Happy Friday, friends!

I have returned from my sojourn to Copenhagen feeling refreshed and have a couple of busy weeks ahead. We rode bikes to see some sights, a train to Malmö and then I followed it up with a rail journey loop around the Highlands on Wednesday. Isn’t June just the best? I hope your past couple of weeks have been as happy and productive as mine have.

So, you’re here for some links, right? I can oblige you…
 

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Yesterday I published a Summer Book Haul with lots of new releases and travel reads.

In last week’s Bookish Blether we took on the New York Times By the Book feature.

 

 

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Anne Bancroft was 36 when she was cast as Mrs. Robinson. A selection of women who are 36 today: Zooey Deschanel, Laura Prepon, Mindy Kaling, Rosamund Pike, Claire Danes. Kim Kardashian turns 36 in October. Can you imagine any of these people being cast as a scandalously older woman today?

I loved this piece in the New Enquiry about how We Have No Idea What Aging Looks Like, how often we conflate age with grooming, and that it largely stems from a lack of representation.

There are two delectably foodie reads on my list this week: Sadie Stein on Comfort Reading: Lee Bailey’s Cookbooks and Kate Young’s Food in books: the crab, avocado and mayonnaise in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (those photos!!!).

 

 

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Some of this phsychology might be familiar, but I really enjoyed Tristan Harris on How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds, especially the parts about how it gives us questions to answers we aren’t asking. “It’s not that bars aren’t a good choice, it’s that Yelp substituted the group’s original question (“where can we go to keep talking?”) with a different question (“what’s a bar with good photos of cocktails?”) all by shaping the menu.”

You’ve probably seen this by now, but The Letter The Stanford Victim Read Aloud To Her Attacker was published in full on Buzzfeed (and elsewhere) and it’s absolutely required reading – except if you’re likely to find it triggering.

I really enjoyed the Another Round and Call Your Girlfriend mash-up episode Another Girlfriend – especially Amina’s advice on personal finance.

Recent episodes of the Lit Up Podcast are also good listens.

 

 

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My current reads keep growing exponentially. I started Shrill by Lindy West, then didn’t take it on holiday because it’s a hardback. In the meantime, I finished The Girls by Emma Cline. So then I started Stranger on a Train by Jenny Diski because it’s probably the most me book ever. Then I also started Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson because book club. I haven’t finished The Argonauts yet. But I’m enjoying myself!

What’s on your nightstand?
 

 

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I was utterly compelled by We R Cute Shoplifters – a piece on Liftblr, Tumblr’s shoplifting community.

The Hot Felon Is Heading to Hollywood – and Jessica Pressler has a lot to say on the matter.

 

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

Have a lovely weekend!
Nicola x

Happy Friday!

How’s your week been? Mine was very busy but very good, with more fun plans to come tonight and beyond. As you’ll know, freelancing can be feast or famine, but right now things are feeling comfortable. Always a reason to smile.

Also, I drove a car on the dang motorway yesterday. It may not sound like much, but it was a big life level-up for me. What made you smile this week?

FYI, this time next Friday I’ll be taking a break in Copenhagen so Reading Week 103 will be with you the following week.

So, how about some links?

 

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I posted a video Unboxing the Independent Booksellers Week Award Shortlists – all 30 books!

ICYMI, the latest Bookish Blether takes you on a journey through Our Most Anticipated Summer Reads.

 

 

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Grady Hendrix is hilarious on What [He] Learned About Women From Reading Novels About Female Friendship. Sounds like a thinkpiece, but it’s so much better than that.

You know I love the New York Times feature Letter of Recommendation, and if you know me well you could’ve guessed that I particularly loved this one on Movies Alone.

Rincey made a video recommending 4 Mexican authors, and I second Luiselli, Herrera and Villalobos. I haven’t read Enrigue yet, but he’s on my list.

I had a coffee date with the lovely Laura Waddell this week – and have been loving her books column from TYCI, called Spine. This edition is a must if you enjoy writing on visual art.

