Weekend Miscellany

Wow, it has been unbearably hot since the last weekend miscellany. UK houses weren’t built for heat – none of us have aircon – and even my thick-stoned flat only stayed cool for a couple of days. But the rains are coming tomorrow, and that’ll give us something else to complain about. The stereotypes are true: Brits can talk about weather for hours. The exciting thing on my horizon this weekend is my second Covid vaccine! I do have to drive an hour from my house, but it’s worth it – I’ll certainly be feeling safer getting out and about. Wherever you are, I really hope things are improving with vaccine roll-out and cases.

1.) The book – I don’t read a lot of medical books of any variety, but I do when they’re by my friends! Monty Lyman’s The Remarkable Life of the Skin was fascinating, and I’m pleased that he has another one out. The Painful Truth is all about the science of pain and it’s currently on its way to me from Blackwells…

2.) The link – I loved this Guardian article on a woman who decided, in her 60s, to open up her own secondhand bookshop – largely with her own lifetime of collected books. And it’s in Somerset, not far from where my parents lived. How have I not been yet??

3.) The blog post – Perhaps I’ll never get over the excitement of seeing people review British Library Women Writers books, especially when the novel was scarce beforehand and it was unlikely that anybody would ever read it. And I enjoyed Julia’s take on Mary Essex’s Tea Is So Intoxicating – hope you do too.

The sun is out! I’ve been delighting the neighbourhood with my neon teal garden lounger, and some bright yellow short shorts. Summer clearly brings out the classy in me.

Hope you’re having a good weekend, and here’s a book, a blog post, and a link to help you along the way.

1) The book – I love Fitzcarraldo’s non-fiction – which I only specify because I haven’t read any of their fiction. Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton sounds like a wonderful addition to the series: it is about Barton’s time living in Japan, ‘an exceptional debut about the quietly revolutionary act of learning, speaking, and living in another language’.

2) The blog post – is really a link, I suppose, but Lucy Scholes’ ‘Re-Covered’ column for the Paris Review feels like a blog. In this column, she talks about the wonderful Barbara Comyns – including her own history of reading Comyns, and the fact that she is always on the brink of being rediscovered again.

3) The link – I was late to the fan club for Janet Malcolm, but my goodness she is extraordinary. After her recent passing, the Guardian published Helen Garner’s wonderful tribute to her.

It’s summer! Unless you’re in the southern hemisphere, of course. But England is finally getting some sunshine and heat – though it has been raining all day today, but plus ça change. Or pleuvait ça change. That might be my greatest moment ever, so let’s rush on to the book, blog post, and link…

1.) The link – is an oral history of The Devil Wears Prada, because why not. I love this film because I am a human. I did read the book, which is terrible.

2.) The blog post – is a reminder that Sylvia Townsend Warner Reading Week is coming up soon, run by Helen at Gallimaufry. A reminder post went up recently, but I’m linking to the post back in April that gives a bit more detail. I’ve joined in every time, and this time I think I’ll dig out some more short stories.

3.) The book – somebody on Twitter was asking for contemporary funny books, and Sue Teddern replied recommending her own book, Annie Stanley, All at Sea. It isn’t out yet, but that cover is lovely and the description looks like it could be a fun one.

Hope you’re having a good weekend, whatever you are up to!

It’s been a while since I did one of these miscellanies, I think. In the UK, pandemic restrictions start to lift in a couple of days, so it’s quite an exciting feeling – on the edge of being able to go inside friends’ homes and hug them etc! (My least favourite kind of tweet is the “Weren’t we all doing this anyway?” variety. No, most of us were doing all we could to stop the spread of the virus.) Of course, we shan’t all be dashing back to normal life on Monday, but this weekend does feel like the end of something.

I’m still waiting for my first vaccination, though it should only be a few weeks now. And hoping my current spate of dizziness/eye soreness goes away – it’s now a year since all my health stuff started, and I’m no closer to a diagnosis, but generally it is all very, very slowly improving. Praise God, there were only a couple weeks where I couldn’t read at all – at the moment, I just have to steer clear of small print.

