What's got my attention this week #96
Books, podcasts, links and TV recs to get you through the long weekend
SCROLLING
• Virginia Giuffre “died by suicide” last weekend and I want to thank
• A new independent publisher has launched to focus on that dying species, the male writer. DGMS.
• “Her name was Madeline.” Laura Lippman goes in search of her mother for .
• Gorgeous piece by novelist Sarah Perry about her life in clothes.
• Isabel Allende understands how fear changes a society. (Gift link)
• If you enjoyed ’s piece on the myth of the libido (that I shared last week), I can pretty much guarantee you’ll enjoy these libido stories.
• Bee Wilson on how kitchen objects can magically connect us to those we’ve lost. (Bee also spoke about this on The Shift podcast last year, ICYMI.)
• How to think like a pragmatist.
• Last week I gave you a head’s up that agony aunt was moving her brilliant column to substack. Here’s the first one.
• No, women aren’t getting divorced just for the hell of it.
• How interviewing your own family can change your life. (Gift link)
• Shocking report from the UK about NHS menopause care after 54-year-old teacher Jacqueline Potter took her own life.
• on listening.
• The path to success is paved with… siblings?
• on living by your own rules.
• Is a plateau more than a place to briefly rest?
• is hanging on to her relevance.
• Lovely essay on Clare Keegan’s Small Things Like These by .
• You will never believe all the many and various things thinks about supper!
• Really enjoyed Sloane Crosley’s ode to paperbacks.
• If you, like me, have been tempted to buy a ticket in the Omaze prize draw (it’s a Brit thing!), this has your name all over it.
(A note about the links: some are behind a paywall, but almost all (eg The New York Times, 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 £.)
READING
A Table for One, Emma Gannon
This is a bit of a first for this newsletter, because this is our debut subscriber review. Over to
”Writing a second book can be tough because, for the first one, the bar is pretty low. There is no benchmark. Second time around, though, the pressure is on to match or do better than the first, and Emma Gannon has totally nailed it! Table for One is all about the things that truly matter: enduring friendships, love (not just romantic), and women who aren't afraid to be themselves. It also reiterates how what you see online is only one side of the coin. I inhaled this book in just a few days, and actually feel a little sad now that I've finished it. I particularly love that it features some strong, childfree characters, but that it’s not about the fact that they are childfree, that’s just how they are – there’s a subtle, yet huge, difference. As someone who's been reading Emma's work for a long time, I can tell that Table for One is 100% her. There are lots of little Easter eggs sprinkled throughout that only her long-term readers would notice. This book left me feeling uplifted, inspired, and positive. It's not just about the metaphoric solo dining. Far from it. It’s about rediscovering the things that bring you joy and bringing them back into your life.” NJS
• A Table for One by Emma Gannon is out now in hardback. You can get it from amazon, The Shift bookshop on bookshop.org or buy it from your local indie.
WATCHING
You, season 5 (Netflix)
It pains me to say this, but You has jumped the shark. Leapt over it. Soared. TBH it really hasn’t been the same since Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley, above with currently alive wife Kate, (Charlotte Ritchie)) bumped off Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) at the end of season three. If you haven’t seen it, believe me, that really isn’t a spoiler, despatching his girlfriends, and plenty of others, is what Joe Goldberg does. HOWEVER, I will finish watching the whole season because I’m a loyalist and a completist. And, on the plus side, by the end of episode one Joe has been reunited with his bookstore basement cage. But really, Netflix, promise me you’ll stop now?
LISTENING…
• I’ve just downloaded Hark: how women listen by
THE NEW SERIES OF THE SHIFT PODCAST STARTS NEXT WEEK, BUT FIRST…
…we’re revisiting a conversation I had with the inimitable a couple of years ago. We talked (extremely) candidly about grief and trauma, bearing the unbearable and how, out of loss, Clover is finding a new person to be. But it’s not all sadness. We also discussed midlife sex, sobriety, looking forward to menopause and why we’re bloody lucky to be middle-aged. (Btw, I’m not kidding when I say this is extremely candid, so please be aware if you’re feeling vulnerable.)
• What are you watching, reading and listening to this month? I’d love to know.
* A note: this post contains affiliate links, which means that a very small percentage of any sale goes to help fund The Shift. If it’s orange (or underlined if you’re reading in the app), it links! (But not all orange/underlined links are affiliates…)
thank you Sam and Naomi! <3
thank you for reading and sharing the Keegan piece, Sam! (p.s. i feel very much the same way about You ... simply cannot do it anymore!)