Rich assholes and bad book luck.
What I'm reading, watching and listening to this week.
Welcome to another end-of-the-week check in where I share the things that brought me joy this week. Sorry I missed last week’s post, I was very ill and couch-bound for 8 days. Super boring but I’m better now! No weekly vlog today I’m afraid and I’ve been focusing my energy on getting better.
Joy List:
Currently Watching: Painkiller
The causes and consequences of America's opioid epidemic unfold in this drama following its perpetrators, victims and an investigator seeking the truth.
This limited series was so good! The series focuses on the opioid epidemic in America via a fictionalised telling of the stories of real people and how they were affected. With an emphasis on Purdue Pharma (big pharma company owned by Richard Sackler) Painkiller offers a devastating and shocking look into the opioid crisis and essentially how fucked up the American drug/health/justice system is.
This series was very insightful but it will make you so damn angry at the rich assholes that put profit above people.
Themes: substance abuse | addiction | grief | death
Currently reading:
The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
I have read Kindred and Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler and I loved them so much. The Parable of the Sower has been on my TBR bookshelf for MONTHS and so I finally decided to pick it up.
I struggled to get into it at the start as it was mentioning God a lot and I seem to have a bit of an aversion to overly religious stories but I’m glad I’ve stuck with it because I’m 100 or so pages in now and I’m starting to understand it a bit more.
The book was written in 1993 and is a speculative novel set in a post-apocalyptic Earth that was heavily affected by climate change and social inequality. The book is set in the years 2024-2027 and follows the story of a young girl - Lauren - who can feel others pain (hyper-empathy) and is trying to navigate this unravelling world via faith.
I really feel like I haven’t been having the best luck with my reads at the moment. I have read some seriously questionable and unenjoyable reads this month but I can’t be too mad about it because the rest of the year I’ve been pretty lucky.
I DNF’d Weirdo by Sara Pascoe
I really wanted to like this book but it just wasn’t doing it for me. I can see what the author was trying to do with the whole ‘quirky female lead’ thing but every single character in this book was just an awful person and completely insufferable. I know we’re not always meant to like every character but it’s hard to enjoy a book when you don’t care what happens to anyone in it. Others may love this one but it wasn’t for me.
I read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and hated it
**spoiler alert**
I feel like this is one of those books you’re supposed to say you like because of the deeper hidden meaning (of loneliness or isolation or whatever) and because it’s a ‘classic’ but it just didn’t do it for me.
A man got up for work one day and turned into a bug…his family kept him in a room and were disgusted by him…then he died and they got their spare room back…I felt nothing.
Currently listening to:
I have put The Little Friend by Donna Tartt on hold.
I was struggling to concentrate on this audiobook so I’ve shelved it for now but will definitely come back to it at a later date.
The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig
I only just started listening to this yesterday so not all that far in but I love Matt Haig’s work so I have high hopes!
Currently Loving:
Apple by Charli XCX (how could you not?)
Napping lol (chronic illness life)
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Outfit of the week:
