Three Things for Your Weekend
#18: November 9th, 2024
Off-schedule this week for obvious reasons. Here are three things that got me through the week. To my US friends, I am grieving with you and for you, and I’m always here if you need to vent.
📖 Orbital* - Samantha Harvey. (*ad - Amazon affiliate link). I know, ‘Booker Prize shortlisted novel is good? Groundbreaking.’ I needed something this week and remembered I’d downloaded Orbital to my Kindle when it was on offer a couple of months ago. Friends, it was absolutely beautiful. I’d compare it to Station Eleven* for its masterful observations on life on earth from a distance away - only, in this case, the distance is literal, the 250 mile high orbit of the International Space Station. This is going to be my Swiss-Army pick for gift-giving occasions at the end of this year…
The US cover (seen in this NYTimes review - gift link) is different and I think - to my tastes - even more extraordinary.
🍞 Buttered toast. Potentially doing more for me than my SSRIs this week.
☕ Pukka Vanilla Chai*. Naturally caffeine-free, this is beautifully warming. I’ve been drinking it first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and at any time in between when I need some warming up and calming down. Which, this week, has been most of the time.
The most recent longer newsletter:
Are the men doing this?
I’ve had this post from Jojo Moyes saved to share with you for a little while now - and I hope she won’t mind that I’ve borrowed the title (she says she’d borrowed it from Caitlin Moran). In the post, she talks about the expectation on women to share our deepest fears or the details of how much we’re earning, and how male writers don’t seem to be expected to do t…