A rare coffee enjoyed inside a cafe. I might no longer partake in the Zuckerverse but I still can’t resist a colour-coordinated flatlay.
Is it that time again?! Welcome reader to my weekly round-up of what I’ve been digesting - literally and metaphorically - over the past seven days. It’s good to have you here.
Favourite experience/s of the week
My adorable two-year-old niece coming round for afternoon tea today. I gave her a piece of banana bread and after tasting it she burst into a big grin. “Delicious!” she announced. My heart just melted.
Receiving a lovely, handwritten letter from a reader in Queensland. It’s kind gestures like that that really keep me going, especially when I look at the chaos that is my novel’s current draft and quietly despair! Knowing that at least one person is waiting to read it helps me find fresh courage to press on.
A brisk morning walk with a dear friend on Hobart’s eastern shore. It’s a gorgeous place to walk. I mean, LOOK AT THAT VIEW! That clear blue sky! I can practically smell the fresh air just looking at the photo.
I spent the first 24 years of my life with that beautiful mountain in the background and I barely noticed it. Now, I want to drop to my knees in awe and wonder every time I see it, especially on a clear day. It’s called kunanyi and it is truly magnificent. My friend and I both agreed that if a cable car is ever approved that we would chain ourselves to the Organ Pipes to prevent it happening. But they’ve been throwing the idea of a cable car around since we were at school - I remember our class having a debate about it, nearly thirty years ago. I think it’s one of those annoying things that just resurfaces every now and then. Hopefully.
Reading
Forty South: The Tasmanian Writers’ Prize 2022 winning short story was published last week and I loved it! It’s called “How I Got This Tattoo” by Christine Betts, who is not only a very talented writer but has a very inspiring blog too! I’m a new fan.
Gwenn Seemel: Gwenn has been a big inspiration on my creative journey this year and I enjoy all her posts, but especially this recent one.
Kill Your Darlings: Hannah Kent’s Unexpected Path to Publication, which I referenced in my interview with her way back in 2013 but found myself reading again today for some reason. It was so deeply reassuring.
The Marginalian: I heard a wonderful quote earlier this week - “The writer is one who, embarking upon a task, does not know what to do.” Oh, how that rang true! Digging around (for I never take the source of quotes on the internet at face value) I found this fascinating article on the man who spoke those words.
Lit Hub: there were some real gems on there this week, including The Untold and Very True Story of The Devil Wears Prada; Victoria Chang on her writing process; and using tarot as part of your writing/creative process.
Bitch Media: 10 Essential Books About Writing which, I must confess, I have only read two of! But I’ll be remedying that, pronto. They all sound fascinating!
I also finished Meg Rosoff’s new novel Friends Like These, which is a coming-of-age novel set in New York City in 1982 (a wonderful setting and fascinating time period) where 18-year-old Beth moves to Manhattan for a journalism internship over the summer. Her fellow intern, Edie, is charismatic and fun, and the two fall into an intense, heady friendship that becomes very intimate very quickly. It might have been my own experiences of these kind of friendships, but I certainly had the sense that a wounding betrayal was lurking…and that hunch proved correct!
I hadn’t picked up a Meg Rosoff book for years but hungrily tore through this one, so her storytelling powers have clearly only grown with time! It’s interesting that I’m finding myself drawn to books that centre around a protagonist’s loss of innocence. Those can be such cataclysmic events in your life, a clearly defined before and after. But hopefully, as Beth seems to discover, they make you stronger and wiser, and you learn a great deal about yourself in the process. I found this book immensely readable and enjoyable, and also, as you’d know if you’ve read The Latte Years, deeply relatable!
Listening to
The Guilty Feminist: Ten Steps to Nanette with Hannah Gadsby - I can’t wait to read this book. Powerful words from a powerful woman.
The Creative Penn: Improve Your Creativity with Dan Holloway - really enjoyed this one, as it primarily focused on the ways physical health and fitness can underpin and influence creativity. Fascinating!
The Tim Ferriss Show: Margaret Atwood - A Living Legend on Creative Process, The Handmaid’s Tale, Being a Mercenary Child, Resisting Labels and More - some real gems in here from, as the title says, a living legend.
