Luggage & Scribble

What to read this Autumn – Four book recommendations

It’s cold, wet and miserable out there this weekend, so get yourself tucked up under a blanket with one of these novels and enjoy escaping the world for a few hours.

A Slow Fire Burning, by Paula Hawkins

Paula Hawkins writes great thrillers. Her books are always engrossing, surprising, and contain a slew of deeply untrustworthy characters we don’t know if we should pity or dislike. A Slow Fire Burning is no different. A man is found dead on a houseboat. A woman leaves the scene of the crime with blood on her clothes but was she the killer?

The story is told through four different narratives which Hawkins expertly intertwines giving away snippets of what may be clues and what may be red herrings, as the characters of Laura, Miriam, Carla and Irene end up twisted and tangled together as years of grief, anger and loneliness come to the surface.

On her way to the bedroom, she stepped on her jacket, which she’d dropped in the hallway in her rush to get to the bathroom. She bent down and picked it up. The sleeve was torn, Daniel’s watch still in the pocket. She took the watch out, turned it over, slipped on to her wrist. The toilet paper around her forearm bloomed scarlet, her limb throbbing gently as the blood pulsed out of her. Her head swam. In the bathroom, she dropped the watch into the sink, tore off the paper, dropped the towel on the floor. Climbed back under the shower.
Using a pair of scissors to scrape beneath her fingernails, she watched the water running rosy at her feet. She closed her eyes. She listened to Daniel’s voice asking, What is wrong with you? ….and to her own. Set fire to things. Set fire. Set fire set fire set fire.
A Slow Fire Burning, by Paula Hawkins

The Glass Woman, by Caroline Lea

To be enjoyed as the days get shorter and the nights get darker, this is a ghostly and eery novel full of twists and turns. Set in Iceland in 1686, Rósa leaves her ill mother to join her new husband Jón in his home village of Stykkishólmur in the hope that he will share his riches with the family she left behind. But when she arrives in her new village, Rósa finds the inhabitants wary of her and Jón who’s first wife, she discovers, died suddenly in the night and he buried her, alone, before morning the next day.

‘May I look – briefly?’
His face is hard, as if she has asked something indecent. ‘It holds my farm papers and other private things of no interest to a woman.’
‘Pabbi taught me to read and write. Perhaps I may help you – and I have never seen a loft.’ She smiles expectantly, then turns to the ladder.
‘Stop!’
She freezes.
He scratches his dark beard, then says, more softly, ‘The Bible tells us that wives are subject to their husbands.’
The Glass Woman, Caroline Lea

This story, sprinkled through with Icelandic words and references to Sagas and mythical creatures, is perfect for the run up to Halloween.

Early Morning Riser, by Katherine Heiny

This is a warm and gentle novel guaranteed to brighten up even the soggiest of days. It follows Jane’s life after she moves to Boyne City in Michigan. There she meets Duncan and a whole host of interesting and quirky characters, such as Aggie (Duncan’s ex-wife) and her rather particular husband Gary who doesn’t eat: “eggplant, hummus, pine nuts, peppercorns, artichokes, bowtie pasta, American cheese, capers, paprika, anchovies, anything labelled ‘artisanal’, and every single member of the parsley family, including carrots.” She also meets Jimmy who works with Duncan, and who becomes a huge part of her following the death of his mother.

Duncan talked a lot. He told Jane that she should buy eggs from the farmers’ market, and that she should never order the clam chowder at Robert’s Restaurant, and that the dentist had a drinking problem but morning appointments were generally okay, and that Bradley Reed up on the corner had a tendency to watch folks with his binoculars if they left their window shades up, and that the olive burger at the Boyne River Inn couldn’t be beat…
Early Morning Riser, by Katherine Heiny

It will make you smile to read about Jane’s small town life that becomes increasingly chaotic as she tries to care for those around her and look for happiness.

Perfect for sofa days with a hot chocolate.

Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

Get lost in an entirely different world with this novel. Piranesi explores the great Halls of his own World determined to “travel as much of the World as (he) can in (his) lifetime;” so far he has reached the “Nine-Hundred-and-Sixtieth Hall to the West, the Eight-Hundred-and-Ninetieth Hall to the North and the Seven-Hundred-and-Sixty-Eighth Hall to the South.” On the level above him are the clouds and birds, and on the level below are the waves and tides. Piranesi lives in the World alone except for “the Other.”

