A fairly uneventful month – which is maybe better than the alternative. We went to see Project Hail Mary at the cinema, which was very entertaining and does kinda make me want to read the Andy Weir book. And we watched the film of The Thin Man – accompanied by martinis, of course – which is great fun and if anything makes more of the role of Asta the dog than the book did.

The garden is full of flowers and the park is full of wild garlic. Even my house plants are in flower, one of them after two years of no buds at all. That’s exciting.

This coming weekend is Easter, which I will as is now traditional spend mostly reading books and eating chocolate. Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

Books read

Peach Street to Lobster Lane: Coast to Coast in Search of Real American Cuisine by Felicity Cloake
I follow Felicity Cloake on Instagram, so I already knew many of her adventures travelling across America by bike and train in 2024. And then I went to her book tour last year and heard her talk about it. But I still thoroughly enjoyed the book. Unlike her European adventures, this did not make me want to follow her bike routes, as cycling in the US sounds terrifying for the most part. But the train journeys and much of the food sounds great.

Everywhere I Look by Helen Garner
This is a collection of Helen Garner’s articles, loosely grouped into themes. Some are personal, others are about court cases or books she’s read or films. All are insightful, using her sparse language to pick out the interesting details. Some are very dark – mostly the court cases.

The Velocipede Races by Emily June Street
Imagine a Regency romance novel, only set in a fantasy world where the main form of public entertainment is keirin bike racing – but only for men. Emmeline is desperately jealous of her twin brother, who is starting out in a keirin career. She secretly trains with him every chance she gets. But his heart isn’t in it. Can Emmeline get away with dressing as a man so she can secretly cycle? And will getting hurriedly married off to a rich gentleman turn out to be the worst thing that could happen, or the best? I thoroughly enjoyed this.

The Outsiders by S E Hinton
This 1967 classic was chosen by my book club. Told from the perspective of young teen Ponyboy, this is the story of two gangs in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ponyboy and his two older brothers are Greasers – working class tough kids who have little going for them aside from the sense of belonging the gang gives. Their rivals are the Socs – middle-class kids who can afford cars and can look forward to getting jobs after finishing high school. A series of violent encounters lead to Ponyboy going on the run and reaching some realisations about life. This is an enlightening, insightful novel.

Regions of Thick-Ribbed Ice by Helen Garner
This is really a chapbook, one long essay about Garner’s journey to the Antarctic. I would love to be able to make this journey, so it was at times hard to read Garner being grumpy about the discomforts, or about her fellow passengers taking lots of photos. But as always her writing won me over.

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
In 1345 in Mongol-controlled China, a girl already struggling with extreme hunger watches her father and brother die and sees only one way to survive: she must take her brother’s identity. As Zhu Chongba, she becomes first a monk and then a warrior. Her story is remarkable and compelling – or should I say their story, as Zhu’s gender identity shifts over the course of the story. This has a sequel that’s come out recently, which I’d definitely like to read.