Inspirations
Category
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The one thing I knew with absolute certainty when I finished A Little Life – emotionally drained and unstable – was that Hanya Yanagihara has shitloads of talent. Not much of a result, considering I knew that already since reading The People in the Trees, he..
Georgia O’Keeffe at Tate Modern: Bones over Flowers
I spent a weekend in London recently. It’s something I always enjoy, but this time it was even better than usual – partly because of the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition at the Tate Modern. As it’s open for another two months, I thought I’d encourage you to go an..
Caroline Herschel, The Celestial Housekeeper
I love smart, interesting, talented women. I collect them, both in real life and more abstractly (you can see part of my IRL collection here). The latter is especially easy: I can add writers and scientists, artists and sportswomen into my Hall of Fame and t..
Wide Sargasso Sea
I would possibly never have read Wide Sargasso Sea if it wasn’t for Diana Athill. In her memoirs, she speaks about Jean Rhys with such clarity and emotion that I could not help but be intrigued. The idea of a person so inept at life – addicted to alcohol, ho..
A Slow Read: Richard Mabey’s The Cabaret of Plants
Among the things I promised to do in 2016 was reading longer books, as an antidote to my impatience and my growing inability to concentrate. I haven’t been doing too badly: in addition to quite a few other books, I recently finished The Silk Roads by Peter F..
The Food and Books of Diana Henry
As with everything else, I’m an eclectic eater. I eat and can get excited about almost everything, with the exception of very hot dishes, as I simply cannot physically tolerate them (and anyway, I don’t see the point of eating anything I cannot properly tast..
Better Than Star Wars: Saga vol 1
I am not a huge graphic novel/comic book reader – I do get through enough of them to prove that I’m not one of those elitist snobs who disregard comics on principle, but not much more. This means reading mostly Alan Moore* and of course Neil Gaiman’s Sandman..
A Box of Delights: Valentino Couture Spring 2016
The couture shows are coming to an end in Paris – compared to fashion weeks proper, couture takes so little time that I almost miss it every year. But not quite. I love looking at these incredible displays of unnecessariness, season after season. It is for m..
Woman of the Month: Diana Athill
I know Diana Athill – or I know OF Diana Athill, to be more precise – because I’m a regular reader of The Guardian. In 2009, they published an essay by Athill, who was already over 90 at the time, about why she decided to move into an old people’s home. I re..
Korean Favourites: Salt, Sugar and Seaweed
When I was in South-Korea a few years ago, it wasn’t a culinary love at first taste. I did adore the hotel breakfast – the selection was insane, from an amazing barley-watermelon salad to the quickly assembled bespoke soups -, but otherwise I was working and..