When Piranesi, sensing that someone new has found there way into the Halls, starts to understand that he is in increasing danger, he goes through back old journals he has used to document his travels and searches the Halls for clues to put together what may have gone before.

And you. Who are you? Who is it that I am writing for? Are You a traveller who has cheated Tides and crossed Broken Floors and Derelict Stairs to reach these Halls? Or are You perhaps someone who inhabits my own Halls long after I am dead?
Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

It is an unusual story, both unsettling and enthralling. To find out more about this book and who the real Piranesi was, here’s a link to the post I wrote about it: https://luggageandscribble.travel.blog/2021/09/07/book-review-piranesi-by-susanna-clarke/

I hope you have found something you like the sound of in this post – I would love to hear from you if you try any of these stories! What have you been reading to get you in the mood for Autumn?

If you only read one more book this year, make it this one…

The storm comes in like a finger snap. That’s how they’ll speak in the months and years after, when it stops being only an ache behind their eyes and a crushing at the base of their throats. When it finally fits into their stories. Even then, it doesn’t tell how it actually was. There are ways words fall down: they give shape too easily, carelessly. And there was no grace, no ease to what Maren saw.
The Mercies

The Mercies, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, is a stunning and thoroughly engrossing story that will have you glued to it to find out what will happen next.

Maren lives on the tiny Norwegian island of Vardø. It is Christmas Eve, 1617, and all forty of the grown men in the village have gone fishing when a storm suddenly hits and they all drown. The women left ashore have to find ways to survive through their mourning in this harsh environment. Questions over why the storm occurred begin to surface: was it an act of God or did something evil summon it? Families begin to fallout and it is not long before divisions over how they should go forward start to appear.

Elsewhere in Norway, stories of an island of women begin to spread. Eighteen months pass in which the women manage to survive before a new Commissioner, Absalom Cornet, arrives. A man from Scotland, he has been highly praised for his work seeking out evil on remote islands, and he brings with him his new wife, Ursa.

Far from her home in Bergen, Ursa meets Maren and they form a deep bond of friendship as they realise the threat that Absalom poses to the women of Vardø. Threats of brutality and violence shadow every page as the women must now choose who’s side they are now on in order to stay safe. The book, which starts slowly as each day can be an age in the harsh Norwegian winter, soon escalates as it hurtles towards its shockingly violent conclusion.

The Mercies is a carefully crafted story with so much attention to detail; from the clothes they wore in the freezing cold of Vardø to the dinner parties in castles, to the food they ate, to the homes in which they dwelled, Kiran Millwood Hargrave so vividly paints a picture of what it was like to be there. Something that she describes so well, too, is the harshness of the weather and the sea, how it is a present danger there at all times. You get a real sense of the never ending darkness of winter and the cold that sinks into the bones.

Ursa often wonders what she would say to Agnete, were she here. She doesn’t have the words for the confusion of it: the way her body has become something unhomed, how she has already learnt the way to wield silence like a weapon.
She withdraws again from Captain Leifsson, though he has been nothing but kind, even giving her a pouch of aniseed. She can trust nobody with her thoughts: fearful and limited though they are. Inside her, they are safe, a locked box stronger than her father’s cherrywood gift. She needs them, every word, to herself.
The Mercies

Each of the characters are so wonderfully described, also. From Ursa’a wide-eyed surprise at the sparseness of Vardø to Maren who is weather-beaten and grief-stricken but cannot stop working in case the weather changes and all is lost once again. I learnt so much about a period in Norway I knew nothing about and the indigenous people of the Sámi who were persecuted by King Christian at that time. I thought Hargrave’s note at the end of the book was particularly interesting: “This is a story about people, and how they lived; before why and how they died became what defined them.”

If you read one more story this year, make it this one. It is shocking, brutal, but also beautiful and hypnotising.

The book that broke my reading slump: The Lonely Fajita, by Abigail Mann

I’ve been struggling with settling down and getting stuck into a book recently. Maybe it’s the effect of going back to the office for the first time since March 2020, maybe it’s my current feeling of anxiety due to the state of the world, maybe it’s all down to Mercury being in retrograde, but I just haven’t been able to sit down and get lost in a story… That is until I picked up The Lonely Fajita by Abigail Mann, chosen purely because of its title and bright turquoise and pink cover, and which filled me with joy from first glance. This was exactly the story I needed to help me escape and Elissa was exactly the character I needed to help me laugh and release some anxiety.

