June 2024

This summer feels so odd. Everyone I speak to, myself included, has a weird inability to sit still, be with their feelings, and concentrate. A lot of my friends and I are having reading droughts, despite our overall lives being in a good position. I didn’t finish the book club book for July, because it reminded me of another book I hate and it just repelled me.

In the middle of June, I went on a yoga retreat that ended up being far more spiritual than I expected it to be. The messages I was getting from my higher power, the universe, the world, or whoever is looking out for me is that I need to slow down, look inward and go with the instincts of my body. I have a tendency to pack my schedule, overplan and end up completely burned out, so it’s been nice to lean into what I feel I’m being naturally inclined to do. I’m focusing much more on my spiritual life, including my tarot work and am looking to learn more on astrology.

Meanwhile, I did a lot of audiobook listening this month. I’ve become a Libby and BorrowBox devotee, and the print and audio offerings from Liverpool City Libraries on both of these apps are great. As I hope regular readers know, I have zero guilt about my peaks and troughs, as well as the content I consume.

My Favourite Mistake by Marian KeyesI can’t believe I’ve never listened to a Marian Keyes on audiobook before, especially as she narrates them. I think the mistake I made was trying to replace normal reading with audiobooks, when they really serve a completely different purpose. This kept me company on a work trip to Lisbon, across train journeys, flights, and Ubers. It revisits Anna Walsh from Angels, amid her decision to break up with her long-term partner and return to Ireland after almost two decades in New York. It’s classic Marian Keyes: sharp, funny and perfectly observed. I can’t wait to read in print when the paperback comes out.

All That Glitters by Danielle SteelI’m sorry Danielle! I had to Google the plot of this before writing this snippet. A testament to how addled my brain is at the moment, and how I don’t seem to retain audiobooks as well as I do print ones. This one tells the story of a young woman who is orphaned young, runs away to London from New York and seeks our relationships with exciting but awful men, while her best friend stays home with a stable and boring woman from his Orthodox Jewish faith. You won’t believe what happens…!

Down the Drain by Julia FoxIt’s very easy to dismiss Julia Fox as a fame-hungry starlet who used Kanye West for fame, but dating him is genuinely the least interesting thing she’s ever done. This memoir is an incredible journey between New York and Italy, studying dysfunctional familial relationships, toxic men, and addiction. I think Julia’s current thoughts on celibacy ring so true for so many straight women, and her voice is so unique and creative. I read this on my phone via BorrowBox but would love to listen to her narrate it. There’s a reason she was cool enough to be referenced in brat.

Arrangements in Blue: Notes on Love and Making a Life by Amy KeyMy happily coupled friend Sara told me I needed to read this memoir on building a full life outside of romantic love, and I was initially skeptical, because what do people in couples know? Well, turns out she knows more than me. This is a beautiful study in what love means, set against the tracks of Blue by Joni Mitchell. Amy Key is in her forties, and hasn’t been in a long-term relationship since her early twenties. My last normative long-term relationship ended when I was twenty-two, and as I get older and become more comfortable in what makes me happy, books like this really resonate. I don’t long for romantic love as much as she does, but her love letters to travelling and eating alone, her home, and her friends, in particular the poet Roddy Lumsden who died of complications of addiction, are moving, human and remind me of how full of love my own life is.

The Affair by Danielle SteelYou know that situation we’ve all found ourselves in where you’re the editor of a world-famous fashion magazine, and you have to profile the young starlet who is having an affair with your daughter’s novelist husband? So annoying, right?! I listened to this one mostly when in bed at my yoga retreat, after sitting on the sofa reading Arrangements in Blue. It was the perfect combination.

You can also see my playlist for the month below. I’m really having a brat summer, and feel bad for anyone who isn’t. Who knows what July holds?