She has flawless taste; she's famous for it.
June's round-up of recommendations
One of my favourite monthly pieces to share with you all is this round-up of things I’ve found over the course of the month that I wanted to share with you. Featuring fan-favourite (yes, really), Mary Oliver Of The Month.
This is a long, full-of-links, email which might get cut-off by some email providers - I can recommend downloading the Substack App, which puts all your Substack newsletters in one place. I use it myself and really enjoy it.
Alternatively, you can read on my Substack webpage; Substack is the service I use to send out these emails; think of it as a blogging platform hosting my one-woman magazine.
Mary Oliver Of The Month:
On life as a nun
I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of life as a nun (reading Sarah Wilson’s This One Wild And Precious Life - ad, affiliate link - had me Googling Church of England convents), and I loved the hour and ten minutes I spent listening to
talk to Catherine Coldstream, author of Cloistered (ad, affiliate link). I listened to it on one of my long hikes, walking along a canal towpath, which was the ideal setting.On taste
The discussion about recommendations culture, and taste, has rumbled on here on Substack - and as someone who starts all my weekly letters with recommendations, and sends out this monthly bonus full of even more recs, I am more-than-a-little invested.
So I loved this piece by
about ‘aesthetic intellectualism’ (even that phrase let me know I was in for a treat!). She says:Intellectualism is society’s hot new commodity. More than ever before, popular culture is placing a premium on being smart as well. The bright young things used to be Hollywood starlets and Victoria’s Secret Angels. These days it’s that twenty-something consumer startup founder and your Forbes 30U30 wunderkids.
And
Reading the right books is perhaps the most accessible way to prove all three: intellectualism, taste and aesthetics. Last year, I began to notice literary merch in the wild. A Sally Rooney hat here, Jane Austen tote there and of course this Ottessa Moshfegh T-shirt. Were lit fic authors a part of the zeitgeist now? They’d passed the T-shirt test afterall. It was like all the middle school Tumblr girls had grown up and discovered a slew of similarly disillusioned fictional characters onto which they could project their woes.
🔥🔥🔥, right?!!!
Even as a bookish girlie who genuinely loves to read, my bookstagram presence is still curated with aesthetics and taste strongly in mind. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
I - obviously - agreed with Ochuko’s conclusion that ‘reading is hot, reading is cool’ is hardly a bad thing to be teaching young women and girls. What it made me think of is the scene near the end of You’ve Got Mail (a film beloved by this kind of aesthetically intellectual reader, me very much included!) when Joe Fox and Patricia (well, Tom Hanks and Parker Posey) are discussing Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan)’s post-bookshop future. The line, said by hard-nosed business woman Patricia, is “Well, she knows everything. She has flawless taste. She’s famous for it.”
#goals, right?
On appetites
Getting into doing more strength training (thanks to Casey Johnston) while staying away from the more toxic parts of diet culture has been a workout in itself - I loved this piece of video poetry from Hannah Rose on instagram.
Not French Girl Style, but French OAP Style: just trust me!
Tidy flat, tidy mind?
I’ve been using the 90/90 method to help clear out my wardrobe. In August it will be one year since I moved to this flat, and anything I haven’t used since the move… well, I probably don’t need it. I’ve been loading the things that aren’t getting love onto Vinted (mostly successfully… let’s not talk about the fact that Vinted is convinced I’m trying to mis-sell fake Adidas leggings and there doesn’t seem to be a way to speak to a person?!).
Related to the overflowing gym-clothes drawer is my overflowing brain; I found this article from Shannon Watts about ADHD in Gen X women absolutely fascinating:
And what’s made the biggest difference? Being kind to myself and accepting that my flat is never going to look like a show home, and that it’s not because I’m ‘lazy’.
North & South
I’m always happy to hear a discussion of North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell (ad - affiliate link), one of my favourite books and certainly my favourite classic. So in my gradual listen-through of Books Unbound with Ariel Bissett & Raeleen Lemay, episode 98, featuring BookTuber Noelle Gallagher, was a joy:
Some Joy Bringers from Instagram
First, from Martha Ratcliff:
And then, from Greg Goya:
Third from
(sound up!):
And lastly, from the banks of Loch Ness:
A kindred spirit
I have Reese Witherspoon pick How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang (ad - affiliate link) firmly on my To Be Read List, and I loved
‘s interview with her.
She felt like someone I really want to be friends with, and also like a total ‘kindred spirit’.
What do you do when you hit a wall or have writer’s block?
Cry! And then once I get over myself:I like walking away and turning to other art forms for a while, both as a consumer and a creator. I love going to art museums and taking pictures of the art that I find myself drawn to, so I can reflect back later on what I “took.” I like watching movies and reading books outside of my chosen genre; that can help shake things loose in my mind. I also find it’s helpful to go out into the world and spend time amongst friends, it’s the social equivalent of touching grass and reminding myself of what it’s like to be a person in the world.
The inside story of Four Weddings And A Funeral
It’s 30 years since audiences saw Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell (“Is it still raining? I hadn’t noticed”), and the gang go to their merry-go-round of weddings; I loved this Guardian behind-the-scenes, for which a whole bunch of the people involved were interviewed.
On Depth
introduced me to the idea, coined by David Cain, of a Depth Year - going deeper instead of wider - and I really loved it. “No new hobbies, equipment, games, or books are allowed during this year. Instead, you have to find the value in what you already own or what you’ve already started.”
From where I’m sitting today, I find myself surrounded by all the tools and resources I’d ever need to create any of the beautiful, useful things I want to make. The only roadblock is my own penchant for acquisition and breadth—and, let’s face it, distraction—over depth.
I’m going to kick a Depth Year off from July 1st - and I’ll tell you how it goes. Obviously I might have to buy study texts for my Master’s, and I’ve already decided to go back to dinghy sailing (something I loved as a teenager but haven’t really done since), so I know I’ll need kit for that, but those feel like they’re ‘priced in,’ so to speak.
I’ll finish of this month’s links with this related video from the lovely
about finding and diving into one’s purpose:
Plus, what I read in May (all Amazon affiliate links - I get a few pence kickback at no extra cost to you):
Night Shift by Annie Crown
You’re The Problem, It’s You by Emma R Alban (thank you to NetGalley for the review copy!)
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
Right On Cue by Falon Ballard
Coasting by Elise Downing
The Secret Book Club by Shauna Robinson
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
Love your recommendations so much! The idea of a Depth Year has come at just the right time for me, so I think I’ll be joining you!
I am extremely honored to be on this great list. I will say the 90/90 rule is calling my name. I am due for a closet clean but have been paralyzed by anxiety about getting started.