I’ve come to accept that I am honestly and truly terrible at my job. Like, seriously bad. Until recently, I thought I’d naturally ‘come into my own’, like one of those women who gesticulate wildly in front of a flip chart with red nails and swishy fresh hair from the blow bar. I’ve had jobs where I’ve been decidedly average, like the bakery gig I had at university (I overstuffed the baguettes), or the two bar shifts I managed at the campus club (I self-diagnosed sleep deprivation and had to quit), but never wholly incompetent. Ironically, I’m not even earning a wage at this internship and it’s where I feel most out of my depth.
The Lonely Fajita

Elissa is 26 years-old, living in London and working as an intern doing the social media for an unsuccessful dating-app called Lovr. She lives with her boyfriend in a flat along with other flatmates who leave each other post-it notes regarding the strict times the heating is allowed to be switched on so passive-aggressive in tone it made me glad to no longer have to live with other people. She has no money, no family close by, and only a couple of friends who are also busy with their own lives: Elissa is lonely and struggling. And then her boyfriend leaves to go to South-East Asia and, as he was the rent-payer, Elissa is forced to look for other accommodation.

Then Elissa sees an advert to join the ElderCare Companionship Scheme, asking volunteers to move in with elderly members of the community to offer them friendship and help in the home. She applies on the basis that it offers low-cost accommodation and Annie, her new companion, soon proves to be far from the dodderingly infirm old woman that Elissa thinks she will be.

This book is a tender but also a laugh-out-loud funny look at loneliness and finding your identity in what feels to be an already overcrowded market. I loved the story of Elissa and Annie, how good they are for each other and the influence Annie has on Elissa’s life and work. Annie even inspires a new marketing campaign from Elissa to try and get Lovr back up in the ratings.

I think the book was also an accurate portrayal of how it must be living in London sometimes when you’re struggling for money and getting nowhere in your career. It also made some timely points about how dangerous it can feel to be a woman in a big city, too.

Since then, I’d half-heartedly thought about jogging in the evenings, but as it got darker, the chance of being attacked in the park increased, so I settled for a speed-walk to the tube as my primary form of exercise…
I wriggle into my Lycra leggings, roll a pair of patterned socks down to the ankle, and twist my mass of hair into something resembling a bun with an elastic band. I stretch in the corridor (I’m not quite ready to perform a lunge in public) and bolt out of the door with one earphone in (just like the internet told me to do) so I can listen for the footsteps of a potential attacker.
The Lonely Fajita

But this is a warm, gloriously funny story that was a pleasure to sink into and read and, as I could see the number of pages left to go growing thinner towards the end of the book, I was so sad to say goodbye to these wonderful characters. I implore Abigail Mann to write a sequel because I would love to know what Annie and Elissa get up to next!

What books have you been reading recently? What do you recommend to read to get out of a reading slump?

Travelling in Scotland: What to do on a day out at Loch Ness and Fort Augustus

I had so much fun on this day out back in August driving round Loch Ness and seeing the sights close by. Even if the weather was a little overcast, the chance of seeing a monster more than made up for it.

I started the day off by travelling to Fort Augustus via Castle Eilean Donan which, if you have the chance to go and look at, is well worth seeing as it stands so proud and dramatic. Then it was on to Loch Ness.

I highly recommend going on the Loch Ness cruise to learn about what is going on in those deep dark waters (the answer is no one really knows because it is, well, so dark and so deep). My recommendation is to sit at the back on the right-hand side of the boat so that when it turns to go back to Fort Augustus, you get a fantastic shot of the Loch going on into the distance.

Loch Ness is around 23 miles long and goes up to 240 metres deep in some parts and the water is that colour because of all the peat in there. The boat crew show you some of the sonar pictures they have taken on past cruises including some images of some very large fish (they say it’s a sturgeon, we all know what it really is) that live in its depths. Also, look out for wild goats up in the hills as you pass by.

Another fun fact is that if you were to fall in you would have approximately ten minutes before you would die due to how cold the water is.

After the cruise, I recommend lunch at the Caledonian Canal Heritage Centre mainly because when I went I sat in the conservatory behind the shop and the seats had warmed up in the sun, and after the very cold boat, it was like having a heated seat for my bum. Lovely!

After lunch take a quick walk around cute little Fort Augustus: there isn’t much to see but if you are lucky you will get to see the lock gates open for a boat. Fort Augustus is sat on the Caledonian Canal (which runs from Inverness to Fort William) and has a row of six canal locks that open and shut as when a boat needs to pass through. I was only there for an hour and saw a whole range of boats all slowly making their way down through the locks to Loch Ness.

