The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I Read, Watched and Listened To | September and October 2020

September and October always tend to be months when I consume less media than usual and probably the months when I read the least. I don’t know why it is but things tend to pick up as we near Christmas and they certainly will this year with lockdown. Nevertheless, there’s some great recommendations in this combined MMC and great is definitely the word, given that I’ve rated almost everything 4 stars. I’m also doing something absolutely no-one asked for: listing my top 10 Glee performances. Enjoy!

books

I wanted to shout about a new initiative, Bookshop.org, that allows you to buy books online simply and affordably from local bookshops. I’ve set up my own page on there, which I’ll be updating with lists of books and the affiliate links I use on my blog will be linked to there from now on. I really recommend you buy your books from there, especially in lockdown and on the run up to Christmas as indie bookshops need your support more than ever.

Rodham by curtis sittenfeld | ★★★★*

The premise of the book hugely appealed to me. It’s a fictional re-telling of Hilary Clinton’s life, imagining what would have happened if she never married Bill Clinton. It’s fast-paced, educational and compassionate and there are a lot of sex scenes, which are incredibly well-written and surprisingly enjoyable. If you’re still feeling feverish post-election and want to remain immersed within the world of US politics, this book is the perfect choice.

The appointment by Katharina volckmer | ★★★★*

This is a sub-100 page novel, something I always enjoy, especially when it’s done as well as this one. It’s a monologue by a young German woman living in the UK directed towards a doctor. It requires a certain level of dark humour as well as the ability to enjoy books with genuinely unlikeable protagonists, but I have both of these things and I loved it. If you enjoy Vladimir Nabokov and/or Ottessa Moshfegh, I think you’d love this novella.

ghosts by dolly alderton | ★★★★*

I’ve had this novel on pre-order for so long I honestly thought the day would never arrive when it landed on my door stop. But it did and it was glorious! I’m such a fan of Dolly’s writing and this book did not disappoint. It’s about a woman in her early 30s who tentatively downloads a dating app, only to enter a serious relationship with the first man she goes out with who subsequently ghosts her. It reads like a thriller in a way I’ve never experienced for a book that deals with relatively light-hearted subject-matter and if you’re a woman whose been on a date in the last 10 years, particularly if you’ve used dating apps, I’m sure you’ll find it painfully and hilariously relatable.

validate me by charly cox | ★★★★*

I rarely read poetry because I tend to perceive it as heavy and a commitment, but whenever I read it I find it to be exactly the opposite. This is certainly the case for Charly Cox’s second poetry collection. I love Charly’s poetry, as well as her prose, as not only is the subject matter relevant and relatable, but so is the style of the writing as it has a beat that feels distinctly modern. I didn’t enjoy this collection as much as her first but I still gobbled it up in a matter of days and I look forward to reading more of her work.

TV

Glee | ★★★★

Like most teens who were secretly into musical theatre, I became obsessed with Glee when I was around 12. I watched the first season religiously over and over again but for some reason I never got round to the rest (I think because I maybe only had the DVD of Season 1 and didn’t know where else to watch it - simpler times). Somehow, in the past year, Glee became the thing I watched when I was hungover or unwell. It’s perhaps the worst choice of programme for when you’re not feeling yourself, as the fucked up characters, odd remixes that never needed to happen and the writers unbelievable ability to get being politically correct so wrong is disconcerting to say the least. But there is something comforting about it and I decided to commit the last few months to finishing it.

The first three seasons were great and then it went downhill from there but I still enjoyed the New York years (less so, when they tried and failed to introduce a new cast). It already feels ridiculously outdated but that’s part of its appeal and as much as I hate to admit it, some of the songs are good.

On that note, here are my 10 favourite glee songs (I’d like to note that these are my personal favourites rather than an objective ranking which I’d do very differently):

1. Don’t Rain on My Parade (Santana)

I knew Don’t Rain on My Parade would be my number one glee song but I just couldn’t decide whether to go with the original or not. I’ve decided on Santana’s version because 1. it’s objectively better 2. Santana is the best Glee character and 3. this was such an iconic moment in Glee. I genuinely gasped when the director called Santana’s name and I heard the opening of the famous Streisand song and the superzoom onto Rachel’s face is the kind of humour Glee actually does very well. You’ll notice that Santana’s performances make up a lot of my favourites because she’s the best singer and she has the best storyline. I still feel so upset by Naya Riveria’s death but I’m so glad we have all of her incredible performances to look back on.

2. Don’t Rain on My Parade (Rachel)

Rachel’s version has to be my number two because much like Rachel herself, love or hate her, it is the essence of glee. It’s dramatic and sincere and a genuinely brilliant performance.

3. Keep Holding on (S1)

Whilst many would choose Don’t Stop Believing as their favourite group performance on Glee, this is by far mine. That’s definitely in part down to my soft spot for Quinn, who had the best storyline until everyone went to college and she was largely forgotten (all I can remember about Glee post-MicKinley is that she dated Chase Crawford, which I did enjoy). I think this performance shows the entire cast in their purest states and watching it knowing that so many of them have now passed away makes me cry every time.

4. Nutbush City Limits

Brittany calls this performance ‘simply the greatest moment in show business history’ and I’m inclined to agree. This performance is the best example of Santana’s incredible energy as well as her dancing (see also: River Deep, Mountain High). Also: THE COSTUMES. I’d die for this outfit.

5. Say A Little Prayer

My three favourite characters auditioning for the Glee Club together is of course going to be in my top 10. I love everything about this: the song choice, the simple dancing. If you can ignore Mr Schuster’s weird creepiness during this performance, you’ll love it (you could say that about the whole show, really). The unholy trinity 4eva <3

6. Give Up the Funk

Not much to say about this one apart from it’s another wholesome group performance from Season 1. Also, those are Kurt’s real vocals at the beginning!!!

7. I Feel The Earth Move/One Hand in My Pocket

I’m a big Carole King fan and I adored this mashup. Plus (SPOLIER ALERT) Santana uses it to propose to Brittany which is the only Glee relationship I can really get behind.

8. Me Against the Music

My favourite Britney song and Glee did it so much justice ( I really like Brittany and Santana).

9. Not the Boy Next Door

Kurt isn’t my favourite character but I really enjoyed his character growth and this audition was such a great moment for that. It’s actually ridiculous that he wasn’t accepted to NYADA with this audition but he was with Being Alive, which Carmen specifically says she hears a lot here (have some consistency, Glee!)

10. Faithfully/Anyway You Want It/Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’

I’m kind of cheating with this one as this is technically two songs but it was one performance and it’s definitely my favourite competition piece they did on Glee. It’s also one of the best Glee episodes.

If you’re wondering what my least favourite Glee performance is, it’s this fucking monstrosity that Matthew Morrison should be jailed for.

the hook up plan | ★★★★

This French TV series follows 3 women living in Paris navigating their various relationships. It’s a fairly simple premise but it works and it’s one of the few shows I binge-watch. Season two wasn’t as enjoyable as the first series and the lockdown episode was a bit odd but, all in all, I enjoyed it.

film

west side story | ★★★★★

The best film version of a musical ever. That’s all.

old boy | ★★★★

This film was recommended to me based on the fact I enjoyed Parasite and I would say that’s a fairly good reason to watch it if you feel the same way. It’s a Korean revenge film and although it doesn’t have the same quick humour and social commentary as Parasite, it definitely had me on the edge of my seat for the entire film, even if I had to skip one of the last scenes because I’m overly squeamish.

animals | ★★★★

This is a film based on a book I’ve never read about two women living together in Manchester and the struggle one of them experiences when the other enters a serious relationship. The film is set in Ireland and although I would have liked to have seen the familiar streets of Manchester on screen, I’ll never complain about an Irish accent. It’s really well-made, funny, with a great script and some sobering moments. This was my favourite of them between the two female leads and a man one of them is sleeping with:

M: What’s an animal’s primary need?

L: Food?

T: Sex?

M: Safety.

500 days of summer | ★★

I do this thing where I like to ruin all of the films I liked when I was younger by re-watching them at my current age and cringing about all the things enjoyed about them when I was a teen. BOY, did I do it with this film. I never loved this film when I was younger but I certainly enjoyed it. Now, watching it, the ‘protagonist’ was totally unlikeable to me as he acted like a complete psychopath in the name of love. I’ve added a star because the soundtrack is good (especially at the Karaoke bar) but it isn’t enough to save it.

podcasts

diary she wrote | ★★★★★

This podcast involves a 30-something woman who has kept a diary since she was 9 reading out various entries in order to piece together the story of her life. It’s relatable, funny and sad at times and it’s curated and narrated so cleverly. Fans of Dolly Alderton will enjoy it, for sure.

Individual episodes:

• Dating with an online presence | Starting The Conversation 

• Greta Gerwig on choosing not to be on social media | Ctrl Alt Delete

• Audiobooks | Literary Friction

• Phoebe Hurst, managing editor, Vice UK | Diary, She Wrote

• Dolly Alderton| Off Menu

• Claudia Winkleman | Off Menu

articles

• Every Glee character ranked from worst to best | The Idiot Box

• Found in translation: how brilliant writing from around the world makes it into English | Penguin

• Patti Smith: When I Got to 70 I Thought, ‘Wow, that’s a real number’ | Sunday Times Style

• Buying Myself Back: When does a model own her own image? | The Cut

• The Emily Ratajkowski Effect | Maybe Baby

• The Lagos urban ballet school that won over the world | Guardian Weekly

• It Took TikTok To Help Me Come Out as Bisexual | HuffPost

• Liverpool is tired, angry and ready for a fight with Boris Johnson | The Guardian

• Sorry, Harry Styles, but the last thing Manchester needs is another vast music venue | The Independent

music

The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I Read, Watched & Listened To | August 2020

Affiliate links are marked with a *

T-Shirt: Reformation

Shorts: H&M

Necklace: Missoma*

Shoes: Veja

The end of August is always a bittersweet time for me because summer is my favourite time of the year and there are very few things, in practice, that I like about winter. But I also love the start of a new school year, and although this year is the first one I’ve spent out of education, I still have that ‘back-to-school’ feeling and I appreciate the order and structure that comes with it. So whilst I’m sad to be saying goodbye to what was actually one of my most social summers ever, despite coronavirus, I am looking forward to a few more nights in and longer days at my desk (give me 3 weeks - maximum - and I’ll be over it).

Usually, August is a month of relaxation for me, as I go on holiday to escape the world and relax. But this year I’ve been going on UK holidays and visiting friends, in order to re-enter the world and catch up on all the socialising I missed out on during the months we spent in lockdown. With that, I’ve consumed far less culture than normal and I actually have no TV shows or films to report on. I’ve spent barely any time sitting down in front of the TV this month and when I have, I’ve been watching, to my shame, Glee. This started as something I’d watch when I was hungover but I spent so much of my time hungover in July and August compared to normal, that I just decided to start watching it full-time. I still have a couple of seasons to go, though, so I’ll report on that next month, probably.

This month, it’s just books, podcasts, articles and music then. I’ve read less books than usual, but the ones I have read have all been phenomenal. I’ve also become kind of obsessed with Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet… despite never having read any of the books. I’ve ordered Autumn* though and it’s at the top of my to be read list for Autumn, as I’ve been fascinated by all the long reads on Smith’s seasonal quartet coming to a close. I started subscribing to Guardian Weekly this month, so the article section is a little bit Guardian heavy and there are some articles I’m recommending that are print only, but I’d really recommend subscribing as the magazine is great.

I’ve also discovered a podcast which I would easily describe as my favourite podcast ever. Much like July though, I’ve been listening to less podcasts, generally, and more music, although my playlist is a weird one this month. A strange thing happens every August where I start listening to pop music I never normally listen to and that’s been intensified this year by the release of WAP. As well as that, I’ve been loving Mahalia’s album, which is very in-character for me. Rambling introduction aside, here’s the small amount of things I read, watched and listened to this month…

books

Small island by andrea levy | ★★★★*

Small Island was this months’ book club pick (if you didn’t read last month’s MMC, my book club is collaborating with the Women’s Prize to read three past winners of the prize) and it’s one I’ve wanted to read for a while. The novel is concerned with the Windrush Generation and explores the lives of four characters: Hortense who arrives in London from Jamaica in 1948, Gilbert Joseph, a black man who fights for Britain in the war but is treated as a second-class citizen in post-WW2 Britain, Queenie, his white female landlord, and Bernard, Queenie’s husband who she assumes has died in the war.

Levy’s constructions of voice are so impressive. Polyphonic novels like this one rarely create four equally endearing characters, usually one stands out as superior. But I enjoyed every single narrative in this novel and appreciated the depth created around each of the characters. A beautiful novel that could be the definitive lesson, in my opinion, in pacing plot. 4.5 stars.

intimations by zadie smith | ★★★★★*

When I found out Zadie Smith had been writing a collection of essays during lockdown, it felt like the months I spent not being able to leave the house might have been worth it. I’m joking, obviously, but I can’t tell you how much ease Zadie Smith’s non-fiction writing brings me. It’s so comforting to know someone is thinking about the world we’re living in so intelligently and her writing style is everything I aspire to. Although if I could achieve 1/100th of what Zadie Smith achieves when she writes an email, even, I’d be happy. Here’s an excerpt from the book I loved:

But the young man in his twenties is still in peak dreaming season: a thrilling time, an insecure time, even at the best of times. It should be a season of possibility. Economic, romantic, technological, political, existential possibility. Yes, among all the various relativities to be considered, age is the one that can’t be parsed. The style of Cy - the style of all young people - now radically interrupted.

weather by jenny offill | ★★★★*

Jenny Offill is another author I admire. Literature that experiments with form isn’t something I always enjoy, but Offill strikes a balance that it is difficult to strike, that is challenging the reader, whilst also allowing the book to flow in a way that makes it easy to read. Weather, shortlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for fiction, explores what it means to live through crisis, namely, an environmental crisis. Lizzie, the protagonist, is a librarian and is navigating a world which we might assume is our current world, but also could be any world in crisis, which makes it a disconcerting read. She’s also navigating her family life, looking after her alcoholic brother, her unsure marriage, her mother and her son.

Like Offill’s novel Dept. of Speculation, Weather’s prose is fragmented and it’s not always completely clear what is taking place. But I think this is an intentional stylistic choice and one that allows you to experience the world of the novel in the same way her characters do: floating through it, acknowledging that things are unsure, but inevitably continuing forwards, soaking up all it offers you. One of my favourite moments from the novel was this:

Young person worry: What if nothing I do matters?

Old person worry: What if everything I do does?

podcasts

Brown girls do it too | ★★★★★

This podcast is everything I could ever want from a podcast and more. The concept is: three brown women who have never met before meet weekly to discuss every single detail of their sex lives, from masturbation, to ‘losing their virginity’ to the appearance of their vaginas. Their aim is to break down taboos around brown women talking about sex. But Poppy, Rubina and Roya are potentially three of the funniest people I’ve ever encountered, so I spent almost the entirety of the 4 hours it took me to listen to Brown Girls Do it Too belly laughing. It’s refreshing how candid they all are in talking about sex and I think everyone could learn so much from listening to it. I would pay so much money for a second season.

individual episodes:

• EP.130 - Zadie Smith | The Adam Buxton Podcast

• Camilla Thurlow | You’re Booked

• Ep 11: James Acaster | Might Delete Later

articles

• Intimations by Zadie Smith review – a wonderful essayist on the lockdown | The Guardian

• Cast Adrift | Guardian Weekly (Print only)

• If you’re not terrified about Facebook, you haven’t been paying attention | The Guardian

• A Very Long Year: Ali Smith’s Seasons | Guardian Weekly (Print only)

• College is Everywhere Now | The New York Times

• Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet: an oral history | Penguin

• The September Issue Gets an Overdue Makeover | BoF

music

The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I Read, Watched & Listened To | July 2020

Affiliate links are marked with a *

I think every year when it gets to July, half of my conversations with any given people begin with the statement something along the lines with, “I just can’t believe it’s July already! Where does the time go?” But this year, almost all of my conversations feel like they begin with that and not just because it’s an easy form of small talk but because we’ve spent most of 2020 at home, living the same day over and over again. With the opening of bars and restaurants this month, I seem to have temporarily become an extrovert, as the idea of getting out the house is more appealing than it ever has been to me. I’ve been soaking up all the social contact I can get but, with that, have been consuming less culture than usual.

The culture I have consumed, however, has been great, including some easily binge-able TV series that total less than 10 episodes each (ideal for commitment-phobes like me) and some really interesting books. As seems to be a theme since cinemas have closed, I haven’t watched many films. In fact, I haven’t watched any this month, just a documentary that I enjoyed so much I’ve been thinking ever since I need to watch documentaries more, although that’s yet to happen. I’ve been moving away from podcasts and have started to listening to music more often, so there’s a playlist this month. But I’ve largely been listening to albums that were released during my teenage years (as everything else about my life is reflecting them at the moment): Drake’s Take Care, Frank Ocean’s channel ORANGE and Beyonce’s BEYONCE, which I think I’ve decided is my favourite Beyonce album, although that’s an almost impossible decision.

Preamble over, here is everything I read, watched and listened to during the month of July this year…

BOOKS

When I lived in modern times by linda grant | ★★★*

At the beginning of lockdown, I started a book club with some friends from uni, as well as some people who I know call friends who I had connected with on social media. We met on zoom weekly to discuss what we’d been reading individually as well as a discussion topic that varied each week. As lockdown came to an end, I saw an opportunity for reading groups to get involved with the Women’s Prize initiative #ReadingWomen, a project to encourage people to read previous winners of the Women’s Prize. We were sent three books, Small Islands by Andrea Levy, The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and this one, When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant.

