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Reading Week #106

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werk

Happy Friday, friends!

This past week has crammed in the biggest range of emotions I think I’ve ever felt in one week. I’ve been devastated, appalled, and despairing of everything that’s happened post-EU ref; I’ve booked flights in a daze of nervous excitement, and I’ve begun to truly consider how my life will change in 2 months time when I step on a plane with a one-way ticket. And I have a head cold, which is draining in its own way.

But far from making this the first in a long series of goodbyes, there’s some pretty good reads out there on the internet this week, you guys. Proceed with haste.

 

 

–– APPETISERS ––

I’ve made and uploaded 5 videos to compensate for my absence. Here’s the first, on My Most Anticipated Summer Book Releases. For the rest, Subscribe to my channel.

This week’s brand new Bookish Blether is a Big Summer Book Haul – and Holly and I chat about how we spent Independent Bookshop Week in London.

Speaking of Holly – she sent me this link and I hate that I know that this exists in the world. So, eff you, too. Haha jk but Dana Schwartz is pretty great so it’s worth reading anyway.

 

 

–– MAINS ––

The Playboy Interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates is self-explanatory. And it’s with Bomani Jones, not another white person, so it’s pretty fresh as conversations with Coates go. I especially enjoyed the parts about tall poppies, 24-hour culture and talking less, not more.

This gorgeous piece from Helena Fitzgerald on friendships – The Families We Choose – really hit me where I live as I prepare to move away from the most solid and rewarding ones I’ve ever known.

As I alluded to above, I’m Living with anxiety in the age of nonstop bad news – and Rosie Spinks has some tips.

I still haven’t got a copy of In Gratitude by Jenny Diski, but I’m still reading about it. Here’s New Yorker’s Andrea DenHoed on Jenny Diski’s Way of Seeing Beyond the Story.

 

 

–– DESSERT ––

Lisa Goldberg writes with a light touch about Traveling with Myself.

A Toast To The Toast, The Site That Was Just For You. Yes, Even You. RIP The Toast. I’m sad that you are ending, but glad that sometimes good things come to an end before they get wishy-washy.

 

 

–– APÉRITIF ––

I was about to hit send but then I realised I haven’t told you what I’m reading. I’ve finished a few books which will be in my upcoming May and June Wrap-up (live on Sunday), and meantime have returned to The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson.

What’s on your nightstand?
 

 

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Your turn! Read anything good this week? Hit reply or tweet me!

Have a lovely weekend!
Nicola x
 

Reading Week #105 – The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

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London

It’s Friday, friends. Greetings from London.

I thought about ignoring the referendum in this newsletter. I thought about making this a “take your mind off things” edition. But I can’t avoid addressing it. It’s too big, and lot of the links I have now take on a different hue in light of this morning’s news.

I voted Yes in the Independence Referendum, and waking up to the No vote was a scunner, but this is a million times worse. I’m sad, I’m disappointed, and I’m angry. I’m enraged that it’s a win for fascism and frustrated because people’s rightful embitteredness is being misdirected into a vote against their best interests. I won’t go on, but if you want to read some perspectives on the reasons why I feel this way you can have a look at my retweets.

It’s such a fucking weird week. On Tuesday I had an interview at which my US Green Card was approved. On Tuesday, it felt like a huge new life opportunity. Today, it feels like a helicopter out of a Union-sized dumpster fire. The repercussions of today’s vote will affect me, but I won’t live through the changes in the same way as the friends and family I’m leaving behind will.

 

 

–– ONLINE ––

Is Everything Wrestling? I really enjoyed this article the other day – and it’s still pretty funny – but actually these past 24 hours have proven that even if everything is wrestling, it can also be reality. SO THIS FROM FUNNY TO GRIM IN MERE MOMENTS.

Alice Bolin’s Notes on Women’s Work blew so many doors open for me this week. Goes to show how deep-seated some of our ideas about gender roles are, and where they come from.

The Daily Dot did this big series of features on The Women of YouTube – including this great interview with my brilliant friend Rincey. You should also subscribe to her channel and her newsletter.

A fun (but still serious) piece from Kaite Welsh – I Am Not Your Manic Pixie Bookworm. This part made it for me:

Mark Grist’s poem Girls Who Read sums it up perfectly, if unintentionally. Reading turns him on — where his friends prefer boobs and bums, he wants someone who’ll read the back of the cereal box over breakfast, presumably to avoid making conversation with this weird manchild who treats her favourite hobby as masturbation material.

