This Week In Recommendations - 25.06.23
Reading slump is over, the return of the rain = watching more TV and two tools that have helped me get back into writing daily
👋 Howdy and welcome to this weeks edition of You Should Check Out. This last week has been long and I am so glad it is the weekend. I will be spending it watching Glastonbury on TV, hopefully attending the Arctic Monkeys gig on Sunday and getting stuck into a good book now that my slump is over.
❤️ This week I’ve been loving making book related Tiktoks. Am I now a #booktoker? You can follow me on there by clicking here. This £1 Dove Argan Oil Shower Mousse that is not only just a bargain but also leaves my skin so hydrated. Lastly, I’ve been writing daily in the last week but more on that further down …
Reading
📚 Ok, this week is where I do feel I am finally starting to get into the swing of reading again after an awful month of books. I say that like I didn’t DNF two books this week although I think it was a case of being the wrong book for my mood (which has been awful this week but apparently, I can blame cancer season)? Here are the two very decent books I read this week!
📖 I took Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto with me on holiday and decide to park reading it until I was home. Despite being a tiny book, my brain could not click with it at the time - and I’m so glad I came back to it! Small at 160 pages, this was first published in 1957 and is a mystery novel centred around the suicide of a young couple at a remote beach in Japan. It looks like a standard case of cyanide poisoning until detectives start to probe this further and realise, all isn’t as it appears. Much of the plot focuses on quite specific details such as train timetables so at times it can feel quite technical. I liked the two detectives and felt like everything tied up neatly in the end.
📖 I just finished Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield and it is by far the best book I have read this month so far. I, like so many other people, was glued to the news on the missing Oceangate Titanic Submarine this week. A truly awful, awful story. When I learned more people had been to space than there had been to that depth of the ocean, I realised how little I knew on this subject. I had bought this one for 99p on the Kindle store months ago and I highly recommend it. When Miri is reunited with Leah, her wife who was lost at sea for months after a deep sea mission that went wrong, she thinks she has her wife back. But, it soon becomes clear that this experience has completely changed Leah and she may never be the same person again. A brilliantly told story that I could not put down.
📖 My book from the archive this week is Stay With Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ that I read back in 2018 and always recommend. It is fiction, set in Nigeria about a young married couple named Yejide and Akin who are struggling to conceive. Akin is expected to have several wives and Yejide knows she needs to get pregnant in order to save their relationship. This is such a powerful story and one I do hope to re-read again in the future.
Watching
Now that the rain has resumed in Scotland, I have been indoors so much more which has meant watching significantly more TV. I did tune into the new season of And Just Like That - the SATC spin off - even though the first wasn’t great and man, I couldn’t even bring myself to finish the second episode. It was truly awful. This week I also watched The Idol, streaming on Sky and HBO Max. The very controversial show starring Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd that is directed by Euphoria’s Sam Levison was slammed by Rolling Stone Magazine after staff on set said the content made them deeply uncomfortable. I did think is everyone just hating on this for no reason? Well, they definitely aren’t. It is super creepy. The scenes with Lily-Rose Depp show she is a pretty decent actress but blah, The Weeknd? This acting debut is just horrendous. Now onto the two shows I watched this week that I do want to actually rave about!
📺 Season six of Black Mirror dropped on Netflix last weekend and I only got round to tuning in last Sunday. I do love this show so much and I enjoyed the majority of the episodes! That being said, the episode starring Aaron Paul and Josh Hartnett called Beyond The Sea that is like a mini movie and seems to be most popular, I didn’t watch. I literally crashed out asleep 10 minutes in. But I do plan to go back and watch it. My faves were Joan Is Awful and Lake Henry. I hope we don’t have to wait so long for season seven.
📺 Mid week I completely binged Love & Death in two nights. It is an HBO mini-series starring Elizabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons. I mentioned this a few months ago as I think this pair are both incredibly underrated actors. And this didn’t disappoint! It is based on a true story of two church-goers who embarks on an affair that ends in murder. The performances were absolutely exceptional especially Elizabeth Olsen - wow, no words! It did take about 4 episodes to properly get going but once it did, I couldn’t wait to see what happened. A must, must watch!!
LISTENING
This week I’ve listened to a few great podcast episodes, including a new series. I have also been shuffling this Glastonbury 2023 playlist on Spotify in anticipation for the festival this weekend. As much as I would love to see all the different acts at Glastonbury, your gal is 1) not a camper - I have went to music festivals before where I had to and hated it and 2) 200,000 people at one place gives me the fear. So I like to enjoy it every year, sprawled out on my sofa nice and cosy!
