Sapphic undertones & feminist retellings of fairytales...

Weekly vlog, joy list and book & TV recommendations

Jun 01, 2024

Hello you wonderful human, and welcome back to another end-of-the-week check in where I share the things that brought me joy this week.

A Week in my Life Vlog, featuring:

Special interest chat
Book mail
Medication update

Joy List:

Currently watching: Geek Girl

I only just started watching this last night but quickly binged 4 episodes (there are 10 in total) and loved it. The series is based on the book of the same name, written by Holly Smale. In the series Harriet Manners, autistic and dyspraxic teen, is scouted by a top model agency on a school trip to London Fashion Week. We follow her journey into the world of modelling but more importantly into accepting herself and her neurodivergent differences.

What I really love about this series is that the author herself is autistic and has dyspraxia and wrote the character, Harriet, before her diagnoses. She then retroactively described Harriet at having both neurodivergence’s as well. Yay for good representation!

Geek Girl Themes: friendship | bullying | modelling

Just finished: Killing Eve

I finished Killing Eve this week and I am devastated that it’s over. This 4-season thriller series will have you gripped at every twist and turn. Whilst the plot is laced with excitement, humour and action, it was the sapphic undertone that really made it for me.

Intrigue blossoms into obsession when a British spy pursues a playful, stylish and utterly ruthless assassin working for a mysterious organisation.

I loved it so much I’m thinking of rewatching it already…for the plot.

The plot:

Killing Eve Themes: betrayal | obsession | espionage | iconic women | LGBTQIA+

Currently reading: Coraline by Neil Gaiman

This was one of my favourite books when I was a kid and I have such fond memories of reading it, so I decided to get a copy and read it again as an adult. As mentioned in my weekly vlog I am buddy reading it with a friend - we are reading 2 chapters a day and then checking in with our thoughts and any notes.

The book is technically for children but that doesn’t stop it being creepy and honestly I don’t think there is anything wrong with reading YA or children’s books as an adult. Reading is reading!

Themes: home | courage | belonging | family | autistic coded characters

Also reading: The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Angela Carter has been on my ‘feminist writers I must read’ list for a long time, so I’m pleased to finally be starting The Bloody Chamber. The book is a collection of short stories - based on folklore and fairytales - published in 1979 and closely follows the storyline of traditional fairytale ‘BlueBeard’ 1. However, in contrast to typical fairytales where the ‘damsel in distress’ remains submissive and oppressed, Carter plays with this common trope in this retelling creating a piece of gothic fiction that shifts the narrative and allows us into the woman’s psyche.2

Currently listening to: Disability Visibility

An audiobook rather than a song this week (audiobooks still count as reading by the way!). Disability Visibility is a collection of essays written by disabled people are brought together by activist, Alice Wong. The book acts as a manifesto, powered by voices of disabled activists and advocates about how they are trying to survive and thrive in an ableist society.

I’m only a couple of chapters in but have already taken away some beautiful insights;

‘I challenge the extent to which we place the responsibility for advocacy on those designated as leaders or “champions.” Advocacy is not just a task for charismatic individuals or high profile community organizers. Advocacy is for all of us; advocacy is a way of life. It is a natural response to the injustices and inequality in the world’
- Ki’tay D. Davidson

‘Claiming a disabled identity brings risk as much as it brings pride’ - Alice Wong
‘Solidarity means active resistance to the status quo’ - Alice Wong

P.S. I listen to my audiobooks via an app called Borrow Box. It means I can listen to an array of audio books from my local library, for free, all via my phone. This is in no way sponsored (lol, I wish) but I just thought it was a cool app that not many people know about. They also have a collection of eBooks and newspapers/magazines you can borrow.

Currently loving:

Walks with Harold - particularly where there are trees and greenery: it soothe my soul.
Tulips - these are my favourite flowers. They’re so beautiful and delicate: the embodiment of Spring in my mind.
Reading on my velvet green sofa in my office that I turned into my hobby room (it gets the most amazing sunlight in the mornings).
Walk with Harold in the graveyard | 'just because' tulips from Jake | Reading unmasked by Ellie Middleton