The idea of this book really appealed to me, so much so that I actually bought it myself earlier in the year (it was actually on my last shopping trip before lockdown began). It follows a young Jewish woman from London who emigrates to the future Israel in 1946. I am shamefully uneducated on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and this book certainly helped to provide some more context on the issues surrounding it, as well as the extra reading I was encouraged to do as a result of reading it. The protagonist is young and self-centred and, as a result, the novel presents the conflict very much from the perspective of a Jewish person. Whilst this was valuable in some ways, as her character certainly both encouraged and discouraged empathy towards the Israeli experience in very nuanced ways, I do think I would have preferred if the novel would have offered a more balanced outlook on the conflict, as there was a noticeable lack of Palestinian voices. Perhaps this is down to my own lack of education, as if I was educated on the subject I could have considered the book and its slightly biased point of view objectively but I do also think that, with it being such a complicated and sensitive issue that so many people lack education on for whatever reason, it’s important to always depict differing experiences when writing about this conflict, fictionally or otherwise.

how do we know we’re doing it right? by pandora Sykes | ★★★★

Pandora Sykes is one of my favourite cultural critics and I read every article she writes, as well as obsessively listening to her podcast, The High Low. So, obviously, I was very excited about her book (I’ve had it on pre-order for over a year). How Do We Know We’re Doing It Right? is a book of essays that tackle subjects that are distinct to the 21st century, perhaps even exclusively the 2010s. From wellness, to fast fashion, to the epidemic of business, the book is wide in its scope but does a great job at picking up on topics that are all somewhat relevant to each other.

What I love about Pandora’s voice, especially in this book, is that she is unconcerned with offering authoritative perspectives on subjects. Whilst I write and read opinion pieces regularly, I often find myself feeling exhausted by them and their mission to offer answers on subjects in 500 words or less, even if what they are writing about requires far more exploration than that. Pandora’s ethos in this book seems to be focussing on asking questions, rather than answering them and in doing so she pokes holes in phenomenons of daily life that have become normalised for most of us, offering nuanced and unique thoughts on topics that are written about regularly. It’s research heavy, which I appreciated, but also manages to be very easy-to-read and I flew through this book in a few days.

lote by shola von reinhold | ★★★★

I think the concept of this novel will either immediately appeal to you or it won’t, but its plot is almost entirely up my street. It follows present-day narrator Mathilda’s fixation with the forgotten black Scottish modernist poet, Hermia Druitt. I wrote my dissertation on an author who was marginalised from the modernist movement and the thing that I find most interesting about the modernist movement is the marginal spaces within it. In academic spaces, I feel like there are constantly discussions about rediscovering the archive and this is largely achieved in these spaces by reading books that were otherwise forgotten. But I think LOTE offers a way to rediscover artists and writers who have otherwise been neglected in a way that feels really modern.

The form of the novel is really interesting, with excerpts from various texts including a book called Black Modernisms that details the lives of various black people who were involved with the modernist movement, which was really educational. Alongside that, it follows Mathilda, who is fixated by the historical group The Bright Young Things and is involved in archival research concerning them in a London museum, when she comes across a photo of Hermia. The rest of the novel takes place in Dun, as Mathilda applies for a residency there as a means of finding somewhere to live and also discovering more about Hermia, who spent a great deal of time in Dun. The residency she is a part of is made up of highly pretentious academic-type people, which made for some hilarious moments in their extremely niche accuracy, but her investigation of Hermia offers fascinating insights about beauty and luxury, particularly how these things can exist and can hold power when we consider them outside of their usual boundaries, that is, within a system of capitalism (this was also something my dissertation was concerned with and something I am fascinated by).

This book is so intensely literary in a way that usually annoys me (e.g. Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway or Joyce’s Portrait of an Artist) but I really enjoyed it here. I think it’s because Von Reinhold writes with so much self-awareness and they are also interested in amplifying marginalised voices rather than the voices of those who already hold power in many ways, as the Woolf and Joyce novels do, in my opinion.

I’d highly recommend this book if it sounds like something that would appeal to you. It was published this year as part of Jacaranda’s Twenty in 2020 initiative, as they become the first publisher to publish 20 titles by 20 Black British writers in one year and there are some other books on the list that I am keen to read, so I’d recommend taking a look at that!

TV

hollywood (Netflix) | ★★★★

Set in post-World War II, you guessed it, Hollywood, this series follows aspiring actors and filmmakers who are trying to make it in the world of show business. It’s a Ryan Murphy series and it received really bad reviews, but I loved every episode and I’m coming to realise that I am a big fan of Ryan Murphy’s work (see also: my next recommendation). Hollywood presents a somewhat utopian vision of the American filmmaking industry, as producers and filmmakers put themselves on the line to create diverse film. It’s not historically accurate but I found it to be very moving, to see what could have come out of self-sacrifice and to see just how powerful diverse representation is in film (I sobbed throughout the entirety of the final episode).

the politician season two (netflix) | ★★★★

This is another Ryan Murphy show with fairly bad reviews but, again, I enjoyed it. I think I might have enjoyed Season Two of The Politician more than season one which is not the general consensus. But I loved the New York setting and its satirised depiction of how American politics and, in particular, American elections work. I loved episode five, which profiled a mother and daughter; the latter was voting for Peyton, the protagonist, and the former, his opponent. This episode does what the show does best, represent current issues in a humorous but reflective way.

the morning show (apple tv) | ★★★★

I saw this show promoted so much at the start of the year but, as I often do, waited a few months to watch it. It tackles issues surrounding the #MeToo movement as the host of America’s most popular morning show is fired as a result of predatory behaviour. It stars Jennifer Anniston and Reese Witherspoon who were really convincing in their roles. I was skeptical about having two such high-profile actors playing alongside each other (especially because I see them, first and foremost when they’re together, as Rachel and her sister) but The Morning Show is really a credit to their acting ability. I thought the series did a great job at exploring the nuances around the #MeToo movement, particularly cancel culture, and how high-profile figures claim to have had everything taken away from them whilst still having, ahem, a mansion in upstate New York and a 10 bedroom apartment in Manhattan.

FILM

everything is copy (Sky) | ★★★★

Nora Ephron is a writer who I turn to when I’m looking for something easy to read, wise words and a good old belly laugh. This documentary tracks her entire life, particularly her career and I found it totally fascinating.

PODCASTS

prose before hoes | ★★★★

If you’ve read one of my Monthly Media Catchups before, you’ll know I love a book podcast. This is a new one that combines alcohol and books, as the hosts, Camilla and Elle, discuss everything they’ve been reading whilst having a drink. As someone who doesn’t necessarily enjoy the taste of alcohol, and largely drinks, like a teenager, to get drunk, I enjoy the books part of the podcast more than the alcohol part. But I have similar reading tastes to the hosts and often am reading the same books they are, which makes for great listening. Also, I love the title of this podcast.

doing it right with pandora sykes | ★★★★

Alongside her book, Pandora started this podcast to explore some of the topics her essays are interested in, interviewing experts in their fields and pop culture figures. I’d highly recommend the episode with Sinéad Burke in particular. She’s an incredible speaker and this episode was so educational on issues surrounding disability.

individual episodes:

• Happiness at work with Pandora Sykes | Is This Working?

• Louis Theroux | Off Menu

• Luxury with Shola Von Reinhold | Literary Friction

• Bernadine Evaristo | How To Fail

• Wiley’s Anti-Semitism, Kiley Reid’s Such A Fun Age & An Author Special w/ Nesrine Malik | The High Low

• Pandora Sykes | You’re Booked

• Lisa Taddeo | You’re Booked

ARTICLES

• Do All Men Just Like Having the Option of Sex - Then Flaking At The Last Minute? (and Annie Lord’s entire dating column) | British Vogue

• How to make peace with your phone while reading | Penguin

• How to Report on Internet Culture and the Teens Who Rule It | NY Times

• Bernadine Evaristo on her sexuality and how her lesbian era shaped who she is today | Sunday Times Style

• Eliza Clark: ‘I’m from Newcastle and working class. To publishers, I’m diverse.’ | The Guardian

MuSic

The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I Read, Watched & Listened To | June 2020

June 2020 is a month that will go down in history as a time when the Black Lives Matter movement gained huge traction after the tragic death of George Floyd on 25th May 2020. I hope it is the start of an even bigger movement that changes the way we think about race and makes real difference to the lives of black people. I have been making more effort than normal this month to read books by black authors, including books that educate me on the black experience in the U.K and the U.S and this is something I’ll be doing for the rest of my life, not just this month, although it feels particularly pressing right now. I shared some books that I have found to be extremely educational on my Instagram page including Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge, Citizen by Claudia Rankine and Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde, but I thought I’d share some works here by black authors that were not written on the basis of educating their readers on race (although many of them are educational regardless):

• Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo (my favourite book)

• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

• What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons

• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

• White Teeth by Zadie Smith

• Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith

• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker

• White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

There are more recommendations of books by black authors in the books section of this months Monthly Media Catch Up, as well as the usual TV, film, article and music recommendations.

books

brit(ish) by Afua hirsch | ★★★★★

I went to a talk with Afua Hirsch at Manchester Literature Festival in 2018, where she discussed with Nikesh Shukla some of the experiences and topics featured in this book. Afua’s experiences of what it means to be black in Britain really stuck with me, specifically the story of her name, as she spoke about how throughout her life, she resented people mispronouncing it but when she visited her mother’s home, Ghana, realised she too had been mispronouncing it her whole life. In Brit(ish), Afua explores details of her personal life in this way and relates them to the historical experience of black people in Britain. It’s a unique form that is so engaging, moving and it makes the research and history she recounts accessible in a way history books often aren’t.

The fact that it’s taken me so long to read this book makes me stare at piles and piles of my unread books and wonder what other gems are lying there that I’ve been putting off, because this was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Afua is such a beautiful writer and is so generous with her personal experiences, stories and family history. I am so thankful to her for writing this book.

It’s a must-read for every British person but especially white British people because it is so educational on Britain’s colonial history. If you’re from Liverpool, I urge you, in particular, to read this book as there are so many shocking details about the city’s black history, from its relationship to the slave trade to the death of Mzee Mohammed and so much more. I think often, and I’m guilty of this myself, Liverpudlians think Liverpool is a city that is totally progressive and innocent because it is so left-wing, but, whether we like it or not, it’s part of a country with a dark colonial past and is by no means exempt from the implications of that.

girl, woman, other by bernadine evaristo | ★★★★★

Some books are ruined by the hype surrounding them, as they inevitably fail to live up to the impossible standards set by booksellers, reviews and their impact on society. But some books are so unique, well-written and timely, that nothing could ever ruin them, not least that everyone is in agreement with regards to their brilliance. Girl, Woman, Other sits in the latter category.

Girl, Woman, Other tells the lives of 12 women who are mostly British and mostly black but vary in their ages, professions and life experiences. For a book that is separated into 12 distinct stories, it flows effortlessly and is absorbing in a way I didn’t think possible for a novel that doesn’t necessarily have a plot. I loved how the stories became interconnected at various points in the book and I also adored the writing style; there are few full stops in the book and too often, stylistic choices like this frustrate me. But this one made sense, as some stories read like poetry and was also made meaningful by the novel’s depiction of how people’s lives and stories inevitably weave together.

i am not your baby mother by candice brathwaite | ★★★★

I am very fussy when it comes to audiobooks, meaning I listen to very few. Generally, they have to be: non-fiction, personal, read by the author and, ideally, I can put a face to the voice or can at least recognise the voice. This one was ideal as I’d followed Candice on Instagram and heard her on a few podcasts. Plus, this is an incredible book and Candice is a brilliant storyteller.

In a similar style to Brit(ish), I Am Not Your Baby Mother is part memoir, part education. Candice recounts her experience as a black mother, as well as providing facts and figures on black motherhood more generally in Britain. The stories Candice tells are moving and shocking, from not being believed by doctors whilst she was life-threateningly ill after giving birth to her first child to making the difficult choice to move out of the city where she was born, London, when she had a son, for fears about knife crime and how it affects black boys and men in the capital.

I’d highly recommend this book, specifically as an audiobook, as well as following Candice on Instagram.

the vanishing half by brit bennett | ★★★

This new release was receiving all the hype on Instagram this month and I totally fell for it. Unfortunately, I think the high expectations I had of this book did tarnish it a little bit, but, nevertheless, I completely understand why so many people love it.

Set between the 1950s-1990s, it follows the lives of Desiree and Stella, mixed race twins who are born in the town of Mallard. Mallard is a town that almost exclusively houses mixed race people and its residents shun dark-skin black people. Desiree and Stella move away from the town when they are young but are separated for the rest of their lives when Stella tries to pass as white, succeeds and starts a new life as such, whilst Desiree continues to identify as black. This part of the novel was the strongest for me, as it explored the intricacies of colourism and allowed the reader insight into Desiree and Stella’s lives and thoughts.

The second part of the novel follows Desiree and Stella’s daughters, which I enjoyed less. The writing was still beautiful and the ideas fascinating, but, for me, the plot became slightly overcomplicated and I yearned for deeper insight into almost all of the characters.

I’d definitely still recommend reading this book as I enjoyed the reading experience on the whole, I just wish it was double the length it is so I could have stayed in its world for longer and got to know the characters better.

the new jim crow by michelle alexander | ★★★★

The final book I read in June is the most academic of them all. The New Jim Crow puts forward the argument that the war on drugs and the system of mass incarceration in America is an intentionally formed new caste system, a reincarnation of Jim Crow. I find it difficult to believe that anyone could read this book and not be convinced by its argument, as it is so well-researched and expansive, covering all elements of the criminal justice system in America and how it affects black people, from stop and search, to the court of law to how rights are drastically restricted for felons.

It also provides fascinating insights on how colourblindness came to be considered as a positive thing and why it is, in fact, a regressive way of considering race. It is research-heavy, which is useful, as I was constantly folding pages to come back to and I feel much more armed with facts and explanations to have discussions about systematic racism in America, especially with those who are skeptical that racism still exists. If you’re looking for the same kind of education, this book is a brilliant place to start. It was by no means and easy read and it took me a while to get through but it was so worthwhile.

tv

Dynasty (Netflix) | ★★★★

I asked for recommendations of TV shows on Instagram at the beginning of the month, tailored to my very specific taste in TV (keywords: women, camp, great clothes, basic). A friend recommended Dynasty, describing the main character as ‘Blair Waldorf on steroids’ which completely sold me on it and is also completely accurate. It follows Fallon Carrington, a young woman who is from an extremely rich family that lives in Atlanta, as she tries to become a successful businesswomen and tackle the kind of problems that crop up in soap operas like this one: sudden deaths, kidnapping and marital affairs. It’s the ultimate easy watching and there’s also a musical episode so, yeah, right up my street.

film

The Social Network (Netflix) | ★★★★

This is one of those films I’ve been meaning to watch for years and have only just got round to now. I am fascinated by the creation of social media and the corruption of Facebook in particular, so I was bound to enjoy this film. It made me want to delete social media more than ever but, alas, I’m still here but hopefully, with a more skeptical lens on the digital world. Also, Jesse Eisenberg was so great as Mark Zuckerberg and I’m kind of glad that I waited so long to watch this film because it means I got to see Zuckerberg fumble in front of AOC before watching it, which made Eisenberg’s portrayal of him as an awkward college student all the more convincing.

Easy A (Netflix) | ★★

I think I’ve definitely watched this film in the past, although I obviously wasn’t particularly impressed with it then either as I have no recollection of the plot. The idea for this film is ok, I guess, but it was ruined for me by the amount of insensitive jokes and remarks. I understand that films are a product of their time but the undertones of racism and misogyny in this film were unnecessarily frequent, to the point where I couldn’t enjoy it at all. Plus, 2010 wasn’t that long ago. The extra star is for Stanley Tucci- he was great.

Fleabag (Amazon Prime) | ★★★★

I managed to watch the original play version of Fleabag on Amazon Prime before it was taken down at the end of June and it was just as brilliant as the show. It’s so impressive that Phoebe Waller-Bridge manages to cultivate the same humour and pathos as she does in a full-scale TV production, whilst sitting alone on stage on a chair and I felt like it gave me even more insight into the character of Fleabag and the show. I’ve only knocked off a star because it just isn’t the same watching theatre online for me. If the conservative government allow for theatres to go under, it’s over for them bitches.

podcasts

Freelancing for journalists | ★★★★

I have been trying to navigate the world of freelance journalism this month with varying levels of success and this podcast has been a great guide. It covers finances, networking and pitching and is being made during the pandemic, so is relevant for the current moment too.

At home with Lily And anna | ★★★★

This podcast is the ultimate easy listening as bloggers Lily and Anna chat about their weeks as well as different discussion topics every week including body image, university and ageing.

individual episodes I enjoyed:

• Afua Hirsch | Love Stories

• Stigg Abell: Why don’t I have any friends? | Stories of Our Times

articles

I became a member at Gal-dem this month and have been really enjoying their content, including their newsletter. Some of my favourite articles from Gal-dem and other publications I’ve read this month are included here:

The Life of a Song: ‘I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free’ | Financial Times

Falling Out of Love With Modernist Literature | LitHub

I didn’t think 2020 would have me crying tears of joy at the death of a statue, but here we are are | Gal-dem

What does self-care look like when you’re black, in the media and can’t switch off? | Gal-dem

How Iceland Beat the Coronavirus | The New Yorker

How to love well, according to Daniel Jones, the editor of Modern Love | Sunday Times Style

Paths of desire: lockdown has lent a new twist to the trails we leave behind | The Guardian

Afua Hirsch On The Crucial Black History Lessons All Schools Should Be Teaching | British Vogue

Haim: ‘Men were like, “Get her off the stage, why is she making those faces?”’ | Independent

The Story Behind the Photograph of Protesters Outside of Trump Tower That Resonated Around the World | Time

‘The waste and excess is more visible’: how coronavirus is shaking up fashion | The Guardian

I fell into the emotional labour trap, then my wife divorced me | Sunday Times Style

music

I didn’t make a playlist this month but I’ve been listening to Pip Millett’s entire discography, Rex Orange County’s latest album, Pony, lots of Destiny’s Child and Beyonce (anyone else become obsessed after rewatching her Glastonbury performance?). Since it Haim’s new album Women in Music, pt.III came out, I’ve been listening to that on repeat too. Oh, and this Spotify playlist:

The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I Read, Watched & Listened To | May 2020

May was the month that I finally completed my English Literature degree. And how did I celebrate? By reading, of course!

