on the right path with the right people.

Commonplace Notebook

I started a commonplace notebook this month, and while I am still in the process of, well, figuring out my process, I can surely say that it is an amazing and insightful mental exercise. I started going back through all of my favorite video essays, books, movies, and podcasts (looking at you, Wild Geese), taking notes on them as if they were a lecture in school. I wrote down quotes, thoughts, reactions, and eventually my consumption of content turned into a reflective journey into the things that I find interesting and all the abstract ways they connect to each other.

I was always overwhelmed by the formalities of bullet journals, the soullessness of planners, and morning pages were only ever an excuse to complain. With the commonplace notebook, I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of taking notes and being a student to the content and the creators that inspire me. I have big-picture ideas forming and connections being made in my mind that weren't clear when those ideas weren't written down. I am treating this as the first step in an unknown creative project; ideas brewing, stories forming, conspiratorial lines being drawn.

Favorites

Virgin by Lorde

Apple Music

Wild Geese by Anna Howard

YouTube Channel

Nopalera's Dulce de Cuerpo Cactus Body Cream

Justine Clenquet's Danni earrings

Echo Park Lake swan boat rides

Thanks for reading! I would love to hear some of your June reads, watches, and favorites in the comments. In July, I am looking forward to my last month of working two jobs, honing my reading and criticism skills, and spending as much time in the summer sun as I can.

-Cheyenne