Once you have had your fill at Fort Augustus, head off to spend the afternoon at Urquhart Castle which is very striking in its position next to Loch Ness. The ruins are evocatively sparse but you can see the Grant Tower, prison cells and remains of the Great Hall. There is over 1000 years of history to learn about here at the castle including its role in the Jacobite rising and some of the famous prisoners it has held in its depths.

Enjoy!

Malibu Rising, by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Fame and fortune, and everything going up in flames (Book Review)

The Malibu fire of 1983 started not in the dry hills but on the coastline.
It began at 28150 Cliffside Drive on Saturday, August 27 – at the home of Nina Riva – during one of the most notorious parties in Los Angeles history.
The annual party grew wildly out of control sometime around midnight.
By 7:00AM., the coastline of Malibu was engulfed in flames.
Because, just as it is in Malibu’s nature to burn, so was it in one particular person’s nature to set fire and walk away.
Malibu Rising

The book is set over one day: the lead up to the party at Nina Riva’s house. The party. A party that anyone can go to, so long as you are cool enough to know the address. But this year, the guests seem more excited about the party than the family who are hosting it. As the day progresses, we learn about each member of the family: from Nina and her collapsing marriage, to her siblings Jay, Hud and Kit, who each have their own secrets that need to be told.

I really enjoyed getting to know the Riva family who are all complex characters with lots to tell. I also thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being transported away to Malibu and it even made me want to get out on a surfboard to try and catch some waves (I doubt I would have any grace or poise out there but I would give it a solid effort). As the night wears on, and the party becomes more and more out of control, a sense of foreboding shadows each page and I think Taylor Jenkins Reid did such a good job of slowly but surely raising the tension as the book progresses.

One of the other things I love about Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing is how she creates such rich backstories for each of her characters, even if they are only the book for a couple of pages. I loved learning about certain members of the party and how they ended up there. Everyone has secrets or things they are trying to overcompensate for, and some people just want to be in the centre of trouble.

The book is also interspersed with the story of how their parents, Mick and June, met. Mick swept June off her feet and promised her a life away from the restaurant her parents owned. He manages to break through and become a world-famous musician but at the cost of his marriage. It was heart-breaking to read about June and what she goes through in order to look after her children.

The book is filled with salt air, sandy skin and losing track of time in the waves. From the first time they find a surfboard on the beach and go home dreaming about the sensations the waves gave them, the Riva kids are a family of surfers who each feel an affinity with the ocean.

June knew that her children had found a previously undiscovered part of themselves that day. She knew that childhood is made up of days magnificent and mundane. And this had been a magnificent day for them.
Malibu Rising

I always gobble up books by Taylor Jenkins Reid – they have such an addictive quality to them. This one was no different: we find out early on about the fire that starts at the party and it is a race to find out how. I also enjoyed the exploration fame and its impact, as well as the history of Malibu and finding out how it became the place it is today.

It’s the next best thing to sitting on the beach with your toes in the sand: a great book to read when it is miserable and damp and you need whisking away in your imagination.

Ariadne, by Jennifer Saint: A Story of Blood and Wine (Book Review)

I didn’t know much about men; between Minos, the Minotaur and now Cinyras, I hadn’t wanted to learn. Or so I thought, until I caught the gaze of a handsome hostage and on the strength of that glance, let the fire he ignited within me burn down everything I knew.
Ariadne

Ariadne is a Princess of Crete, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, sister of Phaedra and Asterion (which means ‘star’ but he is more commonly known as the Minotaur). As she grows up, Ariadne hears of what happens to the mortals who displease the gods and goddesses, especially women who seem to be punished for the crimes of men. But when she sees the effect of the birth of Asterion on her mother, and the creature he grows up to be, she knows she has to betray her father and help the person who has come to free the world of the Minotaur. Theseus arrives with his club and she provides him with the assistance he needs to kill it. Ariadne then leaves Crete with Theseus, believing he is taking her home to Athens to be his wife. People who know the myth will know what happens to her next: I did not know the story and so don’t wish to say anymore because it had me gasping in surprise.

Asterion. A distant light in an infinity of darkness. A raging fire if you came too close. A guide that would lead my family on the path to immortality. A divine vengeance upon us all. I did not know then what he would become. But my mother held him and nursed him and named him and he knew us both. He was not yet the Minotaur. He was just a baby. He was my brother.
Ariadne

I know very little about Classics or Greek mythology (I always say I would love to learn more about them but then never find the time), and I was worried that I would miss names or references while I was reading Ariadne, but I didn’t and not knowing how to pronounce certain names (I’m glad no one could hear me attempt some of them!) certainly didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the book.

It is described in the blurb as a “feminist literary retelling” of the myth, and when I googled Ariadne after I had finished reading I was met with paintings of her asleep while a certain God looks on at her: she does seem to be famous for her hair. So I am glad that she has had her story told, and told so well! The book had me gripped and I experienced so many emotions reading it! The book also follows Phaedra and her life following the death of the Minotaur and her storyline was just as compelling to read.

The world felt poised, suspended in a perfect balance between night and day, and I felt as though I stood on the very cusp of something momentous. The day that this sun heralded would be the end of the life I had led so far. What it would start, I couldn’t imagine. I couldn’t pin down the fluttery dreams the wreathed around me. It would be exciting, it would be different, that I knew. But that was all.
Ariadne

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read about two strong women battling against the world. I would also recommend it to anyone who wants to be transported away from this world (although so many of the themes still ring true in modern life). I would say I recommend that it be read with a large glass (goblet?) of red wine, but I’m not so sure about that….

Sheffield with Friends and Cocktails

Being from Leeds I have always felt there is a bit of a rivalry between South and West Yorkshire and, as a result, I haven’t frequented Sheffield that often. However, my friend has recently moved there to start a Masters course at the University and so, on Saturday we piled on a train to go over and see her. I have to say I was so surprised by how much I loved Sheffield and how much fun we had.

First of all, Sheffield is very easy to get to by train and it is actually quite nice to walk around and look at! There are water features everywhere – as soon as you step out of the train station there is a wall of water to greet you, but elsewhere in the city there are water globes, water fountains, paddling pools, Perspex boxes filled to the brim that light up at night… all sorts. Also, there is so much greenery including the Winter Garden which is like a tropical arcade filled with plants.

On Saturday we were blessed with so much sunshine which complimented the outdoor market which happened to be running. With so many food stalls to choose from including wood-fired pizza, Indian street food and so many bakery stalls, as well as cocktails… There was also some unusual live entertainment including Elton John on a mobile piano shooting his way in between all the stalls.

We spent a lot of time at the festival enjoying the sun and the food (I had a fantastic cinnamon roll from a Russian Bakery stand) and later in the afternoon we went to a couple of other bars but we were spoilt for choice on where to go. It was also recommended that we go to Kommune in the evening which is like a grown up food hall with all kinds of different vendors as well as a bar and live DJ.

It was so good to see friends and so good to see somewhere new. I feel bad that this post doesn’t have many photos to go with it, but I was just having too much of a good time with my friends to stop and take many.

So, I am sorry to Sheffield for ever doubting that you had so much to offer. As the home of Alex Turner and the Arctic Monkeys, I should have always known better. I can’t wait to go back and explore some more (and take some pictures)!

Who am I? (Without wanting to sound too existential) Part 2.

This is my 50th blog post! I am super proud that I have stuck with the regular posts and that people are reading them. I thought for my 50th blog post I would write a little more about me and who I am so you can all get to know me more. So, here are 50 things about me, starting with….

Five places on my wanderlust list:

Stockholm – Ben (my partner) and I were meant to go back in 2020 but obviously couldn’t. So, we are booked on flights next year! If anyone has any recommendations of what to do in Stockholm in February, please do let me know!
Bilbao – again another 2020 trip that was cancelled. Mainly to get a picture with the giant spider outside of the Guggenheim but also to try some of the world-famous food
Kenya and Uganda – to go and see a completely different part of the world and to see the gorillas
Tasmania – I have family here who I’ve not had the chance to meet so I would love to go and see them. Also, Tasmania looks crazy scenic so I wouldn’t mind going on a few hikes while I was there…
The Pacific North-West – Portland and Seattle, baby!

Five books on my bedside table:

The Mercies, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. Bought partly because of it’s gorgeous edges, this novel sounds completely different to what I have been reading: it’s set in 1617 on a remote Norwegian island inhabited by women, when a man is sent to “bring the women of the island to heel.” Tell me you are not intrigued?