But, seriously, the novelty of being able to read off-syllabus whenever I want is one I’m not sure will ever wear off and it’s been made even more exciting by the UK’s unseasonably warm weather. Waking up, heading straight to the garden with my book and taking breaks inside whenever I got too warm to watch an episode of Sex and The City? Maybe I could get used to this whole lockdown thing…

Books

mr salary by Sally Rooney | ★★★★*

After watching Normal People, I needed another Sally Rooney fix. Luckily, I’d ordered this short story after finishing her first and second novels last year and hadn’t got round to reading it. Mr Salary is about Sukie, who is returning home to Dublin, and her relationship with Nathan, a family friend she moved in with when she was a teenager because of difficulties at home. In typical Rooney fashion, it’s simple but endearing and explores the dynamics of a romantic relationship that is complicated due to external factors. I really enjoyed it and have since ordered two more books from this collection of Faber Stories by other authors, as I love the idea and the beautiful covers.

exciting times by naoise dolan | ★★★★*

Naoise Dolan has been compared to Sally Rooney, largely because she is an Irish millennial writer, I think, but perhaps also because, like Rooney, she writes about romantic relationships so well. Exciting Times follows Ava, who is living as an expat in Hong Kong and teaching English as a foreign language, and her weird living arrangement/relationship with a banker, Julian, as well as her romantic relationship with Edith. It’s witty and hilarious and almost every sentence carries socio-political commentary, but it is done in a way that somehow feels cleverly subtle. The commentary is largely focussed on being Irish and how this affects her experience of being an expat, as she is expected to teach Anglo-English as opposed to Irish-English, as well as the feminist politics of accepting money/housing off a partner, which I found really interesting. I absolutely loved this book and really recommend it. 4.5 stars.

I feel bad about my neck: and other thoughts on being a woman by nora ephron | ★★★*

I picked this collection of essays up on a weekend when I was feeling a bit off and couldn’t really get into any of the books I was trying to read. This one was perfect. These essays were written late in Ephron’s life and they are mostly interested in ageing as a woman. An essay that stands out to me in retrospect was actually about Ephron’s huge, rent-controlled, bougie apartment in New York, however, which provided me with at least a day of dreaming about living there. Like Eprhon’s most well-known novel, Heartburn, this collection of essays didn’t blow me away, but I devoured them in, basically, a day, as they’re such easy reading and can be a real tonic when you’re feeling a bit crap. But I don’t necessarily subscribe to the deification of Ephron, purely because there are other writers whose craft I admire more (see the next review) and I don’t think the topics Ephron discusses are anything revolutionary, although I enjoy how she manages to discuss everything with humour and a certain light-heartedness that really translates to the reader.

changing my mind: occasional essays by zadie smith | ★★★★*

Zadie Smith is my favourite non-fiction writer that I’ve read, even though her fiction, whilst I admire the writing hugely, is not my go-to. The precision, structure and self-awareness in her non-fiction writing is something I can only aspire to and I read and re-read every word in this collection so closely to try and get my head around how she does it. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s just pure, natural genius.

The essays in this collection range from cultural commentary and reviews to personal essays to literary analysis. The only reason I’ve knocked a star off is because, at times, I had no awareness of the topics she wrote about, and I think the intended reader should have had some, and it did also feel that these essays had just been thrown together, rather than carefully curated. If this was a writer who hadn’t perfected her craft, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it at all. But the reason it took me almost 2 months to read is not down to lack of enjoyment but because I just really wanted to sit with and savour every sentence. My favourite essays were ‘Dead Man Laughing’, in which she discusses an almost universal experience, the death of her father, without cliche but in a way that is meaningful and uniquely touching, as well as her essay on ‘Rereading Barthes and Nabokov’. I want to include an excerpt from the latter that I think will resonate with everyone who has studied English Literature:

‘It’s probably for the best that [Nabokov] didn’t live to see the kind of post-Barthes (and post-Foucault) campus criticism that flowered on both sides of the pond during the eighties and nineties. Wild analogy; aggressive reading against the grain and across codes and discourses; a fondness for cultural codes over textual particulars. You remember the sort of thing:

The Trans-gendered Suitor: Refractions of Darcy as Elizabeth’s True Sister in Pride and Prejudice.

Daisy, the Dollar, and Foucault’s Repressive Hypothesis: Portraits of Sexualised Capital in The Great Gatsby

Please Sir, Can I Have Some More: Bulimic Rejections of Self in Oliver Twist.

I’ve written a lot of essays like this. And found it a wonderful thing, to feel so free. The novel was mine to do with as I wished, to read upside down, back to front or in entirely anachronistic terms. That kind of freedom makes writers of readers, liberating us from the passive and authoritarian styles we are taught in school (Hard Times = British education system in Victorian England). When we read instead in an active way we get to reinscribe dusty old novels into our own interests and cocnerns. There is a joy in getting someone to hand us their butterfly so we can spend twenty pages making the case for its being our giraffe.’

Some people call this collection of essays pretentious, and one GoodReads reviewer said Smith seemed like she was ‘trying to be erudite’. But having read and listened to every interview of hers I can get my hands on, I think she really is just very clever and you can’t take that personally - just enjoy and appreciate that we are lucky enough to live during the same time as her. Ok, I’m done! Read Zadie Smith!

kartography by kamila shamsie | ★★★*

I bought this novel after seeing Kamila Shamsie in conversation with Jeanette Winterson way back in 2017, having read Shamsie’s fantastic novel, Home Fire. Kartography is one of her earlier novels, one that I’ve been recommended when I’ve mentioned to people that I love Home Fire and, although I enjoyed it, it didn’t hit quite the same as Home Fire. It’s set in Karachi, the city in Pakistan where Shamsie is from and I think part of the reason I didn’t enjoy it as much as Home Fire is because I’m not aware of the political goings on in Pakistan as much as I am of those in the UK and America, which is no fault of Shamsie’s, only my own. But I also think that this novel is very different to Home Fire, in that, whilst it’s interested in political commentary, it’s centred on a love story, between two young adults, Raheen and Karim, whose parents swapped fiancees before they were born, yet remain best friends. There is a mystery behind this fiancee swap that is eventually revealed at the end of the novel but the main storyline is that of Raheen and Karim and their relationship. It’s definitely worth a read, as Kamsie’s signature wit and humour is there, if not as much in Home Fire, and it is a beautiful portrayal of Shamsie’s home town. I also learnt a lot about Pakistan, its history and its politics, so it was definitely worthwhile, but sometimes I was a little bored with the love story narrative. 3.5 stars.

Trick Mirror by jia tolentino | ★★★★*

I feel as though I’m late to this book, although I’m sure Jia Tolentino would have much to say about the idea of being ‘late to a book’ and how this idea has been constructed by an obsession with keeping up, bred by social media and, inevitably, the capitalist society we live in. I’m sure she’d say it much better than that. This was the first book, alongside Kartography, I read after completing my degree and it has made me so excited about the reading opportunities I have now my ‘reading for fun’ books aren’t limited to those I can read just before bed. This essay collection interrogates what it means to live in the contemporary world, from using social media, to reality TV, to campus sexual assault, to big fancy weddings and so much more. Tolentino has an incredible mind and her voice, skeptical yet thoughtful about the trivial and the serious, is one that I am so glad that exists within journalism. I can’t wait to read more of her work.

TV

sex and the city (SKY) | ★★★★★

I had 3 goals for lockdown: 1. get into tea, 2. watch Sex and the City, 3. learn to do a headstand. I’ve managed the ones that don’t require me to leave my bed and/or pull out a yoga mat. Sex and the City was the PERFECT quarantine watch. It’s essentially a rom-com spread out over 6 seasons with great 90s style (my favourite era for fashion), and commentary on sex, relationships and being a woman that is partly still relevant now and I’m sure was revolutionary when it was created. There are certainly problematic elements and it is a reflection of the time it was made in every way (the good and the bad) but I think as long as we acknowledge the issues it has and educate ourselves to ensure our beliefs are not the same as some of the ones the characters adapt, then we can appreciate the show for what it is. And what it is is a celebration of friendship in the very aspirational context of four women, some of whom barely work, who have lots of money, and make the most of the New York they are living in. Fuck Big, Aidan is ok, but, as usual, Samantha was right in choosing Smith Gerrard. He’s the only man I really like in the series. My favourite moment from the entirety of the 6 seasons is pictured below (Samantha is such a gem):

little fires everywhere (AMazon prime) | ★★★

This is TV series was developed by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, based on a book of the same name. I haven’t read the book, as I prefer this kind of plot-driven narrative in TV format, rather than in a novel, but I was excited about the series anyway, as I loved Big Little Lies. I binged it in two days and I thought the first few episodes were gripping and provided a brilliant commentary on race and class in America. The last couple of episodes, particularly the last one, however, became so far-fetched and disengaged that it’s tainted my memory of the show. It’s definitely worth a watch as the first few episodes live up to my memory of Big Little Lies, the ending, however, does not.

Film

sex and the city 1 and 2 (netflix & amazon prime) | ★★★★

Obviously once I finished watching the series, I watched both of the films. I’ve watched them before but they’re much better when you know the characters and their back stories. They’re not as good as the TV show, because they’ve adopted a kind of Hollywood glamour that the TV show, rightfully, didn’t have and they are also cliched in a way that the TV show generally wasn’t. But it did make me think that every long TV show with a big fan base should follow up with two movies that aren’t quite as good as the show to provide closure for its viewers. Gossip Girl 1 and 2 anyone?

little women (2019) (Amazon Prime) | ★★★★★

I promise I’m not going to rave about Little Women again (you can read my review, which, in short, says I love it so much, here). But I’m including it on this list to provide the very important news that it’s now available to buy on Amazon Prime and I have obviously bought and watched it, and loved it just as much on a third viewing.

mystic pizza (netflix) | ★★★

This was my only Netflix party watch of the month! It’s a classic rom-com featuring Julia Roberts about three sisters who are navigating relationships with different men. It’s nothing revolutionary but definitely a cosy, easy watch. Plus, I’ll watch anything that features Julia Roberts

he’s just not that into you (Netflix) | ★★★

Another easy rom-com! I do feel as though that this film has got the formula for a rom-com down to a tee, but it’s not one that I regularly re-watch and I think it would be more interesting and relevant, like most things, with more diversity.

joan didion: the center will not hold (netflix) | ★★★★

I always knew Joan Didion lived a fascinating life but I didn’t really know what it entailed. This documentary did a great job of filling me in and it was, indeed, fascinating. I’d recommend reading this New Yorker article after watching the documentary.

Podcasts

table manners | ★★★★

This podcast has been recommended to me so much but, for some reason, I’ve resisted it up until now. Actually, I tried to listen to the episode with Haim a couple of months ago but gave up when I realised that making a podcast with 5 people does not work. I’ve finally gotten into Table Manners this month, anyhow, after listening to their recent episode with Florence Pugh. I’ve listened to a few other episodes since then and I really enjoy Jessie and Lenny’s dynamic and I think they do a great job of making their guests comfortable enough to talk openly with them. Other episodes I’ve listened to so far include those with Emilia Clarke (this one was also great), Dolly Alderton and Antoni Porowski.

individual episodes i enjoyed:

• How are you Pandora Sykes? | Ganni Talks - How Are You?

• Curtis Sittinfeld | You’re Booked

• Jess Evans: Classism in Journalism | Ctrl Alt Delete

• Sophie Elmhirst | Always Take Notes

• Rest & Relaxation with Ottessa Moshfegh | Literary Friction

• Minisode Thirteen | Literary Friction

• Daisy Edgar-Jones on being the star of Normal People | How to Fail

• Dolly Alderton | Films to Be Buried With With Brett Goldstein

• Gossip Girl with Naoise Dolan | Juvenalia

Articles

I’ve been reading lots of articles from all my usual sources this month but I’ve also really gotten into Penguin’s features section - see below for my recommendations from Penguin and some of my other favourite publications and sites.

• Dancing at a Drive-through Strip Club | The Cut

• Curtis Sittenfeld interview: what would Hillary have achieved without Bill Clinton? | Sunday Times

• Don't worry, I live with all these books: the socially distant joy of reading outside | Penguin

• I Don't Know How To Say This But... I Miss Feeling Hot | Man Repeller 

• Larry Kramer in His Own Words | Dazed

• A bow and a courtesy: how Jane Austen's age of social distancing reflects our own | Penguin

• Shelf Life: Dianne Abbott | Penguin

• What’s More Deadly “I’m terrified of the coronavirus… But I had to choose which virus poses the biggest threat. And that’s the police.” | The Cut

music

There’s no playlist this month as I’ve pretty much exclusively been listening to Joni Mitchell, but I would really recommend this Guardian article on where to start with Joni Mitchell, as I think she’s the perfect artist to be stuck in your house with, as well as to take along on your daily walks.

you might also like…

The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I Read, Watched & Listened To | April 2020 (BUMPER LOCKDOWN EDITION)

My coping mechanism during lockdown has been to escape into the lives and worlds of others and it’s provided me with so much solace and much-needed escapism. To celebrate how great all forms of media can be for this purpose, I’m offering up a bumper lockdown edition of the Monthly Media Catch Up with all the usual categories as well as a General Entertainment section, with all the random things that have been keeping me entertained as well as the usuals.

This month, I think I’ve balanced uni reading and reading for pleasure pretty well and have managed to watch a fair few TV series, alongside Sex & The City - although I won’t be chatting about it this month because, somehow, I still haven’t completed it - and re-watching The Bold Type for the umpteenth time. I’ve also watched a lot of films (for me), maybe more than ever?! Netflix Parties have been something that I’ve been really enjoying and I’ve watched (mostly re-watched) some brilliant films with my friends via this medium.

Feel free to skip through categories depending on what you’re looking for, although there are some real gems in each of them so I’d, obviously, recommended reading them all, especially now the ‘I don’t have time’ excuse is a phrase of the past.

Books

Animal’s People by Indra sinha | ★★★★*

This novel, that I read for my Humans & Other Animals module at uni, follows Animal, who survived the 1984 Bhopal disaster but sustained serious spinal injuries as a result of it which means he can only walk on all fours. Because of this, he rejects his humanness and, in this novel, he tells the story of his friends who are fighting for justice after the disaster and an American doctor who claims she wants to help, particularly, how these events affect him. The novel is written in dialect that is specific to Animal and his tone is often humorous, which I really enjoyed. The story is also gripping and moving at times, and highlights lots of issues including white/western privilege and, of course, the boundaries between human and animal.

None Turn Back by storm jameson | ★★★*

The final Storm Jameson book I read for my dissertation! This one is also the final book in the Mirror in Darkness series and is set during the 1926 General Strike. I enjoyed it and I liked how the trilogy ended, but if you’re interested in reading Storm Jameson, I would start with A Day Off and if you like that, Company Parade. If you loved both of these, I would say the rest of the Mirror in Darkness trilogy, but if you only liked them, I think Company Parade is the best in the series and the next two are slightly disappointing.

my year of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh | ★★★★*

This novel is about a young woman living in New York who decides to try and sleep for a year, after her both of her parents die and she inherits a great deal of money, so is able to do so. I really enjoyed this novel. It was witty and hilarious and the protagonist was horribly unlikeable which added to the humour even more. Her friendship with her closest friend Reva was fascinating and her therapist’s rants had me laughing out loud. At times, I did find it very depressing, especially as it slowed down and became repetitive in the middle. But the novel was so unique that some of the slower parts really didn’t bother me as much and I loved the ending, which was so cliched that it was somehow innovative. 4.5 stars.

We are all completely beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler | ★★★★*

Another book I read for the Humans & Other Animals module! I loved this one. It’s difficult to explain as something is revealed on p.77, that I would hate to spoil for you, as the tension built up before this point is really necessary and pays off completely. But it follows Rosemary who, when we meet her, is a college student, but has clearly been deeply affected by her childhood with a sister who was taken away from her at a very young age. The novel tracks Rosemary’s life as she tries to deal with this, exploring the human/non-human animal boundary and the ethics of science. Like Animal’s People, though, it managed to find the perfect boundary between a fast-paced plot and confronting important issues. Although I think I enjoyed this one even more than Animal’s People because the concept is fascinating to me.

never let me go by kazuo ishiguro | ★★★★*

Again, I read this for Humans & Other Animals, although I have read it before a few years ago. This one is a bit like We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, in that information is revealed to you throughout the novel that, if I told you what it was now, it wouldn’t have the same effect. What I will say is that it’s semi-dystopian and tracks the lives of three students, Kathy, Ruth and Tommy, who are brought up at a boarding school called Hailsham, who know less about the trajectory of their lives than they think. It’s a really novel and thought-provoking idea for a book and I also really enjoy the characters, as they’re all extremely complicated and, at times, unlikeable, which I think makes the book an even more interesting read.

The Interestings by meg wolitzer | ★★★★*

I read this book after hearing Dolly and Pandora rave about it on The High Low, which is how lots of books make it on to my shelves. I’ve heard a lot of people say they loved this book, which I think gave me very high expectations. This is never a good way to come to a book, or anything, in my opinion, because it means I’m constantly looking for flaws. I don’t know if this says more about me than expectations as a concept generally. Nevertheless, although I enjoyed reading this book and was excited to get back to it once I had put it down, I didn’t love it by any means. The only character who I found really endearing was Jonah and he probably had the least time dedicated to him out of all the characters, which is a shame. I had the same problem with it that I had with the The Secret History by Donna Tartt which is that, for me, there were too many people and we saw too much of their lives, so anytime I became interested in a particular incident, we’d soon moved on from it, and the plot lines that Wolitzer did hold on to and thread throughout the novel just weren’t interesting to me (read: Goodman as a character). It’s for sure worth a read if you’re looking for an easy read and I did enjoy Wolitzer’s writing, it just wasn’t my favourite. 3.5 stars.

TV

Quiz (ITV) | ★★★★

I saw this show advertised a lot and, like the basic Fleabag-loving bitch I am, I was drawn to it mostly by Sian Clifford. It’s a drama/comedy that’s only three episodes long (which is perfect for me, as I have serious commitment issues when it comes to TV series) and is based on Charles and Diana Ingram who supposedly cheated on Who Want’s To Be a Millionaire. It was really funny and I was honestly on the edge of my seat throughout (this is the level of drama I can just about deal with on TV.)