Best Friend Therapy: Competition - What does winning mean? Why does it matter? - some real truth bombs and a-ha moments in this one.
Between the Covers: Sheila Heti on Pure Colour - this was a long interview but honestly, I couldn’t get enough. I particularly loved what Heti said about Rachel Cusk and her “iconic utterances”!
Eating
I’m a bit sad that the Shepard avocado season is over and we’re back to wrinkly, hand-grenade Hass again - but today’s specimen was perfect and blemish free, so I’m choosing to see that as a good omen.
My favourite dish I made this week was the all-in-one sticky rice with broccoli, squash, chilli and ginger recipe from Rukmini Iyer’s The Green Roasting Tin. However, I made a few adjustments.
First of all, no offence to any recipe writers, but I find it hard to trust recipes that say “serve 2” in that it will actually serve me and Tom to our satisfaction. We’re hungry people. In my experience, “serves 2” usually means “serves Phil, with a little leftover, OR Tom, not both”. So I nearly always double any recipe for two, which I did in this case, and it proved a prudent decision, as it was so delicious we went back for seconds. I used sweet potato and carrot instead of squash, added silverbeet as well as broccoli, and I also didn’t have any sesame oil so I subbed half tahini and half sunflower oil. I also added a kaffir lime leaf to the dressing. It worked beautifully! It was so delicious and easy, one I’ll definitely be making again. Doubling the recipe, of course.
Picking
A few potatoes, a bit of chard and celery, but it is slim pickings out there now! This might not be a category in This Week for much longer, until the spring now. Thankfully Dad let me have some cavolo nero and silverbeet from his garden. I will plant garlic this weekend, though I suspect I’ve left it way too late, as usual! An organised gardener I am not.
Watching
Belfast (iTunes) - if you haven’t seen this beautiful film, I would urge you to. Based on Kenneth Branagh’s own childhood experience, nine-year-old Buddy finds his once-peaceful working-class neighbourhood torn apart by The Troubles. People start fleeing their homes and face violence on a daily basis. Buddy’s family are torn - do they stay or go? It’s stunningly shot and acted - in fact, almost faultless.
Colossal (iTunes) - I really enjoyed this film and thought it particularly showcased the acting talents of Jason Sudeikis, who I’d only ever seen in good-guy roles! Gloria (Anne Hathaway) is an unemployed writer struggling with alcoholism who moves back to her hometown after (finally) being thrown out of her long-suffering boyfriend’s apartment. She reunites with her childhood friend Oscar (Sudeikis) who is now running his father’s old bar and offers her a job. Red flag! But Gloria of course does it anyway. Meanwhile, a terrifying monster is appearing at the same time each day in Seoul, terrorising the city and wreaking havoc, at exactly the same time of day a still-intoxicated Gloria is stumbling home from the bar, through her childhood playground. Coincidence? Absolutely not. It’s funny and very dark. There’s a lot going on in this film - you could have a field day with the symbolism!
Jurassic World (4 and 5) (Blu Ray) - I think the original first film was the best (Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum - it’s gotta be good!) but these two were also really good. After Jurassic Park 3 my hopes for these two were not high, but I really enjoyed them. Great popcorn fodder!
Bridget Jones’ Diary (Blu Ray) - it’s Philmas (the month of May, my birthday month) which means I get to watch all my old nostalgic favourites any time I want, no questions asked! But I have to say, despite still fancying the arse off Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver (a fact Tom is well aware of!), this watch left me a little cold (while I still laughed in places). I think this might be a very interesting separate blog post - one I daresay I’m well behind the curve on, because people have been debating whether Bridget Jones is a feminist icon for decades - but I found this great paper by Stephen Maddison and Merl Storr which summed up a lot of my thoughts and feelings on rewatching it. And also, every time Bridget goes on about her weight or someone jabs her about it, I feel rage hot in my throat. SHE’S NOT FAT!! But the vile insidiousness of diet culture as a tool of the patriarchy to keep women insecure and under control is, I realise, is one of the points it’s making.
Quote of the week
“Not till we are lost do we begin to find ourselves.” - Thoreau
If you’d like to share your thoughts on this post with me, please do! Otherwise, stay tuned for another exciting instalment next week xx