August Update: What I've Been Loving Lately
Butter, crocs, eras.
Hi lovely lot!
It’s time for another monthly round-up of stuff I’ve been loving, vaguely in the culture sphere but sometimes more meta.
This month, I took some time off ‘work’. Which, in reality, meant I still worked a lot but lamented myself for it. I spent two weeks working on something I’ve wanted to do for years and wrote tens of thousands of words. So, apologies that I’ve been a bit quiet on my Substack — I promise I’ve not forgotten you!
READING
Butter, by Asako Yuzuki. The cult Japanese best-seller has been translated into English, and I can’t remember the last time I was quite so gripped by a book. It’s based on the real-life case of the “Konkatsu Killer”, in which a con woman and talented home cook called Kanae Kijima was convicted of poisoning three of her male lovers. It’s an interrogation of beauty standards, fatphobia, friendship and food.
I’m generally a fan of most things Diyora Shadijanova writes, and her most recent Guardian column about getting an allotment was no different. The closing paragraph was thoroughly underlined: “What started as a desire for a small patch of green has grown into something much more significant – a connection to my local environment, a respect for the food I eat and an awareness of the fragile natural systems that sustain us. In the beginning, I was worried I’d fail the allotment; instead, I’m finding myself growing alongside it.”
I’ve shared this poem via this newsletter twice before, but I am an honest gal and it is the poem I’ve been loving in August.
God Says Yes To Me
I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic and she said yes I asked her if it was okay to be short and she said it sure is I asked her if I could wear nail polish or not wear nail polish and she said honey she calls me that sometimes she said you can do just exactly what you want to Thanks God I said And is it even okay if I don't paragraph my letters Sweetcakes God said who knows where she picked that up what I'm telling you is Yes Yes Yes
—Kaylin Haught
TV & PODCASTS:
I’m very late to the party, but I’ve got into Prime’s The Boys and raced through three seasons in six weeks. I’m a secret gore lover, and this series has an endless amount. Not for the squeamish amongst us.
I’m quite boring when it comes to podcasts because I just listen to the same ones every week. My current rotation is: Off Menu, If I Speak…, You’re Dead To Me, Everything is Content and I’m Grand Mam.
OTHER:
I recently had an x-ray of my ankles and discovered that I broke my ankle many years ago without realising it, and now it’s healed very badly. So, alongside lots of physio, I also need to invest in some SENSIBLE SHOES. Sensible shoes are not my jam, pre-Covid when I worked at GLAMOUR I pretty much wore heels every single day. I got into trainers more recently, but now I’ve taken the plunge into the land of Crocs and Uggs. I never thought this would be my future, but here we are. And guess what? Crocs are bloody comfortable.
I went to Eras on Monday and I just had to mention it here. Predictably, it was incredible and up there with the best live music I’ve ever seen. The feeling I had was akin to being at Glastonbury, but if Glastonbury was exclusively for very sweet teen girls. Taylor Swift really has cultivated a unique fan base — and although my feelings about her as a person are sometimes complex, I am enamoured with her music and performance. Somehow, a billionaire who left Wembley in a private jet whilst I spent over an hour on public transport eating a garlic pizza from my lap, felt incredibly relatable to me. Now that is a skill.
Chat to you all again soon! xoxo