About Monterey
Named after Chantal Akerman’s 1972 documentary Hotel Monterey, this site is a collection of essays that explore independent film and occasionally wander into the worlds of literature and music. Monterey is dedicated to spotlighting overlooked gems and exploring the emotional textures that make stories have lasting impact.
About Me
I'm Emily Wegener, a writer/screenwriter based in Los Angeles with a B.F.A. in Writing for Film, Television, and Emerging Media from Ithaca College.
Outside of writing, I spend time reading, printmaking, cooking, finding new music, and trying to open wine bottles without a corkscrew (pictured). I’m currently based in Los Angeles.
Stills from Hotel Monterey
BOOKS
Separate Rooms
Pier Vittorio Tondelli
BOOKS
How We Can Win
Kimberly Jones
We Should Not Be Friends
Will Schwalbe
Chelsea Girls
Eileen Myles
BOOKS
Covert Joy
Clarice Lispector
The Lost Daughter
Elena Ferrante
Some Styles of Masculinity
Gregg Bordowitz
Why We're wrong about nearly everything: A theory of Human Misunderstanding
Bobby Duffy
BOOKS
All This Could be Different
Sarah Thankam Matthews
On the Calculation of Volume
Solvej Balle
The Little Virtues
Natalia Ginzburg
What My Mother and I Don't Talk About
Michele Filgate
BOOKS
NOTES OF A CROCODILE
Qiu Miaojin
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT LOVE
Raymond Carver
The Dry Heart
Natalia Ginzburg
SLOW DAYS, FAST COMPANY: THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND L.A.
Eve Babitz
BOOKS
THE COLOR PURPLE
Alice Walker
THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN
Mitch Albom
ALL ABOUT LOVE
bell hooks
BODY WORK
Melissa Febos
PERMAFROST
Eva Baltasar
WHY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU COULD BE NORMAL?
Jeanette Winterson
BOOKS
Morvern Callar
Alan Warner
Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom
Last Summer in the City
Gianfranco Calligarich
Here After
Amy Lin
The Emperor of Gladness
Ocean Vuong
I Who Have never Known Men
Jacqueline Harpman
BOOKS
Written on the Body
Jeanette Winterson
Sunburn
Chloe Michelle Howard
Água Viva
Clarice Lispector
In the dream house
Carmen Maria Machado
Lie With Me
Philippe Besson
Books
The Dharma Bums
Jack Kerouac
Another Word for Love
Carvell Wallace
Go tell it on the mountain
James Baldwin
Memorial Drive
Natasha Tretheway
Oranges are not the only fruit
Jeanette Winterson
Books
Quartet
Jean Rhys
Fierce Attachments
Vivian Gornick
Two or Three Things I Know for Sure
Dorothy Allison
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Books
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
Susannah Cahalan
Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin
The Hour of the Star
Clarice Lispector