This Week In Recommendations - 17.08.23

Less screen time, another five star read, a rom-com series for those who don't love rom-coms and a new podcast show discovery

👋 Welcome to This Week In Recommendations brought to you under my brand new branding Online Amy. ICYMI, You Should Check Out is now Online Amy - my last rebrand and a new era of my Substack and this post covers everything.

It has been a rather slow week for me. After saying within this newsletter that a recent goal of mine was to spend less time on my phone, I have been pretty successful in doing so this week. My screen time is down, I’ve been spending drastically less time on social media and feel like, touch wood, this might be the right balance between being online and being more present by spending more time doing things I enjoy.

Enough chat about social media/being online as there is a good link on the subject that articulates it far better than me below …

Reading

📚 August might be a washout in Scotland but my reading this month has been anything but! This week brought me another five star read and a little obscure book that will be like Marmite.

📖 Waaay back months ago, I had listed a book in my wish-list I wanted to read and that was Bolla by Pajtim Statovci. Translated from Finnish, this is one beautiful book that was hands down an easy five-star rating for me. This is the story of two young men - Arsim is a recently married student at the University of Pristina in Kosovo where life is difficult due to being an Albanian. He meets Miloš who is Serbian. The two form a connection that turns into an emotionally-charged love affair. When war breaks out and splits them apart, their lives go on two very different paths. One of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. One minute you are rooting from Arsim and the next you despise him. Statovci built a vivid story set to the backdrop of the Kosovo war that was informative, heart-wrenching and bleak. Highly, highly recommend this one and I am happy to have another five-star read for 2023 under my belt.

📖 A quirky little book that people will either love or hate is Jillian by Halle Butler. This centres around two work colleagues who could not be more different. Megan works as a secretary who resents her successful friends and is a generally miserable person. Her colleague Jillian is full of energy and enthusiasm for life who believes owning a dog will bring her total happiness. It is short, witty and both characters are unlikeable in different ways. I gave this a 3.5 as I wish it had concluded much better but the sharp writing and two different yet unbearable women made for an enjoyable quick read.

Watching

📺 I am not a big rom-com lover. I like to read and watch things about love - no cheese though, just stories that explore the complexities of love. I started watching Love Life on BBC iPlayer and was pleasantly surprised at how much I adored this. It is an anthology series (there are two available to stream) about two different characters and the different romantic relationships they encounter over their lifetime. The first series follows Darby played by Anna Kendrick and the second series focuses on Marcus played by William Jackson Harper. It is a brilliant exploration of love, flaws and all, that will have you hooked.

🎥 I watched No Hard Feelings that was a silly movie that made me laugh and it was an easy watch. Based on a true story, we meet Cassie who is down on her luck financially and has her car re-possessed meaning her main income stream as an Uber driver comes to a halt. Unable to afford another, she spots an advert on Craiglist that offers a free car in exchange for spending time with the parents socially awkward son to prep him for college. Cassie is played by Jennifer Lawrence and it was refreshing to see her in a comedy role. Is it a cinematic masterpiece? No but it did provide some laughter and light-hearted fun.

LISTENING

I’ve been listening to music more in the past week because finding podcasts I like is becoming HARD. Why does every D lister or self-absorbed influencer have a podcast these days? They take up the bulk of discovery pages and no shade if you like them but the space is oversaturated. I have discovered some new to me artists that I've had on repeat - notable mentions being The Oracle Sisters, Sir Women and Gus Glasser. I’ve also had some artists I’ve adored for years on rotation too such as Leonard Cohen and Jamiroquai. Now, onto the podcasts I did find/listen to.

🎧 A new discovery for me is Right Answers Mostly that covers deep dives into things you wished you did learn in history class. Good fun and informative.

🎧 I follow the Woman’s Hour that BBC produce although it isn’t something I manage to keep up with as frequently as the episodes air so their weekend episode that recaps the best stories/interviews from that week is a brilliant.

🎧 And an episode I loved this week was The Envelope Podcast I’ve recommended before that had an interview with the very funny Rose Byrne. Her career backstory made for a great listen and I am a huge fan girl of her.

INTERNET BROWSING

👩🏻‍💻 I liked this piece by Mashable on Prosecraft - an AI platform that analysed novels that has been shut down by authors. I hadn’t heard of Prosecraft so this was an interesting read - one for readers.

👩🏻‍💻 I’ve been tuning into the Women’s World Cup where I can and didn’t know about the backlash the USA team have faced during this tournament that Vox has explained perfectly. Worth a read to see how their loss has been spun in right-wing U.S media.

👩🏻‍💻 And this Substack post by Mixed Feelings on Will Giving Up Social Media Make Me Happy? was timely and thought-provoking as someone who is a fatigued by all the different platforms right now. Lots of great points and a refreshing view on the subject.

And that is it for this weeks recommendations. I do have a mini bonus post planned for either this Sunday or the next depending on when I can get the half written draft finalised. There is now an option to pledge any £ to Online Amy as a nod to the time and work that goes into this Substack. And the newsletter has its own Instagram now so go follow for more content on there.

Thanks for reading. See you next Thursday!