Some comfort

Book recommendations, podcasts, writing workshops and more

Hi friends,

This month’s newsletter prioritises peace, comfort and joy in the little things - for obvious reasons.

I had the joy of reading Shameez Patel’s Next Level Love and attending her launch. It was such a thrill to see her vibrant, passionate reading community in action. The book itself is a cozy, thoughtful romcom with hidden depths. If you need to lift your spirits, I highly suggest you pick it up.

In the spirit of heartwarming books, I downloaded a copy of Katherine Heiny’s Standard Deviation on recommendation of my friend Nicola. It’s not often I come across a book that is laugh-out-loud funny, while being an almost-forensic study of modern marriage. I looked her up and I was charmed to learn that she was a ghost writer for the Sweet Valley High books! It possibly explains why I feel so at home in her writing, but I may need 10-14 business days to process that one of my favourite teen authors, Francine Pascal, had a whole machine of writers behind the scenes.

Not a comfort read, but a distraction nonetheless, was Holly Seddon’s 59 Minutes. This is a great thriller to read in a day-long fever. I wished the ending was a bit different, but it was really entertaining! (If you’ve read it, please let me know what you thought).

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but when I saw my writer friends in the UK praising the series Small Prophets by Mackenzie Crook, I decided to have a go. It is stunning, uplifting and absurd television. This review in The Guardian sums up its appeal well:

“If there is a message or a moral, it is that there are still wonderful things at hand in a world that might seem like it is running out of them.”

By the way, did you know that Mackenzie Crook has also written several books for children? I am most interested in hunting down a copy of The Windvale Sprites.

I also watched Amanda and Alan’s Greek Job on BBC iPlayer, a hilariously camp show about the two friends renovating a holiday home on the island of Corfu. One of the episodes shows Alan constructing a wildlife-themed room in tribute to Gerald Durrell, who lived on the island for some time. This led me to reading his novel My Family and Other Animals. I’m so glad I was reminded of this book, because my son (who currently owns a chameleon, gecko, cat, dog, several fish and insects) is often being compared to Durrell.

The Shift’s recent interview with Elizabeth Gilbert (which is a great listen) led me to another classic read: The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. I am really looking forward to reading this, as I have been captivated by her Moomin series on my path to becoming a children’s book author. They can be a bit hard to find, but I have found some of her books on Libby, the library app.

Finally, some workshop reminders!

I am one of the judges for the Kingsmead Young Writers’ competition, and will be running a workshop at Melrose Arch this Saturday at 11am to share some writing tips. Find out more here!

Then, the next Saturday Rhys and I are hosting our first mindfulness and writing workshop. We have two places still available, so if you are interested feel free to get in touch! For those of you who are joining us, you will receive final details by tomorrow morning. More below:

Have a lovely week everyone.

Have courage, take heart.

Amy