Month: August 2018

Every Book Ladies lit Squad Have Read So Far!

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Here is a list of every book my book club Ladies lit Squad have read so far! So if you want to read along with us you can get going. All books are written by women (of course). How to Murder Your Life by Cat Marnell Living The Dream by Lauren Berry The Upstairs Room by Kate Murray Browne The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara Dead Girls by Abigail Tarttelin Riders by Jilly Cooper Circe by Madeline Miller Valley of The Dolls by Jacqueline Susann How to Murder Your Life Cat Marnell is a polarising character, by that I don’t mean your either love her or you hate her. I mean she changes your own mind about her several times in one paragraph. To give this context, Cat, is a drug addict. Her memoir How to Murder Your Life was written, we presume, under the influence so it’s raw, erratic and sometimes hard to read (she’s a fan of a !!!!!!!!!!!). On the flipside it’s this honesty and vulnerability that …

#50booksin2018 July

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A little late but better than never. I started a new job this month, so I’ve been busy busy busy. Still found time to squeeze in a few books though, so here they are… The Cows by Dawn O’Porter I love DOP, as far as I’m concerned she’s a British institution (although I believe she now lives in LA with her superstar husband Chris O’Dowd) so, surprisingly, this is the first book of hers I’ve read. The Cows is the story of a woman who gets caught masturbating on public transport, admittedly far-fetched, but it’s more a comment on the shaming that comes after. I really liked the characters in this and found them all well-rounded, interesting women. A great beach read. Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch A part memoir part comment on race in Britain by journalist and broadcaster Afua Hirsch, who is mixed English and Ghanaian. I enjoyed this because it turns racial stereotypes on their head. Afua is middle class and went to Cambridge, yet people assume she’s working class – such is …

On being constantly ‘busy’…

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Recently I’ve had a big think about taking on too much, I think we’re all guilty of it these days. Especially as women. There’s pressure to be ‘busy’. It’s a badge of honour… how effed up is that? We have to do well at work and get that money honey, have an Insta-worthy social life, home, wardrobe and face, travel, have a ‘side hustle’, somehow have the body of a Love Island contestant, date horrible men and through it all manage to pay our bills, see friends and family and put a wash on. I don’t know whether men feel this pressure but I certainly know women do, one of them being me. I used to be militant about having one day a week where I didn’t get dressed, go out or do anything that could be deemed productive. I’d eat croissants in bed, binge watch bad TV, pick my spots and just relax. I needed this day, I have a hectic life, like most city-dwellers. But somehow I got guilted out of it… When …