25 Mar 2022
Mini Book Reviews From My Feeding Chair
Ghosts - Dolly Alderton
I really loved Dolly’s memoir Everything I Know About Love so was intrigued when I saw she’d written a novel. Ghosts follows Nina, thirty-something food writer, and the ghosts in her life; the new relationship starting on a dating app, the friendships struggling under the weight of children and moves to the suburbs, the ex-boyfriend moving on, her dad vanishing into dementia and the mysterious neighbour living downstairs. Over the course of a year, we follow Nina as she learns to adjust to a new phase of life, with witty observations on millennial living. Very enjoyable. 4/5
The Fell - Sarah Moss
The Fell is the first book I've read that is set during the pandemic & I'll admit it does depress me a little that it has now been going on for so long that we have novels on the subject. But I found it really interesting to read a story set in such recent history; a time that is still very present and raw for a lot of us. Set in the November 2020 lockdown and told in stream-of-consciousness form by four characters - Kate & her son Matt who are self-isolating, their neighbour Alice who has been shielding for months and Rob who is part of the mountain rescue team - this follows the events of one evening when a desperate Kate breaks quarantine to go for a quick solo walk across the fells and ends up having a serious accident. It really captures the claustrophobia of lockdown as well as making subtle observations on the impact the pandemic had on society's behaviour and the place the world has become since March 2020. 5/5
The Gilded Cage - Lynette Noni
This is the second in The Prison Healer series; a dark fantasy full of magic and battles for the throne. I loved the first book so had high expectations for the second that it didn’t quite live up to. As before, I really loved the characters and the world but felt like I spent a lot of this book waiting for the action to kick off. I felt this suffered a little from ‘second book syndrome’; overshadowed by the first and setting the scene for the finale. Another good twist at the end though and I definitely will be reading the third in the series when it’s out in June. 3/5
The Maid - Nita Prose
A cosy murder mystery told from the perspective of a socially awkward protagonist who is struggling with her loneliness following the death of Gran, her only family member. It's heartwarming without being too sickly and there's a few unexpected twists along the way. Not sure it quite lived up to the hype but I enjoyed it all the same. 3.5/5
Small Bodies of Water - Nina Mingya Powles
A collection of essays exploring nature, swimming, migration, food and family, amongst other things. I loved a lot about these essays, particularly the swimming diaries, the explorations of home, belonging & racism and the descriptions of growing up with the fear of earthquakes, but I did find some a little disjointed and like I was missing the point at times (which, of course, may have been just me!). 3.5/5
Love & Saffron - Kim Fay
Written as a series of letters, this gorgeous little book follows the friendship of two women living in 1960s America. It starts with a fan letter and a gift of saffron and develops into a deep friendship as they write back and forth with recipe tips, food stories and moments from their lives. It’s just so wholesome and will leave you feeling comforted, wistful and really hungry! 5/5
Send Nudes - Saba Sams
A stunning collection of short stories about girlhood and all the complexities of growing up as a young woman. I think it’s a real talent to keep the reader turning the pages with a short story collection because it’s very easy to dip in and out, but I found myself really invested in each story and character and unable to stop turning the pages. 5/5
Happy reading folks x
21 Mar 2022
12 Weeks Of You
We have emerged out of the fourth trimester and quite frankly, I need it written down in black and white that we made it. It was quite the wild ride, but we survived.
You try and prepare as much as you can before having a baby and then naturally it’s the things you didn’t consider that come and get you. I wasn’t prepared for the shock of a fast birth. Of a dramatic delivery. I wasn’t prepared for the ‘journey’ we would go on with feeding: a baby with tongue tie, the horrendous pain of nipple trauma (I’d take labour any day), the inexplicable emotions of breastfeeding or the ordeal that is having your baby repeatedly weighed.
It feels like it would be very easy to linger on how it ‘should’ have been, to replay the traumatic moments over and over in my mind but I want to draw the metaphorical line in the sand. Allow time to process, sure, but I want to be able to look back on the next three months and beyond and say that we did more than just survive.
Baby boy, otherwise known as bubba, slobber chops, milky cheeks, little moth, snuffle piglet, buddy or doodle, smiles at his mama more than anyone else (insert slightly smug face here), refuses to stay still for more than a second, stares very intently and has incredible head control. He loves standing (all the damn time), his feet being tickled, belly kisses, chatting, lights and watching tv on the sly. He’s responsible for my clothes being stained with a whole array of bodily fluids, my camera roll struggling to contain the ridiculous amount of photos of his face and the fact that you can see my eye bags from space but he is an absolute bloody joy and I can’t wait to watch him grow.
20 Mar 2022
Weekend Walks Around Wicken Fen
Our nearest National Trust place is Wicken Fen, a gorgeous nature reserve full of wildlife and clear waters reflecting the big skies synonymous with the fens. There have been a couple of Saturdays now where we’ve headed straight there, put baby boy in the carrier and gone for a brisk walk, either in the nature reserve where you can stroll along the boardwalk or in the surrounding countryside which stretches out for miles and is very pretty. Either way, we always finish off in the National Trust café where they do excellent pasties. Our weeks can feel pretty relentless at the moment and sometimes like we’re moving around each other as we deal with the demands of our mini human so this is a small joy that we’re really appreciating; getting out the house at the start of the weekend and debriefing the week whilst getting a fresh air fix. And you gotta love a National Trust café!
9 Mar 2022
Notes On My Thirtieth Birthday
4 Mar 2022
Little Joys From February
Hey there!