The Wolf Den, by Elodie Harper. Amara is a slave in a brothel in Pompei in AD74 (I’m hooked already), she is trying to fight for her freedom, but at what cost? Love the sound of this book! Also, it says it is perfect for fans of Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls and Madeline Miller’s Circe, which I most certainly am.
Olive, by Emma Gannon. This book follows Olive as she reaches the point in her life where her friends start to get married and start their own families, and she is questioning her own choices. I love books like this that explore a life for women other than the marriage and babies path.
Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner. I was listening to my favourite podcast Women Who Travel, and they interviewed Michelle about her upcoming book. The more I listened, the more I wanted to read it! It sounds like it will encompass two of my favourite things, food and travel, as Michelle explores her Korean heritage.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I loved, loved, loved Daisy Jones and the Six and Malibu Rising so I can’t wait to see what is in store for me with this novel.

I have lots of other books on my TBR pile and I cannot promise that these will be the next five I read as I have tendency to be distracted and pick my next read based on my mood. Also, Lauren Groff’s new book Matrix has just landed through my letterbox and I may not be able to wait to start reading that…

Five things I’ve learnt about blogging:

If you feel stuck for ideas, start typing about anything and inspiration will usually come
Try and stick to a schedule – it does help you keep focussed and writing
Don’t obsess over the statistics! Do it for you!
Someone commenting that they like your post is a truly lovely feeling
Be brave and say hi to people and tell them you like their blog – be social and read around.

Five of my favourite places in Yorkshire:

Yorkshire is, obviously, the most beautiful place in the world as well as being my home county. It’s got gorgeous views, great food and wonderful people. It was hard to narrow it down to five things but here goes:

Bolton Abbey

Malham – incredible views of Yorkshire countryside from the limestone pavement

Bettys Tearoom (in York or Harrogate, in particular)

Leeds! There are so many good restaurants in Leeds (Thai Aroy Dee is my favourite), go eat and then go for a wander by the canal.

The Waterstones in Bradford – oh so beautiful!

Five things I want to achieve by the end of the year:

Attend all of my Yoga Teacher Training sessions and have fun learning about yoga, anatomy and how to be a good teacher
Finally get up into a headstand pose
Keep up my regular blog posts
Get up to 100 followers on my blog!
Get on a plane and go abroad for the first time in two years

Five TV shows I’m loving right now:

Ted Lasso – Jason Sudeikis plays an American football coach who comes to Richmond FC and it is just pure feel-good tv. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry, it’ll make you laugh again.
Parts Unknown – I am still very slowly making my way through all the episodes on Netflix and I am thoroughly enjoying Anthony Bourdain’s commentary on all the different parts of the world he visits.
The Great British Bake Off – new series! Anyone else think Noel, Matt, Paul and Prue should start a country band immediately after the opening of the first episode?!
Vigil – anything with Suranne Jones in is always good but this one is a drama on a submarine which makes it even better.
Wanda Vision – I have no idea what is going on, but I love it.

Five books I love and would recommend to everyone:

The Miniaturist, by Jessie Burton. I fell in love with this book from the first page and have loved Jessie Burton’s writing ever since.

The funeral is supposed to be a quiet affair, for the deceased had no friends. but words are water in Amsterdam, they flood your ears and set the rot, and the church’s east corner is crowded.
The Miniaturist

Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi. This book starts with two sisters: one is sold into slavery, and the other becomes a slave trader’s wife. We follow them and their families down through the generations in Africa and America, each chapter a new character and time period. I loved this book for the history as well as some unforgettable voices.
The Stranding, by Kate Sawyer. What happens when you survive the end of the world by hiding a whale’s mouth? I found this book so moving and tender, I really wasn’t ready to stop reading about Ruth when it ended.
Miss Benson’s Beetle, by Rachel Joyce. This book is pure joy from start to finish and will take you on an adventure to New Caledonia in the 1950s to search for an undiscovered beetle.
Last One at the Party, by Bethany Clift. Another end of the world novel, this one is very funny and, to be honest, is now my manual for what I will do if and when a global disease wipes out the rest of humanity…

If I could invite anyone (dead or alive) to a dinner party, this would be my five-person guest list:

Anthony Bourdain
Graham Norton
Jessie Burton
My friend Isobel, who I haven’t seen since before March 2020
Yogi Bryan (check out his insta for all yoga related laughs)

Five podcasts I love:

Women Who Travel – amazing hosts and guests, this does what it says on the tin and discusses women who travel!
Happy Place with Fearne Cotton – this podcast will lift your mood. Fearne has loads of great guests on discussing mental health and things they do to promote it and find happiness.
Write Off with Francesca Steele – good for anybody who likes books or writing, Francesca interviews authors such as Meg Mason and Katherine Heiny about rejection in writing, determination to continue, and finding inspiration
Why Won’t You Date Me? With Nicole Byer – this podcast is hilarious and not at all safe for work.
Power Hour with Adrienne Herbert – I credit this podcast with giving me the boost to get on and start a blog instead of procrastinating about it forever

Five non-fiction books I love:

Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai, by Nina Mingya Powles. A beautifully written collection of essays about belonging and discovering yourself. Also contains some glorious descriptions of food, do not read on an empty stomach.
A Half-Baked Idea, by Olivia Potts. About turning grief into hope: when her mother suddenly dies, Olivia quits her job as a lawyer to re-train at Le Cordon Bleu. Also contains some glorious descriptions of food, do not read on an empty stomach.
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert. I found this exploration of creativity and inspiration so, well, inspiring. I love Elizabeth’s writing and reading about her process of writing is just as interesting.
An A-Z of Pasta: Stories, Shapes, Sauces, Recipes, by Rachel Roddy. I love dipping in and out of this book to learn more about different pasta shapes – where they originated from, what goes best with them. It’s just like a big bowl of pasta: delicious, comforting and soul-enriching.

For Italians, pasta is more than just a food, it is a symbol, a flag, a way of life and culture. It is a universe with many galaxies, the gravitational pull of passion and opinion, the occasional black hole, and a constellation of stars (recipes).
An A-Z of Pasta

World Travel, by Anthony Bourdain with Laurie Woolever. From Argentina to Vietnam, this book covers Bourdain’s reflections on each country, what to expect, what to do and, of course, what to eat. It’s a practical guide with his signature curiosity and humour. Written after his death, Laurie Woolever pulls together Bourdain’s quotes about each place and from people who knew him best.

Hopefully you know me a little better now! I would love to know more about you so please do say hi in the comments below! If you want to read some more, I have put links below to some of the books or places mentioned in this post for you to read on:

Book reviews:

Miss Benson’s Beetle, by Rachel Joyce: https://luggageandscribble.travel.blog/2021/06/18/book-review-miss-bensons-beetle-by-rachel-joyce/

The Stranding, by Kate Sawyer: https://luggageandscribble.travel.blog/2021/08/24/book-review-the-stranding-by-kate-sawyer/

Last One at the Party, by Bethany Clift: https://luggageandscribble.travel.blog/2021/05/01/book-review-last-one-at-the-party-by-bethany-clift/

A Half-Baked Idea, by Olivia Potts: https://luggageandscribble.travel.blog/2021/05/18/book-review-a-half-baked-idea-by-olivia-potts/

Travel:

Women Who Travel and Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert: https://luggageandscribble.travel.blog/2021/06/16/two-month-review-women-who-travel/

York: https://luggageandscribble.travel.blog/2021/07/06/york-part-1/

Laos and Parts Unknown: https://luggageandscribble.travel.blog/2021/05/25/laos-and-parts-unknown/

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth, by Matson Taylor: a right good Yorkshire Fairy-tale (Book Review)

In this book we follow 16-year-old Evie as she finds herself at a crossroads in life, deciding what it is she wants to do next and what kind of Woman she wants to be. It’s 1962 and the world away from her father’s farm in East Yorkshire is calling to her. But Evie is a damsel in distress: her family home and her relationship with her father is threatened by her soon to be wicked step-mother, Christine. Evie turns to her next-door neighbour Mrs Scott-Pym for help and rescue soon arrives behind the wheel of a bright red Mini.

‘Oh, Cinderella,’ says Christine, coming over to the sink. ‘Don’t worry, one day you shall go to the ball!’ She laughs, clearly very pleased with her joke. ‘But not tonight. You’d love bingo, though. Number three, cup of tea,’ she shouts, going all theatrical. ‘Sweet sixteen, never been kissed. Forty four, droopy drawers. See, it’s made for you.’ She crosses her arms, smirking. ‘It’s all part of growing up and becoming a woman, you know.’
Not to me it isn’t. I can’t think of anything worse than sitting in a room for two hours and competitively listening to numbers. Is this what lies ahead of me? There must be more to being a Woman than Wednesday night bingo.
The Miseducation of Evie Epworth

To say the book starts with an incident of bestiality, it is very uplifting and joyful, and Evie’s comments and observations had me chuckling from start to finish. Her descriptions of people are particularly funny, including one character who is likened to “a leaking barrel of questions” and another who is the human version of a sausage roll.

