May 2025

I usually make some silly excuse as to why my posts are late, but this one is for real. There’s no easy way to put this one out there, so it’s best to just say it. I had to travel home at short notice to see my mum, who took ill, and she then died. It’s been a whirlwind few weeks, but I have found it oddly easy to lean into gratitude. My mum had a death I didn’t expect her to have. We were with her, it was peaceful, and she was cared for with grace and delicacy. I have been enveloped in a kind of support and love that I didn’t even know was possible, both from my friends and loved ones, and from my workplace, and I have seen my sister be stronger and more resilient than I ever expected that she could be. I have spent my adult life carefully cultivating love, and it came back to embrace me when I needed it most.

My mum was a librarian when I was younger, and instilled her love of books, especially those available to the public for free, in me. If you’d like to read more about her, and make a charitable donation in her name, you can find out more at her obituary.

Anyway, I can’t really remember anything about May, so let’s just move onto the books and music.

Gossip Girl #7 - 12
Nobody Does It Better
Nothing Can Keep Us Together
Only In Your Dreams
Would I Lie To You?
Don’t You Forget About Me
I Will Always Love You
I finally finished my Gossip Girl re-read, although I have since ordered the alternate reality edition of the first book, where there’s a serial killer, so stay tuned for that. Nothing is more perfect escapism that the lives of rich people whose only real problems are deciding who they should sleep with.

Liberty by Virginia Woolf
I love these Vintage minis, and this one by Virginia Woolf is an important reminder of personal autonomy, especially for women. It’s funny how something that’s relatively old can still feel so contemporary.

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Redden Keefe
I think this may be the best audiobook that I’ve ever listened to. My sister has been recommending this one to me for ages, and I finally took the plunge. I’m a huge Nan Goldin fan, so I was aware of the Sacklers and the campaign to remove them from galleries across the world, but this book lays bare the truth around their responsibility for the opioid crisis - both in the creation and marketing of Oxycontin. An unbelievable, gripping and vital read.

The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
I read this one for my work book club. I love the basis of the theory, which is basically the old RuPaul adage of “what other people think of you is none of your business”. It’s a classic 12-step approach in that you need to stop trying to force everything and just focus on what’s in your immediate control. However, it’s an incredibly repetitive read that applies the same logic to different situations, so I ended up skim reading the second half.

Passion by June Jordan
I hadn’t read anything by this 20th century American poet until I picked up the new Penguin Classics edition of this book, and what a treat. Her poetry feels vital and urgent, focused on people, and our need for justice and community. In today’s world, her work feels more important than ever.

Y: The Last Man - Book Two by Brian K. Vaughan
Y: The Last Man - Book Three by Brian K. Vaughan
My adventures in this fabulous post-apocalyptic comic book series continues. Surprisingly, a world without men, save for a random human and monkey, breeds chaos. Who’d have thought?

Verity by Colleen Hoover
What was I thinking? I can only laugh at myself for reading this pile of shite, but it kept my attention and I finished it. I got it for free, and I have since marked it for donation to the Feminist Fiction Liverpool fundraiser (come join us and get a tarot card reading from me!), so whatever. It’s about a writer who gets hired by the husband of a bestseller who has had a mysterious accident to finish her hugely successful series, but something isn’t quite right. It’s a pound shop Freida McFadden.

Fatherland by Robert Harris
I’m a new Robert Harris fan girl, and read this on Clare’s recommendation. I mostly read it on a plane going to and from Oslo to visit my cousin and her family, and it held my attention completely. It’s about an alternate reality, where Germany won World War 2, and Europe is made up of the Third Reich from Germany eastwards, and a collection of German territories in Europe westwards. It follows a police officer who is investigating a suspicious death following the discovery of a body beside a river outside of Berlin. Essential reading if you like a thriller, historical fiction or a crime book.

No Coward Soul is Mine by Emily Bronte
A fun fact about me is that I collect different editions of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, and this poetry collection is another Penguin Classics pickup. Like Wuthering Heights, these poems make you wonder about her inner life, and where she discovered the wild and passionate feelings, given that she seemed to live a restrained and sheltered life. Emily Bronte is one of the greats.

Landlines by Raynor Winn
Another audiobook listen. Raynor Winn’s third book follows the theme of her others. Her husband Moth and she walk from Scotland to the southwest of England to help heal his degenerative condition. While Moth has undoubtedly declined since their first book, they still find healing and solace in nature and connection with fellow people. Clare and I were meant to go see the film adaptation of her first book The Salt Path, but we unfortunately decided to get a takeaway at mine instead, and didn’t manage to reschedule. Let’s see, shall we!

Nevada by Imogen Binnie
This was June’s book club pick, and I really enjoyed it. It’s about a trans woman who drives across the US from New York to Nevada following her breakup with her long-term girlfriend. I have nostalgia for anything set in the noughts, and this is considered to be one of the most important trans novels of the 21st century. The characters are refreshingly unlikeable, but you still want them to succeed. I’d love to see a novel about Maria’s friend Piranha. She was criminally neglected in the story.