#102 The Offcuts
Books, links, and influences from the two weeks
As well as a new fortnightly format, I’ve been playing around with new headings and titles. Is it working? Do you like it? Want to see more or less of something? Drop me a message, genuinely would love the feedback. Next week, will be a new instalment of “Freya” the ongoing short story column I’m running with, and we’ll continue to alternate between that and The Offcuts for now. Experimenting is fun.
As expected, I sped read through many books while on my trip.
I finished the absurdist Paradise Logic by Sophie Kemp. Twenty-three-year-old Reality Kahn is on a quest to become the greatest girlfriend of all time. Obsessive, funny, and awkward, Kemp explores the woes of modern heterosexual dating with crazed abandon. Very much enjoyed.
Next, I devoured Recitatif by Toni Morrison. A short story of enormous proportions, Morrison’s protagonists Twyla and Roberta meet in a care home as children. They encounter each other again in later life, and the dynamics of their relationship are posed as an unanswerable question to us. One of the girls is back, and the other is white - we are never told which is which. Morrison sneakily demands that we confront our own biases and stereotypes in trying to identify the girls by their race. It was the perfect short story. The edition I read had an introduction by Zadie Smith (pretty much as long as the story itself) that provided a sharp and engaging analysis of the story, too.
My Death by Lisa Tuttle was similarly finished in a day or two. It is a spooky novella about an author who, on a whim, decides to write an autobiography of a ‘forgotten’ female artist. The echoes between the author’s life and the artist are unsettling and page-turning. I enjoyed this more than I expected.
Currently, I am making my way through Curtis Sittenfeld’s short story collection, Show Don’t Tell. I am finding it okay, but the stories are beginning to blur into one. There isn’t much differentiation between each - similar protagonists (white, middle-aged, well-educated women) in similar circumstances (married sort-of happily, mothers, in white-collar jobs). But it’s good to follow her craft and the structure / plot points of her stories.
Other reads:
Should I let my nine-year-old daughter wax her moustache?
In an equality impact assessment by Kingston Council, they remarked that e-bikes could support women with their domestic responsibilities and help them stay looking nice
The Rome hot priest scandal
Last month, Meta notified 10% of their employees (nearly 8,000 people) to say they’d been let go - here’s a copy of the (extremely apathetic) email
Everyone who used to make TV is now secretly training AI
An interview with Ann Patchett
Gordon Brown’s thoughts on the former Prince Andrew (more information included here than I’ve seen before, such as Andrew arranging for Epstein’s plane to fly in and out of UK military bases, and the knock-on effect this had for the country, acting as a way to traffic girls into France)
59 tips to help you spend less time on your phone (immediately had an ‘unsubscribe’ binge from junk email addresses after reading to help cut down some of my phone noise)
‘Finding the heart’ is imperative - on the making of sports comedy TV shows like Chad Powers (I loved watching this so much and not just because it stars and is co-created by Glen Powell. Can’t wait for season 2)
The rise of ‘ragebait’ literature
The competition over who can cause the most harm to humanity remains fierce. Trump is digging up a cemetery in Vietnam to make way for a new golf course. While over in Albania, his son-in-law is trying to get his grubby mitts on Sazan island along the coast for the development of a $1.4 billion luxury hotel resort. Widespread backlash and protests have been seen across the country.
My twin sisters turned 27 last week, and for their birthday, my brother, sister-in-law and I got them a voucher to make their own glass flowers at SONG Art & Craft in Hackney. After a briefing, you’re free to make as many flowers as you’re able to so if you’re a natural, you might end up leaving with your own glass flower bouquet. It looks so good that I might have to join them when they book.
I ate a lot of pasta in Italy, but the carbonara I had on day one in Rome has pervaded my thoughts ever since. If I knew, in retrospect, this was to be the best pasta I ate the entire trip, I would have spent even more time savouring every morsel. As such, I am having carbonara for dinner tonight. I am salivating at the mere thought.
The summer solstice, the longest day of the year, was celebrated at the weekend. When looking for words of wisdom, Joyce Carol Oates’ novel titled Solstice was suggested. Thanks, search engine. It is a story about the friendship and subsequent romance between two women. Not quite the Stonehenge Pagan festivities I was looking for, but one quote from the book worked perfectly.
I never change, I simply become more myself.
As we look ahead (but not too far), how can we remain focused on authenticity? Much of the symbolism of the summer solstice centres on enlightenment, abundance, and release. Am I who I want to be? What must I cultivate more of, or spend less time doing? These are questions I shall be asking myself this week.
