Just read Fundamentally - by Nussaibah Younis - so clever and sharply funny that it took me by surprise and made me laugh out loud. Also very interesting on the ‘realities’ of working in international development. I really loved this book - pacy, funny and made me think.
oh no that sounds bad. I think 5HTP has really worked on me but you have to keep at it, every day. I randomly noticed after about 6 weeks that i just suddenly felt fine all the time, no more sudden weird major panics about crazy stuff totally out of my control and better focus
yes it's 5-HTP, widely available. one a day and with any luck you will see improvement. you will still feel appropriate anxiety but you ought to see a reduction in the generalised doom feelings
I am on a reading streak at the moment because I have just got the Haringey Library app which means I can request books from ANYWHERE in the network and have them delivered to my tiny local library. It is like a dream come true. Anyway….
- My Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss is a brilliant memoir about coming to terms with an odd childhood and also with the stories women are told about themselves and their bodies, particularly clever middle class women (we don’t care about clothes or figures darling, it’s what’s in your head that matters BUT do you really think you should be eating that etc). Massive trigger warning for disordered eating. Actually, Sarah Moss is a bit like Anne Tyler - she is so prolific that some of her novels just aren’t as good, but I loved eg Ghost Wall
- James by Percival Evertt - I know I’m incredibly late to the party on this but it really is so beautifully crafted and with such a clear narrative voice. Also very visual. Exceptional
- God of the Woods (Liz Moore). Most thrillers are out of bounds to me because I hate reading gratuitous violence against women/children but this was so very good. Polyphonic which I always enjoy but very tightly plotted.
That’s probably enough for now in this monster comment, except to say that I’ve also gone back to AS Byatt’s quartet about Frederica which started with The Virgin in the Garden and I am loving it. Incredible, sparse, unsentimental prose. Also back to Pat Barkers trilogy on Trojan War. Similarly excellent.
Consider Yourself Kissed, by Jessica Stanley, is coming out in May and it strikes me as a very 'The Spike' sort of book. 'One of the big love stories of 2025' I totally respect that step back from bigging yourself up too much - only 'one of' and only out of the ones in 2025!
Anyway, it is a love story but not just a romance. It's about the love between the main character and her new boyfriend but also between the main character and her stepdaughter, her own children, her parents, her brother, her stepdaughter's parents. It's a big messy family story, set in London between 2014 and 2022 (or thereabouts) and I really enjoyed it.
Out of books already out, I've enjoyed the re-issued Laurie Colwins. Happy All the Time is maybe a bit too happy all the time but Another Marvellous Thing is short and bitter-sweet.
Have you read Kate Atkinson’s Death at the Sign of the Rook? I’ve just finished it. I really like her characters but I don’t particularly like what she does with them. Anyway, it would be interesting to know your thoughts if you do read it.
I like Anne Tyler and Three Days in June is next on my list. Funnily enough I just picked up A Spool of Blue Thread at my library… looking forward to reading that. I left my book club as I’d recommended Redhead at the Side of the Road (by Anne Tyler) which I liked but everyone said was boring…(it isn’t).
oh was deciding between Tom Lake by Anne Patchett or this new one by Ann Tyler and chose Tom Lake which so far I am really really enjoying. AT will be next up on the reading list though - sometimes the stillness is part of the pleasure (particularly if I know it's short)
Following to see what the recommendations from Spikers are! It’s my turn to choose for book club soon and this actually terrifies me as my fellow members are all very sophisticated and forthright. I would like them to fawn over my book choice (and me by extension!) and rave about about how good it was. The PRESSURE
Oof won’t be reading Victorian Psycho. You’re spot on about the ‘it’s not because she’s a woman, it’s because she’s a human’ thing- I felt the same about The Human Centipede when it came out. I didn’t care about the shock value/‘people vomiting in cinemas’ hype, I just remember thinking, ‘what is the matter with the human who came up with that idea and wrote it down?’
LOVE Anne Tyler and also love you can never quite tell which ones are going to be brilliant. New book wise have been in a rut but have got a lovely pile of Caledonian Road, The Wedding People, The Unwilding and Wellness to get to grips with.
Full on agree with this. Some Ann Tyler books blew my socks off. Others were… perfectly fine.
I was out of love with reading for a long long time, then started The Covenant of Water and couldn’t stop, was reading til the early hours and therefore entirely dysfunctional in everyday life until I finished. But it was worth it.
Yes I think you are right. A Spool of Blue Thread and The Accidental Tourist are such high watermarks it would be impossible to constantly match them, but I love how obliviously prolific she is. I still have French Braid sitting there from ages ago, so haven’t looked at her new one, but sometimes you just feel the urge for an Anne Tyler, even a slight one, and it’s nice to know they’re still coming. I’ve been reading A Compass Error by Sybille Bedford, coming of age novel set in the South of France, it’s all swimming followed by essay writing followed by vegetables in earthenware pots and good bread at the moment but you know when you can tell it’s all heading toward subtle humiliation and a devastating loss of innocence?
The last few chapters of Victorian Psycho probably scarred me for life. Maybe there is some kind of subtext but I just missed it because I was too grossed out to get it. Now I'll have to delete 'not squeamish' from my bio.
Right so, my whole job is Victorian death and gore and horribleness and this sounds like something I would like to fire out of a cannon into the sea…
Anything by Ann Patchett. I wrote my first - and only - fan letter to her a few years ago.
Just read Fundamentally - by Nussaibah Younis - so clever and sharply funny that it took me by surprise and made me laugh out loud. Also very interesting on the ‘realities’ of working in international development. I really loved this book - pacy, funny and made me think.
But... what was the line in The Accidental Tourist that made you laugh and weep and drool?
