The February List 2017

Gratitude for my Bod

Everything is as it should be.

The January List 2017

January. This first month usually begins with optimism and heads steadily downhill afterwards. Mine definitely had a dip in the middle but I'm happy to report that it's ended on a major high. This edition of my Monthly List (so renamed because The Anti-Bucket List is a bit of a mouthful) is brought to you very late in the day, the closing hours of Jan, because I got distracted from my writing this afternoon by something very good. Very. More will be said about that soon - it's nice to have something good.

This month has been a muddle though, after all the initial enthusiasm of RESOLUTIONS and #GOALS. I nearly had my Apple ID hacked (a long and mildly amusing story), I went temporarily deaf for a week (another long but less amusing story) and Donald Trump officially became US president (nothing witty to say here but you can read my thoughts if you're so inclined). That aside, it's been an interesting start to 2017, a year that I think will bring great change. Here's January:

• I saw the year in with my very best friend, Jools Holland and some Doritos. We certainly have class.
• I completed (almost, the last day is tomorrow!) Yoga with Adriene's 2017 Yoga Revolution. I love this January tradition of daily yoga and I'll write about it soon. Here's last year's summary for now.
• I cooked a meal for all my grandparents together which happens so rarely now they are older and was lovely.
• I went to the cinema twice in Jan which is a lot for me! A Streetcat Named Bob gave my cat loving heart all the warm fuzzies and La La Land was a joy to behold. The hype is well deserved.
• I fell in love with porridge. A weird one to include but it's been a big feature of this month. I am Goldilocks.
• I started listening to the Witch, Please podcast and it is W O N D E R F U L. (Damn, I should have said magical). I've mentioned before that I'm oh so late for the Harry Potter party but this is spurring me on to finish the series. I read Goblet of Fire last week so we're getting there! 
• I had several friendy dinners out which were super sweet, as always. I want to make more time for them this year. 
• I applied for several new jobs, had two interviews, and one of them went ~very~ well indeed. More on that soon - exciting things are afoot. 

xoxox

Write to Your MP

The older I get, the more I realise that there is never any good news.

I wanted to write something about Trump's first week, the marches and everything in between anyway, then the news about the Muslim Ban came out and everything seemed to get a whole lot worse. This afternoon I wrote to my MP highlighting my concerns about Trump and this evening I invite you to do the same. It's not very much I know, and from past experience with the detailed MP I highly doubt I'll get a response, but it's your MP's job to represent you and it's the easiest way to take action (that and signing the petition - please sign the petition!)

www.writetothem.com makes it really easy to get in touch with your elected representitives and to invite them to take a stand, whether you are aligned with their politics or not. Put your feelings into your own words, it really doesn't have to be a lot - a paragraph will do, a page will do but if you want to make an impact then say something. 

Below is the letter I've sent to my MP - let yours know what you think too. It's easy to feel entirely powerless but together I think we could make some real noise.

Thank you.

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Dear Desmond Swayne,

Living here in the New Forest, the United States of America can seem very far away, but in recent weeks and months I have never felt more distant from Washington D.C. Donald Trump’s opinions, attitudes and actions are so opposing to my own that they seem other-worldly, yet this is the man that has been elected as Leader of the Free World and so I feel compelled to take a stand.

In the week following President Trump’s inauguration he has already begun to take action on removing essential healthcare measures, shown a willingness to use torture methods, continued to demonstrate revolting attitudes towards women and has most recently imposed a ban on Muslims from certain countries entering the USA. It is these last two points I want to draw particular attention to in a list that is nothing less than disgusting.

Although I may disagree with their personal and political stances on some issues, I am proud as both a young woman and a feminist to live in a country with two women as the heads of state and government. Donald Trump’s attitude towards women, along with his past actions and comments, are vulgar, misogynistic and undermine the capabilities of these strong and powerful female leaders and indeed of all women, myself included.

Equally, I am struggling to comprehend Trump’s ban on Syrian refugees and other Muslims from entering the USA. It promotes hatred, fear, speculation and suspicion of people that need to be shown love and compassion. It shows that the 20^th century taught us nothing and I am inviting you to publicly reject this ban as other MPs have done.

At time of writing, a petition calling to prevent Trump making a State Visit to the UK has reached over half a million signatures, 500 of which are from our constituency, and I am writing to you today to ask for your support in this cause when this issue is debated in parliament and beyond. To ban Trump from our country all together would reduce us to his level of outright discrimination, but to award him the warm State invitation usually offered to elected presidents would insult those women that lead this country and go against what so many of its citizens stand for.

History has taught us that we are much better united than divided and that excluding, mistreating and criminalising minority groups feeds into hatred beyond our control. I feel powerless in the face of news from the US and I am seeking ways to take action. Donald Trump is not a laughing matter anymore. This letter is my first step and I ask you as my MP to take action as well.

Yours sincerely,

Georgia Stephenson

2017 Resolutions

I never used to get New Years. I'd stay up to see it in, I'd watch the fireworks and mumble along to Auld Lang Syne with my family but I never got the big deal. It's just the clock ticking over like every other day, thought I, rolling my eyes, what's so special? However, in more recent years I have felt very differently.

Think of all the clichés you can: fresh start, blank page, new leaf, #newyearnewme. I get all that now, I am that person. I said to a friend last week that I was looking forward to the new year, not exactly because 2016 had been bad but because it was starting to feel stale. The end of 2016 was beginning to feel like a stuffy bedroom where the windows had been closed for too long - 2017 promised to be the clean air on the outside. We will soon see whether 2017 will keep that promise as we progress, but for now I'm hopeful.

Anti-Bucket List: December

My my, we've made it. Twelve gruelling months and accompanying blog posts later and we're in December. I want to be careful here and make sure this lists solely reflects December rather than being a whole year review, but let's just take a minute.

My Favourite Books of 2016

It is a truth universally acknowledged that 2016 has been a bit shit, really. I must admit that I'm getting a little tired of every Tom, Dick and Harry giving their oh-so-original commentaries of the year's events on Twitter but you can't disagree with them (and that's what the internet's for, right?) There's no denying it - we've lost an unprecedented number of stars this year and let's not get onto world politics, I'm trying to keep this light.


But, when all else fails us at least we have books, to teach us, to give us new perspectives, to provide an opportunity to escape from it all for a bit. I have come to terms with the fact that I will not complete my Goodreads Challenge of 30 books in 2016 (I've got six to go and less than three days at time of writing) but I thought this would be a good time to run down my favourite reads of the year. These aren't all 2016 releases but books that I read for the first time this year. We'll start with fiction but be aware that I'm not the best at giving reviews, so hold tight.

Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper 

I'm going to be honest gang, I read this right at the beginning of January and I don't remember a lot about it but what I do remember is that I liked it a LOT, so here goes. Etta is 82, she lives in Canada and she's never seen the water so she decides she's going to walk there, on her own, across the country. The novel tells of her journey to the sea, as well as stories from her past and of the two men in her life: Russell and Otto.

It's like nothing I've ever read before - it lacks punctuation with long, whimsical sentences, it muddles lists and letters and recipes in with the narration, and switches from wartime France to contemporary Canada without warning. I loved it. There are elements of magical realism - something I'm not usually into - as well as deeply emotional, poetic storytelling that explores age-old romance, family love, and the battles we encounter with memory as we get older. This book is a treasure.







The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett 


The Versions of Us was recommended to me by a bookseller in Waterstones after we'd got talking about my love for David Nicholls. It's described on the cover as "One Day meets Sliding Doors" and I think that's an excellent summary. The story starts in 1958 with Cambridge students Eva and Jim's first meeting (or not meeting, in one instance). It tells three different versions of their lives alongside each other as Eva and Jim, both together and separately, grow through the decades. It's got a warm nostalgic feel and brings smiles and tears in equal measures. Please read.










Sofia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik 

This. Book. Is. So. Funny. I'm not too keen on "The next Bridget Jones" as a phrase to be chucked at any new womens' fiction heroine (even though I love Bridget 200%) but I think this is as close as we can get. It's certainly the first time you'll hear "the Muslim Bridget Jones" and that's a big deal in this book.

Sofia Khan is a Muslim woman living in London and these are diary entries detailing her adventures and escapades in the Muslim dating scene. It's brilliant. In the climate we're in right now the only representation we get of Muslim communities is from right wing press and xenophobic relatives - we need more Sofia Khans and we certainly need a more positive representation of Muslims. I first heard about this book in a recommendation video from Leena Norms, and her interview with author, Ayisha Malik, is great too. A super insightful and hilarious read - I'm excitedly awaiting the follow up novel in the new year.








Persuasion by Jane Austen

If you've read any of my other book-related posts I think it goes without saying that I'm a bit of a fan of Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice is my favourite book of all time, but it occurred to me that I really need to make my way through the rest of her work. I read Sense and Sensibility last year and Emma the year before, and this year I set about Persuasion. It was Austen's last (and I think shortest) novel and I completely loved it.

The story of Anne Elliot, our heroine, demonstrates a bit of a shift from earlier Austen - it's not so full of wit and quips and it's a little more serious and modern in tone overall. Anne is 27 and unmarried (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!!) She lost the chance at true love in her youth when the man she wanted was deemed an unsuitable match - classic Austen. Her proud family don't seems too keen on her and she's a bit of an outcast but she has a second chance at love after the Napoleonic wars - dun dun dunnnnn. It's great.