Unorthodox (Netflix) | ★★★★

My nan recommended this show to me and I decided to watch it, despite usually avoiding “serious” TV, as she assured me that it wouldn’t be too much for my fragile self. And I loved it! It’s based on the story of a 19 year old woman who fled her home and her Orthodox Jewish family in New York to move to Berlin. Like most of the things I clearly enjoy, it was equal-parts educational and gripping and has made me desperate to visit Berlin again. Plus, all the characters were really complicated, which was interesting (apart from Moishe, what a dick.)

normal people (BBC) | ★★★★★

I am truly lost for words when it comes to this series. Having read Sally Rooney’s novel, Normal People, a couple of years ago, I was really looking forward to the BBC adaptation, but it was better than I could have ever accepted. I usually can’t sit still long enough to watch more than two episodes of anything at a time, but I was so enthralled by Normal People, that I watched the entire series in a day. One week later and I still feel so moved by it. I can’t watch a clip from the series online without bursting into tears. I can’t recommend it enough if you’re craving any kind of escapism, although, do be warned, that if you watch it in a day like I did, you may be unable to talk to anyone in the days following.

film

Mistress America | ★★★

If you’ve read my blog before, you probably know that I’m a big Greta Gerwig fan. Netflix clearly knows this too as they have been constantly recommending this film to me for the past couple of months. It’s nothing revolutionary but I really enjoyed it. It stars Gerwig, who is in her mid-late twenties and presents as the “cool girl”, and Lola Kirke, a college student who greatly admires Gerwig’s character. If you track what I’ve consumed in this (or any) blog post, you’ll notice a lot of it is in New York, as this immediately gives any piece of media an added charm for me, and it certainly did here. It was an easy watch that I enjoyed but it’s not neccesarily something I’ll remember.

Erin Brokovich | ★★★★

I’d somehow never seen this film and was really excited to watch it, having loved all of Julia Robert’s other films. This one really exceeded my expectations, with the added socio-political layer, as well as Robert’s classic charm (and great looks). Erin Brokovich is a struggling mother who gets a job doing admin at a lawyer firm, but she soon becomes invested in a case that is looking at how the water in a town has been poisoned by a gas and electric company. 4.5 stars.

you’ve got mail | ★★★

As well as Julia Robert’s films, I’m trying to make my way through the Meg Ryan classics, and this one, which also stars Tom Hanks was perfect for a relaxed Saturday night whilst I was also filling in scrapbooks. Ryan and Hanks meet anonymously in an online chat room, unaware that in the real world they are rivals, professionally, as Ryan owns an independent book store and Hanks works for the family business, a corporate book store business who are trying to shut down independents. It felt nostalgic in so many ways, obviously in that online dating is a novelty rather than the norm here, but also in that any book store is a good book store nowadays, given how few and far in between they are. The film is definitely dated which I enjoyed but I don’t think it’s one I’ll go back to again and again.

clueless | ★★★★

I re-watched this classic via Netflix Party and loved it so much. I mainly enjoyed Cher’s iconic outfits and quotes.

legally blonde | ★★★★

I’ve watched this before but I forgot how great the story actually is. It’s genuinely feminist and the script is hilarious. Also, I’ll watch Selma Blair in anything.

podcasts

sugar calling | ★★★★

In this New York Times Podcast, created specifically for lockdown, Cheryl Strayed calls up older writers, to get their words of wisdom on how to deal with these “unprecedented times.” It’s the perfect listening for your daily walk and I can highly recommend starting at the very beginning, with the episode calling up George Saunders, whose words feel like a warm hug, which, I’m sure, we’re all craving more than ever.

honourable mentions:

• Minisode 12 | Literary Friction

• The Woman Defending Harvey Weinstein | NY Times The Daily

• The One With Greta Gerwig | Scriptnotes

• Heathcliff vs. Darcy: Who’s the Bigger Sh*t? | Cheltenham Festivals

• How To Understand Art with Annie McGrath | Nobody Panic

• Obligatory Note of Hope with Jenny Offill | Literary Friction

articles

• Commuting by Colin Jost| The New Yorker

• The Book of Reese by Ann Pratchett | Vanity Fair

• How Does Infidelity Work During Lockdown? by Lisa Taddeo | Sunday Times Style

• Drew Barrymore on the Importance of Letting Go | Sunday Times Style

• What are You Really Wearing to Stay Home? | Man Repeller

• When Did I Become Rich? | Man Repeller

• David Sedaris: I sneak outside to a New York in which I am the only person | The Times

• Love Letter by George Saunders | The New Yorker

general entertainment

• NY Times Daily Mini Crossword (I do this every day)

• New Yorker Digital Jigsaw (perfect for when you’re bored during an online class)

• Maybe Baby Newsletter by Haley Nahman

• PhotoBox personalised jigsaw (I had one made of my cat, which is so much fun)

• Vogue Colouring Book*

• The humble Nintendo Wii (switches are expensive and nothing beats playing Mario Kart on a Wii)

• Barre Balance Online (such a lovely community and Natalie is the best instructor)

• Healthy With Hannah Workouts (Hannah is the only person who actually motivates me to do burpees, but don’t tell her that)

• The Anna Edit Cookies (the tastiest thing I’ve ever baked, I’m partial to the white chocolate ones)

• Paperchase Scrapbook (scrapbooking is a lovely way to fill the time and this scrapbook is the best I’ve found)

• Understanding Fashion: From Business to Culture course on FutureLearn (I’ve been doing this course on a free trial on FutureLearn and it’s really comprehensive)

music

My April playlist amassed a total of three songs because I’ve mostly been listening to album’s and other people’s playlists this month. So, here are said playlists I’ve been listening to. The first is by the wonderful Liv Playlist and the second is the best workout playlist I’ve ever come across (it’s also great for dancing around your room and pretending it’s 2015). Happy listening!

Self-isolating? Read These Books

The coronavirus is inducing a feeling of collective panic, one that I’m certainly not immune to and if you are self-isolating, or will be in the future, this might increase that anxiety. This is because it’s an interruption of daily life, reminding you that something is wrong but, even more so, it’s because self-isolating will probably encourage you to spend more time on your phone, seeking social engagement via the news and social media in place of finding it in the real world. And the news and social media are not very nice places to be right now. I’ve logged out of Twitter and am trying to spend less time on my phone generally, as the hysteria is multiplied tenfold on social media, with self-isolating being one of the most stressful things for many.

But instead of thinking about it as self-isolating, why not think about it as time off work to catch up on all the TV shows, films, reading and listening you’ve missed out on during the last few months? I think reading is a particularly good idea because it feels productive, unlike Netflix bingeing sessions, so it will hopefully stop you from feeling like you’re wasting time which could, in turn, cause more anxiety. But what to read? There’s so much choice!

Firstly, look at the books dotted around your bookshelves and home that you’ve been meaning to get round to but just haven’t had the chance yet. This is such a great time to get to those! If there aren’t any, instead of toilet roll, why not panic buy books? Things that were written before the word coronavirus became a part of our everyday vocabulary, so you can become somewhat oblivious to it (whilst still remembering to wash your hands!)

Any book will do, but if you don’t know where to start, here are some ideas that I think will be perfect during self-isolation…

the ‘lose yourself in another world’ book

This kind of book is ideal for times of anxiety, as it’s bound to get you out of your own head. A novel with a gripping, page-turning plot is perfect for this, which is great because these types of books exist across all genres and so there’s something out there for everyone. Fantasy would be a particularly good one though, for obvious reasons of escapism. This isn’t my genre of choice but I have been meaning to continue reading the Game of Thrones books so maybe now’s the time?

Here are some other ideas:

• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

• Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo

• Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

• Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

• Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

• Whisper Network by Chandler Baker

• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

• One Day by David Nicholls

• Normal People by Sally Rooney

the ‘i’ve been meaning to read that’ book

We all have books that have been sat on our to-read pile, digital or physical, for a long time. According to GoodReads, I have 165. This is the perfect time to read them because it will make you feel like you’re putting your time to good use and ticking things off your to-do list! For many people, these books will be classic novels, either the traditional texts we think about when we say classics, some of which I’ve read and enjoyed, I have listed below, and modern classics. But this category will be different for everyone!

Here’s some ideas of books that I’ve read and enjoyed:

• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

• A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

• Just Kids by Patti Smith

• White Teeth by Zadie Smith

• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

• Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

• The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

• Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

• Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck

• To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

the ‘well it could be worse’ book

Approach this category with caution. These kinds of books might not be good for those who feel total hysteria about the world we’re living in but equally, they may remind you that what feels like an apocalyptic time has got nothing on what some writers’ minds have come up with. I’m talking about dystopian fiction, of course! It’s one of my favourite genres and for me, I think this would be a good thing to read during self-isolation, especially if it’s a dystopia that isn’t particularly concerned with health or the environment, which are two things that make me feel anxious at the moment for obvious reasons.

So here is a list of some great dystopian fiction that is not particularly focussed on health or the environment (although it inevitably does touch on them so maybe avoid this list if you don’t think it would be productive for you):

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

• 1984 by George Orwell

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

• The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

• Exit West by Mosin Hamid (some would argue that this is more magical realism but I think it can also slot into the dystopia category)

• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

• Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

the ‘relatable comfort blanket’ book

I think we all need a comfort blanket right now and luckily, there are so many books that act just like them! I’m talking about the books that you can see yourself in, the feel-good books with hope at their core, or at least somewhere in and amongst their pages. Self-care books aren’t really my thing but there are a number of books that, although don’t fall into the traditional category of self-care books, have acted as such for me.

Here are some of them:

• Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

• Heartburn by Nora Ephron

• Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig

• Notes On A Nervous Planet by Matt Haig

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

• Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

• She Must Be Mad by Charly Cox

• Calypso by David Sedaris

the ‘I’m educating myself’ book

Like the books you just haven’t got round to, reading an educational book can help you to feel productive during a time when productivity levels are low. Educational is often synonymous with boring and dull but this certainly isn’t the case with some of the more informative books I’ve read. In fact, many of them have been empowering, enlightening and have made me excited about new ways of looking at the world, and inspired me to make changes, big and small.

Here are some of my favourites:

• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

• Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

• Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard

• Sister Outsider: Essays & Speeches by Audre Lorde

• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

Hopefully after seeing all the wonderful books there are out there to read, you’re feeling more positive about the prospect of not leaving your home for the foreseeable or it at least seems more bearable!

If you aren’t currently self-isolating, do try and support your local book stores, whether it’s a Waterstones or an independent, and stock up on books there, as this will be a difficult time financially for them. If you’re unable to, I’ve added clickable Amazon links for every book I’ve mentioned!

Happy self-isolating or as I like to call it, happy-sitting-in-bed-and-reading-all-day-guilt-free-time <3

The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I Read, Watched & Listened To | February 2020

February was a month of settling in to my final semester of university, which brought with it a bout of deadlines that arrived much earlier than usual. With all this writing came less reading, but lots of collapsing onto the couch with some feel good TV, even some films, which is so unlike me as I am, generally, someone who watches films exclusively at the cinema.

After this intense period of watching I am once again out of TV shows to watch, so please leave any recommendations in the comments (I only really like light-hearted TV because I 1. am a wimp and 2. use TV as a way to relax so don’t enjoy anything stressful.)

As always, let’s start with books, of which there was a mere three this month…

Books

Perfume by Patrick Suskind | ★★★★

This was the first book I had to read for a university module about humans, animals and their intersection (which is super interesting.) I’ve actually read this novel before, as Sam bought me it for my birthday a few years ago because we used to semi-ironically listen to Nirvana and this was Kurt Cobain’s favourite book. Following a man who has an abnormally strong sense of smell which defines his life from his birth to his death, it’s a very weird, unusual story. It’s written in a similar style to Vladimir Nabokov’s prose, which I love, so the style of writing was probably my favourite thing about it, but the hilarity of the strangeness of the story is also great.

Expectation by Anna Hope | ★★★

I was definitely influenced to read this book by its social media coverage, as lots of my favourite people to follow Instagram sung its praises. Whilst I enjoyed its plot and the issues it explored, motherhood and friendship being two of them, I found the writing style to be a little dull, which made certain moments have less impact, and limited it from surpassing a 3 star review. An easy, enjoyable read? Definitely! But it’s not one I’ll particularly remember or will go out of my way to recommend.

I’m trying to monitor whether I’m reading books because I saw them on social media and unthinkingly added them to my ‘to read list’ or if because there something I’m really interested in. Instead of relying on social media, I’m trying to discover new books more and more by wondering round bookshops and picking up books that intrigue me, reading their blurb and maybe a few pages, rather than taking so many recommendations off social media, as I think I’m beginning to lose my own taste in books.

Company Parade by Storm Jameson | ★★★★

This is the first in a series of Storm Jameson novels that I’ll be reviewing over the next couple months, as her fiction is the subject of my dissertation. Jameson is an author who sat on the margins of the modernist movement and has long been forgotten, but I became fascinated by her after studying one of her novels on a module last year and have decided to focus my dissertation on her work. If anyone’s interested, it’s about how she depicts clothing as uniquely powerful for her female characters- still working on my title.

This novel follows a young woman from Yorkshire who moved to London to pursue a career in writing in the post-WW1 years. It partly explores the trauma of war on society and individuals but what I love about Jameson’s fiction is her capacity, which is way ahead of its time, to authentically explore and depict young woman, who are often working-class, in a way that has philosophical and socio-economic importance. I like to think of her as Virginia Woolf but with more social commentary. This is a bit of a lazy comparison but I feel like it’s the best way to get people to read her work, which they should because it’s great and a shame that it’s been forgotten.

Tv

Next in Fashion | ★★★★

I was really excited about this show, mainly because it’s hosted by Tan France and Alexa Chung, a duo I didn’t know I needed, but that makes so much sense. Happily, it did not disappoint and I enjoyed every episode. The designers were all really great personalities but were, equally, incredibly talented designers (good job casting directors!) I loved watching the process behind each design and I think the themes for each week were well-chosen, plus, the guest judges were really impressive and not outdated at all, which I think they sometimes can be shows like this one.

(Mild spoiler: I really wanted the runner up to win, mainly because his looks on the sportswear week and the climate week were incredible. This is very weird for me because I’m generally uninterested in menswear, so this did ignite a minor identity crisis. But the winner’s ultra feminine final collection won me over the end which reassured me of my roots in womenswear.)

Crashing | ★★★★

Since finishing Fleabag, I’ve wanted to watch this series, also created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, but didn’t get round to it very quickly. I’m at once happy and sad that I finally did, happy because I finally watched it, sad because now it’s over. The humour is very much similar to that of Fleabag and although it isn’t quite as genius, it’s still a thoroughly enjoyable watch with weird and wonderful characters.

Love Is Blind | ★★★

This Netflix series really appealed to the part of me that is obsessed with the weirdness of American culture because, wow, is it weird. Weird in all the best ways that make great television, though.

I have to say though, as I watched the credits appear for the series finale, I felt my final brain cell slide begrudgingly down the side of my head, like a slug moving away from the grasp of a piece of kitchen roll. But we all need TV like this now again, especially when all your days are spent reading critical theory, there’s really nothing like good, sh*t TV.

Film

While we’re young | ★★★

I watched this at the beginning of the month, not solely because Adam Driver stars in it, but mostly that. It was a relaxed, funny watch and I really enjoyed it but it obviously hasn’t made that much of an impact on me because I can barely remember the plot. From what I can remember, it’s about a middle aged couple who become friends with a younger couple, sparking a mid-life crisis of sorts in which they try and re-live their youth.

parasite | ★★★★★

I’ve wanted to see Parasite for a while but, to be totally honest, I was put off a little bit because it’s a foreign language film and there’s subtitles. I thought this would make it a tiring watch requiring a lot of mental energy, especially in the cinema, but after the first 10 minutes, I didn’t even notice that I was reading subtitles rather than listening to words. The plot of this film was phenomenal, the humour mirrored my own down to a tee and the twists and turns it took consistently shocked me but made total sense. The social commentary running throughout it was also so affecting, without it being in-your-face, and completely universal, transcending language and countries. One of the best films I’ve watched in a long time.

booksmart | ★★★★

This is the perfect easy-to-watch, feel-good and hilarious film. I love that more films about female friendship are being made and I love that Beanie Feldstein is being cast in them because she is simply great.

fighting with my family | ★★★

When I suggested to Sam that we should watch a film about wrestling he was very confused. “Florence Pugh’s in it,” I explained. he was still confused. “She was in Little Wome-”, “Oh okay, I get it.”

I actually really enjoyed this film. Again, like Booksmart, it was easy to watch, funny and, at times, heartwarming. But I wasn’t always convinced by the script which was sometimes cliched and cringeworthy.

honourable mentions

particular podcast episodes, articles or any other bits of culture that don’t fit into any of the above cateogories

• Film & Friends Podcast #17 - A Doggy Dog World

• With The Beatles by Haruki Murakami | The New Yorker

• Tim Walker: Wonderful Things @ The V&A

• Inside Laura Jackson’s Home: The House That Instagram Built | The Sunday Times Style

• Marc Jacobs Fall 2020 Show

• Dolly Alderton On Why She’s Always Late | The Sunday Times Style

• The Best Dressed of 2020 Awards Season, Illustrated | The Mancunion

• The Changing Face of the Influencer | The Mancunion

• Sally Rooney’s Attention Span Has Improved | The New York Times

The Monthly Media Catch Up: Everything I Read, Watched & Listened To | January 2020

(affiliate links are marked with a *)

T-shirt: Roberta Einer SS20

Cardigan: & Other Stories*

Trousers: Mango (old, similar here*)

Necklace: Missoma*

Hair clips: ASOS*

Oh hi! So the Monthly Media Catchup has disappeared from my blog over the past few months. This was not intentional but a side-effect of an overwhelming amount of university work (final year really is difficult, who would have thought?)

But no one wants to hear about the amount of work I or anyone else has, so let’s just get straight into everything I read, watched and listened to during January.

My birthday and Christmas fall within 30 days of each other and most of my presents for both of these occasions consist of books. Every year, I look forward to compiling a list of books to ask for for Christmas and my birthday and this years list was particularly long. I started a couple of the books over the Christmas period (amongst them,Find Me by Andre Aciman, the sequel to Call Me By Your Name which I really disappointingly disliked) but have been digging deeper into the huge pile during the first month of 2020, before my university reading really kicks in.

