#004 A list of things to listen to, watch & read
Whether you're looking for background noise while you cook and garden, want a guaranteed good read, or have just run out of Netflix shows to binge, I've got some great reccs...
I’ve been excited about this instalment of reccs all month! I actually have too many things - mostly TV shows - to shout about! Nothing says winter is coming like a good telly schedule…
And snuggling up with a good book. My Kindle gave up the ghost a little while back, and with so many house costs to contend with, it wasn’t a priority to replace it, but I’ve reached for it a million times and felt sad to not be able to plug that hole with a little literary escapism. Okay yes, I do know paper books exist and okay yes I have quite a few, but I’m a Kindle girlie and it’s just not the same. Anyway, there is a happy ever after because last night, having spent most of the day weeding and feeling suitably sore and achy I ran a bath, and everyone knows you can’t have a bath without reading something, so I gave my Kindle one last hopeful charge (and pressed the on button a mad amount of times, as one Reddit user suggested) and TA-DA it turned on!! I was so pleased to be reunited with my stories that I got straight into bed in my towel and read until I couldn’t read anymore and then fell into the deepest slumber. Yet more evidence that having a bath and reading instead of watching countless conspiracy theories on TikTok is what I should do for a good night’s snooze, and yet…
Listen
I listened to this podcast while it was being released, and found myself looking to see if the next episode had gone live yet each week, which I think is a sign of a good podcast. Dear Alana is well done and touches on subjects I know you’ll be intrigued by too, but it’s a tough listen in parts. It shines a light on the archaic religious systems that are still today manipulating young people away from their sexuality and ‘towards God’. It explores the life and death by suicide of a 24-year-old woman who wanted to be a nun. She left behind dozens of diaries detailing a joyful life full of friends, family, sports and the church, as well as her internal conflict as a gay Catholic, leading to her secretly undergoing conversion therapy. Simon, the narrator, also sought to change his sexual orientation through conversion therapy for almost 10 years in the hopes of becoming a priest, and in sharing Alana’s story, comes to terms with what happened to him.
I’ve been looking for an interiors/garden-related podcast for ages and this new one is a really nice mix of easy conversation and actually useful tips normal people can implement in their projects. It’s hosted by interior designer Jojo Barr and garden designer Pollyanna Wilkinson (also both great on Instagram, so I’ve linked) and has so far focussed on where to start with a new home/garden/renovation, lighting inside and out and the art of choosing paint colours.
The Girlfriends is a true murder tale from the point of view of Bob Bierenbaum’s ex-girlfriends, who form a club and meet to bitch about him, a seemingly charming pilot, multi-linguist and ‘nice, Jewish doctor’ that dated half of Vegas in the 90s. It’s not long before the funny anecdotes shared over noodles become stranger and scarier, and they start to wonder if his ex-wife who went missing and is presumed dead, really did leave of her own accord…
Watch
The best series I’ve binged in forever! You need to watch it! I was trying to explain to Alex what I liked about it so much, and aside from the fact it stars Elizabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons who I think might be two of the most captivating actors of all time, is set in small-town Texas in the 70s (the sets! the fashion!) and is about an almost-reluctant affair and an almost-accidental murder trial, it’s mainly because it has a proper beginning, middle and end. There’s a clear timeline. You’ve got the backstory, a thing happens, and then you see the resolution. A neat little package that requires very little thinking, just absorbful watching. Let me know what you think :)
My addiction to the thriller category is getting out of hand, and sometimes I need something a little more light-hearted and less harrowing as a palette cleanser, to restore my faith in humanity and reset my ever-anxious brain. I will never realise or admit to this, which is why I’m ever grateful for Alex force-feeding me comedy at steady intervals. Champions is one recent example. It’s a feel-good film that’s light on cheese and big on charm - and best of all manages to showcase a story about sportspeople with learning disabilities without making the white, able-bodied man their saviour (if anything it’s him that needs saving!). Sure it’s predictable for the most part, but it’s really funny and fun and has a heartfelt message. Woody Harrelson is great but Madison Tevlin stole the show!
And after a brief genre change, we’re back to form with a dark mystery! Why am I like this? Woman In The Wall isn’t scary - I will never give you scary, can’t do it - but it’s decidedly Gothic and features some upsetting scenes since it’s about Lorna Brady’s search for her child who was taken away soon after she gave birth to her as a teenager in one of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes. I didn’t know much about these awful institutions or the Magdalene Laundries but from what I’ve read since, the TV show is pretty accurate. Ruth Wilson is incredible in it (that accent!) and Daryl McCormack (off of that film where Emma Thompson hires him to sleep with her) is so so good, I think I’ll now happily watch anything he’s in.
Read
Why You Should Definitely Just Do The Thing - Peak Notions by Laura Kennedy
I could just as easily have plucked any of Laura’s pieces to recommend to you. I guarantee you will enjoy everything she writes - subscribe now!
The Books I Wish Men Read - Recovering by Holly Whitaker
Have you ever read a book that put your thoughts and strife about being a woman so eloquently you wished your boyfriend/husband/male friends/brother/dad would read it? Here’s a list of real-life examples (books and men who need to read them).
The Endless Hole of Wanting More - Offline Time by Lee Tilghman
Habitually reasoning that we’ll be happy when we have X is a natural human instinct, unnaturally scaled up by a consumerist society, modern marketing and social media. But that doesn’t make me feel any better about my want for more, and worst of all, more of the same, a better version of the same, the latest style of the same, a bigger sort of the same thing next door have. Lee Tilghman’s musings on this are illuminating, inspiring and reassuring.