 

 

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Washington Post is always great on digital life, and this week they’ve been looking at the digital lives of 13 year-olds. (They also let them take over the WaPo Snapchat account.) Here’s Jessica Contrera’s 13, Always: This is what it’s like to grow up in the age of likes, lols and longing.

Geoff Dyer was great on the Lit Up Podcast this week, and I’m keen to read his new travel collection, White Sands, which bridges non-fiction and fiction.

“But to see a place’s grandeur and beauty is always in some way to diminish that place, to pave over the smaller things, the day-to-day experiences of its residents, to Photoshop out the realities and the hardships. This kind of live-action editing is part of what we revile about tourists.” In related, Helena Fitzgerald discussed Dyer’s book for Pacific Standard, particularly his take on the Ethics of the Secular Pilgrimage.

 

 

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Over the weekend, I read my much-anticipated The Transmigration of Bodies by Yuri Herrera (my review in the next issue of The List). I also finished the very sweet Daphnis and Chloe by Longus, which I’d put down for awhile.

Since then I’ve been flitting around, not reading much of anything, picking up one book then switching to another. In the meantime, though, I got these gorgeous Pocket Penguins (pictured) through the post, along with the latest copy of Reader magazine. Weekend reading: sorted.

What are you currently reading?
 

 

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I’ll be back in 2 weeks, but if you ever want even more links, Jessica Furseth’s Reading Lists are superlative.

 

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

Have a lovely weekend!
Nicola x

Happy Friday, friends!

I’ve had a mixed bag of a week. Some disappointing work-related news mixed with good friends and great reads, and getting back to yoga after my illness last week. My upcoming move abroad feels really close now – so lots of plans are afoot.

What are your weekend plans? Here are this week’s links to get you moving.

 

–– ON ROBOTNIC.CO ––

New Bookish Blether alert! This week we did one of my favourite episodes to prepare for – Our Most Anticipated Summer Reads. Lots of promising sounding new books on the horizon!

 

 

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I’ve never found the statement that, “You have as many hours in a day as Beyoncé” very compelling because it isn’t accurate – she has a staff. But the idea that I have the same number of hours in a day as Lin Manuel Miranda really lights a fire under my ass. Here’s a fun profile of him by the ever-excellent Rachel Syme.

Robin Wasserman, whose new novel is titled Girls On Fire, asks, “What Does It Mean When We Call Women Girls?”

Lindy West’s new book, Shrill, is out this week. She wrote in the Guardian about how the ‘perfect body’ is a lie. As a small person with a quiet voice, I am very into her message encouraging women to take up more space, though we ought to remind those who take up the most space to make room, too.
 

 

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Ta’Nehisi Coates is excellent On Homecomings and the privacy-stripping nature of celebrity.

I don’t want to have children, but I’m not so certain enough in my conviction to make that decision permanent. Holly Brockwell did, and spent 4 years lobbying the NHS to have her tubes tied. The conversation she’s opening up about how women’s bodies are policed in medicine is an important one.

Hot Yoga Changed My Life, Body. This one from Anne Helen Petersen from way back in 2011 helped me through my sickly 11 days off yoga.

 

 

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Over the past week I’ve read The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli (wonderful) and the Man Booker International Prize-winning The Vegetarian by Han Kang (intense).

I’ve also been hoarding some new ARCs (advance readers’ copies) of upcoming releases for the podcast episode mentioned above, and can’t wait to get started on new books from a couple of my favourite authors and a few debut ones, including Yuri Herrera, Teju Cole, Emma Cline and Rebecca Schiff.

What are you currently reading?
 

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The other week I linked to an interview with Jessa Crispin about her decision to close BookSlut. David took her arguments and applied them to BookTube (bookish YouTube) – and it turned out to be a really interesting thought experiment.

 

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Your turn! Read anything good this week? Hit reply or tweet me about it, won’t you?

Have a lovely weekend!
Nicola x