May & June Culture Wrap Up
01/07/2021
As I mentioned in a previous blog post I’ve found the last couple of months challenging. Oddly enough it’s this period in the pandemic when I should be imbued with optimism that I feel most helpless and overwhelmed. I mention this only to explain why I’m doing a May/June culture wrap up rather than a monthly one which is that I’ve really just not been reading much. Over May and June together I finished four books (one of which was on audio) and that’s very unusual for me. It’s weird how stressed I am by my lack of time spent reading because picking up a book in turn makes me feel stressed that I’m not being more productive. Which is ultimately to say that instead of doing either of these things I’ve usually ended up trying to soothe my busy mind with TV.
It’s not all a mess of nonsense though, I have managed to sneak some excellent culture absorption in over the last couple of months. Let’s kick off stuff with the books I did actually get round to:
BOOKS
Available by Laura Friedman Williams
I wrote a full review of this one already right HERE. This is a memoir about one woman’s experiences sort of restarting her sex life in the wake of her divorce. I didn’t love the actual writing that much, particularly the dialogue but the book as a whole has stayed with me and I have a bit of a soft spot now for Friedman Williams. It’s a fun mix of pretty full-on real life sex scenes reminiscent of a steamy romance novel and more introspective bits about finding a way to date and have sex again while remaining a hands on mother.
Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig
I listened to this one on audio which I recommend because it is another memoir (in essays) read by the author which made it feel more personal. I saw this recommended by a disability and books blogger (letztalkaboutbooksbaby) on instagram and had no expectations so it was wonderful to just absolutely love it. I’ll probably do a longer review later but what I really took away from this was an enhanced sense of how important it is to make the world accessible to everyone rather than dismissing anyone who doesn’t fit into the mainstream as ‘other’. I know that seems really obvious but it was eye-opening to see things from a disabled point of view rather than from a well-meaning able bodied one. She’s a passionate and persistent voice for change but I also found Taussig incredibly empathetic towards the generic mainstream everyman who might repeatedly overlook or inadvertently make her life more difficult even while trying to be helpful. I think hers is a voice that can and should reach many.
Us Against You by Frederik Backman
This is my second Backman and the sequel to my first Beartown. I don’t really know why I love his books so much. They’re centered around an ice hockey team and I have no interest in most sports in general. They’re also written in repetitive prose that really likes to drive points home which every fibre of me seems to want to find irritating and yet somehow he keeps weaving a story and characters that draw me in and bring me to tears. I just cannot explain it. Anyway, I dragged my mother into my Backman fan club and we’re now at odds regarding this duo: Mum says that Us Against You is the best one, I still think Beartown is my number one. Either way, they’re both pretty darn great. I don’t want to spew spoilers at you but I think it’s okay to say that this is very much about one town and their community although in many ways it acts as a microcosm of the whole world. So many important topics are explored and although, as I mentioned earlier, sometimes it can be a bit heavy handed I really feel like Backman has written something of importance. The original book has been made into a TV series that’s out now on HBO.
Mr Loverman by Bernadine Evaristo
My only read in June which flabbergasts me. We even went on holiday this month but between the immense amount of driving and physical activities we undertook there was actually precious little reading time. The excellent news however is that I am now officially in the Evaristo fan club. I really loved Girl, Woman, Other and Mr Loverman was a book I idly picked up in the library about four years ago and finally decided against for the time being. Luckily it was this month’s pick for ShelterBox Book Club and I adored it from page one. It feels obvious to me that Evaristo has a background in theatre because her characters leap off the page. Every single person has a distinct way of speaking and I can see and hear them fully fleshed out. Neither of her books have ever felt like any sort of an effort to read despite being packed full of intelligent thoughts and British Black history facts and anecdotes. Just a delight, really and I’m ready to read every single thing she’s ever written now.
PODCASTS
An upside to the intense driving inherent in our trip across rural England over the last two weeks has been the change to indulge my appreciation of the podcast. Probably the best part of this has been introducing my husband to one of my favourite pods which is Elizabeth Day’s How to Fail. My husband’s general modus operandi is to find one thing he likes and then to pursue it doggedly. This has worked for locking me into marriage (congratulations to him), his excellent career and now in getting through a record amount of episodes of How to Fail in one trip. Episodes we particularly enjoyed were: Eniola Aluko (S7, E5) who talked about calling out racism in football at the cost of her own career, George Alagiah (S6, E6) who talked about his cancer diagnosis and his general optimism despite the horrific things he witnessed throughout his career as a foreign correspondent and Ed Milliband (S11, E3) who discussed his big ideas for the future of politics and whether he regretted no longer being Labour leader. I love the concept behind Day’s podcast and she’s a great interviewer. I also listened to an incredible episode of another favourite podcast Hidden Brain called The Fake Bride which was just the most fantastic story about a woman gradually pulled into someone else’s strange fantasy life that I can’t stop thinking about. I’ve also just finished listening now to The Apology Line which has mixed reviews but is produced by Wondery whose stuff I generally really like. If I’m honest, though it’s a really intriguing story produced lovingly by the wife of the man it’s really about, I think the story could have been told better.
MASTERCLASSES
Finally, a bit of self improvement! I’m trying to make sure that I continue learning and training because I’m in a field where, unless you’re constantly working, it’s hard to get the opportunity to better yourself and upskill. I bought a subscription last year to MasterClass which I use a bit sporadically but do quite enjoy. I’m currently doing David Sedaris’ course on Storytelling and Humour. It’s quite an interesting mix of simply him telling funny stories (which is good but easily accessible elsewhere) and talking about the editing process of each one which I have been finding really interesting. In addition to this, for my birthday in May my friends Caroline and Henry bought me Hadley Freeman’s family memoir House of Glass and a ticket to her online Guardian MasterClass discussing it. As I’ve been interested for a while in personal writing, both about myself and also about my Grandma’s experience singing with the Ivy Benson band, it was invaluable to hear about her process and particularly to get some tips about research. Also I’m currently reading House of Glass and its great.
TV
I briefly mentioned TV in my intro so just to clarify: I’m mostly watching Succession and it’s great but I’m mid season so no thoughts yet apart from I kind of wish I was Lucy Prebble because her career is just so interesting. Also Jeremy Strong is an excellent actor. I mean they all are (Matthew Macfadyen is a ridiculous talent) but Strong is new to me and now I’m keen to watch him in more stuff. I’m also watching Kaley Cuoco and Zosia Mamet in The Flight Attendant which is pretty good so far. Sorry, TV reviewing is perhaps not my strength. I’ll cobble a proper response together maybe once finished with both series!