I’ve also been watching A LOT of TV. I’m not sure if I watched more than one single TV show in its entirety from September-December. Partly because of the aforementioned busyness but also because I just couldn’t find anything that I liked enough to commit to. But January has brought lots of new releases and, to be honest, I’ve more or less been watching the same thing as the rest of my Instagram feed, but I thought I’d touch on them anyway, in case you’ve somehow missed them.

I found that I was consuming a lot of media recommended to me via social media this month, meaning I’ve been watching TV shows and reading books I might not have otherwise. In some ways, this has really paid off (see the TV category) but in others, specifically when it comes to books, I think I’d like to trust my own taste more in the future. Not that I disliked any of the books I read, but that there are other books on my shelves I might have enjoyed more, even if they’re not currently as popular/trendy.

Anyway, now the obligatory preamble is over, onto the reviews…

Books

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo | ★★★★★

How nice to start the year off with a 5 star review! Three Women has been on my to-read list since its release and it was one of the most difficult books to resist in my attempt to buy fewer books over the past year. Luckily, this anticipation paid off. Taddeo’s book follows the lives of three women, Maggie, Sloane and Lina. Specifically, it follows their sex lives, exploring their desires, emotions, and instincts in depth. Taddeo spent around 8 years looking for and spending time with these women in order to write such a book and the fact that the book reads like a novel is a huge credit to her as a journalist and a writer. It’s beautifully written and I found every detail fascinating. What I think is so special about this book is that Taddeo dedicates so much importance to female desire as its own entity, a privilege, unlike male desire which is often explored in fiction and non-fiction through the male gaze, it is rarely given.

I’ve seen this book criticised because firstly, “not much happens”, but this is baffling to me, because I thought so much happened! No, there isn’t much of a plotline but it’s non-fiction and real-life doesn’t have a plotline, and authentic female desire is not programmed the way we’ve seen it in books and other forms of media, which is perhaps why people are uncomfortable or bored with the book. Secondly, because it isn’t representative. However I think it’s important to remember that Taddeo is not trying to represent all women, just three women. But I do hope that many writers take inspiration from this book and write texts of this kind about different kinds of women. I hope to read many, many stories like these ones about thousands of diverse women in my lifetime, and I can only hope that, as a society, we begin to value them enough to allow this to hapen.

Calypso by David Sedaris | ★★★★

David Sedaris’ essay collections have been doing the rounds on social media, having been plauded for their humour and wit. I decided to read his most recent collection of essays and I enjoyed them a great deal. I didn’t find them laugh-out-loud funny but they largely put a smile on my face, especially the stories set in the UK. I’m currently taking a Non-Fiction Creative Writing Class and I definitely found them useful in that respect, although I can’t see myself being desperate to pick up more of his writing in the near future. 3.5 stars.

Educated by Tara Westover | ★★★

Another book I was influenced by social media to read, specifically by Sunbeamsjess, who is one of my favourite bloggers and chose it for her January book club. Westover’s memoir follows her life from her unorthodox Mormon childhood to leaving her family to study at Cambridge University and Harvard. I love the concept of this book and the parts in which the book was true to its title and Westover explored receiving an education for the first time in her late teens were fascinating. But I found that it focussed slightly too much on her childhood and it was particularly gratuitous in describing the violence she experienced, which, although I’m sure was traumatizing and I am not trying to diminish it, lost its impact after so much repetition, for me, especially because specific acts of violence were described over and over again. At times, I was gripped to the book’s storyline but at others, I wanted to put it down. It’s definitely worth a read if you’re willing to sit through the frequent scenes of violence because Westover’s story and her writing generally is great.

TV

Unreal (Amazon Prime) | ★★★★

I found this series in Pandora Sykes’ essay The Authentic Lie and I was so glad I did because it brought to an end the excruciating few months in which I had nothing to watch on TV. It’s a fictional series that looks at the production of a reality show that is similar to The Bachelor and Love Island. It’s a fascinating look at how real reality TV is and how producers manipulate contestants but it’s also an exciting and gripping watch, full of cliffhangers and great characters, whose emotional lives you become invested in. The first series was by far the best but I think it’s worth watching them all.

You, Season 2 (Netflix) | ★★★

I binge-watched the first season of You this time last year so I was looking forward, as was the rest of social media, to the second season. I enjoyed it a lot although I wasn’t able to watch it as quickly as I did the first season. Whilst it is bingeable and an easy watch, it’s also a great exploration of white male privilege. I’ve only given it three stars because I didn’t mourn it being over and I often forgot that I had even been watching it when I was doing other things.

Sex Education, Season 2 (Netflix) | ★★★★

I think I might have liked Season 2 of Sex Education even more than the first one. It’s genuinely educational as well as heartbreaking, engaging and funny. I loved Aimee’s plotline as well as Jackson and Viv’s and especially Maureens <3

Cheer (Netflix) | ★★★★★

I’d seen people raving about this on social media and I was tempted to watch it, but I’m not a huge fan of documentaries and I know nothing about cheerleading so I put off doing so. However, when my friend recommended it to me and I’d finished all the other series I’d been watching, I finally caved in. Thank god I did because it is incredible! The stories it tells about the people it depicts are unbelievable and it warmed my heart to see how their team sport brought them altogether despite (and because) of their backgrounds. I also love how it showed the stamina and fitness cheerleading requires. Having grown up dancing, people were quick to dismiss it and declare that it ‘wasn’t a real sport’, but this series proves that to be undoubtedly incorrect.

I actually adore Jerry, he’s probably the best person I’ve ever encountered and Morgan’s admiration of Monica was beautiful (I feel you though, Morgan, Monica is incredible). Also, the scene when La’Darius’ brother cries watching them compete. I CAN’T. I’m already rewatching the series.

Films

Little Women | ★★★★★

Okay, so I first watched Little Women in December but I went to see it again in January, which is convenient because it means I get to talk about it here, even though I’ve already discussed it on every other platform, online and offline.

Little Women is one of my favourite novels ever because it has so much sentimental value and also, it’s a genuinely brilliant story of sisterhood (you can read my full review in this blog post). I watched the 90s film so much growing up with my Nan so when I heared that Greta Gerwig was directing a new adaptation for 2020, and with a cast of some of my favourite actors, I was hysterical.

Now some may say I was biased going into the movie, and that I would have loved it even if it was terrible. But actually, my expectations were very high. Being such a big Little Women fan means that I know all the details and I think about the characters a lot and so I’m very pedantic. But Gerwig did such an incredible job at depicting them and making a story that has been told so many times refreshing and new. I can’t think of a film that I like more than this one and I hope the fact that it’s about women and is by women doesn’t deter people from going to watch it. If it does, it’s their loss.

Podcasts

The PanDolly Podcast | ★★★★

If you, like me, are missing The High Low whilst it’s on maternity leave, I’d definitely reccomend The PanDolly Podcast. This podcast preceded The High Low, and it’s a lot more of the low than the high, but it gave me my fix of Dolly and Pandora (I actually listened to every episode in the space of about 2 weeks so really, it gave me even more than my fix.) I’m now re-listening to The High Low and I’m really enjoying doing so. It’s interesting to hear them discuss past events as it gives you a reminder of the what has been going on in the world (always useful) and it’s also entertaining to hear them discuss, for example ‘Prince Harry’s new girlfriend, Meghan Markle’, when we are so used to this being the case now and so much has changed.

Literary Friction | ★★★★

I’ve been a long time Literary Friction fan but I’d got out of the habit of listening to the podcast. But discovering their ‘minisodes’ has got me right back onto it. I particularly enjoyed Minisode One on the books they hated (what does this say about me?) and Minisode Eight on the books they read because they were assigned them, but they actually loved.

Honourable mentions:

Sometimes, I listen to a podcast episode because there’s a guest on it who I admire or they’re discussing a topic I’m interested in, but I don’t necesarilly listen to any of the other episodes or subscribe to the podcast. Here are some of those:

• Soundtracking with Edith Bowman - Episode 174: Greta Gerwig on the Music of Little Women

• Awards Chatter - 314. Florence Pugh - ‘Little Women,’ ‘Midsommar’ & ‘Fighting with My Family’

• Awards Chatter - 299. Renee Zelweger - ‘Judy’

• Ctrl Alt Delete - #68 with Lena Dunham: Dealing with Life Online and Offline

The Best Books I Read in 2019

2019 has been a weird year in terms of reading for me personally. As my degree has become more intense and I’ve been reading more than ever for university purposes, I haven’t been able to read as much for pleasure. This has been really difficult as reading is my favourite way- and possibly my only way- to relax. But reading around 200 pages a day, often more, for university means I am usually too mentally exhausted to read for pleasure in the evenings, and not only this, but I feel as though it could hinder my degree, as I don’t have the best capacity for retaining information and so I do think, in this case, it’s very much possible for me to read too much.

Because of the intensity of my degree during 2019, I’ve read more than ever, although less novels than usual, and certainly less for pleasure. Despite this, I’ve also craved reading more than ever, and one of the reasons I’m so excited to graduate is so I can read more. Yes, I have really just said that I’m excited to finish my English Literature degree so I can read more books- I hate myself too.

Anyway, according to GoodReads, I’ve read 44 books this year and I’ve managed to narrow them down to 9 favourites, as well as an honourable mention. 5 of these books were read for uni, proving that my degree does have some value and 5 of them were books I was re-reading, so I’m not really sure whether or not it’s fair to include them but I am doing so anyway. Interestingly, a lot of the books I’ve read this year are fairly short (probably all around the 300 page mark or shorter) and I think this is because I am generally impressed by books that can do a lot in a short space of time.

If your New Years Resolution is to read more, I can thoroughly recommend all of these books. And on that note, I’d love any book recommendations you might have, so please do leave me them in the comments! Anyway, on to the books…

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

I watched the film version of this in 2018 and was desperate to read the novel, which I finally got round to in August of this year. I read it poolside in Corfu which is the perfect location to read this dreamlike novel. I’ve doted on it ever since and it’s definitely my book of the year. It’s a beautiful story, beautifully written and is just so full of feeling. I don’t know if this will make sense to anyone else and it’s not something I’ve necessarily experienced very much before but I felt sick reading the prose in this novel because it was just so good. Sick in a good way: as in completely overwhelmed and transported, almost like an out of body experience, not to be dramatic or anything.

Unfortunately, I read the sequel - Find Me - in recent weeks and it was honestly appalling. There’s nothing I hate more than a pointless, pretentious book and that’s what this felt like. Plus, it had around 12 pages of Oliver & Elio content, which is obviously what everyone who read CMBYN was there for. Anyway, this doesn’t take away from how much I love Call Me By Your Name, but if you read it and are tempted to read the sequel too, I would advise you to not to if you want to keep your Aciman experience positive.

I promise I’ll move on soon but before I do, I want to include the last line of the novel, which just broke me (potential spoilers):

“If you remember everything, I wanted to say, and if you are really like me, then before you leave tomorrow, or when you’re just ready to shut the door of the taxi and have already said goodbye to everyone else and there’s not a thing left to say in this life, then, just this once, turn to me, even in jest, or as an afterthought, which would have meant everything to me when we were together, and, as you did back then, look me in the face, hold my gaze, and call me by your name.”

Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov

A controversial pick but one I firmly stand by. I re-read this for a university module and was impressed even more than I was the first time I read it by how truly clever this book is, because it manages to convince so many readers that its plot is about a romantic relationship, rather than about paedophilia, which, just to be clear, it is. I think it goes to show how powerful and important language is and how it can be used and is used (cough cough 2019 general election cough cough) as a form of manipulation.

I do also find it fascinating how people are so uncomfortable with this book to the point of refusing to read it. We don’t condemn plots that are centred around murder or torture, even those that romanticise it like American Psycho (although that comes with its own set of problems aka the author being a bit of a dick). Yet, we are almost scared of this book because of how it sets out to manipulate you into siding with its narrator. It’s one I think I could re-read and re-read and find interesting every time, because of its many forms of manipulation and so, who knows, maybe this will be on my 2020 list of books.

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

Another re-read! I was so excited to see this novel turn up on one of my module lists earlier this year as I read it a couple of years ago and loved it. It was published in recent years and it taught me a lot about islamophobia within our society. On top of this, it’s also a gripping and fast-paced read that I was on the edge of my seat throughout reading, even the second time.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Surprise, surprise: another book I re-read! This one is different though because I’ve read this novel countless amounts of times since I was a little girl. It’s a comfort read that I love to come back to around Christmas, and it was particularly exciting to read it this year before seeing Greta Gerwig’s film adaptation, which I loved so so much. The story encapsulates what it means to be a sister so well, the good, the bad and the ugly, and the story is timeless. Upon reading it for the umpteenth time (and after watching the film), I’ve come up with a new theory: if you’re an older sister, you love Jo and dislike Amy, if you’re a younger sister you like Amy and dislike Jo (or at least find her irritating). I am firmly in the first ballpark and am very proud to say that I am most similar to Jo, according to a very credible BuzzFeed quiz I did.

Focus by Arthur Miller

This is a book I read for university earlier in the year and is one of the few uni books I’ve read that I found truly addicting. It’s set in post-war America when the protagonist gets a new pair of glasses and is consistently mistaken as Jewish, and is discriminated against as a result of this. It unfortunately feels like a pressing and relevant story over 70 years after its publication and I think its concept is a clever one that encourages readers to be more empathetic and understanding of those around them.

White is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

I read this novel for my Gothic course and it’s book like these that make me really appreciate my degree as I’m sure I never would have picked up a book like this one (the form is weird, as is the subject matter) but it totally blew me away. It makes very little sense but, unlike many pretentious novels I’ve read that are nonsensical only to be pretentious, this is part of its genius. It’s a comment on how we think about race and immigration in the UK through the lens of a Gothic vampire novel and I hope that short summary at least intrigues you to read it. One of my reading resolutions of 2020 is definitely to read more Oyeyemi!

conversaTions with friends by sally rooney

After reading Normal People at the end of 2018, I was eager to read Rooney’s first novel, and I liked it even more than the first one. I read it at the beginning of 2019 so my memory when it comes to its plot is flagging, but I do remember how much I loved Rooney’s prose and the thought-provoking and honest ways she writes about relationships. I am eagerly anticipating more of her fiction!

the vegetarian by han kang

This was one of the last books I read in 2019 and I’m so glad I finally got round to it as I’ve wanted to read it for a while (thanks to my friend Devi for lending me it and giving me the push I needed to read it!) Much like White Is For Witching, this book made little sense. It’s also a thin little book but it manages to pack so much in! I loved how it considered vegetarianism and feminism at once as, even as someone who is both of these things, it presented many ideas concerning these the ideologies in a way I’d never considered before.

honourary mention: othello By william shakespeare

I was so excited to re-read my favourite Shakespeare play for uni this year: it honestly felt like what my entire degree had been leading up to. Typically, it fell on a week when my tutors were striking so we didn’t get to discuss it in very much detail, but I adored re-reading it. It’s so ahead of its time and provokes discussions that are as relevant today as when the play was published in Elizabethan times. It will forever hold a special place in my heart after studying it at A-Level and I was relieved that I still loved it as much as I did as a bright-eyed 16 year old now, 3 years into an English Literature degree.

The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I Read, Watched & Listened To | August 2019

August has well and truly been a month of rest, mostly spent at home snuggled up on the sofa or in bed, ending with a dreamy week in Corfu. I’ve managed to get through some great books as well as a whole lot of TV shows that I’m genuinely sad to see the back of. I feel like having a month off everything (kind of) has meant I’ve watched every TV show that exists that I like because, despite the amount of trailers and first episodes that I’ve watched, I can’t seem to find any new ones that I click with, so recommendations are welcome! Anyway, here’s everything I read, watched & listened to during the month of August…

books

My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite |★★★★

I bought this book despite my self-imposed book-ban at the beginning of August and immediately began reading it, something I don’t often do, as my many unread books sat on my shelves will vouch for, hence the book-ban. What I’m trying to say is, this book really appealed to me. Some of my favourite literature is written by Nigerian novelists and much of it explores female relationships. Plus the title and the front cover are undoubtedly intriguing. The novel follows the life of a woman whose (wait for it) sister is a serial killer- she kills all her boyfriends. I found the plot to be slow but I enjoyed it for its writing style, its complicated female characters and, best of all, its short chapters, because god knows I am SO much more likely to read a book regularly if its chapters are short- I have commitment issues. 3.5 stars.

Available to buy on Amazon.

Whisper Network by Chandler Baker | ★★★★

I asked my mum to pre-order this book for me for my birthday back in January, after hearing Pandora praise it on The High Low, and I was obviously very confused when it arrived on its release day in July. After a few days, I remembered where it came from and added it to my pile of hardbacks to take on holiday with me, because they are too big to be carried around in my bag during day-to-day life. This book is a great ‘poolside read’. Following the lives of four female lawyers working for a company in which a man they know to have a history of sexual assault is about to become CEO, it’s very Big Little Lies: four complicated woman with issues going on in their personal life become entangled in a murder investigation. It’s a real page-turner and, as many critics have commented, feels like a reaction to the #METOO movement, exploring the nuances of sexual assault and why many women don’t report it.

Available to buy on Amazon.

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman | ★★★★★

I adored this novel, perhaps even more than the film, which usually wouldn't be so much of a statement, because I am firmly books≥films, but after watching this film I wasn’t sure a novel could capture its vivid scenery, colours and feeling, but it really did. It’s one of those novels that you know every single word has been carefully thought about and this attention to detail really pays off because each sentence flows through to the next so beautifully. It’s narrated by Elio, a 17 year old boy living with his family in the Italian countryside, who becomes infatuated with the man, Oliver, his father, a well-known professor, takes in over the summer, in order to help him improve his academic work. It encapsulates the feeling of intoxicating love and infatuation so incredibly and I was moved so much by this novel. It’s definitely being added to my half of fame of books and I cannot wait for its sequel to be released this October!

Available to buy on Amazon.

