This week, I am...
Reading... Sunday Morning Coming Down by Nicci French
Re-reading... Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Watching... The Big Sick
Looking forward to... Dunkirk and Top of the Lake: China Girl
Eating... too much pasta and pizza
Missing... Venice
This week, I am mostly...
Reading... The Party by Elizabeth Day and Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner
Watching... The Beguiled, Hamlet, Game of Thrones and Love Island
Listening to... A Piece of Work podcast and the Baby Driver soundtrack
Visiting... Hokusai at the British Museum and the Royal Academy summer exhibition
I didn't read quite as much as usual on my holiday this year because there was too much sleeping, eating and watching trotting races (don't ask) to be done. But these are the books I loved in June:
Don't Be A Dick, Pete by Stuart Heritage is quite simply very very funny.
Exquisite by Sarah Stovell is gripping and well-written, with unlikable but entirely believable characters.
The Bird Tribunal by Agnes Ravatn is unsettling and as creepy as all hell. It really got under my skin.
I'll Eat When I'm Dead by Barbara Bourland punctures the craziness of the New York fashion world while still keeping you gripped with a twisty plot and beautifully drawn characters.
No Good Deed by John Niven is funny, clever and brilliant. What would you do if you found an old school friend homeless and begging on the street??
The Awkward Age by Francesca Segal absolutely captured my heart. I desperately want to know what happened to the characters next.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeymoon is my favourite book of 2017 so far. Just perfect.
The Power by Naomi Alderman is hugely powerful and beautifully written. I couldn't put it down.
Watching
Moonlight is a little miracle of a film, beautiful and moving and utterly captivating. It has dislodged the wonderful La La Land as my favourite film of the year so far.
Listening
Heavyweight podcast is well worth a listen. Telling stories of past regrets and present reconciliations, it is funny and insightful.
Seeing
The David Hockney exhibition at Tate Britain is a joy, or at least the first six rooms are. Hockney's work of the sixties and seventies is special - alive and vibrant, innovative and unique - but his later work leaves me a little cold.
Reading
My Husband's Lover by Julia Crouch is keeping me hooked.
Watching
Toni Erdmann is a nearly three hour long German comedy but don't let that put you off! It is warm, intelligent, funny, sharp, weird and wonderful. I loved it and laughed, cried and cringed at its insight into a father daughter relationship.
Re-reading
I spent a few days in bed last week suffering from the hideous bug that is circling, and for some reason, my flu-addled mind decided to make me start re-reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Cheerful? No. Alarmingly resonant this year? Yes. Bloody brilliant? Also yes.
Watching
Like many people, I was anxious about T2 Trainspotting, concerned that it may not live up to the original film which I absolutely love. I needn't have worried. Danny Boyle has created a perfect revisit to the characters we know, and his unique vision shines through moments of violence, humour and poignancy.
Seeing
I saw the original London production of Art in 1996 (coincidentally the same year as Trainspotting) and enjoyed it greatly so I was keen to see the new production at the Old Vic. The play has held up well and has excellent performances by Rufus Sewell, Paul Ritter and Tim Key.
Reading
Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough is a domestic thriller and I am warned that the twist at the ending is a real shock.
Listening
The Crimetown podcast is a fascinating in-depth look at corruption in small town America.
Reading
Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land is as creepy as all hell but totally gripping.
Watching
Apple Tree Yard is a beautifully made BBC adaptation of one of my favourite books of recent years, by Louise Doughty. One episode in, I'm hooked.
Seeing
The Paul Nash exhibition at Tate Britain shows the expanse of his work, which is equal parts beautiful and unsettling.