Soniah Kamal, The Reluctant Writer, on courtesans, the weight of cultural expectation, and becoming a writer.

Bernadette Murphy looks at Road Tripping While Female: On The Absense of Women in the Literature of American Adventure.

I bought a couple of Jenny Diski books (see below), then read this lovely review of In Gratitude and tribute to her from Heidi Julavits.

 

 

–– OFFLINE ––

LRB

As I mentioned above, I’ve been in London this week – for my visa interview, for Independent Bookshop Week, and to see friends.

I hadn’t intended to buy books this week. It just happened. Call it a celebration. Pictured are 2 Jenny Diski essay collections: On Trying to Keep Still, which is about travel, and A View From the Bed, which is a collection of articles and essays published in newsapapers and magazines. I also picked up The Red Parts by Maggie Nelson, which has been on my list since I heard about it a few months ago.

Not pictured is Sudden Death by Alvaro Enrigue – husband of Valeria Luiselli – whose event at Edinburgh Book Festival I’ll be attending. I’ve heard great things, including from the bookseller, who called it his book of the year. Always nice to have your recommendation doubled up at the till. I also booked for a few other events at Edinburgh Book Festival including sessions with Tom Guald and Eula Biss. Can’t wait.

What are your plans for this summer? Which books have you been enjoying lately?

 

 

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Your turn! Read anything good this week? Hit reply or tweet me!

Have a lovely weekend!
Nicola x
 

Reading Week #104

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Small is Beautiful

I’m not being funny but are you sure it’s Friday?

It has been a sad news week, but keeping busy has kept me from dwelling on it too much. I took a road trip, visited with friends, hosted others, attended a new meet-up, took lots of trains, and ran a conference.

We held the third annual Small is Beautiful conference this week – a place for freelancers and creative business owners to come together, listen to some great talks, eat cake and make friends. It was wonderful and I left feeling very lucky that I get to work with such brilliant people.

Online, I’ve been spring cleaning my Pocket list, so you may recognise a few of these articles from weeks past. But as always, I hope you enjoy.

 

 

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

This week’s brand new Bookish Blether episode was a rush order on Our Summer Holiday Reads – plus a little chat with Lindy West.

Over on YouTube, I tried my hand at the Independent Bookshop Week Tag.

And if you’re so inclined, you can take a look at the Small is Beautiful Twitter account for some tidbits and insights from the conference. (I’ll Storify it later. Promise.)

 

 

–– ARTS & CULTURE ––

I loved Sadie Stein on The Joys of Eating a Hot Dog Standing up at the Airport because I did that last week in Copenhagen and it was glorious. I already miss The Daily Correspondent column so.

Heidi Julavits is charming and funny as she explains why Soup Is the Breakfast of Kings. (If you grew up in a cold climate.)

To Date a Reader is a glorious thing. Thus spake Rosie Spinks.

 

 

–– DIGITAL / LIFE ––

Content and its discontents : It’s massively depressing when journalists call their writing content. The word “content” can be a catch-all for everything you see, hear, and/or watch online, but I dislike the way it’s thrown around. Equally, I’m wary of this argument becoming one about what gets to be literature, and who gets to define quality. However, I do agree with Jon Christian’s closing statement: “take enough pride in what you do to be specific”.

I enjoyed this episode of The Allusionist on the tricky business of creating a brand name. Great if you enjoyed Start Up back when Alex Blumberg et al were trying to name Gimlet.

Also on the topic of podcasts, Collisions released “the Pod 22: A list of the 22 most influential people in podcasting” – and named only two women. Alex Laughlan countered with The 22 Most Influential Women in Podcasting, and Collisions has since redirected their article to hers. Well done, everyone.

 

 

–– ON PAPER ––

I finished Shrill by Lindy West and found it very front-heavy. It kind of morphed from essay collection to memoir mid-way and lost momentum.

Other than that I haven’t had much reading time this week. So tell me –  what’s on your nightstand?

 

 

–– &c. ––

Going Freelance Won’t Solve All Your Problems and Self-employed women earn 40% less than self-employed men – which is important for me to note after this week’s freelancer festivities.

Why is BookTube so White? Marines investigated and curated a huge list of BookTubers of colour for you to follow.

 

 

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Your turn! Read anything good this week? Hit reply or tweet me!

Have a lovely weekend!
Nicola x