3 great books to read in lockdown
This week I wanted to give some book suggestions! I am finding this winter lockdown much tougher than the summer lockdown. The weather isn’t as good - the days aren’t as long - I am not enjoying getting up for work in the dark, and finishing work in the dark… and I am working from home!
So here are some of my favourite books - I have a good mix of self help, and fiction! Should be something for everyone!
Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
This has to be one of the funniest books I have ever read! I wept with laughter! The book is full of rather random stories - in fact it is a collection of essays - set on David’s real life and family and friends. David is an American humorist (that honestly I had never heard of up until last year but then he has appeared as a guest judge on RuPaul) & Me Talk Pretty One Day is one of his earliest books or collection of essays!
The book is separated into two parts: The first part consists of essays about Sedaris’s life before his move to Normandy, France, including his upbringing in suburban Raleigh, North Carolina, his family - notably his brother Rooster, his time working odd jobs in New York City! Sedaris manages to make even the mundane jobs funny… at least in hindsight! I can’t help but wonder what it must have been like to work with him then!
The second section, "Deux", tells of Sedaris’s move to Normandy with his partner Hugh. Sedaris has this great way of noticing things that anyone else might miss and making it funny, and he is so honest about his own misgivings, it is quite endearing.
Honestly though, his recounting of his French lessons are possibly my favourite, and also the funniest parts of the book. I mean I wept with laughter - had to put the book down because I could not read with the tears streaming down my face from laughing wept with laughter!
It was actually loaned to me by my brother so unfortunately I cannot include the blurb, but I resisted reading it for some time! I think the cover just wasn’t enticing me! But once I started it - I could not put it down! I am just waiting for my brother to send me on his other books!Untamed - Glennon Doyle
I bought this book myself after reading that Adele was a big fan, and looking it up. While I am not a huge Adele fan the book itself sounded intriguing so I decided to check it out! And wow was I glad I did. I will include the blurb below but it is a collection of anecdotes and stories, as well as a collection of one woman’s breakthrough moments or realizations while actively living rather than just letting life happen to her! Untamed is about showing us that life can be hard, but we make it harder by trying to be people that we are not. Being who we think we aught to be, who we think we need to be for other people instead of trusting ourselves and just being who we actually are. The chapters are short, and it is very easy to read - it is also quite funny, and of course, like life is sad too but what an accurate representation of what life and relationships are really like - for better and for worse!From the blurb - "For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her discontent. Then one day at a conference, she glanced up at a woman and three words flooded her mind: There. She. Is. At first, she assumed these words came to her from on high but soon she realised they had come to her from within. This was the voice she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions and social conditioning. Glennon decided to let go of the world's expectations of her and reclaim her true untamed self. Forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvinising wake up call about what is possible when we step out of our cages and say: Here I am.”
I absolutely loved it - and it is a book I will go back to several more times.Fashion Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones
The author has collected stories from people working in the industry and has collated them into this fictional story - and for me, this made it super interesting! Judge Judy-esque - the stories are real, the situations happened… just the names have been changed (and perhaps didn’t all happen to the one person), but don’t let that get in the way of a great book! It gives a fascinating insight into the world of fashion, and the pressure the designers and all those working for them are under to pull it together for these fashion weeks! What we see at London or New York Fashion Week - is such a tiny glimpse of the work that goes into making these shows a reality!
What I also really like about it is how because it is based in reality - there is not some ridiculous happy ever after ending. I realize that part of reading for escapism means many people like for their books to be tied up at the end in a neat little bow - but personally I am at a stage where I find this kind of irritating! Not least because it usually involves protagonist finally getting the man or realizing the man she really wanted was right under her nose all along… I mean come on… NO! I want escapism - but I no longer want that particular brand of it!
From the blurb: “What is fashion? What is fashionable? Who decides what is in? What is out? Why is it green one year, and blue the next? Why is one little black dress worth three thousand pounds and another thirty quid? Is the catwalk that catty? Is everyone high on drugs and full of champagne? What makes a supermodel so super?
"Fashion Babylon" gets under the well-cut skin of the fashion industry. Using a world renowned source, "Fashion Babylon" will take you through six months in a designer's life. Starting at the end of one catwalk show, it will explain how a collection is put together - from the rail of found objects, to how it gets on to the catwalk, into the shops and onto the covers of a magazine.”
I am really missing the library at the moment, and trying to resist buying more books as this doesn’t really align itself with my goal to be more sustainable and buy more sustainably this year! But would still love to hear any book suggestions you have, or any great reads you might suggest for me!
Until next week, stay safe, wear masks and wash hands!
Sho xxx