Books of February + New Comical!
so I’ve been away from this for a little while to work on my MA applications (without a working laptop which has been somewhat a slow process) but I am (almost) done so crawling back to a vague sense of normalcy before coronavirus will probably throw another spanner in the works. I also had to tell a man in the gym to go away after he just stood staring waiting for the machine to be free so am currently living the dream.
Also, as mentioned in the title, my alternative comedy show Comcial is back on Monday 9th with Tony Law and Jordan Brookes as well as some of my fav comedians on the circuit and you can still buy tickets for £5 HERE. I have had absolutely 0 ideas for my MCing material so far, which has only been made easier by my dad and possibly press coming, so come along even just for my own personal trainwreck.
As you can imagine, the giddy rush of all of this has meant it’s been a slow month for reading but I got a couple books down:
The Improbability of Love
Hannah Rothschild
Intriguing and entertaining art history mystery/romcom, although the author, a Rothschild, is clearly more comfortable writing about the wealthier parts than her dowdy, poor yet beautiful-to-everyone-but-her heroine and the ending has the feeling of a student essay which has gone on for too long and left itself a paragraph to finish. I enjoyed the first 9/10ths of it though!
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock
Imogen Hermes Gowar
More of a historical romance than it sells itself as. Captivating period prose style despite a lot of weird turns and also the second book where the mermaid may be a metaphor of the depression that follows expectation?
Stardust
Neil Gaiman
I had to get this from the children’s section of the library despite their being a quite obvious sex scene at the beginning - this is not a fairytale for children, which Gaiman has stated before, but perhaps North London children are more salacious. I loved the film so enjoyed the source material, which seemed slightly less melodramatic (although a lot still happens) but has a more domestic charm to it.
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This may be short but I took out 8 books from my library yesterday which should cover me for March and any possible self-quarantine. Let me know if you have any recs for book stuff or know of anywhere in need of a book reviewer who is both sassy and (generally) a fast reader.
See you soon!
Ruby