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner | ★★★

The plot of this novel really drew me to it, it takes place in a woman’s prison in California and sets out to explore the ‘absurdities of institutional living’, and let’s be honest, so did its pink and red, very well-designed, cover and the fact it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018. However I put off reading it for a while as I’d heard a lot of reviews from people who just couldn’t get to grips with it. After reading it, I can definitely see where they were coming from. It doesn’t really have a plot and I felt like it didn’t allow me enough time with the protagonist, Romy, to really feel for her and her struggles, and it allowed even less time with the seemingly more interesting prisoners. I mean, maybe this was the point of the novel and I’m sure it would be an interesting one to analyse, just not to read for pleasure. Despite this, it wasn’t a slog and I got through it pretty quickly. But I wouldn’t rush to recommend it, unless you’re a die hard fan of Orange Is The New Black, then you’ll probably really like it. 2.5 stars.

Available to buy on Amazon.

TV

I’ve watched a whole lot of TV this month so I will try and keep these reviews as short and snappy as possible…

Jane The Virgin | ★★★★★

I lied. This isn’t going to be short and snappy. I could write an entire blog post about Jane The Virgin- no, I could create an entire blog dedicated to it. This beautiful, hilarious and unique series ended this month and I am going to miss saving the new weekly episode for whenever I most need it. The plot line sounds ridiculous (it is and that’s the best thing about it) so bare with me: Jane is a devout catholic who, despite being in a committed relationship, does not want to have sex before marriage. However, she is accidentally, artificially inseminated and becomes pregnant. The story continues from there and follows Jane’s life for five seasons and one hundred episodes. Its form is based on the Latin American telenovela, which means its very exaggerated, with lots of twists, fairytale endings and villains. But it’s also completely down to earth and explores very real topics and isn’t afraid to be political. It’s an absolute gem of a TV show and nothing can make me smile, cry or laugh quite like it. Please go and watch it- if you don’t believe my raving review, it has an 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Jane The Virgin is available on Netflix.

Big Little Lies | ★★★★★

I finished season 2 of Big Little Lies this month and it really proved itself as an incredible piece of television. It started off a little slow but that really served to make the ending more impactful. It deals with motherhood, grief and abuse of all kinds in such an intense yet sensitive way that it’s hard not too feel overwhelmed whilst watching it, which is the reason I can never binge-watch it. Each episode feels like a work of art, from the cinematography, to the soundtrack, to the outstanding acting and cast. Nicole Kidman’s performance was particularly brilliant this season and I was so moved by her story, whilst Meryl Streep’s character was so frustrating, I often had to turn the TV off, yet I also found myself sympathising with her, which goes to show how brilliant her portrayal and character is. I may not have enjoyed every moment of this season but it’s impossible to give it anything less than a 5 star review, because even the slow parts seem intentional looking back, and it is this impeccable attention to detail that makes Big Little Lies so great.

Big Little Lies Season 2 is available on Sky.

Gossip Girl | ★★★★★

I finished re-watching Gossip Girl for the third (or fourth?) time this month and I feel ridiculous giving it a five star review but it just has to be done! It’s so bad that it’s good and despite its cringe-worthiness, the story line is generally compelling. It’s my ultimate easy watch, especially when I’ve finished all of my other series, and I always go back to it. I love how unattainable the characters lives are to me as well as the New York lifestyle it portrays. It’s also really nostalgic for me as I first watched the series when I was 13, staying up all night during my summer holidays binge-watching it, and I think it’s what made me fall in love with NYC. Definitely worth a watch if you’ve never seen it before, or if you have because it’s so re-watchable.

Gossip Girl is available on Netflix.

GLOW | ★★★★

GLOW stands for the ‘Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling’ and that’s what it’s about- the cast of a female wrestling TV show set in the 80s. The third season was released this month and I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the first and second seasons. It’s nothing mind-blowing but it’s generally funny, sometimes moving and it can be politically relevant at times too which usually makes for the most interesting episodes; I particularly liked it’s exploration of relationships this season.

GLOW is available on Netflix.

Years and Years | ★★★★★

Years & Years didn’t initially appeal to me because it all sounded a bit intense and overwhelming, which isn’t generally what I want out of a TV show, but after watching the trailer and feeling at a complete loss for what to watch on a Friday night, I decided to give it a go. I’m so glad I did. Years & Years follows the lives of the Lyons family as each episode jumps ahead a few years, ending in 2030, portraying the effects of a dystopian world (or is it just our world?) in chaos on this particular family. The thing about this TV show is that it’s easy to watch (the Northern accents and its Manchester setting make it seem somewhat normal) but it’s also completely overwhelming. It’s plot is unbelievable but also very, very plausible. The more episodes I watched, the more terrifying this series became and it really made me feel the urgency of the problems in the world around us, specifically the rise of the alt-right and the refugee crisis. I sobbed at Episode Four like I’ve never sobbed at a TV show before and I really couldn’t shake off the feeling it left me with for some time. I think this TV show is a necessary watch and one that I won’t forget about any time soon.

Years and Years is available on BBC iPlayer.

Films

I promise we’re nearing the end! Especially because I only watched two films this month (excluding Flushed Away which I won’t review well, because, it’s obviously worthy of 5 stars and more)…

BlackkKlansman |★★★★

I finally got round to watching this film! It’s set in the 1970s when a black man who is working in the investigations department of his local police force, Ron Stallworth, responds to a Ku Klux Klan advert, asking for more information, only to be immediately phoned back, meaning he must pose as a white man. A white man who also works in the investigations department (Adam Driver, who I love and adore) then attends the KKK meetings, posing as Ron, whilst Ron continues to speak to the KKK members over the phone. This film was slow and most of its action took place right towards the end of the film, which (much like Big Little Lies) only made it more impactful. It was the sequence at the end of this film though, with clips of the racist Charlottesville terrorist attack that took place in 2017 that really left a mark on me, as it emphasised how, much like they did in the 1970s when this film was set, people underestimate how much racism is still present within our society. (NB: I looked into it after and this film is based on a true story and so many of the crazy details from the film did actually take place, which makes it far more interesting and scary).

BlackkKlansman is available on Sky.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood… | ★★★

Maybe I would have rated this film higher if I had any awareness of the Manson Murders before watching it but, alas, I did not, and I came out thinking that the film had no plot line whatsoever. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it, the incredible cast, the portrayals of Los Angeles in the 70s, the clothes, but three hours is a long time to watch a film that seems like it has no plot. I’m not sure if not knowing about the Manson Murders is one of my many blips in historical knowledge and that everyone else knows about them, but I r do wish I knew before watching the film, at least, that Sharon Tate was murdered and that the film’s trailer/descriptions would have advertised how integral this fact is to understanding the it. Anyway, watching it with that knowledge might be a totally different experience, but without it, it’s just great outfits, great actors, oh, and a great soundtrack, with no plot, which can’t really warrant more than a 3-star review.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood… is in cinemas now.

MUSIC

I though I’d share my monthly playlist this month too (seeing as I actually made one). My music taste is beyond varied and sometimes I just listen to the same old stuff, but here are some of the new songs I listened to this month:

Phew! We’re done. My short and snappy reviews were not so short and snappy this month. But I think there are some great recommendations in this blog post so I hope you find something you like from it!

you might also like…

The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I Read, Watched & Listened To | July 2019

Finally a Monthly Media Catch Up blog post that isn’t a bumper edition! Whilst I haven’t consumed an enormous amount of media this month, there are some real gems in there, particularly in the books section if you’re after the perfect poolside read. I’m also reviewing The Lion King, which I rushed to cinemas to see because it’s my all-time favourite Disney film.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s everything I read, watched and listened to during the month of July…

Books

One Day by David Nicholls | ★★★★

I read this book over the period of a week poolside during a girls trip to Portugal and it was the perfect holiday read. Set on the 15th July (which, weirdly coincidentally, was the day I started reading it) every year for 20 years, the novel follows the lives of Dexter and Emma who met on the night of their graduation on the 15th July 1988 and remained friends for every year after, always with the inkling that there was something more there. This book makes such a great holiday read because it’s so easy to throw yourself into and become entangled with the lives of Dexter and Emma, as long as you’re prepared for the emotional trauma that comes with it. I had the feeling all the way through this book that I had seen the film before, which I eventually concluded that I had, however I had completely forgotten about the twist at the end of it, so it wasn’t spoilt for me- perks of having a terrible memory. Anyway, I think the book has already had more of a lasting effect on me than the film evidently did.

The Only Story by Julian Barnes |★★★

Julian Barnes is one of my favourite authors however none of his novels have lived up to the first one I read that is simply brilliant, The Sense of an Ending, and The Only Story is no exception. Because I love The Sense of an Ending so much I do feel that I hold all of his novels up to high standards, so take this three star rating with a pinch of salt and maybe add a 0.5 onto it. This novel is a love story about a 19 year old boy who forms a romantic relationship with an older woman, that then continues throughout the rest of their lives, as the novel tracks its complications and difficulties. It tackles interesting questions about why and how we love and it is a heartbreaking story. But it’s just not The Sense of an Ending, so prioritise reading that if you haven’t already.

tv

Derry Girls | ★★★★★

A 5 star review seems generous for this lighthearted TV series but I honestly cannot fault it. It’s everything I want from a comedy and I’ve already rewatched some of the episodes. It’s set in Northern Ireland in the 1990s and follows a group of 5 teenagers who are navigating well, being teenagers. With a backdrop of bombs exploding and armed police, you might not expect so much humour from it but it truly is one of the funniest shows I’ve watched in a while. Apparently there’s a second season that I didn’t know about (I watched the 1st on Netflix) so I am going to go and watch that as soon as possible.

Other than that I’ve been watching Love Island, re-watching Gossip Girl and old episodes of Friends, so apologies that the TV section of this MMC is so dry.

films

Yesterday | ★★★

I was really excited about this film; the prospect is genius: an aspiring (and failing) musician who is riding his bike is hit by a bus during a worldwide electricity blackout, and when he regains consciousness, he is the only person in the world who remembers The Beatles. Thus, he gains global fame by claiming The Beatles songs as his own. The screenplay is written by Richard Curtis, so I expected it to be great but, in all honesty, it just felt like it was trying a little too much to be 2019, and failing at that. With Ed Sheeran making more appearances than his acting credentials should really allow and a generic plot that you could only just forget about by hearing a Beatles song you love, it really only deserves three stars. Despite this, it was funny at times and I would have gone to see it if only for its soundtrack.

The Lion King | ★★★★

As I mentioned, The Lion King is my favourite Disney film and I truly think this film did it justice. The casting was great and it was fairly true to the original story. I was worried the CGI animals would look a little weird singing Hakuna Matata, but once I got used to it, it worked. As did Beyonce as Nala which I was also unsure about but she is truly the perfect fit for the part. Billy Eichner, whose voice I recognised from Friends From College, was great as a camp Timon and I shed more than one tear throughout the film during the dramatised, emotional moments (RIP Mufasa). It only loses a star because nothing will ever live up to the original.

podcasts

On The Line | ★★★★

I’ve dabbled into Estée Lalonde’s podcast a few times before but I’ve really gotten into it over the past month. It’s a call in show in which Estée interviews different guests on their topics of expertise every week and anyone can ‘call in’ (record a voice note and send it in) to ask them questions. It’s an easy listen but often educational too, although it does get a little rambly at tims. My favourite episodes were with Brittany Bathgate, Marcia Kilgore (founder of BeautyPie), Att Pynta and, my absolute favourite, the episode with Estée’s mum.

Radio 4 Bookclub | ★★★★

I discovered this one based on a High Low recommendation from Dolly and have since been listening to the episodes with all my favourite authors. The premise of the show is author interviews based on one of their particular books in which an audience are present and can ask questions. My favourite episodes were with David Nicholls on One Day (which I listened to immediately after finishing the novel) and Margaret Atwood on The Handmaid’s Tale, of which I am eagerly awaiting the sequel.

The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I Read, Watched & Listened To | May & June 2019

Oh hi there, and welcome back! Here we are with another bumper edition of the Monthly Media Catch Up due to another very busy period. Starting a new job during my busiest university exam period ever was perhaps not one of my best decisions because it certainly made May and most of June nonstop months, ending with a trip to New York City.

Just as my lack of frequent posting on the blog is not going to become a habit, neither are these bumper editions of the MMC, but, for now, here’s everything I read, watched and listened to during these very busy months…

Books

Most of the words I consumed during May were for revision purposes but I have squeezed a couple of books for fun in during the month of June.

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton | ★★★★

I needed a comfort read to get me through the last couple of weeks of exams and the exhaustion that came after them and I knew that this was exactly the book to turn to. I listened to Everything I Know About Love on Audible last year because I love Dolly’s podcasts and knew I would love the audio version of her memoir, which I did. I loved it so much that I wanted to read it for real, especially because the paperback version has an extra chapter that wasn’t available in the audio edition. Dolly’s words in her memoir are endlessly funny, reassuring, heartbreaking and honest and this is a book that I know I could read over and over again and take something new from it depending on where I am at in my life and the emotions I am feeling, laughing at the same jokes over no matter how many times I read them.

Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig | ★★★★

Another comfort-read for the post-exam trauma. Matt Haig’s first book Reasons To Stay Alive provided me with so much solace during a period of my life when I was really struggling with my mental health, so I was eager to read his second book, Notes On A Nervous Planet, as soon as I finished the first. I found this book to be really helpful as someone who primarily suffers with anxiety more than anything else, as it really made me think about the modern world and how the ways in which it is changing are at the centre of the mental health crisis. However it managed to do so in a way that, thankfully, didn’t make me panic but helped me to think about how I can combat the feelings of anxiousness caused by a world of uncertainty.

What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons | ★★★★

A moving novel about losing someone close to you and the grief that comes with that. The style of the book felt reminiscent of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen and I am very interested in this fragmented style of writing. I’d definitely like to read more by Zinzi Clemmons.

TV

The Bold Type | ★★★★★

This was one of those TV shows in which I absolutely could not wait to watch the next episode, but I always forced myself to wait because I didn’t want the series to be over. The trailer does this Amazon Prime series no justice and neither will any of my descriptions but, in short, it’s The Devil Wears Prada meets woke millennial and it’s so watchable without being trashy, in fact, it’s genuinely educational. Please give it a go and see what you think and if anyone who produces The Bold Type happens to be reading this (highly unlikely), please hurry up with Season 4!

Killing Eve | ★★★★★

I was late to the party with this, as I am with most TV and film, and I’ve still only watched Season 1 but I loved Killing Eve. It’s so different to anything I’ve ever watched, namely because both of the principal characters are female and are neither outright likeable or unlikeable. It would pass the Bechdel Test with flying colours and it’s absolutely hilarious. It follows the life of an M15 officer who becomes obsessed with catching a female assassin who is acting all around Europe and has an impeccable wardrobe, need I say more?

Doctor Foster |★★★★

Another BBC drama I was late to but binge-watched just as quickly. I had multiple nightmares about this show and if that doesn’t show just how enthralling it was I don’t know what does. It’s about a woman, Doctor Foster, who finds out her husband has been cheating on her and drives herself insane by not telling him about it. It’s very intense but that’s what makes it such a gripping watch.

Love Island | ★★★★★

I don’t know if you will have heard of this one, I mean… it’s pretty niche. Love Island provides me with all the escapism I could ever need and there’s nothing more de-stressing for me than sitting on my couch at 9pm every night and focussing on the lives of others for an hour, forgetting my own. I wrote a blog post in defence of Love Island last year, if you’re still a sceptic.

Films

Late Night | ★★★

Sam and I watched this film in NYC and this is where it is aptly set. Emma Thompson is a late night talkshow host who is out of touch with the world around her and who is about to have her talk show cancelled, that’s until her new ‘diversity hire’, Molly, comes in and, when she is finally allowed to talk by the all white male staff, revitalises the show. I found this film to be laugh out loud funny but I also kind of forgot about it the day after- worth watching if you fancy a trip to the cinema, but not life-changing.

The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I've Read, Watched & Listened To | March & April 2019

Some links used are affiliate links which means I earn a very small amount of commission if you purchase an item.

Top: Shrimps X Warehouse Collection

Jeans: Vintage (similar here)

Necklace: Missoma

Hello! May has arrived and I’m bringing you a bumper edition of the Monthly Media Catchup. I spent most of March writing essays and crying about them so I didn’t get a chance to consume very much interesting media, hence why I’m combining the two months. However April was mostly spent reading, watching and listening to lots of wonderful things, so here’s all of the books, films, TV and podcasts I spent my time with during the months of March and April. There are some seriously good recommendations in this one, if I do say so myself (especially in the TV category)…

BOOKS

(all of these books were read as part of my English Literature degree)

The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer | ★★★★

This is a play about the outbreak of the AIDS crisis in New York City, how the world ignored it and how many gay men suffered as a result. It was heartbreaking and emotionally overwhelming to read and I can see why it was able to affect so much changed when it premiered. I’d really recommend reading this as a form of education and to understand how detrimental the AIDS crisis was and is, but also because it’s a fantastically gripping play.

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin | ★★★

In this memoir, a white man tells the story of how he disguised himself as a black man and made his way through the American south in the 1950s in order to expose the discrimination black people faced. It was uncomfortable to read and it doesn’t feel politically correct anymore, despite the amount of change it affected when it was published in the mid-late 20th century, which is why I’ve given it 3 stars.

A Day Off by Storm Jameson | ★★★★

I read this book as part of my Modernism module, which I haven’t been enjoying that much as I struggle to find anything too interesting in plots surrounding the day to day lives of middle/upper class white people. This one was different though and not only because the protagonist is working-class. I loved how Jameson used clothes as symbolism and there were so many other aspects like this that made it an interesting and gripping novel.

The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon | ★★★

This book about the Windrush Generation is a timely reading but its casual misogyny really did date it. I enjoyed it in many ways but I feel quite indifferent towards it, the epitome of a 3 star review.

Gifted by Nikita Lalwani | ★★★

Another book that kind of epitomises a 3 star review! This is definitely a 3.5 where The Lonely Londoners was a solid 3 but again, there’s nothing that hugely stands out to me when thinking about this book apart from the fact that it was enjoyable and interesting, but just not enough.

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf | ★★

Now for a book that I didn’t like, but I am ironically holding in all of these images! This is one of the aforementioned modernist texts that is about the daily life of an upper-class woman. If you’re really interested in modernist form you’ll love it but I am, frankly, not and found it draining in all the worst ways.

