CONSUMED - May '23
Best book of the year so far?
A friend text me and asked me what the best book I’d read so far this year was, it’d be The Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto. I just finished another of his, The Quiet Place. It’s one of those books that makes you think, I didn’t know writing could be like this. Both are just excellent mysteries too.
The True Love Experiment arrived yesterday, and I wanted to read it. I didn’t feel like it, and kept switching between this, Watching The Mindy Project and eating too much, and reading the book again and then journaling and then reading Inspector Montalbano. It’s a book I wanted to read in one sitting. Like how I devoured Practice Makes Perfect[1] by Sarah Adams last week. I feel as if the genre calls for it. Ditto Happily Ever After by Harriet Evans and The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsythe which I read in a day. I had last week off, hence the time, and I’d recommend both.
Speaking of taking time off, I also didn’t go to the gym. And that raised all kinds of feelings of guilt and expectation. Reading Your Weight Is Not The Problem with Lyndi Cohen is helping with this.
To get back into journaling, I have found heaps of prompts on Pinterest and written one on each page.
During a Professional Development Day recently, the presenter asked the room about what kind of music we listened to in the morning, well more specifically the volume. There was a murmur of agreeance that quieter music was what people chose to listen to on the way to work. I need loud to act as some kind of a primer. I really love Hunter Harris’ latest playlist. But this morning when I was driving to work with Give Me Love by Cerrone blasting I was hit with a wave of understanding with what the presenter was saying.
The Blue Lights playlist has also been on repeat since finishing the show. As my friend Laura says, people who make soundtrack playlists on Spotify are ‘doing God’s work’. I was desperate to watch Blue Lights (SBS OnDemand) and my mum finished it before I did. It starts slow so I asked her if becomes more stressful to which my sister interjected and said, ‘it’s like you forget that’s how TV shows work’. I think she’s referring to how I find it hard to watch Gilmore Girls these days because of the intensity, anyway the short answer is yes, it does.
As I was leaving home this morning, I exclaimed ‘oh my god!’ because Ted Lasso finishes tonight. This has got to be one of the cheesiest shows that has ever been created. But I love it with a real fervour. I like the characters, I like that it’s something to look forward to on a Wednesday night after my most intense teaching day and I like that it’s funny, and warm and deals with things in a way that you don’t normally see. Speaking of which, I’m watching This Way Up (Stan) again. Comfort, comfort, comfort.
[1] This is in the same universe as When In Rome. Not a series I’d necessarily recommend, but I’m in it now. The Cheat Sheet however, also by Adams is great.