The May Round-up
Yellowface, Something's Gotta Give and other bits.
The Monthly Round-up is a bit of Ctrl Create with casual life updates and passionate recommendations I’d bring up over a coffee/wine walk with my girlfriends.
Bits and pieces |
📖 Morning pages. I have been consistent with my diaries and morning pages — it’s time to buy a new notebook. I don’t think any amount of therapy could give me the same effect as putting words down on paper does. I think, it’s much harder to lie to yourself when there is written evidence of a lie.
🍦 Ice-cream. I wanted to buy an ice cream maker for years and now finally got one. I made two ice creams so far: brown butter and thyme infused dates. Both were delicious but I have to say it was a huge surprise to me that it had to be frozen even after churning.
📚 Book club. I am playing around with the idea of starting a book club. Last time I did it it was a huge success — the six of us got drunk, chatted about men the whole evening, and never saw each other again. I don’t think a single book was mentioned. I hope attempt number two will be better — imagine a housewives in Connecticut style bookclub — a bottle of red wine and a bit of drama.
Reading |
I finished three books in May and started a couple more.
🛏️ “Between the Covers” by Jilly Cooper is a republished collection of magazine articles. They are funny, relatable and really really honest.
🤰 "A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother" by Rachel Cusk is an exploration of motherhood. Cusk writes about the physical and emotional challenges of early parenthood, offering a refreshing contrast to idealized portrayals. It’s all in it — the love and joy, the frustrations and isolation. Cusk was criticised profoundly for writing this book but I loved it.
When she is with them she is not herself; when she is without them she is not herself; and so it is as difficult to leave your children as it is to stay with them. To discover this is to feel that your life has become irretrievably mired in conflict, or caught in some mythic snare in which you will perpetually, vainly struggle.
To be a mother I must leave the telephone unanswered, work undone, arrangements unmet. To be myself I must let the baby cry, must forestall her hunger or leave her for evenings out, must forget her in order to think about other things. To succeed in being one means to fail at being the other.
✍️ ‘Yellowface” by Rebecca F. Kuang is a great page-turner. The story centers around June Hayward, a struggling white author, and Athena Liu, a highly successful Chinese American writer. When Athena dies in the most bizarre way, June claims Athena’s unpublished manuscript as her own. I thought it was a hilariously grim satire, would recommend.
Every writer I know feels this way about someone else. Writing is such a solitary activity. You have no assurance that what you’re creating has any value, and any indication that you’re behind in the rat race sends you spiraling into the pits of despair. Keep your eyes on your own paper, they say. But that’s hard to do when everyone else’s papers are flapping constantly in your face.
Other |
I recently discovered Mary Oliver (“I don’t want to be demure or respectable./I was that way, asleep, for years.”) and am in love. I knew of Oliver before of course, who didn’t hear of "one wild and precious life?" but just now truly connected with her poetry.
Why it’s so hard to lend a book to a friend, according to the internet (This reminds me, I must return a book I borrowed from a girlfriend)
Werewolf: How a parlour game became a tech phenomenon (I spent hours and hours of my adolescence playing ‘Mafia,’ the mother of ‘Werewolf.’
How to be OK with being married “It’s not the end of the world just because you’re not single” - loved it.
Watching |
I have been flying a lot, and watched (rewatched) almost two seasons of “White Collar” on a plane. Love the show.
Also, like any other reasonable person, I started watching the third season of “Bridgerton.” I am so far slightly disappointed — give me more spicy scenes! But of course it’s the most brilliant escapist show out there. Can’t wait for the second half.
I finally watched “Something’s Gotta Give!” I love Nancy Meyers and I love Diane Keaton, can’t quite believe I’ve haven’t seen it before. The plot is perfect for a romcom: “A swinger on the cusp of being a senior citizen with a taste for young women falls in love with an accomplished woman closer to his age.”
Listening to |
You are Mine by Jay Robinson is my current obsession. I usually listen to the same song over and over and over again until I find the next one to focus on. I never get tired of the songs I love (or books or movies or food, for that matter). I just redistribute attention.
Something’s gotta give’s soundtrack makes me feel like the main character. I listen to it while cooking and everything just tastes better.
On the podcast front, it’s same old — “How I Built This with Guy Raz,” “Second Life,” “Telling Everybody Everything.”
Travelling to | Spain and Sweden.
I spend a couple of days with my girlfriend in Bilbao and then a week in Viken, a small village not far from Malmö where we were washing and polishing and painting Fredrik’s father’s boat. At the end, I had the honours of putting up the flag, and I have to say — I make quite a captain.
Love,
Alena