Things to read, watch & listen to this weekend

What's got my attention #120

Oh no! Not Diane Keaton! Why has this one hit us (me) so hard?

Just a short one this week, because I’ve been interviewing at Cheltenham Literature Festival all week, but here are a few things that interested me and I thought might interest you, too. Normal service will be resumed next week.

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• Diane Keaton, the introvert who loved to shine.
• An astonishing extract from Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir.
•

Katherine May

shares 20 ways to enjoy winter.
•

Glynnis MacNicol

on how Gen X broke open the menopause conversation.
• Beware the Forever 35 Face. £
• Did you catch Sally Wainwright’s fantastic new drama, Riot Women on Sunday? If not I urge you to catch up on iplayer because it’s FANTASTIC. Exceeds expectations! It’s a long time since I’ve felt an overwhelming urge to have a watch party, but who’s with me?
• They helped topple Roe v Wade, now their sights are set on Britain. (Gift link)
•

Afua

on quitting toxic achievement culture. Or trying.
•

Emma Gannon

on unbranding when the old box no longer fits.
• One for all The Shifters who I know are struggling with their perimenopausal hair: an incredibly useful chat between

Sari Botton

and

Valerie Monroe

.
•

Poorna Bell

on women eating alone.
• The PM who tried to have a life outside the office.
• Why is the fashion industry still so invested in keeping women insecure? (Gift link)
•

Yotam Ottolenghi

on what makes comfort food comforting.
• What sleep actually is.
• The three stages of being child-free.
• Shame is dangerous, but that doesn’t mean it’s dispensible.
• My landline keeps my friendships alive.
•

Susan Orlean

on creativity.
• I really enjoyed Emma Thompson and Erin Doherty in Becoming Meg Dashwood on audible.
• There’s a new Bella Freud x M&S collection. Bella’s designs at a fraction of the usual price. Go go go!

And lastly, on The Shift podcast this week, the incredible war reporter Lyse Doucet (the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent) talked to me about her forty year career on the front line. Catch up here:

(A note about the links: some are free, some are gift links and some are behind a paywall. Almost all that are paywalled (eg New Yorker, The Cut, and many, but not all, Substacks…) allow a few free articles if you register. Those that definitely don't are marked £.)