The Write to Know #19
Recommendations, reviews, randoms and reads
Thought I’d treat you to a photo of me, mum and my brother back in - oooh, I’m going to say 1972 - enjoying the sunshine in our garden. Good to see that my ‘resting worried face’ has always been with me.
Why share this? Well, it’s been that kind of week and I’ve been looking back over the years recently - but not in a maudlin way.
Issues, the novel I’m writing, is set partly in the Nineties (and a touch of the Seventies and Eighties) and also present day. Because of that, I’ve been thinking a lot about a life that seems mostly like a dream to me now. I can barely remember my childhood these days but I’m pretty certain it happened.
It seems utterly hilarious to think that ‘the distant past’ for me now is the Eighties and Nineties, when for my parents it was the Fifties and Sixties - and to us children back then, the Sixties may as well have been the Dark Ages.
It’s so odd that one day you’re a kid, then a teen and a young person, and then life happens, and then some kind of time space continuum weirdness occurs, and the next minute, your elders are old and fragile, and your own body, once flexible and lithe, creaks like an old wardrobe.
Middle age may not be the most fun time; there’s just too much sickness and loss for that but it’s certainly more comfortable in terms of finding out who you are.
As Virginia Woolf said: “No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.”
So I think that given that life is finite, and that we are all going to end up creaking and groaning like the finest antique furniture, the best we can do is to honour who we are in this very moment.
To that end, I finally feel as if I’m getting somewhere in terms of becoming who I was always meant to be. I didn’t believe in myself for a long time. It stymied my progress in literally all areas of life. But now that I’ve stopped trying to please everyone else, it’s incredibly freeing.
I’m creating exactly what I want to create, and there’s no agenda other than get it finished. I just hope I can do it justice because I don’t know if anyone’s ever mentioned this before, but writing books is hard.
But less of this vaguely pernicious navel gazing, let’s crack on. Hopefully, there’s something for everyone here today.
And yes, I do think my brother is holding a packet of cigarettes in that photo but it was the Seventies. We didn’t wear seat belts, we played with matches and stuck our heads out of the car sun roof when our parents were driving - and yet, here we still are, in one piece (well, almost).
APPOINTMENT TELEVISION
It’s hard for any form of content to rise above the noise these days, especially ones that drive a serious conversation. Adolescence on Netflix did it recently but there’s a hidden gem on Prime Video that does the same and I enjoyed it so much, I watched it twice.
Group Therapy has a simple premise; bring six stand up comedians together to discuss their mental health issues. Comedians often process the more painful aspects of life through laughter but Group Therapy strips away humour as the driving force, so while the jokes come thick and fast, the artists open up on a completely unique and remarkable way.
Moderated with a light touch by Neil Patrick Harris, the show stars stands-ups Tig Notaro, Mike Birbiglia, Gary Gulman, London Hughes, Nicole Byer and Atsuko Okatsuka, who share their deeply personal - and often shocking - stories.
The issues they cover include racism, cancer, depression, infertility, grief, schizophrenia, body shaming, sleep-walking, bullying and anxiety.
I loved the informal setting, which is literally a room with chairs set in a circle and a small audience. It’s intimate, emotional, revealing - and yes, in parts, it’s also very funny.
But for me, it demonstrated just how important conversation is when it comes to processing the more troubling aspects of life. A shared experience doesn’t erase the experience but it can certainly makes it easier to bear.
Invite your friends and family over, and watch it together. There’s humour in healing, and I bet the conversation that follows will be as enlightening as it is uplifting.
TEN OUT OF TEN
All with new books out, you might want to read, or reread, previous Ten for TEN interviews with three impressively prolific and successful authors, Clare Swatman, Fiona Gibson and Claire Douglas.
Clare Swatman’s Five Things I Love About You, is out on April 24, while Fiona’s novel Full Nest, was published last month.
And Claire Douglas’s latest, The New Neighbours, is out now in hardback. I interviewed her last year, ahead of the release of The Wrong Sister, which then went on to become a Sunday Times bestseller, and the 9th bestselling book of 2024!
KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY
Looking for a meaty long read? Then look no further. This chunky extravaganza is spy related. Maybe it’s because the Cold War was the backdrop to my formative years but I do love a gripping tale of espionage, and this story of Peter Hermann, who was enlisted by his own KGB-spy father, Rudi, is absolutely fascinating.
Spoiler alert, their names change. A LOT. I do wonder what it would be like to suddenly be forced to drop your birth name. How do you morph into another identity overnight? Most spies sign up for this life but to actually live it on a day-to-day basis must be nerve-shredding.
Written by Shaun Walker, for The Guardian, this a studied look at the kind of family inheritance you’d be delighted to never receive, and adapted from Shaun’s book, The Illegals: Russia's Most Audacious Spies and the Plot to Infiltrate the West.
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION
Another obsession is Old Hollywood, so I was intrigued to read that Mariska Hargitay, who you may know as Olivia Benson, on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, is making a documentary, My Mom Jayne, about her mum, Jayne Mansfield.
The actresses legacy is one of contradiction and charisma: she was a brainy beauty, a loving mother, a sex symbol who controlled her own image and a showbiz pioneer, whose impact far outlived her short, sensational life.
Often compared to Marilyn Monroe, Jayne was one of the original ‘blonde bombshells’, known for her exaggerated hourglass figure, platinum hair and playful sex appeal. But behind the breathy voice was a woman who spoke five languages, played the violin and reportedly had an IQ of 163.
Though her film career was relatively short-lived - seek out 1956’s The Girl Can't Help It if you can because she’s simply captivating - her image has endured. Tragically, she died in a horrific car crash in 1967, at the age of 34.
Mariska will also direct the film. She was just three-years-old, and sitting in the back seat of the car, with her two brothers, when the accident happened.
Read more about the documentary here.
WHAT WENT WRONG
Speaking of old movies, my new favourite podcast is What Went Wrong, about the miracle it takes to make a movie, even bad ones.
Presented by Chris Winterbauer and Lizzie Bassett, and produced by David Boman (who I think is married to Lizzie), this fortnightly pod is the ultimate treat for cinephiles. I thought I knew a lot about movies but listening to this I realise I know nothing!
For example, this week, I learned that Simple Minds didn’t write Don’t You Forget About Me, the song that closes The Breakfast Club (that honour goes to Giorgio Morodor’s dummer Keith Forsey), and that Rick Moranis was the original Carl the janitor.
Do yourself a favour and check it out. And top tip, listen to the shows about movies you don’t even like or haven’t seen. You will be equally enthralled by the detail and lovely chemistry of the hosts.
RECS FROM PENNY
Author Penny Haw, who I interviewed recently, shared with me her reading recommendations; The Blue Sisters, and also The Trial of Mrs. Rhinelander, both look amazing and have found their way to my TBR pile. Side note: Coco Mellors is one of the best author names ever.
Penny says: I’ve been re-reading Jane Austen recently, because my next novel begins in Bath and is set during the Regency period. I’ve also just finished reading the advance copy of a novel called Happy is the One, by Katie Allen. It’s a highly original, uplifting contemporary novel will be published by Orenda Books, on May 22nd. Other books I’ve read and loved recently are The Paris Muse, by Louisa Treger, The Sky Beneath Us, by Fiona Valpy, Trespasses, by Louise Kennedy, The Blue Sisters, by Coco Mellors, The Kennedy Girl, by Julia Bryan Thomas, and The Trial of Mrs. Rhinelander, by Denny S. Bryce.
FACE TIME
You only have until May 18 to see The Face Magazine: Culture Shift exhibition, at the National Portrait Gallery.
This retrospective celebrates the iconic fashion photography and portraits that defined The Face, the trailblazing youth culture magazine that shaped British and global style from 1980 to 2004.
Famed for launching careers and defining trends, The Face gave early exposure to stars such Kate Moss - see her legendary 1992 Corinne Day cover above - and championed now-legendary photographers and stylists. With its fearless, experimental approach, it reimagined fashion imagery and captured the spirit of its time. Relaunched in 2019, the magazine continues to showcase bold, creative voices in photography, fashion, and music.
This exhibition features over 200 photographs by more than 80 photographers, including Sheila Rock, David Sims, and Sølve Sundsbø - many on display for the first time outside the magazine.
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
Thanks to Caroline from my irl writers group for giving me the heads up about the I Am In Print writing comp, which offers categories in almost ever genre (except comedy but I’ve got that covered - see below).
FUNNY WOMEN WHO WRITE
So fear not, funny women! The Comedy Women in Print comp is still open for submissions. Knock yourself out. Or should that be knock KNOCK yourself out? Arf! You’ve got until mid May. More here.
AND FINALLY…
Thanks to Mark Tungate for sending me Billy Wilder’s Top Ten Screenwriting Rules. Use the ones you like, ignore the others but remember, just be you. Life is finite, and there’s no time to lose.
Love the Billy Wilder Top Ten! Always great to hear from the greats!