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel | ★★★

This is the first graphic novel I’ve ever read! As far as graphic novels go, I think this one was brilliant, but I still prefer books without pictures, sorry!

Exit West by Mosin Hamid | ★★★★

The concept of this novel is super interesting: a couple in a country on the midst of civil war find doors in which, if they step through, they are transported to some other random place in the world. My main criticism of this book is that it was too short and the characters and their storylines weren’t fleshed out enough for me. But otherwise, it was great!

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie | ★★★★★

Talk about saving the best to last! Home Fire is one of my favourite novels ever and this is the second time I’ve read it. It follows the life of 3 Muslim siblings living in London before, during and after, Parvaiz, the only male sibling, leaves the UK to join ISIS.In the mean time, Isma, the oldest sibling, and Aneeka, Parvaiz’s twin, become involved with Eamonn, the son of the Home Secretary. Intrigued? You should be! I first read this book just before Trump became the President of the USA and I thought it couldn’t it be any more relevant. Reading it for a second time shortly after Shamima Begum took over the news and mid-Brexit, I’ve realised I was wrong. A must-read!

TV

This Is Us | ★★★★

It took me a while to get into this programme but I am well and truly hooked now. It’s very emotional and, at times, painfully cringeworthy but it’s feel good TV at its best. It follows the lives of three 30-something triplets, with frequent flashbacks to their upbringing, who all have very different lives. Honestly, Randall is the only sibling I like. But still, it deserves 4 stars and maybe even 5 but I’ve removed one because of the aforementioned cringe. It’s available to watch on Amazon Prime.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend | ★★★★★

Don’t even get me started on this show. A musical TV show dealing with the concept of the ‘pyscho girlfriend’ from its feminist implications to its simplification of mental health issues? I’m in. It’s much more of an easy watch then that sentence suggests but please just watch the first episode and see for yourself. It ended this month after a wonderful few years of it being my comfort show whenever I felt down but I’m honestly just excited to rewatch it and continue to listen to all the absolute hits that came out of it such as ‘Let’s Generalize About Men’, ‘Friendtopia’ (a fantastic Spice Girls parody) and ‘The Sexy Getting Ready Song’. It’s available on Netflix.

Fleabag | ★★★★★

I feel like everyone and their mum has watched Fleabag by now but if not, please do so! Created and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who was also the mind behind Killing Eve, it follows the life of a young woman navigating grief, friendship, romantic relationships and so much more. It’s renowned for breaking the fourth wall and I have to say, it is one of the most intelligent and interesting TV programmes I’ve watched in a while (maybe ever?). It’s available on BBC iPlayer on Amazon Prime.

Game of Thrones | ★★★★★

OMG I discovered this new thing called Game of Thrones? It’s like, so niche, you probably won’t like it. Lol. Game of Thrones is back and I feel silly even sharing this here as I think more people watch it than they did Fleabag, but I am loving Season 8 so far (even if I was concerned about the slightly slow start) and I have spent the best part of the past 2 weeks reading theories and searching for memes about GoT. Did the final season really have to be released during my exams?

FILM

Green Book | ★★★

This film has been criticised because of its white saviour-y elements and I do agree with this criticism. However it does have some very redeemable qualities and the white saviour-y bits definitely weren’t as all-encompassing as I feared they would be. The ending was very annoying but it was an interesting film that did bring attention to some important events, facts and issues. It was also v. funny.

On Chesil Beach | ★★★★

I love a cringeworthy literary film (and book for that matter)- it’s one of my many guilty pleasures. This one, based on the Ian McEwan novel of the same name that I haven’t read, appalled to all my ‘literary film’ needs, plus Saoirse Ronan starred in it, so that bumps any film up by at least a star.

The Sense of an Ending | ★★

Another literary film! I actually watched these on the same night when I was feeling ill and a little bit sorry for myself. The main character was played by the same actor in both - seemingly because he embodies the literary 1960s 20 year old boy - but On Chesil Beach was much better. The novel in which the film is based on with the same name is one of my all-time favourite books and this film absolutely does not do it justice. I only gave it an extra star because I like the book and therefore I enjoyed the storyline of the film.

Someone Great | ★★★

A ‘chick flick’ like this one creeps into my life every couple of months when I need something totally stress-free to watch and this one did the trick very well. Staring Gina Rodriguez (aka Jane The Virgin, but don’t get me started on that), it depicts the 24 hours she spends with her friends after being dumped by her boyfriend. Mildly crap but everything I needed whilst watching it. It’s available on Netflix.

PODCASTS

Mate Podcast | ★★★★★

I am so happy I discovered this podcast! 2 Liverpudlian girls having a good old chat about everything they’ve been reading and enjoying, as well as a heart to heart during their ‘Mate to Mate’ section. I binge listened to series one in the space of a few days and am now keeping up with their fortnightly uploads.

Always Take Notes | ★★★★

A career podcast that is super useful for anyone who would like a career that has anything to do with writing, but particularly journalism. My favourite episode was with Pandora Sykes (obvs) but I also enjoyed the episode with Rebecca Mead, who is a staff writer at The New Yorker.

Wardrobe Crisis with Clare Press | ★★★★

I’ve decided that I want to become more educated than I already am on sustainable fashion and this podcast was a great place to start. The episode interviewing the Creative Director of Mother of Pearl, Amy Powney, was enlightening, as was the episode with Stella Mccartney’s Sustainability and Innovation Director, Clare Bergkamp. I also really enjoyed the interview with Fanny Moizant, who founded Vestaire Collective and has a wonderful French accent.

Honourable Mention: Feminists Don’t Wear Pink with Saoirse Ronan

This is the only episode of this podcast that I’ve listened to because of my aforementioned love of Saoirse Ronan, but it was great! Would definitely recommend it if you’re also a fan of Saoirse.

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The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I've Read, Watched & Listened To | February 2019

Affiliate links are used in this post which means I earn a small amount of commission if you purchase an item.

February is the shortest month of the year but I’ve still managed to pack a fair amount of reading, watching and listening into it. February has been a pretty intense month, throwing myself back into to semester two of my second year of university and I think that definitely shows in this blog post, as I’ve been reading more than watching or listening. But some really great books have come out of this month, two five star reviews even, which are very rare for me! Despite it being Oscar season, I haven’t watched a single film this month! Shameful! I haven’t had the time (or the money) to go to the cinema and I’m not a big fan of watching films at home/by myself, I’m more of a series typa’ gal.

So anyway here we have everything I’ve read, watched and listened to this month…

Books

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine | ★★★★

I read this hybrid of poetry and criticism for my American Literature course. It’s form is so unique and its content, about what it is to be a person of colour in America, is at once confronting and informative. A must-read for everyone!

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney | ★★★★★

Everyone and their dog is a Sally Rooney fan these days but I am unashamedly part of her fan club. She writes like no one else about relationships and her writing is easy to read whilst also dealing with important issues, such as mental health and being a woman in the 21st century. I devoured this novel, her debut, and I like it equally as much as Normal People, and perhaps maybe even more but I’m not fully decided, so don’t hold me to that!

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston | ★★★★

Another great book I read for my American Literature course. This is a classic novel written in the 1930s about an African American woman navigating love and life. It’s moving and heartbreaking and a book I am glad to have read. It’s written very similarly to The Colour Purple by Alice Walker, a novel I also love, so if you liked that, I’d recommend picking this one up.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce | ★

Oh it was all going so well! A one star review is pretty harsh but I couldn’t think of many redeeming qualities about this novel. I read it for my Modernism course at university and although I understand that Joyce is doing innovative things with form and language, I’m just not that interested. I’ve read countless coming-of-age stories about privileged white boys and so perhaps my standards are high for these kinds of narratives as I just think there’s so much more interesting stuff out there that I could be reading. But the pretentiousness of this book in itself was enough in itself to knock a few stars off anyway. Not for me.

Focus by Arthur Miller | ★★★★★

I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did. Another one I read for my American Literature course (there’s a lot of reading but it’s ok because, as you can tell, it’s all great). It’s set during WW2 in America and follows the life of an American man who is constantly mistaken for as Jewish when he starts to wear glasses. Miller creates the most vivid imagery and I haven’t been as emotionally engaged with a book as much as I was with this one for a long time!

The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence | ★★

We have another potentially harsh review here! I was supposed to read this for university in the space of 2 weeks but it took me about a month. It’s very slow and repetitive and there are A LOT of descriptions of the countryside. Despite the fact that its not very readable, it is very interesting to analyse, especially when considering identity and gender, so I’ve bumped it up a star for that!

TV

American Crime Story: The People VS. OJ Simpson | ★★★★★

This is the only TV series I’ve watched this month (other than re-watching Gossip Girl, don’t judge me, ok?) But it is SO good. I didn’t know much about the OJ Simpson trial and this show taught me so much about it. It’s also really entertaining to watch and I was so hooked on it. Sam and I spent our Valentines evening binge watching the last 4 or 5 episodes and I can’t recommend it enough. I’ve just started watching the second season about Gianni Versace so hopefully there will be an update on that in next month’s post.

Podcasts

David Tennant Does A Podcast With: Olivia Coleman | ★★★★★

I haven’t listened to this podcast before but after Olivia Coleman’s amazing Oscars speech, I felt compelled to listen/watch more of her and I am so pleased I stumbled upon this episode! I loved Broadchurch so it was exciting to hear these two actors together again. But, aside from that, it was just a lovely, genuine conversation between two friends that honestly restored my faith in humanity a little bit.

Being Human | ★★★★

This is a new podcast in which the host discusses mental health with ‘influencers’. So far she’s interviewed two of my favourite bloggers, Lindsey Holland and Alice Haran, so I really enjoyed those episodes. I also think a podcast like this is great to remind everyone that social media is not real life!

In Good Company with Otegha Uwabga | ★★★★

I’ve only listened to two episodes of this podcast, those with Abigail Bergstrom and Reni Eddo-Lodge, but I am loving it so far. The host invites a different female guest on each episode and discusses their career journey with them. I’m thinking A LOT at the moment about what I’m going to do after university so this podcast is really inspiring and motivational.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post! Sorry for the lack of TV/film content but hopefully I can make up for it next month (or the month after, when I have some time off university to binge watch as much as I can). Let me know if you’ve read/watched/listened anything I’ve mentioned, I’d love to hear your thoughts on them!

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The Monthly Media Catchup: Everything I've Read, Watched & Listened To | January 2019

As you might have guessed from the title of this post, I’ve decided to start a new series on my blog! It’s called ‘The Monthly Media Catchup’ and, in these blog posts, I’m going to take you through everything I’ve read, watched and listened to each month. It’s kind of similar in format to a monthly favourites but the difference is, I’m going to be talking about everything, not just my favourites. So some things I will 100% recommend, some things I will advise you to stay away from (see: the books category in this post) and others I’ll be fairly ambivalent about.

I’m going to be sharing everything, so that includes things I’ve read and watched for university as well as for fun! The main categories are going to be books, TV, films and podcasts, as if I was to include things I’ve read online the list would be extensive. I’ll only mention new things I’ve consumed, or things I’ve returned to (e.g. if I re-read a book or return to a podcast I haven’t mentioned before). I’m also going to be rating everything so you can easily see the media you should and shouldn’t consume, although obviously my word isn’t law! I’m going to try and keep my reviews short and sweet as some months the sections might pile up, i.e. when I have a lot of reading for university or when I have time off university and watch a lot of Netflix.

Anyway, without further adieu, lets get started!

Books

Heartburn by Nora Ephron | ★★★★

I started reading Heartburn at the end of 2018 and finished it at the beginning of 2019. I read it based on Dolly Alderton’s raving reviews and I did enjoy it, but I didn’t love it. It’s a semi-autobiographical novel that follows the protagonist’s life after finding out that her husband has cheated on her, depicting the ways in which she deals with this life-changing event, much of which is through food, which means the book is dotted with recipes. It’s an easy read and I enjoyed it but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it! Four stars is quite generous and 3.5 stars would be more accurate.

The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst | ★

I’m not even slightly joking when I tell you not to get me started on this book. I hated it so much! I had to read it for university (I was supposed to have it finished in November but I couldn’t bring myself to do so until mid-January when I had to for an exam). It’s about a privileged gay man in his mid-20s named Will and the novel follows his life, and that of an older, very similar, man whose biography Will is writing, in 1980s London. The prospect of this novel excited me but its content was truly disappointing. There are many books that are worth your time so much more than this one because honestly no one needs to read this account of an upper-class man discussing his sexual encounters, the descriptions of which are sprinkled (*read drowned) in classism and racism. Hollinghurst's pleasing writing style does almost nothing to counteract how painfully infuriating this book is and I struggle to believe anyone who says otherwise! So yeah, do yourself a favour and avoid this book!

TV

You (Netflix) | ★★★★

I ate up this Netflix series in a matter of days. It’s really addictive and although it didn’t change my life, I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for something to binge-watch. It’s basically about a man (Gossip Girl’s Dan Humphrey) who stalks a women who he meets in his book-store, learning about her life and managing to get her to fall in love with him. Honestly the premise sounds very strange but to me, it was interesting in the way that Lolita is interesting in that it shows how an audience can accidentally end up rooting for the bad guy if he is given the opportunity to present himself in a positive light.

Sex Education (Netflix) | ★★★★★

This show is just brilliant! It’s addictive as it is empowering as it is educational and I wish it existed when I was 15. It’s based in a British high school (although it’s probably the most Americanized British high school ever) and the plot really starts when the show’s protagonist, Otis, teams up with cool-girl Maeve to provide sex therapy to their fellow students. It’s funny at times and emotional at others but it always presents growing up and feeling clueless about the way your body and relationships work in such an honest way.

Films

Mary Queen of Scots (Cinema) | ★★★★

I went to see this film for my birthday and I had high hopes because it features both Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie, who have starred in some of my favourite films of the last couple of years. And it didn’t disappoint! As the title suggests, the film is about the life of Mary Queen of Scots, played by Saoirse Ronan, and her rise and fall from power. If you’re going to this film for historical accuracy, you’re probably not going to be best pleased but I personally wasn’t and I really enjoyed it. It’s great to see two women starring in a historical narrative and, not only was it engaging, but it did teach me a little bit more about a period of history I don’t know much about, so it’s a win-win really!

Bandersnatch (Netflix) | ★★

I was quite excited to watch this film that’s part of the Black Mirror series but it was really disappointing. It’s an interactive film so you get to make decisions on the character’s actions and decisions… but you don’t really. If you make the wrong decision, you watch about 10 minutes of what would happen if the character made this decision, then you are taken back to the point where you make the decision again and have to pick the ‘right’ answer in order to reach the end of the film. It was a loong watch and the storyline wasn’t particularly interesting either so I generally just found it quite boring. It’s an interesting idea but it needs more work.

Private Life (Netflix) | ★★★★

This film made for the perfect lazy Sunday watch. It’s about a middle-aged couple living in New York who are struggling to conceive. I don’t want to say anymore as I don’t want to ruin anything but it’s beautifully filmed and is surprisingly funny considering its subject matter.

Podcasts

Literary Friction with Sally Rooney | ★★★★★

I don’t have too much to mention on the podcast front this month as I’ve kind of just been listening to the same old stuff (take a look at this blog post if you’re interested to know some of my top podcast recommendations). But I loved this episode of the Literary Friction podcast with Sally Rooney, author of Normal People and Conversations with Friends. She talks a lot about her writing process, especially for Normal People, which was super insightful, especially if you’re a fan of her work!

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! I know the photo isn’t brilliant but if I’m going to do this monthly I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself to create incredible imagery to go with it- I hope that’s ok. Let me know if you’ve read/watched/listened to anything I’ve mentioned in this post, or if you do based on my recommendation!

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My Top 3s of 2018 | Books, Podcasts, Bloggers, Fashion, Beauty & More!

2018 has been a weird one. I’m honestly not sure whether I enjoyed it or not. But what I do know is that I have enjoyed so many things. Reading things, listening to things, wearing things, watching things, seeing things. I’ve consumed so much stuff that I have truly enjoyed and so I thought I would share it in one big post. I’m going to try and restrict myself to a sentence or two on each thing to avoid this being the longest post on my blog, but I love every single thing I’m recommending it so excuse me if I do ramble a little.

I hope you enjoy this blog post and I hope you go and consume all of the things I’m recommending during 2019 because they are SO worth your time.

Books

1. Stay With Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (This book is equal-parts gripping and moving. I recommend it to everyone I know. In fact, on Friday I recommended it to 3 people in one day and bought it as a gift. Please read this book!)

2. Normal People by Sally Rooney (Another extremely gripping and moving novel. It’s beautifully written and easy to read- what more can you ask for?)

3. Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton (I actually listened to this book on audible but it still counts doesn’t it? I love Dolly and everything she creates and this book is no exception.)

Blogs

1. Shot From The Street (So much creative content. I especially love Lizzy’s use of 35mm film photography.)

2. The Anna Edit (Anna uploads blog posts so frequently and all of her content is useful and interesting. I honestly don’t know how she keeps coming up with ideas.)

3. Ropes of Holland (I don’t read Lindsey’s blog as much as the other two I’ve mentioned, but Lindsey has created some amazing content this year, including her post on heartbreak.)

Instagram Accounts

1. @lucywilliams02 (Lucy’s Instagram will probably always be my favourite. Her wardrobe is to die for, as is her travelling schedule and she documents these things in a really authentic but beautiful way.)

2. @livpurvis (Liv’s feed is also beautiful, providing me with lots of fashion and travel inspo. But I also love her stories! She’s always chatting away on them and, just like her podcast, they make me feel like I’m talking to a friend.)

3. @alicecatherine (Alice uploads so much high quality, beautiful style inspiration. I love everything she uploads and I would kill for her vintage collection.)

Podcasts

1. The High Low (As I have mentioned, I love Dolly Alderton and I probably love and admire Pandora Sykes even more- my boyfriend often pulls me up on how much I mention her. This podcast is reliably insightful and interesting and it keeps me informed as much as it makes me laugh.)

2. The Fringe Of It (Listening to this podcast comprising Charlotte, of Betty Magazine, and Liv Purvis, of what Olivia Did, feels like a catch up with your best friends. It’s so easy to listen to and always brightens my day, plus the subject matter is usually really interesting.)

