January 2025

Welcome to beehiiv! I was pleasantly surprised about how quick and easy it was for me to import my posts and subscribers, so hopefully if you subscribed to me over at the other place, you’ve followed me over here. I love bees, my dad keeps them, and I even have one tattooed on my right arm, so it felt like a good omen.

I know we say this every year, but did this January not feel like the longest of all time? Something about January 2025 felt like it really did drag. Despite that, there was lots to be grateful for this month. I had a fun business trip to Barcelona, I went to Hay-on-Wye with the gals, I rested a lot, and I got a new cat.

The one thing I didn’t do this month was a lot of reading, but I’m trying to be a lot more intentional and less target driven with my reading. This also coincides with a goal I’ve stolen from Sara which is to get through some of the bigger books on my shelf this year - namely the George Michael definitive biography (which LAM bought me AGES ago for my birthday), and The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, which is Sara’s favourite book.

Anyway, my January reads are below, and my playlist is here. I hope this has reached you in this new space!

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly
My first read of the year was a proof that I got from my friends at The West Kirby Bookshop that I wish I’d read as soon as I got it. It tells the story of siblings Greta and Valdin as they navigate their personal, professional and familial relationships in Wellington, New Zealand. It’s joyfully queer, which feels even more necessary in these odd times, and reminded me of how much I loved my six weeks in Aotearoa, even if it was back in 2013. I’m not sure why this book didn’t get the attention it deserves, but if a funnier and less academic Kiwi Sally Rooney sounds appealing, I’d really recommend it.

Monsters: What Do We Do With Good Art by Bad People? by Claire Dederer
I’ve been wanting to read this book for ages, and I finally finished it in Hay. If you’re looking for an answer to the question in the title, you won’t get it, but you’ll get a real moral and personal search for what feels like an impossible quandary. We all love good art by bad people, and the author focuses on geniuses like Roman Polanski, Virginia Woolf, Michael Jackson and Pablo Picasso, who we now know were capable and carried out inexcusable things. The writing is sharp and searching, and it made me do some real reflection. I think it’s essential reading for anyone who consumes any kind of culture.

What a Way To Go by Bella Mackie
I know there were a lot of different opinions on it, but I really enjoyed Bella Mackie’s first novel, and I’m excited for the adaptation. I was really pleased to see the ebook was available to read via my local library on BorrowBox (please join your local library!). Like How to Kill Your Family, this is a pacy and darkly funny crime thriller that takes you on some unexpected paths. Following the death of a rags to riches tycoon at his Cotswolds country pile, you shift between the worlds of the living and the dead, while those left behind try to make sense of what has happened, and the deceased is caught in a kind of purgatory until he can figure out how he died. I read this is one day as it was so fun and gripping. It’d be a great holiday read!

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
I’m a huge Curtis Sittenfeld fan, but I know almost nothing about Laura Bush, so I was interested to read this fictionalised account of her life, where she is given a different name and some different biographical details. Sara and Clare bought me this as a gift to read on Christmas Eve, which is an Icelandic tradition called Jólabókaflóðið. You receive and give books on Christmas Eve, then spend the evening reading, drinking hot drinks and generally being cosy. I think this needs to be more widespread! Anyway, this book is typical Curtis Sittenfeld. It’s accessible, but asks tough questions, and gives you a unique insight into the mind of its protagonist. Alice Blackwell never feels entirely comfortable as First Lady, and she ruminates on her political differences with her unpopular husband, while recalling her modest childhood, and independent life as an unmarried teacher before she met her husband. It made me think a lot about how we perceive the spouses of our leaders, and if they should be answerable for the actions of those they’re married to.

P.S. For those of you asking how P and Leo are getting on, the answer is mostly very well. I am feeling blessed!