ANYWAY, that’s a whistle-stop update. Let’s get onto the book, the blog post, and the link:

1.) The blog post – It’s a vlog post, but I wanted to share a review of O, The Brave Music from Lil’s Vintage World – one of my favourite Booktubers. I so love seeing people discover this book, particularly, from all the British Library Women Writers series.

2.) The link – On Twitter, Marina Sofia shared an excellent article by Alexander Larman in The Critic: ‘A Radical Proposal: Book reviews should review books‘. It has always irked me that broadsheet reviews, especially of non-fiction, scarcely engage with the quality of the book in question. One of the many reasons I prefer reading bloggers – though the bloggers vs newspaper reviewers debate has died down a little of late, hasn’t it?

3.) The book – One of the few still-publishing novelists I love is Jenn Ashworth. I still have a couple of her back catalogue unread on my shelves, but that doesn’t stop me being excited about Ghosted, coming out in June. Find out more at Jenn’s website.

The season has definitely changed here in the UK. The clocks have gone back, the evenings are getting darker, and the leaves are changing. It’s all very pretty but a little miserable to be dark and cold – especially as covid restrictions are likely to get stricter. Where I live, we’re still in tier one – but I suspect it won’t be long before that changes. Just in time for my birthday…!

For the bleaker weather – and to help deal with the anxiety the world is feeling around the upcoming US election – have a book, a link, and a blog post.

1.) The book – somehow I missed the announcement until now, but on 3 November there will be a new Edward Carey novel! I’ve been following his writing output for well over a decade, and love that Little put him more on the map. The Swallowed Man seems as eccentric and interesting as vintage Carey. Find out more.

2.) The link – I have no idea how catching up with TV works in the US, but if you can watch Superstore at this link, then I heartily encourage you to. It’s on hulu as well, and maybe there are other ways. Just for US folk, I’m afraid, but Superstore is one of my favourite sitcoms and their handling of the pandemic is genuinely moving, as well as very funny.

3.) The blog post – Books and Wine Gums has been enjoying a lot of the British Library Women Writers series – do check out her thoughts on Mary Essex’s Tea Is So Intoxicating.

I hope you have lovely, socially distanced plans for this weekend – maybe the last of our sunny weather here in the UK? Well, there’s already an autumnal snap in the air (and a hole in my roof, leaking water into the living room… thankfully fixed now, and somehow it managed to leak in about the only place where books aren’t piled up. Phew!)

Whatever you have planned, here’s a book, a blog post, and a link. Oh, and make sure you’re registered to vote if you qualify for American elections! Please help protect the rest of us who can’t vote there. And yes, I’ll nail my colours to the mast, that means voting the Biden/Harris ticket. At this point I’ve stopped even pretending to have sympathy for people who would vote for somebody as cruel, narcissistic, ignorant, racist, sexist, and unpresidential as Trump.

Welp, that got more political than this blog has ever been, I suspect! Here’s the normal bookish stuff…

1.) The blog post – please check out Ali’s wonderful list of 10 Vintage Books of Joy. It’s not the usual sort of book list you see, because many of these are a little out-of-the-way – but they’re all brilliant. Well, the eight I’ve read are, and I’ve now bought Something Light to add to my sprawling Margery Sharp collection.

2.) The book – I have a review copy of this on the way, but thought I’d mention now: Felix Unbound by Cathy Gunn. What would happen if your cat turned into a human? I love animal metamorphosis stories (and wrote about them in my DPhil – Lady Into Fox is wonderful) and so I hope this lives up to its premise and its promise.

