
01. A pool day at Le Meridien. Perfect weather, perfect company, perfect poolside fries.
02. Europa Film Festival: saw French film, The Flood. Visually stunning; and a subtle end to a story that we’re all well familiar with.
03. The last thing I need are new bathers but…
04. I’m under a fair bit of stress at present so my spin instructor finishing a class with Laura Branigan was the highlight of an otherwise shitful day.
05. Cooking: these chocolate-chip cookies and an old favourite, Torta Pasqualina.
06. The announcement of the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist – I’ve read two (The Safekeep and All Fours) and there’s a few more that I’m keen to read (especially Birding, Tell Me Everything and Nesting, but not sure how I’ll fit them in with Reading Ireland Month and Stella Prize reading….). Anyway, kind of irrelevant because All Fours is ground-breaking. It should win.

I hope things lighten up for you soon.
I have had too much on my plate and far too much on my mind, but this Saturday things took a decided turn for the better which made me realise just how stressful it has been.
At the end of the day the only thing that really matters is the people you love.
My main stress is something that is totally out of my control – I am exercising very, very firm boundaries to make it manageable but firm boundaries take energy…
Glad your load is a little less 🙂
Hang in there:)
Nesting is Irish so would kill two birds with one stone. Er, pun NOT intended.
It’s an interesting novel, part hard hitting account of what happens to homeless people, part feel good, found familyearly Julia Roberts film material.
I’m keen to read Nesting too, for the double, but currently enjoying Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis. It’s an interesting companion novels to Sally Hayden’s nonfiction work, My Fourth Time We Drowned.
You had a spin class with Laura Branigan? In person?
Haha! I wish… Occasionally my (very young) spin instructors throw in a ‘classic’ song – which of course, isn’t ‘classic’ for me! My dream spin class would be all 80s tracks.
Oh, I got it!
I used to work in two of the buildings in your photo that overlook Le Meridien’s pool deck and often wished I was there instead of at my desk!
Nothing worse than watching people relax from an office window! My office window used to overlook some gardens and it was a killer on a beautiful day.
Pingback: Longlist Listens | booksaremyfavouriteandbest