🎧 I listened to an episode of Not Skinny But Not Fat with actress Jemima Kirke that I loved. I am a huuuge fan of Girls and adored Jessa’s character. It was such an interesting episode where Jemima spoke of her relationship with Lena Dunham, how she accidentally got into acting and her new show on Apple TV called City On Fire. It was a brilliant listen and I do recommend it if you loved the show Girls. One of the favourite parts of the episode was a discussion on how Girls stands currently in society today. Girls wrapped before #MeToo and Jemima highlighted that the version of feminism the show aimed to project is dated now but viewers are forgiving of this due to it being older. A must listen for Girls fans!!
🎧 A podcast I listen to now and then is Women Who Travel. There was a recent episode with writer Elise Hu Life in Seoul and the Rise of K Beauty that I thoroughly enjoyed. I have been to Seoul and do plan to go back and I think Elise really captured the vibe and feel of the city. Around 80% of the skincare I use is K Beauty and this was such a good exploration of the boom in the industry and the evolution of it in South Korea too. A good listen that focuses on this wonderful city and for fans of beauty too.
🎧 I also listened to an episode of But Are You Happy with Zara McDonald with Michelle Andrews. Zara and Michelle are the creators and hosts of my favourite podcast Shameless. The girls started out on Mama Mia, a huge podcasting network in Australia that not only is But Are You Happy hosted on, but the host used to work with Zara and Michelle. The girls had pitched the concept of Shameless to the network and when rejected, left and created their own podcast which led to the rise of their own media company. Both parties aren’t happy with how the exit played out and it was a real refreshing conversation on that plus a dive into Zara and Michelle success.
🎧 And I discovered a new six part rather harrowing podcast this week called Redacted Lives which tells the story of mother and baby homes in Ireland from the women and children who were in that system. I did not know much about their existence and I am floored by what I have listened to so far. I have two episodes left. A difficult listen but an important one.
INTERNET BROWSING
👩🏻💻 I read this article yesterday (Friday) that Time Magazine published called Six Surprising Things You Think Are Making You Happy - But Are Doing The Opposite. As someone firmly on a journey to feel much more content, I am always gravitating to health and wellbeing features on this style of subject more so than ever. What I found refreshing about this one is it didn’t focus on the very obvious things we seek like promotions etc but more emotional, environmental and personal factors. It was filled with stats and input from psychologists and some I had never considered before.
👩🏻💻 I also loved this piece by Stylist Magazine called Why ‘Physical Readiness’ Is The Fitness Metric We Should All Be Paying Attention To. There is a big emphasis in the fitness industry these days on smart watches, the right trainers, workout clothes etc but are we forgetting we may be kitted out but we need to actually be physically ready? This explores this topic in more detail and raises some great points. I can relate to this completely. In 2022, I got so physically fit, lost lots of weight and reaped the benefits. I have struggled in 2023 to get myself into the same mindset though. This article did bring some elements I have been experiencing to my attention and I thought it was a great read.
🔗 Other links to check out are The NYT 24 Books To Read This Summer, The Cut on why We’re All Shopping Addicts Now, Rich Lister Kayla Itsines is finally ready to talk now, Every Black Mirror Episode Ranked and Winnie Li on Finding That Elusive Thing: A Perfect Writing Space.
ETC
📝 I had mentioned earlier that I have been writing more. I have always loved to write. Even as a child, I was a kid always writing down stories than doodling. I think that is why I have always had an interest in blogging and online content. Wether I have written anything good is debatable but here are two things that have kicked started my love for writing again.
Last week, I stumbled across a website called DailyOM which runs online courses on topics such as writing, art, and fitness. They had a summer solstice sale and I bought a course titled A Year of Writing To Uncover The Authentic Self. It has daily writing prompts to get you writing about your life, experiences and emotions. I have found it therapeutic so far and I’m enjoying the prompts that get me dissecting those different elements. I would highly recommend this if you’d like to get writing again or use as a tool for self-development.
I have also loved an app called Daily Prompt that is similar in the sense it provides daily writing prompts but these can be tailored to your interest such as thriller, fantasy etc. I haven’t chosen a specific genre and the different ones I have done so far have been interesting! It is free but there is a pro option. You can also set goals daily writing too.
And that is it for this weeks You Should Check Out! Wishing you a lovely Sunday ❤️ thanks for reading xx
