Dear friends,
Welcome back to my would-be-weekly newsletter, which just took a month's break while I was busy pre-recording all the podcast episodes that will go out while I'm having a break over Christmas.
If you ever want to talk to me, reply to this email. The most popular link last time was the game of Death Roulette, with Hilary Mantel's writing day second.
What I'm up to: White-knuckling it through "Books of the Year" season, honestly. I know these lists are arbitrary, subjective and unimportant in the grand scheme of things, yet it still wounds me a bit every time I see that A Body Made of Glass isn't on one. I'm probably not supposed to admit to that kind of ego-fragility in public, but there we are. It's a very personal book; it often feels like it is me that is under review, not just something I wrote.
The book is out in paperback in both the UK and the US in March, so if you've been holding off until you could have it in a slightly smaller, cheaper package, now's your chance to pre-order. It is otherwise exactly the same book. You can, of course, have the audiobook – read by me — right now.
Enough moping! Here are thirteen more things this Thursday that I wanted to share with you:
- L.M. Montgomery's 150th birthday is this Saturday, so there has been some good anniversary-pegged content about her recently. I liked this podcast episode that includes an interview with her granddaughter and a discussion of why Emily of New Moon resonates so much with neurodivergent people today.
- Readers of my first book will know that the Isle of Sheppey is the closest thing I have to a point of origin in the UK. Of course, I was delighted to see it make the news for a fun rather than a grim reason: a new “chief scorpion wrangler” is sought to take care of the 200-year-old colony of arachnids that live in the walls of Sheerness Dockyard.
- Notes App Epiphanies: I loved this. My favourite screengrabs (everything I write is true):
- My favourite post-election take, which is mostly about a recently widowed man losing and then finding a beloved wedding ring.
- Some people scroll Instagram reels from sun-drenched islands to find their next holiday destination. I like to get lost in this map that shows everywhere in Europe I could take a night train to. The far north of Sweden? Don't mind if I do.
- I recently chanced across the Ephemeral New York blog and have been keeping up with it assiduously since. It has a great combination of current photography of NYC institutions with history. This recent post marking the 200th anniversary of the opening of Fifth Avenue was especially good.
- A very stylish man dresses as various fonts.
- Thomas Jones in the LRB did a good job of articulating my own views on the Richard Osman crime oeuvre. I love it when critics do that:
"Given what it sets out to do, it’s hard to fault The Thursday Murder Club. It may be the literary equivalent of the ultra-processed snack foods that Chris can’t help gorging himself on, full of ‘empty calories’, but, on their own terms, it’s hard to fault a packet of cheese and onion crisps or a Wispa bar, either."
I also appreciated the mention here of all the guilt expressed in those books around food. Quite jarring to be regularly told about someone's biscuit-based shame when trying to enjoy an uncomplicated mystery.
- Fascinating piece of writing about genre snobbery. When is a book allowed to "transcend commercial fiction"? What tricks do authors use to signal that what they are writing is literary fiction rather than "just" science fiction or a spy novel?
- The Mushroom Colour Atlas is simply gorgeous and must be perused at length.
- I have been reading ferociously this month (as subscribers to my reading updates will shortly find out) and I found some of the tips here on how to maximise your reading time helpful. I have yet to keep a book of poetry by my toilet, but never say never.
- Considering texts of condolence as their own form of writing, or perhaps of prophecy. "A friend’s brother dies and on the day of his funeral I text, 'I hope it goes as best as can be today, I am thinning of you.' A few weeks after my first chemo, my hair begins to shed."
- Where should you emigrate to? Use this handy quiz to find a country that matches your economic, social and cultural preferences.
I send a few different types of post as part of this newsletter: personal essays, reading updates and book reviews, reflections on my own writing, and links round-ups like this one. If you would like to receive some but not all of these, you can adjust those settings in your account menu.
I'm writing this in my free time, but if you would like to support my work, you have a few options. Forward this newsletter to a friend and encourage them to sign up. Subscribe to my podcast, Shedunnit, in your app of choice, or if you are already a listener, become a member of the Shedunnit Book Club. Buy my books — The Way to the Sea and A Body Made of Glass — or borrow them from your local library. Purchase a subscription for yourself or a friend to The Browser. Thank you for reading.
Until next time,
Caroline
