đȘ M&S Easter Spiced Biscuits. I couldnât resist buying these when I saw them on the shelf yesterday - they looked exactly like the kind of roll-out biscuits I used to make with my mum and grandma. The ingredients list lives up to that too - itâs only ingredients Iâd use at home - and Iâm glad to say that they taste incredible too. Bring on Spring fripperies! (More on that next week, perhaps?) (Ocado).Â
đ„ Winter stodge. Although Spring is in sight (see above), it feels like itâs been raining for the last ten days solid. Iâve been getting Riverford organic veg boxes (ÂŁ15 off for new customers with this referral link), and this weekâs had a bag of lovely waxy potatoes and a punnet of cute brown mushrooms. Lucky for me, Deb Perelman at Smitten Kitchen had just published the perfect new recipe to use both of those together. Gorgeous.
đ Paris Daillencourt is About To Crumble by Alexis Hall, read for audio by Ewan Goddard. This is the second book in Alexis Hallâs Winner Bakes All series, set behind the scenes of âBake Expectationsâ, a BBC baking show filmed over a series of weeks in the ballroom of a grand country house, featuring tough technical âblind bakesâ, spectacular challenges, and an acerbic middle-aged gay woman host. Sound familiar? đ. I absolutely loved the first book, Rosaline Palmer Takes The Cake, and in general I think Alexis Hallâs romance books translate amazingly well to audio. Theyâre full of quippy dialogue and fun details - and theyâre totally âclosed-doorâ, which makes them safe to listen to while out in public! This one is full of anxiety and mental health content, so if thatâs not something youâre up for, maybe look at something else in Alexis Hallâs catalogue (Amazon - ad, affiliate link)
It really is the crappy tail end of winter now. Iâm imagining a horseâs tail thatâs in dire need of brushing and washing (do horse tails get washed? I canât remember from my days as a Horse Girl!), covered in mud, and matted and tangled.
For all the hygge-candles-positivity that got us through November through to January, it feels like everyone has got to the end of February and gone, âpfffffhhhhhhhhhhâ, like a deflating balloon.
I got three-quarters of the way through this month having finished âonlyâ five books. I know, I know, for most people, thatâs a ridiculous amount - but itâs less than half what Iâd read at this point in January. Whatâs most important here was not the quantity of books Iâd read, but what it reflected: instead of curling up with a book, Iâd been scrolling aimlessly (which takes some doing, with Twitter and Instagramâs apps still off my phone and tablet), staring into space, and sleeping an awful lot.
Iâm now on some meds that should help with the being-tired-all-the-time thing, though itâs too soon to know yet how theyâre working. But what I really wanted to tell you about was this: the magic of reading.
Yeah, I know, preaching to the converted. But hold on just a moment. I donât want to talk about the transporting powers of reading, to show you worlds you otherwise might not see. Iâm not here (today anyway) to talk about the empathy that reading brings, showing you an experience you might not previously have known existed.
I want to talk about the healing power of reading. Thereâs been a couple of things this week that have cued up this chat for today.
First, I attended a session run by the LGBT+ network at my day job, to talk about self care and looking after ourselves, preventing activist burnout. Someone mentioned feeling really alive when they were outdoors, or dancing with their friends in a sticky nightclub, and it reminded me about Leila Salesâs book This Song Will Save Your Life (ad - affiliate link), which I read shortly after its autumn 2013 release, at the Worst Time of my university nervous breakdown. (Disclaimer - I havenât read it in a few years, so Iâm not sure how well itâs aged).
All her life, Elise Dembowski has been an outsider. Starting a new school, she dreams of fitting in at last â but when her best attempts at popularity fail, she almost gives up. In a cry for help, she self-harms, and when news of that gets around school, things get even worse for Elise.
But then she stumbles upon a secret warehouse party. There, at night, Elise can be a different person, making real friends, falling in love for the first time, and finding her true passion â DJing.
Obviously, it doesnât all go smoothly - but reading the book reminded me of what it feels like to do something youâre good at. I hadnât yet discovered any sports that made me feel like that, but Iâd been lucky enough to take part in some Slambassadors poetry workshops when I was 16-17, and had felt the magic of standing on a stage, holding an auditoriumâs attendance with nothing more than my voice and my poetry.
I donât think itâs an exaggeration to say that This Song Will Save Your Life helped me save mine.
Second, and less existentially, I read this fab post here on Substack by Penny Wincer:
Sometimes youâre not in the âdepths of despairâ (as Anne Shirley would say), just⊠glum. And if youâre going to feel that way at any time, then late February, the week before your period, is probably when itâs going to hit.
Cue to me scrolling through NetGalley on the train last weekend, and reading the blurb for Eleanor Goymerâs April debut, The Fallback (ad - affiliate link). It sounded like my favourite type of white bread reading: a British rom-com featuring an intelligent woman who just canât get her love life on track.
Reader, I loved it.
The protagonist, Rosie, is a brilliant virologist (hashtag-STEMinist!) based at an unnamed London university (from the description of the location, and the authorâs CV, I think itâs Kingâs College), with an amazing work best friend and sister-in-law, both of whom have lives that appear to be right on track - the track that Rosie canât seem to get on, even if she could decide if she wanted to. Thereâs also a terrifyingly brilliant boss, Rachel, who youâll love to meet between the pages of this book.
I read this in less than 24 hours, and while it didnât single-handedly get me out of my funk (see, ten days of continuous rain), it was exactly what I needed.
Speak soon,
Lily
PS: The Amazon affiliate link above only works to give me commission if you click through from the Substack app or website, rather than directly from your email program. Other ways to support this newsletter include liking, commenting, and sharing it with a friend who you think might like it. Thanks in advance!
If you liked this, you might like my summary of my favourite reads for 2023:
Or last summerâs book flight of swoony romance (Iâve fallen out of the habit of doing book flight and concierge posts - shout if youâd like them back!):
The Fallback sounds brilliant but gah! Not out until April! Loving your recent book recommendations, especially as I have landed in a reading slump and am slowly finding out that âwhite breadâ reads are exactly what I need right now.