Three Things for Your Weekend
#2: July 19, 2024
Welcome to this week’s roundup of three things I’ve been enjoying!
📕 Romantic Comedy* - Curtis Sittenfeld. (*ad - Amazon affiliate link) I had read this when it first came out, but the lovely
led a group read of it as a part of her ‘Novel In A Year’ distance writing course I’m a student on. This time around, I read it with so much more of an eye on character and structure, and seeing how Sittenfeld put together the plot lines and the supporting characters in a way that - to me - doesn’t feel contrived.🏊 Swimming. Recently I heard someone (probably on Instagram) say that they’d been given this advice when their child was small: if they’re inconsolable or having a tantrum, take them outside, or put them in water. What the person (and I wish I’d taken a note of who it was) went on to say was that this works just as well for adults. Friends, I’m here to confirm that it does. Since moving to Bristol, I hadn’t found a pool that worked for me in terms of location and session hours, but in the last few weeks I’ve figured out one that suits me, and I’ve been for a couple of swims. (Image from the ‘Swimming’ scene of Tick Tick Boom, a criminally under-appreciated film)
🎲 Top of The World*. During the Prime Day offers on Amazon earlier this week I picked up a couple of games that I’d had my eye on to try out with the board games group. This is a competitive game where you have to guess which countries fit into the ‘top 10’ list on various measures: most cows, fewest McDonald’s branches, highest number of animal species, etc. The twist: you can only guess countries from the cards you have in your hand. Great fun and would be excellent for family groups.
Noticed something a bit different? For the next couple of months I’m going to try out separating my weekly recommendations out from the ‘thinkier’ piece that goes along with them. Let’s see how it goes - I’d love to hear any thoughts.
Last week’s longer newsletter:
