Read a lot more this month that last month, even though I read nothing for the last week of November, which was odd. I think I went through about four books in a week and then was potentially overstimulated (by books? you ask. yes, I know it sounds dumb, but I truly believe that’s what happened) and needed a break. I read a lot of proofs including Sunstruck by William Rayfet Hunter, The Re-Write by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson, Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan and Money to Burn by Asta Olivia Nordenhof. The latter two are definitely favourites of the month, with Money to Burn being a highlight of the year. Nordenhof’s writing is so assured and confident you actually cannot doubt a single thing she says because of the way she says it. I read it in one evening and – I know, everyone says this, the phrase has been overused – genuinely struggled to put it down. It was some of the best writing I’ve ever read and I’m SO happy it’s book 1 in a planned seven-book series. Money to Burn is quite short and from what I’ve seen the proofs of the others look longer. Naturally, I cannot wait. I also finally got round to reading Caroline O’Donoghue’s The Rachel Incident and did so in two sittings. I get the hype. It deserves all the raves it’s been getting. I also read three romcoms (classic me), Loathe to Love You and Check and Mate by Ali Hazelwood, and Good Material by Dolly Alderton. Whipped through all three of those. The plan for December is to read East of Eden with a friend of mine and try to get though some more proofs and… Demon Copperhead. Wish me luck. Genuinely.
Watched a lot of short films this month: The After (what in the what was this), At Dawn (horrific but good), Area Boy, God of Love (ha), The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (classic Wes, great stuff, highlight being Dev Patel) and the best of all of them, Festival of Slaps. Don’t be put off by the poster, it’s not a horror film. It is an excellent film though, that is very easy to watch on BBC iPlayer. I keep thinking about how smart and funny and original it was. Can’t wait to see what else the writer and director comes up with. Finally, of course, just in time for the end of the month, I saw Wicked. I’m not the biggest fan of musicals. I like them, I don’t love them. I find musical adaptations of popular films to be mostly annoying and I viscerally hate when TV shows that have no need for the characters to sing include musical episodes (Grey’s Anatomy, I’m looking directly at you). That being said, I do like original musicals, or books that were initially adapted into musicals, so I’d already seen the West End edition of Wicked a few years ago and enjoyed it. Now this version of Wicked I did not really care about until I saw the trailer and thought it looked amazing. It was amazing. The whole thing. Costumes, singing, set design, everything. Jeff Goldblum is in the habit of just playing himself (he joins other actors like Jesse Eisenberg in this club). I did find myself breaking into a smile when they would start singing mid-sentence, because I always find that kind of thing funny, but it was an entirely great film. I already have mental plans to see it again. Unlike most of the films I complained about last month, this did not feel too long. If anything it felt quite short, which is odd, considering that it’s 2h 40min. TV shows wise I’ve been slacking, but I need to take my braids out next week and a number of my favourite shows have new seasons out or I have catching up to do (Slow Horses, Silo, Shrinking). In the meantime I wasted hours of my life watching Cross on Prime (though I skipped about 4 eps when I could see where it was going and went to the last one to confirm that I was right – I was), and then have been doing some easy watching of Pacey aka Joshua Jackson in a new medical procedural (is that a thing?) called Doctor Odyssey on Disney+. It’s not groundbreaking, but like I said, it’s easy watching.
Listened to my monthly playlist (below) on repeat because it’s really good, as well as new albums by Tyler, The Creator and thee Kendrick Lamar. If you see me on the street and I start shouting MUSTAAAAAAAARRRRD at you in place of a formal or more socially acceptable greeting, know that it’s Kendrick Lamar’s fault. Some favourites from this month’s playlist include this track I’ve only just discovered (shoutout Spotify radio) called Sunflower by Vampire Weekend ft. Steve Lacy, Cerca De Ti by Hermanos Gutiérrez, Orion I by Peter Sandberg, Melonball Bounce by 1000names (shoutout my sister on this one, she used to listen to a random Swedish radio station years ago when she was learning Swedish and this came on one day. I truly think she’s the only reason my music taste isn’t entirely pedestrian these days), Like The End by James Blake (so solemn but so incredible), Karamo by Wizkid (I used this as my cool down song on the treadmill one day and then proceeded to play it again four times in a row), Zoom by Leikeli47 (this song makes me feel like not a single person on this little earth can try me at alllllll, and that is the energy I plan to carry into 2025), Dances for Music and Orchestra, L. 103: Danse Profane by Lavinia Meijer and Amsterdam Sinfonietta (feels like something from a Disney film), Talk Down by Dijon (just great chilled music) and Where Would You Be by Yaw, which is both melancholy and romantic at the same time. It feels like it belongs in a film about long lost loves reuniting. Fairly certain it’s perfect.