Things I've Devoured

Summer Edition

Welcome to Things I’ve Devoured - a (bi?)monthly list of stories, snacks and screen time that fed me (for better or worse).

It’s been two months, and I assume everyone is dying to know what I’ve been watching, reading and eating.

I have actually finished seven books since we last spoke about this, so that’s quite a result (two of them were audiobooks to be fair).

Below, they are organised from worst to best.

Matt Haig - The Life Impossible

Oh come on, Matt. I enjoyed The Midnight Library, as it was a fun adventure through the multiverse, but this was just an exhausting New Age-y mumbo jumbo. I had absolute flashbacks to The Celestine Prophecy - a gift from a then-boyfriend who, in hindsight, was already halfway down a conspiracy rabbit hole I mistook for spirituality at my tender age (or several, mutually exclusive, but somehow coexisting, rabbit holes) which is probably why The Life Impossible set my teeth on edge. In The Life Impossible we have The Presence (but it’s in Spanish - La Presencia) which is some sort of extraterrestrial being that decided to protect Ibiza. The climax was so bizarre - the characters had to achieve a set of things to prevent a catastrophe, and it felt like something out of a video game, not a realistic premise. (I know six months from now, someone will ask me what I meant by this, and I will have no idea anymore).

Cat Winters - Yesternight

I picked this up while frantically spending my Audible credits before cancelling my subscription. Back then I didn’t think audiobooks were for me (this was pre-baby, before nursery runs transformed my habits).

For about 80% of the book, I was enjoying myself: strong characters, eerie atmosphere, 1920s Oregon setting, feminist undertones, unresolved trauma, a touch of PTSD. And then… SPOILER ALERT: what on earth happened in the final 20%? The story suddenly shifted into thriller/light-horror territory, with characters behaving in ways that felt completely out of character. Maybe it’s just me, maybe I’ve read too many romance novels and now expect a happy resolution where none is possible, but WHAT WAS THAT. And the ultimate twist? So cringe-worthy and predictable, especially given the chaos of the climax, that I would have thrown the paperback across the room if I’d had it.

What worked: the characters, the atmosphere, the setting, the initial hook.
What didn’t: the climax and the sequence of events - uneven, chaotic, and unsatisfying.

Amor Towles - Rules of Civility

Vic and I read this one together, and somehow it took us forever. There was nothing particularly wrong with this book and Towles is a skilled writer, so that’s probably on us. I did occasionally ask myself - what is this book actually about? While I generally enjoyed this journey and the atmosphere of 1930s New York, I found the main character (bizarrely named Katey Kontent) seemed to have no defined personality. After spending all these pages with her, I still couldn’t tell what she was like. Was she impulsive or reserved? Joyful or sorrowful? What did she truly want and why? This was unclear to me. It is possible I didn’t give this book the attention it deserved.

Gareth Brown - The Book of Doors

I picked this up because I wanted the type of space-time jumping I had in the Midnight Library but without the pop-psychology Haig is so fond of. This was mostly just a fantastical romp (although not completely devoid of deeper truths), but they are delivered subtly - not with a sledgehammer. A girl finds a book that lets her move through time and space, provided there is some physical door she can walk through. She is getting ready for a peaceful life with a lot of travelling, but soon learns other, less savoury types are also after the book. Mayhem ensues.

Xiaolu Guo - A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

This is a book I purchased many years ago, 2009 exactly, during my first year in London. I should’ve read it then as it would’ve been more relatable. A young woman doing in a strange country, doing stupid things out of what she thinks is love. Yeah. Would’ve hit me right where it hurts. Now, I can just shake my head. Ah, to be so young and neurotic again! This book is narrated in very broken English (which improves chapter by chapter as the main character’s skills improve). Initially, it struck me as a gimmick but I grew to enjoy and appreciate it.

Zoë Schlanger - The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth

This was really good. Interestingly, it made me think a lot about what we mean when we say words like: “see”, “think”, “communicate”, “plan”, “hear”, “feel” etc. What is intelligence and what is just instinct. Why do we think some animals are intelligent, and others do amazing things through ‘instinct’. And finally, can plants do all those things? Schlanger goes through all these concepts and using the latest research proves we could use those terms when speaking about plants, without much of a stretch (in my opinion), but we (and especially scientists) are reluctant to use those words for fear of aligning themselves with the unscientific nonsense of ‘plants love Mozart’ variety. In the end, a rose by another name is still a rose, so we don’t have to use the word ‘communicate’ to be amazed by how plants manage to pass on information to one another, even across species. The bit about Boquila trifoliolata vine being able to change the shapes of the leaves of the plant it’s growing on floored me. No one really knows why, but it would do that even on a plastic plant, so it would seem it can see see somehow. I could write a whole separate post about this book, because I found it fascinating. Go read it.

Brian Friel - Stories of Ireland

I must say I did not vote for it when it was proposed at my book club. It won anyway, and I had to read it. And gosh, what do they put in the water in Ireland that makes them have such a ridiculous number of excellent writers?

These stories were exquisite. The silences in them were so loud - what was not said was so much more important than what was said. Gosh, I loved them.

What have I watched?

Nothing, it seems. I started half-watching some ridiculous TV shows such as Covert Affairs but it’s just a little too silly to make me want to binge. Vic and I restored our Movie Night and inaugurated it with a barely 5/10 movie In The Lost Lands. I guess some short stories should stay short stories and not be made into movies. (Though Milla Jovovich remains gorgeous). Tonight, we’re watching The Thursday Murder Club and I hope we have better luck this time.

I did, however watch a lot of YouTube (as this is something that can more safely be put on around Zoya without worrying about accidentally traumatising her). Therefore, here are a few art channels I’ve been binging:

The Drawing Codex

The Wild Pencil

Thecherrypipangel

The last two are fairly new and small channels, so I thought it would be nice to give them a shoutout. The Drawing Codex is an institution and has many long videos of him just drawing for two hours. Perfect when you need something low-key in the background.

What I’ve Cooked?

I don’t have a list of recipes because I’ve lost track and, quite honestly, I mostly lived on ice-cream throughout the summer. However, I’ve recently renewed my efforts to finally lose weight (currently going absolutely nowhere, and I’m considering shelling out for Mounjaro) and I have been following recipes from Danii Martin at Hungry Healthy Happy and her 15 Minute Healthy Meals. They are tasty, have a lot of protein and not many carbs; and they are packed with vegetables, so it looks and feels like there is a lot of food. You can just about trick your body into believing it’s getting its fair share of food, when in reality you have to give it less than it needs (as that’s the sad, unavoidable truth of weight loss). I feel like high-protein and lots of vegetables to add volume is the only way to make the process a little less miserable.

From my Sketchbook:

Just this dog fragment, made with alcohol markers and coloured pencils (one of my favourite techniques, which I definitely don’t use enough)