Penance, Maki, sea grapes
A quick hello
Hello! from Hakone, Japan, where I’m writing this to you. I’m staying in a ryokan here and just had dinner, and have found myself with the first proper bit of time to spare that I’ve had for a couple of weeks! And I’ve been really wanting to get a newsletter out, although I haven’t done the radio show properly for a little bit, so I have no chatroom-generated tips to offer. Maybe not doing the show has contributed to my desire to write something - I’m so used now to chit chatting away about what I’ve been up to and sharing thoughts on the radio that maybe I’m more conditioned to do it than I used to be. Don’t want to think too deeply on whether or not that is a good thing!! I’ll just let it be neutral: as my old therapist would say, just notice the thought. Anyway - my friends and family are certainly sick of getting incessant updates and photos through from me from this trip either via text or my finsta - I guess travelling on your own also compels you to share stuff a little more, as you don’t have anyone to immediately chat to about it. I write that completely neutrally, by the way, no tiny violins are playing in my head as I sit alone on this tatami mat. Travelling on my own has been pure joy these last couple of weeks: if you’re umming and ahhing about doing it, or wanting to go somewhere solo but feeling a little daunted by the prospect, it might help you to know that I’ve had an absolute blast, and done everything I wanted to do. I think lockdown has made me a little bit conditioned to staying at home a lot (or at least increased my perception of how much I need to be at home), and I was apprehensive about being so far from London, my routine, my family. But it’s really been magic. I’ve done exactly what I want when I want, on my own schedule, at my own pace. Bliss!!
But this is NOT a travel blog. It is a recommendations newsletter, and boy do I have some recommendations because another excellent thing about eating 3 meals a day alone is you really become one with your kindle, so if you’re after
Something to read
I hoovered up Eliza Clark’s new book Penance - so so good - not out till July (I have a proofs plug hence the early access) but I’d definitely pre order it for a summer holiday read. I remember reading her other novel Boy Parts on the beach in Portugal a couple of years ago and loving it: very dark, gruesome, strange book, but weirdly great to read on holiday. Same with Penance although the novels are not similar: this one is the tale of a semi-cancelled true crime writer documenting a gruesome murder of a teenage girl in a run down English seaside town. It’s about a lot of things, primarily but not limited to the terrible ordeal of being a teenager, the breakdown and rebuilding of British identity over the last few years, and Tumblr, but I think everyone will take different things from it. As someone who had a pretty turbulent time at secondary school, I found the cruelty and pain of the teenage characters as they struggle to fit in at school to be the aspect of it I resonated with most, but also I was quite blown away by the structure of the novel: Clark writes in the voice of the true crime writer and it all goes a bit topsy turvy - I found it extremely compelling and though provoking. It’s also very very gruesome. Additionally I find the whole true crime craze / superiority complex of those who eschew it a fun topic: for me it is a must read!
I also LOVED Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton: brilliantly written, excellent story, also includes themes I love - gardening, New Zealand, covert operations - just a perfect book. Very astute, very funny, very good.
Couple of shorter things I have read and enjoyed recently: this piece about the drama of football and loving it / someone from Union J’s dramatic exit statement / Samatha Irby’s incredible newsletter which I cannot believe I didn’t read before / this piece about Grey’s Anatomy (a show which got me through a breakup… if you are in that position might I suggest you dive on in to the most absorbing ridiculous show ever and let it become your companion / Lindy West taking on the Whale, which I’m very late on but I was reading it because I watched the film on the plane, which leads me to
Something to watch
A list of things I watched on the plane to Melbourne / Tokyo:
M3GAN (finally, amazing, so happy I watched it, AW is so good, the Sia moment is perfect, 10/10 film)
The Whale (corny, gratuitous, sentimental to the point of nausea, like watching bad student theatre, still cried a lot at the end)
Decision to Leave (aesthetically wonderful, wish I’d seen at the cinema, surprising, devastating final scene)
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (I knew nothing about this film before watching it except for the cast, and now I am like ??? what’s the contemporary consensus on this movie??? This is when I need the NTS chatroom, which is full of film people - I did enjoy it, and again found it very aesthetically pleasing, in part due to the appearance of my beloved Julianne Moore who is also iconically in
Yellowjackets s2 - love this show so much, thankfully still good in the second series, music supervision continues to be good and Melanie Lynskey remains on top, also loved this piece about the show which had a great headline:
Other things I’ve watched and enjoyed: old CPTV video of legends (+ former legend Connor) doing FIFA card challenge / Love is Blind (I’m not hyperlinking this sorry) / Two live shows, one at The Curtin in Melbourne and one at 20000 Den-atsu in Tokyo - two brilliant venues if you’re ever in those cities!
Something to listen to
I spent a long time at a great shop called Organic Music with wonderful Chee Shimizu, who picked me out a load of brilliant Japanese records. I NEVER record shop at home any more and it was really good to do it again. Got loads of stuff by Lily, including this good seven inch / an amazing live version of this album by Maki / iconic Yukihiro Takahashi album Poisson D'Avril which should be on streaming, plus a load more I’m gonna save for the radio. Other stuff I’ve been listening to: song of the year so far for me by Blanco / this perfect album by Lives of Angels, fave track is Imperial Motors / the Verve debut album a Storm in Heaven / banger by GFX / nice new Maxine Funke / legendary Birmingham artist Higher Intelligence Agency who played live after me at the festival in Melbourne - he was sooo good.
OK - gonna wrap it there because I want to watch the Arsenal game - I’ll do a proper dispatch of listener recs in a couple weeks when I’m back home. No recipes this time as I have not cooked in a while, but here are some things I have eaten on my trip. Food has been off the chart!!!!
<3 Til next time xxx sorry its a quickie x
The sammachis in Lawson be hittin different though
Haha - Lawson vs 7/11. I lived there nearly 10 years and I swear I was addicted to vending machine ice coffee…. Cafe au Lait. Disgustingly unhealthy but tasted oh so good ^.^