writing is hard. sometimes you’ve gotta pick up a book and see how it’s done.

What’s going on?

This was once a monthly thematic book rec newsletter called mr knightley must not marry!!! (look: he mustn’t). But the more I write, the more the things I’m reading are either too obvious or too esoteric for a standard rec. So I’m reccing books I’ve enjoyed through the lens of the attempt at writing that has driven me to them.

What should I expect?

Classics with an eye for “but ok what did 19th century German families actually gossip about” or “who is the sexiest in the Mahabharata” (it’s Arjuna btw); lesbians and the lesbian-adjacent; books that look academic but are actually extremely gossipy; deep dives into the weird; weird dives into the deep. Plus increasingly more frazzled jokes the closer I get to deadline.

What do you actually write?

The last big thing I wrote was a rom-com with my wife. The next big thing is something secret which I’m gonna tell you about soon. In between I write mean essays about films, creepy short stories, and occasional bits of indulgent navel-gazing. Plus lots of things about dykes.