As an aside could you tell me about your anti anxiety pill please Esther. I suffer terribly and can’t find any relief atm.
Thanks v much. It’s the physical symptoms with me. All magnified after I had to leave my job. I’ll take any improvement. I’m living on my nerves atm x
oh no that sounds bad. I think 5HTP has really worked on me but you have to keep at it, every day. I randomly noticed after about 6 weeks that i just suddenly felt fine all the time, no more sudden weird major panics about crazy stuff totally out of my control and better focus
I’m glad it’s worked for you. I’m def going to try
yes it's 5-HTP, widely available. one a day and with any luck you will see improvement. you will still feel appropriate anxiety but you ought to see a reduction in the generalised doom feelings
I am on a reading streak at the moment because I have just got the Haringey Library app which means I can request books from ANYWHERE in the network and have them delivered to my tiny local library. It is like a dream come true. Anyway….
- My Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss is a brilliant memoir about coming to terms with an odd childhood and also with the stories women are told about themselves and their bodies, particularly clever middle class women (we don’t care about clothes or figures darling, it’s what’s in your head that matters BUT do you really think you should be eating that etc). Massive trigger warning for disordered eating. Actually, Sarah Moss is a bit like Anne Tyler - she is so prolific that some of her novels just aren’t as good, but I loved eg Ghost Wall
- James by Percival Evertt - I know I’m incredibly late to the party on this but it really is so beautifully crafted and with such a clear narrative voice. Also very visual. Exceptional
- God of the Woods (Liz Moore). Most thrillers are out of bounds to me because I hate reading gratuitous violence against women/children but this was so very good. Polyphonic which I always enjoy but very tightly plotted.
That’s probably enough for now in this monster comment, except to say that I’ve also gone back to AS Byatt’s quartet about Frederica which started with The Virgin in the Garden and I am loving it. Incredible, sparse, unsentimental prose. Also back to Pat Barkers trilogy on Trojan War. Similarly excellent.
Consider Yourself Kissed, by Jessica Stanley, is coming out in May and it strikes me as a very 'The Spike' sort of book. 'One of the big love stories of 2025' I totally respect that step back from bigging yourself up too much - only 'one of' and only out of the ones in 2025!
Anyway, it is a love story but not just a romance. It's about the love between the main character and her new boyfriend but also between the main character and her stepdaughter, her own children, her parents, her brother, her stepdaughter's parents. It's a big messy family story, set in London between 2014 and 2022 (or thereabouts) and I really enjoyed it.
Out of books already out, I've enjoyed the re-issued Laurie Colwins. Happy All the Time is maybe a bit too happy all the time but Another Marvellous Thing is short and bitter-sweet.
on another note: yay for you taking 5HTP. I recommended it a few months ago in the comments. Glad to hear it's helping.
Have you read Kate Atkinson’s Death at the Sign of the Rook? I’ve just finished it. I really like her characters but I don’t particularly like what she does with them. Anyway, it would be interesting to know your thoughts if you do read it.
I like Anne Tyler and Three Days in June is next on my list. Funnily enough I just picked up A Spool of Blue Thread at my library… looking forward to reading that. I left my book club as I’d recommended Redhead at the Side of the Road (by Anne Tyler) which I liked but everyone said was boring…(it isn’t).
it ISN'T!
oh was deciding between Tom Lake by Anne Patchett or this new one by Ann Tyler and chose Tom Lake which so far I am really really enjoying. AT will be next up on the reading list though - sometimes the stillness is part of the pleasure (particularly if I know it's short)
Tom Lake is so good
Following to see what the recommendations from Spikers are! It’s my turn to choose for book club soon and this actually terrifies me as my fellow members are all very sophisticated and forthright. I would like them to fawn over my book choice (and me by extension!) and rave about about how good it was. The PRESSURE
I chose Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers last year for ours and it went down very well. Her newer one, Shy Creatures, would also work.
Currently reading this… really enjoying
Thank you!
Oof won’t be reading Victorian Psycho. You’re spot on about the ‘it’s not because she’s a woman, it’s because she’s a human’ thing- I felt the same about The Human Centipede when it came out. I didn’t care about the shock value/‘people vomiting in cinemas’ hype, I just remember thinking, ‘what is the matter with the human who came up with that idea and wrote it down?’
LOVE Anne Tyler and also love you can never quite tell which ones are going to be brilliant. New book wise have been in a rut but have got a lovely pile of Caledonian Road, The Wedding People, The Unwilding and Wellness to get to grips with.
Full on agree with this. Some Ann Tyler books blew my socks off. Others were… perfectly fine.
I was out of love with reading for a long long time, then started The Covenant of Water and couldn’t stop, was reading til the early hours and therefore entirely dysfunctional in everyday life until I finished. But it was worth it.
Have you read Cutting for Stone? Same author. It’s even better in my opinion.
Yes I think you are right. A Spool of Blue Thread and The Accidental Tourist are such high watermarks it would be impossible to constantly match them, but I love how obliviously prolific she is. I still have French Braid sitting there from ages ago, so haven’t looked at her new one, but sometimes you just feel the urge for an Anne Tyler, even a slight one, and it’s nice to know they’re still coming. I’ve been reading A Compass Error by Sybille Bedford, coming of age novel set in the South of France, it’s all swimming followed by essay writing followed by vegetables in earthenware pots and good bread at the moment but you know when you can tell it’s all heading toward subtle humiliation and a devastating loss of innocence?
The last few chapters of Victorian Psycho probably scarred me for life. Maybe there is some kind of subtext but I just missed it because I was too grossed out to get it. Now I'll have to delete 'not squeamish' from my bio.
A bot, a bot , my kingdom for a bot, for how should I find a bot on Substack nowadays