I think what I like most about Persuasion is Anne herself. You're not meant to like Emma Woodhouse and although Lizzie Bennet is my number one girl she's not me. I'll never be as sharp and gutsy as Lizzie but I can really see myself in Anne. She's quiet and modest, unsure of herself but she knows what's right. She's not pretty but she's clever and she knows what she wants. I think people are scared of tackling classics but once you've got your head around Austen's language, I'm sure Persuasion is one you'll really enjoy.



Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner

Everyone knows that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but in this case I'm glad I did. I adore bookshop browsing but it's rare that I'll leave with something I know nothing about. Usually I buy based on recommendations from friends, bloggers and booksellers but cover alone sold me this (LOOK at it, it's gorgeous).

The Hotel du Lac is off the beaten track in Switzerland and is the part time home of a very eclectic group of people outside of the holiday season. Edith Hope, a romantic novelist, has been sent there by friends to stay until things simmer down at home, but the reader is kept wondering about what exactly Edith's done and why she's been exiled until late in the story. There are regular allusions to Virginia Woolf throughout the novel and it does have an air of Mrs Dalloway about it, both in the slightly dreamy writing style and in the mix of oddball characters.

I later found that Hotel du Lac won the Booker Prize in 1984 so take that as a recommendation if you don't trust mine. I'm looking forward to finding more of Brookner's work in 2017.




Non-Fiction

Until a few years ago, I almost exclusively read fiction. Reading (to me) meant made-up stories, but more recently I've found myself loving non-fiction books, be they biographies, essays, memoir or collaborations. Fiction remains my most read genre (is it a genre?) but of the 24 books I read this year, 8 were non-fiction, so that's an interesting shift. As well as my top five fiction reads I wanted to take the opportunity to chat about my two fave non-fic reads of the year: Ctrl Alt Delete and Love, Nina.

Ctrl Alt Delete: How I Grew Up Online by Emma Gannon

I have already expressed my love for Emma's work multiple times and I wrote a whole blog post in response to her book, but I'll do it again for good measure. Ctrl Alt Delete is Emma's memoir of growing up alongside the internet in the 1990s and beyond. It's full of funny anecdotes about the early days of social media and its very #relatable if you grew up in a similar time. She talks about careers, feminism, body image and friendship in the digital age and I can't recommend it enough. Also, listen to her podcast if you're not already, it's fab.

Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe

In Literary London in the 1980s, Nina Stibbe worked as a nanny and wrote home to her sister in Leicester - this book is a collection of those letters and it's so funny. She has such a distinct narrative voice and way of telling stories that I instantly fell in love with. I first watched the BBC adaptation earlier this year which was great but the book gives you so much more. The anecdotes about the children, the neighbours and Alan Bennett coming for dinner almost every night are both ridiculous and perfect.

This year I also fell in love with Bennett's The Lady in the Van (first in film form and later the original book) and I think Love, Nina really compliments it as both lived in the same street at the same time. I find the residents of 1980s Gloucester Crescent fascinating and given my time again I think I could have based my whole third year dissertation on the body of work that came out of it. "Laugh Out Loud Funny" is such an overused description but this book regularly had me in tears..of joy.

Poetry 

And finally, we come to poetry. I've never really been into poetry, and at school and university it was my least favourite to study because I didn't really get it. However, I do think we place too much emphasis on "getting it" and should just try and enjoy the words and rhythms. I don't know. Anyway, this year I have read and enjoyed two collections: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur and Search Party by George the Poet. I wouldn't say that either were my favourites of the whole year exactly but I have really enjoyed getting into poetry on the whole so here we are.

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Milk and Honey is a delicious mix of sparse wording and delicate illustration. It's very ~Instagram~ (I think that's where Kaur made her name) and is in parts painful and uplifting, as it explores themes of abuse, femininity, love and loss. It's nothing like the poems you read in school - try it.

Search Party by George the Poet

I first listened to Search Party as an audio book read by George, the aforementioned poet, and I think I really benefitted from hearing it aloud, as intended. This is a collection of political, socially conscious poems with obvious rap influence, about growing up young and black in Britain. George is wise beyond his years and, if you're not keen on reading poems, the audiobook acts as a great soundtrack to run to. Mmmmm, those rhythms.

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So there we are, my 2016 in books. My shelves are already full with more to read next year and I'm determined to get to my 30 books goals. I'm always up for book chat so send your recommendations my way and take mine on board if you like. May 2017 be a year of good books for you, and may I wish you Happy Reading.

(Also, I've just realised that eight of my nine books featured are by women writers. That was unintentional but pretty damn cool).