Lots to catch up on! I’m also moving these monthly posts to the beginning of the next month for *reasons*.
Fave 5 from the blog
- Your amazing makes with my fabric
- My new craft projects
- Revealing what was inside the Super Cute Box
- Planning for Japan: 1 week to go!
- And all my Japan Recaps
New stuff in my shop
- Contrast graphic dresses & tanks at Redbubble
- Paper cups, beach towels, zipper pouches, iPhone wallets + more on-demand
Reading
An Astronaut’s Guide To Life On Earth by Chris Hadfield
I’m not sure why I hadn’t read this yet, except that astronauts are not usually great writers. Chris Hadfield definitely is though and this was both incredibly interesting and entertaining, especially since most astronaut books are from the Apollo era. My dad let me borrow his copy and I’m not sure he’ll get it back any time soon.
Kill The Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky
Quick fun read about what happens when a group of obsessive fangirls end up in the same hotel as their favourite boy band. If you’ve ever shared out the members of a band with your friends you’ll enjoy this.
After the Last Dance by Sarra Manning
Two interweaved stories – one about a young girl during WW2 who arrives in London and starts volunteering at Rainbow Corner, the wartime club for American servicemen, and a modern day bride who isn’t quite who she seems. I loved the wartime adventures but the modern stuff was too unbelievable and when the two stories start coming together it all gets a bit depressing.
London Belongs To Us by Sarra Manning
This was more like it. A YA novel about a girl who travels from one end of London to the other through the night trying to track down and dump her cheating boyfriend. She has all kinds of adventures with French boys and supermarket discos and secret gigs and there’s lots of girl power and London love too.
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer
One of my favourite non-fiction writers covering the rape scandals at Missoula college. This was good timing as I felt much more knowledgeable when the Brock Turner case blew up after I finished it. I read it on the plane home and felt so angry, and helpless. The stories in here are just awful and it’s sobering to realise that they could easily have happened to me or anyone I know. The way these women fought so hard for justice and had it taken away from them piece by piece is heartbreaking.
Atonement by Ian McEwan
I didn’t like it as much the film. Or perhaps I would have liked it better if I didn’t already know the story.
Creation Stories by Alan McGee
I was a huge Creation Records fan when I was younger and even visited their notorious Hackney office as part of my A Level art project. This is exactly as you would expect – he’s clearly sat down and just bashed the whole thing out, but it is fun and packed with probably exaggerated stories and gossip.
Life Moves Pretty Fast: The lessons we learned from eighties movies (and why we don’t learn them from movies any more) by Hadley Freeman
I love Hadley as she can write about the most superficial of subjects with a brilliantly feminist slant. This book covers her favourite 80s teen movies (Ghostbusters, Dirty Dancing, the entire works of John Hughes etc.) and argues, successfully, that there were so many life lessons to learn from them and that current teen movies pale hopelessly in comparison.
Agatha Christie: An Autobiography
I didn’t realise she had had such an interesting life, or that so many of her books were based on personal experiences (well, minus all the murdering). Living through two world wars and traveling around the middle east by train and bus will give you a lot of stories. It meanders a lot and there are a lot of gaps but it was mostly good.
The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton
I’m an unashamed fan of the Star Wars EU but this was atrocious. Everyone acts out of character and I don’t think we really needed a planet of evil sexy witches and oddly helpful rancors. Avoid!
Watching
The Great British Sewing Bee
It’s the Bake Off but with dressmaking and it’s perfection, somehow being even more cosy and friendly. The challenges are following a printed pattern, altering something ridiculous into wearable clothing (there was a flamingo coat made from a ski suit!) and a made to measure piece for a model. Every year it inspires me to get back to my dressmaking projects – hope that sticks this time!
Game of Thrones
This has been such a weird (and amazing) season. I started reading the books in 2003 and seeing all these fan theories turning up on screen is surreal, like watching fan fiction. The finale was unbelievable – pretty excited for next year.
City in the Air
Fascinating three-part documentary about the future of air travel. I love flying so it was all really interesting seeing behind the scenes all over the world. The distant future is airships apparently (yay!) or jetmen (NOPE)
Girls
I finally got the S4 DVDs and I’m only a couple of episodes in but I’d forgotten how funny this show is.
The Tennis
Grass court tennis is my favourite thing to work to so I love this time of year when it’s televised constantly for about 6 weeks. I don’t even care who’s playing or winning (unless it’s Andy Murray. I am Scottish after all) – the whole thing just makes me happy. It’s also a great distraction from the news…
li.st highlights
- TV SHOWS I’M WATCHING, RANKED BY HOW MUCH I’LL MISS THEM WHILE I’M ON HOLIDAY
- I found all my MSN Messenger avatars from ten years ago!
- I Love You, Pocket WiFi!
- Annoying things not to do online while someone’s on holiday 🙄
- Things I’m looking forward to when I get home
- All the souvenir stamps I collected on my 2016 Japan trip
- Funny things about Japanese culture (request)
- Japan Trip 2016: 5 Highlights From Outside Tokyo
- Japan Trip 2016: 5 Highlights From Tokyo
- Super Cool Space Mail! 🚀🌙💫
Links I loved
- Claire closed down The Bellwether while I was away and wrote two excellent posts on her blog, one about why she made the decision and one about how to supporting your fave indie businesses while they’re around. Read them!
- I already wanted Andrea Lauren’s printmaking book but after watching this series of printing videos I want it even more.
- Twinkie Chan shared the first sketches of the projects in her latest crochet book. I love seeing process stuff like this – I should share more.
- There’s a milk carton house in Hiroshima and it’s amazing.
- Very much enjoying the Binge & Purge feature on the AV Club where one guy is trying to get rid of 1000 CDs from his collection.
- I finally understand what funnel cake is, thanks to Smitten Kitchen
I also saved a ton of Japan links and will blog those another time.