As a Yorkshire lass myself I also love any book that refers to my county’s finest things including Bettys Tearoom (a Yorkshire institution), Fat Rascals (the greatest treat there is), as well as shopping trips to Leeds (the Corn Exchange! The Headrow!). Each of the characters have such strong Yorkshire-ways, from Vera and Mrs Swithenbank to Evie’s dad Arthur, it is packed full of Yorkshire charm.

The book also tells the story of Arthur and Evie’s mum, and we slowly learn the tragic story of what happened to Diana; her death being one of the most shocking moments in the book.

Reading about Matson Taylor in the author’s biography, it mentions that he works as a design historian and academic writing tutor at the V&A, Imperial College and the Royal College of Art where he writes about “beaded flapper dresses and Second World War glow-in-the-dark fascinators” (never have I been more jealous of someone’s job), and reading the book there are some wonderful descriptions of clothes. From Christine’s obsession with pink (“the colour palette of a box of fondant fancies”) to another character’s chic caramel-coloured skirt and blouse worn with “a thin belt on her tiny waist with a red-and-blue silk scarf neatly tied around her neck.” As Evie comments, this woman is glorious and “as out of place in our village as an Eskimo.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its loveable (and not so loveable but you love to hate them) characters, the references to the sixties (including those nice four boys from Liverpool), the clothes, and of course Evie herself. All with a little dollop of Yorkshire magic.

Travelling to Scotland: Five Day Itinerary for the Isles of Skye, Mull and Iona

Hot off the heels from my trip to the Inner Hebrides this summer, here is my suggested itinerary for the Isles of Mull, Iona and Skye. I had so much fun exploring this part of the world and it has left me eager to go back and explore more of the Scottish Isles.

I suggest staying for five nights: either two on Mull, one on Iona and then two on Skye; or three nights on Mull and two on Skye.

You will see plenty on this itinerary but obviously there is still so much to explore on these Isles (however, I always like to think that it’s good to leave something for ‘next time’)!

Isle of Mull

Day one: arrive on Mull (I suggest getting the ferry from Oban), I recommend staying in Tobermory because it is a gorgeous base for further exploration. The houses on the harbour are all colourfully painted and you will feel ten times more cheerful just for seeing them. There are plenty of lovely B&Bs right on the harbour front.

After your journey, I recommend a short walk round Tobermory followed by dinner at the Tobermory Inn for some fresh seafood cooked beautifully. Enjoy with a glass of local gin or whiskey.

Day two: start your day off with a drive out to Duart Castle to learn a bit about Scottish history. On the way there or back you can stop at the three boats for a scenic pic (legend has it the owner of the boats has had them there for decades, waiting to be restored, but nothing has happened yet!)

In the afternoon take in the sights of Tobermory if you didn’t have time to do so on your arrival day and walk out to the lighthouse for some beautiful scenery.

Finish the day with fish and chips, either from the van on the harbour or at Café Fish.

Isle of Iona

Day three: for anyone wondering, Iona is definitely worth visiting because it is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places in the world.

While you are on Iona, get the boat trip out to Staffa (maybe see the puffins depending on the time of year!), and see Fingal’s Cave and admire the beauty of this place.

Have Afternoon Tea at the Argyll Hotel for tea with a view.

Come to Iona to rest and be restored: but most of all, to enjoy the peace and quiet!

Isle of Skye

Day four: arrive in Portree from Iona or Mull. I recommend staying in Portree to enjoy some of Skye’s hustle and bustle.

Spend today exploring Skye: make sure you check out the Fairy Pools and the Fairy Glen where conical shaped hills are said to be the home of the fairies. See as well as the Quiraing, the Old Man of Storr and Kilt Rock for some stunning Scottish landscapes.

There’s so much to see and even if the weather is bad it just makes it more atmospheric! Although, if it is raining too much the access route to the Fairy Pools may be closed so be sure to check that out before you drive.

Day five: before you set off home, explore Portree. There are boat trips from the harbour or you can simply wander round and look at the shops. Café Arriba is colourful and fun and does some amazing lunches.

If you want to explore some of mainland Scotland before you go home, be sure to check out Oban for some local chocolate and then drive down to Loch Lomond for some beautiful water and the very pretty town of Luss.

I love this part of the world and I hope this post helps you plan your journey there!