3. Nobody Panic (I would actually go as far to say that Stevie and Tessa, the hosts of this podcasts, have got me through some difficult times. This podcast never fails to make me laugh out loud and reassure me that I’m not failing at life as badly as I sometimes think I am!)

Youtubers

1. Sunbeamsjess (Jess is forever my favourite YouTuber because the content she creates is based around fashion and books, which are my two favourite things. I can always count on her vlogs, especially her Uni based ones, to cheer me up and she generally just always makes amazing content.)

2. Samantha Maria (Sammi is another Youtuber whose videos I always watch. I love her vlogs as much as her styling videos and she’s another one who I’ve followed for years so will always feel a little bit of a connection to.)

3. Emma Hill (I’ve discovered Emma’s YouTube channel, unlike the others, this year and since then, have watched pretty much all of her videos. Her content is so consistent- uploading 3 times a week- and her fashion and styling videos are always genuinely informative.)

Fashion/Styling Pieces

1. Charles & Keith Ankle Boots (This pair of boots only came into my life in the last month of 2018 but they’re still my number one item because I have found a pair of vegan leather boots that actually feel and look like real leather and don’t rub my feet. Plus they look amazing and are probably now the comfiest shows I own.)

2. THAT Topshop Satin Midi Skirt (This skirt has actually made me enjoy autumn/winter styling so much more. I have it in the red and the brown which are sadly sold out but there are lots of other colours available.)

3. ASOS Satchel Bag (This one is a little bit random. But my croc burgundy satchel bag from ASOS has been such a good styling tool for me during the last couple of summer months and during autumn/winter. I love it and it was a bargain.)

Beauty/Skincare

1. Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser (I love this cleanser so much. It has not improved my skin by any great leaps and bounds but I love how it feels and smells and it’s the perfect non-offensive, easy cleanser for my morning routine. I’m on at least my third bottle and have a backup bottle waiting to go.)

2. The Ordinary Salicylic Acid (This is another one that I have backups for but, unlike the cleanser, this seriously has transformed my skin. A drop of this on any spots overnight reduces their appearance by at least 80% by the next morning and since putting it all over my face every night, any acne has been reduced so much.)

3. Too Faced Sweet Peach Eye Shadow Palette (I have loved wearing eyeshadow this year and this has been my go-to palette for everyday and more formal occasions. My favourite shades are Bellini, Puree and Luscious.)

Films

1. Call Me By Your Name (This film is everything I could ask for. It’s a little bit pretentious but in all the best ways and it never fails to make me feel emotional and inspired.)

2. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (I couldn’t include a post on 2018 without this film because I just adored it. It’s jam-packed with ABBA songs and without a doubt makes me feel good every time I watch it.)

3. Ladybird (I’ve watched this film upwards of 5 times this year- for someone who doesn't usually like watching a film more than once, this is A LOT. It’s relatable, hilarious and as easy to watch as much as it is thought-provoking. Plus it has Saoirse Ronan AND Timothee Chalamet starring in it, both of whom I love.)

Music

1. Rex Orange County (The music of Rex Orange County has soundtracked my year- as my Spotify Wrapped will tell you- and I could never get bored of his wonderful voice and lyrics. From the feel good songs to the ones that make me cry, I love them all.)

2. Mahalia (Spotify Wrapped will also assure you of my love for Mahalia. Her music always makes me feel like I can take on the world and I can’t wait to hear more from her in 2019.)

3. Jorja Smith (I’m late to the bandwagon with this one but I’ve fallen in love with Jorja Smith’s lyrics as much as I have with her voice this year.)

I could go on with more and more categories but I’ll stick with these for now. It was so difficult to limit each category to my top 3 but I can assure you that these really are the best of the best. Please do go out and consume some of this stuff, whatever it is you enjoy, because I can’t recommend all of it enough and I know I’ll be enjoying it all in 2019 just as much as I have in 2018.

I’d love to hear about your favourite stuff of 2018! Let me know in the comments or on social media, or link me to your posts/videos discussing your favourite things of 2018 as I’d love to read/watch them.

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The Books on My Christmas List | 4th Day of Christmas

Today’s post is a relatively short one for some easy Sunday reading; I’m going to be taking you through the books on my Christmas List. As I feel like I’ve mentioned 1000 times already in my 12 Days of Christmas posts, I love receiving and giving books for Christmas. I always spend a fair amount of time thinking about the books I’m going to ask for for Christmas to last me for the following year and this is the list I’ve compiled this year (in no particular order, as Dermot O’Leary would say)…

• Heartburn by Nora Ephron (as frequently recommended by Dolly Alderton)

• Arthur & George by Julian Barnes (one of my favourite authors)

• Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes (I told you he’s one of my favourites)

• The Only Story by Julian Barnes (promise I’m not just doing this to prove a point)

• The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin (I’ve read a couple of books by Nigerian female authors this year that I have loved and I’ve heard great things about this one too)

• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (one of said Nigerian authors who I’ve been loving this year)

• Why Social Media Is Ruining Your Life by Katherine Ormerod (social media has become a huge part of my life with the launch of my blog this year so I think this is a book I should definitely read)

• Refinery 29 Money Diaries: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Your Finances… And Everyone Else’s (I love the Refinery29 Money Diaries series and I also need help with managing my money so this book sounds good for me)

• Milkman by Anna Burns (this won this years Man Booker Prize so I’m very interested to read it)

• Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (I loved Normal People so I’m DYING to read this)

• What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons (honestly can’t remember how this one made it’s way on to my reading list- I think I just like/d the sound of the plot)

• Weaverbird (this is a collection of short stories, one of which is by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ who wrote my favourite book of the year Stay With Me so I want this book as part of my quest to read everything she’s ever written)

• The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (another one that I don’t really know where it came from…I’ve heard lots about it and the plot looks interesting so, there you go!)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this short but sweet post compiling all the books on my Christmas List. Just a heads up, I’m not expecting to receive ALL of these! I’ve written them down for myself so if people ask me what I want from I can give them this list and they can pick one that they like the sound of too. Any that I don’t receive I might treat myself to after Christmas or just transfer them to my Birthday Books list (my birthday is in January so there won’t be too long to wait)!

I’d love to know if you’ve read any of these books or if you like the sound of any of them! Or, even more excitingly, let me know in the comments the books you’ve put on your list to Father Christmas this year.

How To Get (Back) Into Reading

How To Get (Back) Into Reading

As an English Literature student whose current sole purpose is to read fiction, people often tell me that they want to get into reading, whether they've fallen out of the habit or never made one. Despite the fact that I've always loved reading since I was little and now have to do it as part of my degree, there are still times when I also get out of the habit. I never stop enjoying it I just sometimes forget how much I enjoy it.

This was particularly the case during high school when my priorities were very different to what they had been before this period and what they are now. It took actually reading a book that I liked in school (which didn't really happen until I was around 16 as I think before then I'd read a total of one book as part of my studies and that was Holes by Louis Sachar that I honestly think we spent around a year reading as a class) to get me back into reading. My love of reading was re-ignited by studying English then, but most people who talk to me about wanting to start reading aren't really ever going to study English Literature again, so they're not going to have the same opportunity as I did to really get back into it.

So, I thought I'd make a post on how to get out of a reading slump (whether it's a month, a year or 10 years long). They happen to me all the time even though I know how much I love reading so I always have ways prepared to get out of them

FYI: I'd just like to point out that reading isn't for everyone and, if it isn't for you, that's nothing to be ashamed of. Through spending a great deal of my time with other English students, I've come to realise that liking reading is often held up on a pedestal, signifying not only your academic intelligence but your emotional intelligence. But this just isn't true- liking books really doesn't automatically make you a better person! Some people just don't like books and never will. If that's you, don't feel pressure to read this post or to read a book.

But... on the other hand, if you've never given reading a proper go then you may as well try, maybe you just didn't start with the right genre for you? For me reading is a source of escapism, relaxation and positivity so don't rule it out just cause you've never tried it. Although I feel like a bit of a hypocrite in saying that as I've never properly tried an olive and never will- the smell nauseates me :)

Anyway, here's my tips...

How To Get (Back) Into Reading

1. Always Have A Book With You 

This is probably the tip that really got me back into reading or at least led me to start reading a lot more often than I originally was. People often say take a book with you if you're going to be on public transport, which you definitely should do, but don't just stop there, take a book literally everywhere. Whether you're just popping out the house to go to the supermarket or you're going on a weekend away in which you're planning on being extremely busy (and even drunk) all weekend, you never know when you're going to be delayed, in a queue, or forced to be waiting around for something.

After establishing the habit of taking a book everywhere with you, you then have  to make a habit of picking your book out of your bag rather than your phone when you have a spare minute or 10. I still struggle with this all the time but I always feel much happier and like I'm using my time better when I choose to pick up my book instead of my phone, so I try and keep that in mind.

So whether you know you're going to have time to read a book, or you're certain you definitely won't, never leave the house without one, because life is unpredictable and you never know when you might thank yourself for doing so!

2. Set Yourself a 'Reading Time'

Half of the struggle of not reading is just forgetting to; letting Netflix roll on to the next episode without the thought of turning it off even popping into your head, letting 5 minutes of Instagram scrolling turn into an hour. There's so many distractions in our life, many of them digital, and books don't have push notifications like so many of these other things do to remind you to use them. You have to consciously decide to start reading, even if the idea of staying on Instagram feels easier.

So, to combat this, work reading into your routine. Set a time every day when you're going to read. For me, this is in the evening time just before I go to bed. Others do it in the morning, some people on their lunch break, whatever works for you! I personally like doing it before I go to bed because it really allows me to escape into another world and leave all the worries and stresses that are in mine behind, so I can have a restful night's sleep. But I know some people can hardly read a paragraph before they go to bed without falling asleep mid-sentence, so just try different times out and see which ones work.

Remember not to feel guilty if you don't feel like reading sometimes though! At times, you just won't and turning it into a chore won't help. Try and remember the positive reasons as to why you want to read and hopefully they'll motivate you to stick to your 'reading time' but if they don't, no problem, try again tomorrow.

How To Get (Back) Into Reading

3. Find a Good Book That You Actually Want To Read

Now this one sounds obvious. And it is. But I feel like to get back into reading you have to become infatuated with a book, in order to really feel like picking up another one. So it's important that you start with a good one. Don't set yourself the task of reading that classic Dickens novel that you've always wanted to read. That one can wait. Start with a page-turner that's going to get you hooked and excited! 

Think about the types of films and TV you like to watch and find your favourite genres in books, whether it's crime, romance or dystopia. If you're really passionate about about something, from feminism, to sport, to music, find a book with themes that incorporate your interests! These are the things that you already enjoy so use them to find a book that you'll like.

Like I said, I'd recommend getting back into reading with a page-turner to get you excited, so here are some of my favourite page-turners of all different genres:

• Stay With Me- Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

• Normal People- Sally Rooney

• The Sense of an Ending- Julian Barnes

• Days Without End- Sebastian Barry

• The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo- Stieg Larsson

4. Read With Others

For me, talking about a book is often just as enjoyable as reading it, which is a big part of the reason why I chose to study English Literature at university. But you don't need to be studying English to talk about a book you've read and, often, it's a lot more enjoyable and less pressurised and pretentious to talk about books more casually.

So why not join a book club? Whether it's an IRL one or an online one, it will be a good way of not only holding you accountable to read but also to make reading a more sociable thing. I used to run a feminist book club for Girls Against and I loved running it as it meant that I always engaged with the book we read so much more than I usually would and, therefore, enjoyed it more. I had to stop doing it because I'm currently reading 3(ish) books a week for UNI so the pressure of having to read another one a month on top of that was a little bit too much. But obviously my reading load is unique so hopefully joining a book club won't involve that type of pressure for you.

If you feel as though it does or just don't think it will be your thing, then it's worth just getting a friend or two involved and see if they want to read the same book as you for the next month or so. You can then text and talk about it as you go and when you've finished it without the formalities of an actual meeting to discuss it. A good thing to do, if you have a friends birthday coming up or, dare I mention the C word, for Christmas, is to buy two copies of a book you want to read and think a friend will enjoy, one for you and one as a gift for them. It's the gift that keeps on giving for both of you!

5. Try Audiobooks

Finally, if you just cannot find the time (although, I think it's always worth making time to read) or if your attention span isn't allowing you to read, try to start out with an audiobook. You can listen to it while you're driving, cleaning or getting ready in the morning but it still requires your attention. Some people prefer this to actually reading books but I also think it could be a good way of training your attention span up to the point of being able to read a written book.

I've personally never properly clicked with audiobooks. I did listen to Dolly Alderton's Everything I Know About Love earlier in the year and enjoyed that more than I think I would have in written form, but I haven't found any other audiobooks that have had the same effect on me. So if anyone knows of any I'd love your recommendations! Despite the fact that I'm not head over heels for them, audiobooks definitely do work for some people so they're worth a go. I think Audible offer a free 30 day trial so that might be worth looking into!

How To Get (Back) Into Reading

I really feel like settling down with my book for the rest of the night after writing this post so I hope you feel the same way! Like I said, reading is such a positive thing for me and, as much as I love social media and our digital age, I think the way in which reading has fallen out of fashion because of it is a shame and a loss for a lot of people. So even if you're only considering it a little bit, definitely give reading a go, whether it's an old friend of yours or one you've never truly got on with, there's a book (or a thousand) out there for most people.

How To Get (Back) Into Reading

How To Get (Back) Into Reading

How To Get (Back) Into Reading

The Best Holiday Reads

The Best Holiday Reads

I'm back with a bit of a different post today, although it is the type of post that I was planning on writing a lot about on my blog, a post about books. As I've just been on holiday (did I mention that I went to Corfu?) and it's summer holiday season, I thought I would create a post with my holiday reading recommendations. I don't know about you, but when I go on a beach/pool holiday, I spend 80% of my time during the day reading (the other 20% is spent eating and sleeping) and so I'm always prepared with lots of books. I find it a little bit scary taking books on holiday because I'm always worried that I won't like a book but will have to carry on reading it or, even worse, won't have anything to read at all. If you feel the same way, this post might be useful in providing you some trustworthy recommendations so you're not left in this position. My recommendations are split up into three sections, each with some books that I've already read. I hope you find this post helpful and be sure to let me know if you'd like to hear more about my opinion on any of the books or, if you live near me, if you'd like to borrow one of the books from me! Here are my categories...

1. The Page-Turner

This category is probably the one that most people's holiday book of choice falls into. Page-turners are easy-going, addictive and offer some serious escapism, which is perfect for a relaxing holiday where you're going to be spending a lot of time reading. I always bring book like this on holiday with me because I tend to read more 'serious' and 'literary' books throughout the year. I'm very aware that this sounds snobby but I can assure you it's not at all. I HATE book snobbery and people who refuse to consider any book as worthy if it hasn't been nominated for a Man Booker or was published post-20th century because I think, not only is this attitude offensive to those who read these books and, in many ways, inherently classist, but there's nothing wrong with reading a book purely for entertainment purposes and nothing else. Plus, these books are often interesting analytically and contextually because of their genre. Anyway, that was quite a tangent. But yes, I always read a book like this on holiday because I do tend to reach for more literary books throughout the year because they're usually the ones that have been on my reading list for the longest and I'm really eager to read and because my reading time is limited during the year, I really have to narrow down my choices. Anyway, here are some of my favourite page-turners to devour on holiday this year:

My Number One Choice- The Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson 

This series is better known as the one that starts with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. This trilogy is often hailed as the biggest page-turner and if you read it, you'll find out why. I won't even try and explain the plot because it's beyond complicated but they are crime novels and they are so gripping. They're also pretty long so are perfect for your holiday as they will take you a while to get through if you're just reading a chapter every night. I'm currently half way through the last novel and am thoroughly enjoying it as a form of escapism (along with my other favourite escapist activity, Love Island). A fourth book has recently been added to the series written by a different author, as Larsson died before the books were published. I don't really know how I feel about that and whether I read it or not will depend on how much of a cliff-hanger the ending of the third novel is.

Other Page-Turners I Like (Perhaps More Literary Than I Previously Mentioned)-

• The Power by Naomi Alderman

• Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

• 1984 by George Orwell

2. The Classic Novel That You've Never Got Round To Reading

As mentioned, a holiday is a time where lots of reading can be done quickly. So it makes sense to read that book that you've always wanted to read but have been putting off due to something like it's length. You might think that a classic book is a little bit of a heavy choice for a relaxing holiday but I can guarantee that you'll enjoy it a lot more if you read it all in one go, rather than over a month or so at home, so a holiday is the perfect chance to do so.

My Number One Choice- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I'm choosing this purely because it's my favourite classic book and I've read it on holiday a few times before. There are many more chunkier books that perhaps might be a better choice for your holiday but this one is short and sweet and will certainly allow for other holiday reads if the thought of taking just one classic on holiday scares you.

Other Classic Novels I Like:

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

• Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

• Animal Farm by George Orwell

• 1984 by George Orwell

• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

• Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov

• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

3. The Non-Fiction Book That Makes You Think

Once again, this sounds a bit heavy for a holiday. But these are the types of books that need to be gobbled up in one go in order for them to have their full effect. Putting them down and coming back to them just won't make you think as much as reading them in the space of a few days will. Plus, reading a book like this might be something you've been putting off so this is a good time to pack it in your suitcase, leaving you with no other choice than to read it.

My Number One Choice- Sapiens by Yual Noah Harari

I read this book on holiday last year and it's honestly so brilliant. It's a reflection on the history of the entire world. Educational and thoughtful, it is the ultimate book to make you think. If you read this on holiday, you will come back home feeling differently about the world and knowing more about it than you did before. I'm looking forward to reading the second instalment to this book on holiday this year!

Other Non-Fiction Books To Make You Think:

• The Anxiety Solution by Chloe Brotheridge

• Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

• Women & Power by Mary Beard

• We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

• A Room Of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

• Revolution by Russell Brand

I hope you've found some reading inspiration for any upcoming holidays in this post! All of the books I've mentioned I have read and can thoroughly recommend but do do some extra research on any of the ones that I haven't explained if they sound like they interest you. Happy holidays and happy reading!