3.) The link – the British Library shop is doing 3-for-2 on fiction paperbacks and you KNOW that includes the British Library Women Writers series! And, indeed, preorders. So I heartily recommend you get your mitts on them soon – let me know if you want advice about which to choose…

2020 just keeps going, doesn’t it? What a long, long year. I hope you have some good plans this weekend, and that they’re able to go ahead. I’ll be meeting up with my ‘bubble’ (my brother) so I’ll get to hug someone, which we never thought would become a novelty, did we?

Anyway, whatever you’ve got going on, here’s the usual link, blog

post, and book to accompany you on your way.

1.) The link – on my recent review of The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm, Jenny of Reading the End left a link to an NYRB article Malcolm wrote about her libel lawsuits. It is fascinating in a totally Malcolm way.

2.) The blog post – I enjoyed Danielle’s take on a reading prompt of ‘ready for new beginnings’. Aren’t we all, at the moment? And so many excellent novels and memoirs could fit that description. Go and see what Danielle chose.

3.) The book – the latest Slightly Foxed Edition (my goodness, how I love them) is Jessica Mitford’s brilliant memoir Hons and Rebels. It’s about her childhood as part of the notorious Mitford sisters, but also a lot more than that as she grows older and forms her own identity. And you won’t find a lovelier edition than this, because SF Editions are the nicest books in the world.

Happy Saturday to everyone! I’ve been a bit under the weather this week but I’ve also been really excited by the news that single-adult households can form bubbles with another household, in England. My brother and I have formed a long-distance bubble, which means we can visit and go inside each other’s houses and have a hug! Something I hope I never take for granted again – since it’s now three months since I touched another human. What do humans even feel like??

Anyway, a book, a link, a blog post… in fact, two blog posts.

1.) The blog posts – here’s a great list of black authors published in the Virago Modern Classics series, courtesy of Juliana at The Blank Garden – and here’s a reminder from Helen at A Gallimaufry that Sylvia Townsend Warner Reading Week is coming up again soon. Week beginning 29 June, in fact.

2.) The book – I love the graphic novelist Brecht Evens, and I’m really excited that The City of Belgium is coming out soon. More info – and you can even read it now, if you can read the original Flemish.

3.) The link – how are bookshop owners feeling about reopening? Find out at the Guardian.

We’re having some lovely weather in the UK this weekend, and the roses in my garden are in full bloom, so I can temporarily forget about the world out there with a book and a cuppa. I hope your weekend is going well – let me help it along with a book, a blog post, and a link.

1.) The link – the Hay Festival kicks off in a couple of days! Obviously it’s not happening in real life, but lots of events are happening online – and, even better, the tickets are free. I’ve signed up to see James Shapiro and Jon Sopel. I’m not sure what tickets are left, but check them out!

2.) The book – my friend Matthew recommended The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos – or, rather, heard about it and thought I’d like it. Someone unearths an amazing novel in a library of rejected manuscripts, which starts a publicity hunt for the author. Sounds very up my street – read more.

3.) The blog post – I loved the book recommendations – and the paintings – in the latest round-up over at Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau.

It’s been a while since I did one of these – but also, time no longer has any meaning. April has finished, apparently? What a strange, strange year. I am grateful that my reading abilities came back, though, and I certainly got through a lot of books in April – though I’m not doing so well at writing about them.

I hope you and the people you love are doing well. Stay safe, and enjoy a book, a blog post, and a link.

1.) The book – Chatteron Square by E.H. Young is now out in the British Library Women Writers series! It’s the first one that I chose myself, and it’s great. I had fun reading about 1930s divorce law while writing the afterword, which hopefully adds a layer of interest to the novel – but obviously it’s a wonderful novel without a word from me alongside it.

2.) The link – if you’re in the UK and looking for vegan and gluten-free cakes during the lockdown, I can recommend my friend Amy’s bakery. I’ve received, given, and bought for myself boxes from them during quarantine – check out Brutally Honest Bakery.

3.) The blog post – I always love when Claire at The Captive Reader reads A.A. Milne, it fills me with such joy – and she has made me want to go back and re-read The Romantic Age soon.