July 2025

Life feels surreal in the time after someone dies. Once the funeral is done, you go back to work, and life goes back to normal, except there isn’t really a normal anymore. You have good days and bad days, but things feel completely different. Lots of people have told me that you just figure out how to live around grief, and that takes time. You eventually stop obsessively counting the weeks and months since someone died, you have more good days than bad, and you remember the person fondly.

I’ve been muddling through, and finding the distractions of daily life pretty helpful. Not that I’m avoiding the sadness, but a routine is helpful, especially when you work from home. The one thing I’ve been struggling with is reading. My mind is very distracted at the moment, and I’ve been finding it hard to read and to listen to music - two of my favourite things.

This month was honestly bizarre. There’s not a lot to say. On the positive side, my book club raised over £2,000 for Gyro, a local LGBT+ organisation. I read tarot cards to raise money, and was fully booked for the day, which was wonderful. I’ve set up an Instagram page to promote my readings, so if you’d like an in-person or virtual reading, head to @thefemininearcana and get in touch. We also had a gorgeous reading retreat in the sunshine at the Reader, where I didn’t read a page, but such is life.

Anyway, onto the books, and the music.

How to Murder Your Life by Cat Marnell
If you’re a person of a certain age, you’ll remember being dazzled by Cat Marnell while she was a beauty editor in New York. Truly, no one did it like her, but then her long-standing drug and alcohol addiction began to unravel, as did her public persona. This memoir is an honest and funny account of her life, from childhood, to the glamorous media landscape of New York in the noughties. She’s not sober by the end of the book, but then you do a quick Google and discover that she is now, and that she’s looking truly serene, and more beautiful than ever. Her writing is sharp and hilarious, and her stories are incredible. I can’t believe that she lived with Nev from Catfish, and I’m glad that she terrorised him.

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
The buzziest book of last year, and the winner of the Booker for non-fiction. I had this in print, but ended up listening on audio, which I think is now my preferred format for non-fiction. Klein narrates it, and tracks the “mirror world” through her doppelganger, the formerly-feminist but now conspiracy theory touting Naomi Wolf. As a left-wing Canadian, who writes about the dangers of capitalism, Klein is alarmed to be continuously confused with Wolf, as she descends into far-right media. As with all of her books, this is incredibly well-researched and written, and feels like a vital read in today’s political and media climate.

Treats by Lara Williams
My friend Clare gave me this a few months ago, and short stories felt like a good idea in my current mental state. I loved The Odyssey, so I was excited to read this. As I’m writing now, I cannot remember a single one of the stories in the collection, although I remember enjoying them at the time. I’m not sure what that says about the book, or about me, but here we are.

Freak Unique by Pete Burns
Those who know me well, know that I am a longtime devotee of Pete Burns, and have long felt that Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport should be renamed after him. I haven’t read his autobiography since college, so it was lovely to read it again now that I actually know Liverpool and The Wirral. He’s always been a controversial figure, and there’s lots in this book that people would find problematic, but I will always admire him as someone who refused to be anything other than himself. Side note - WHEN are Channel 4 going to re-release all of Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother on 4OD?!

Never Say Never by Danielle Steel
SHE’S BACK! BorrowBox finally added a new Danielle Steel, and this one is based during COVID! How topical! It’s very modern - The main character’s husband leaves her for a man, she befriends a famous actor, who is Black and she navigates the pandemic from the comfort of a French chateau. And here was me thinking my pandemic in NW London was glamourous. I needed this. Danielle is always the same, which is always a comfort.

The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family by Jessalyn Cook
I didn’t realise how much I was engaging in the US far-right landscape this month! My sister read this a while back, and loved it. Her non-fiction recommendations are usually really good, so I decided to go for it. It tracks the QAnon phenomenon by narrating the impact of those who fall under its spell through their families. It’s heartbreaking to see how conspiracy theories impact close relationships, and you can actually understand how easy it is for people to be radicalised. A fascinating read, or listen. This was another audiobook I did this month.