Reading, Listening, Watching

Reading: I just read The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy because I remembered liking her previous book of essays, Female Chauvinist Pigs. This was very different and, although, I already knew there was a graphic account of a miscarriage, it was still confronting. For the rest of the book, I was impressed by the confident way Levy charges into her career and the array of terrible decisions she makes in her personal life. My face was like the grimace emoji for a good third off the book. So beautifully written though. I also read Australian comedian Judith Lucy’s Drink, Smoke, Pass Out. Made me laugh, made me think about how our family stories shape us, made me wonder if her liver was going to survive the carnage she puts it through (spoiler alert: it does!). She’s honest about things most of us would just pretend never happened, which I always appreciate.

Listening: Helen Lewis has a new podcast out called Helen Lewis has Left The Chat and it’s great. She captures the horror of the school Mums WhatsApp group and the swirling menace of the workplace Slack group very well. Apple Podcast link. You can also listen to it on the BBC Sounds website which is where I go for my radio comedy needs.

Watching: I recently started watching one episode of Friends every day. I’m absolutely steadfast in my belief that Friends is one of the greatest sitcoms of all time and would be recognised as such if they’d just called it “The Madness of Ross Geller” and promoted it as a ten-season arc of one man’s descent into insanty. Season 6 is the high point for me, with all the tension about keeping Monica and Chandler’s relationship secret but every season has superb episodes. I’m on season seven now and just watched the Holiday Armadillo episode and it’s superb. I’m finding the slow watch so much better than bingeing, where one episode just blends into another and (if you’re me, watching late at night after the kids are in bed) there’s too much danger of falling asleep.