Highs, lows, opinions, and reflections on the week just gone.
I finished Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. It left me quite unsatisfied, I felt as though I were waiting for the “thing” to happen right up to the end. Perhaps I did the book a disservice by comparing it to Cleopatra and Frankenstein and my love for that story. Finishing up all the holiday reads took me back to A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez. Her short stories have continued to fascinate, alarm, and disgust me. She’s intrigued me with her dystopian worlds and unhappy endings. It’s something I would like to play around with in my own writing. I’m still working my way through the audiobook of These Precious Days by Ann Patchett. It’s a wonderful essay collection and I’ve really connected to the tone and style of Patchett’s non-fiction writing. As always, hearing someone’s words in their own words via audiobook makes the whole experience that bit more magical.
Other links:
The health benefits of ‘fart walks’
The chaos of capturing the Skins house party
Half of young people would prefer a world without internet
I worry people will find my scarred face hideous
Is it a problem that so many people are taking beta blockers for anxiety?
Can publishing Joan Didion’s intimate notes be justified?
There is suddenly a load of new TV shows I’ve been adding to my watchlist that look amazing. I’ve been powering through Desperate Housewives and I’m already on season eight. It’s gone too fast. I am preemptively mourning the ladies of Wisteria Lane, so it’s good to be prepared for what comes next.
The Better Sister, a twisty thriller starring Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel, is top of my list. Followed by Dept. Q, a cold-case crime drama, and then Sirens, a dark comedy about family and social status.
Last week, I spent some time watching home videos. It was comforting, especially around the anniversary of my Dad’s death - more thoughts and feelings on that here. It had been ages since I’d last looked at them, though easier now they’ve been digitised and uploaded to Dropbox. I found a snippet of me and my brother meeting our little twin sisters for the first time, something I don’t think I’d ever seen before. I would have been three, and him nearly two. Oh yes, from then on it was mayhem with four kids under four. As commander in chief, my work was cut out. As I’m leaning over their crib in the video, I say, “They’ve got pretty mouths, don’t they, and tiny little nails”. Urgh, little me was so sweet.
I have had an insatiable craving for sugar and have bought copious amounts of sweets this past week. My absolute favourite is sour watermelons. I like the little Buzz packs you find in off-licences, and the Candy Kittens ones are delicious too. I’ve also had fizzy cherry colas and strawberry pencils. In Greece, we had TikTok time on the iPad before bed and watched ASMR videos of sweet platters, which is perhaps where the need originated. That or I came on my period today.
Now for more content generated from my watching TikTok! Aren’t you lucky I’m feeling so literary and scholarly this week’s Offcuts? We are desperate for communal spaces without pressure to spend or consume. Our far-reaching loss of community has reverberated on the walls of IKEA Oxford Circus. Summer makes things easier - sitting outside in parks and existing in spaces for free. The people are begging for somewhere to go.
In my tarot card pull today, I got Temperance. Temperance is about moderation and self-restraint. Finding the middle ground to ensure balance and harmony. Seeking inner calm to move forward on a path of stability and long-term success.
The message for this week is clear.
