I do a lot of my reading via audiobook these days. I am working alone, for the first time ever, and I like the company of a story as I run around the French countryside, or eat my soup for lunch, or fold up the laundry from the rack. Working from home can feel mundane;…
Category: Currently Reading
Daisy Buchanan’s ‘Insatiable’
I was fortunate enough to attend an interview with Daisy Buchanan run by the London Writers’ Salon (who, incidentally, have changed my writing life with their daily writers’ hour – check it out!) and I bought Insatiable straight afterwards. The idea of a book which was uncompromising about female sexuality and sexual adventures sounded right up my…
George Eliot’s ‘Middlemarch’
I can’t tell you how many times I have picked up Middlemarch to read, then put it straight back down again, intimidated by its heft. Recently I decided that I can’t make claims to being a novelist without having read the novel which people have called the best of all time – but the book was still…
Nell Frizzell’s ‘The Panic Years’
I had no idea how much I needed this book until I read it. As a woman in my early thirties (I’m actually 34, so I should probably just admit that I’m in my mid-thirties) who has been lucky enough to meet the love of her life and who has always wanted a family, I…
C. J. Skuse’s ‘Sweetpea’
Who could resist a book which promises ‘American Psycho meets Fleabag‘? This was one of those books where I thought, oh man… I wish I had had this idea. But even if I had had this idea, I’m not sure I could execute it half as well as C. J. Skuse does. I loved: The twisted…
Amanda Lee Koe’s ‘Delayed Rays of a Star’
This was my second book from the Books That Matter feminist subscription box which I gifted myself back in November 2020, then gifted to some of my nearest and dearest. Along with the book, you get some gorgeous extras – including stationery AND snacks. Did they invent this box especially for me? I think so….
Barack Obama’s ‘A Promised Land’
I’ve been making my way through Barack Obama’s amazing new book at top speed, even though it is the size of the brick. I have such respect for Obama, who I find to be incredibly intelligent and articulate, but also completely human. I loved: The insights into the day-to-day happenings at the White House Obama’s…
Albertine Sarrazin’s ‘Astragal’
The life story of the author, Albertine Sarrazin, is just as interesting as the book itself. Astragal is a semi-autobiographical look at the life of a young woman, Anne, on the run from prison, who breaks her ankle in the leap over the prison wall and who falls in love with her rescuer, Julien. I loved:…
Rachel Bloom’s ‘I Want To Be Where The Normal People Are’
I am a huge fan of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the musical comedy series which Rachel Bloom co-created and starred in. It was just so damn real. And enormously funny at the same time. So, I was really excited to read Bloom’s book of essays which were just as hilarious and moving as I expected. (I also listened…
Balli Kaur Jaswal’s ‘Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows’
It is difficult to classify this book. Is it a thriller? Erotica? Literature of the Indian Diaspora? Either way, it is an enjoyable yarn. I loved: Women being at the centre of this book The Southall Gurdwara setting which took me back to early days with my family The erotic stories which were both sexy…