Jane Austen: Where to start, and how to fall in love
It’s one of the most troublesome parts of my life that not all my best friends adore Jane Austen as much as I do. Some of them—dare I say it—don’t even like her. Some of them haven’t even read her, and to be honest I’m not sure why I’m still friends with those ones. (Yeah, I’m looking at you, Christy.) I think that a lot of people have the wrong idea about what kind of writer Jane Austen actually is, and it puts them off before they’ve even got started. But the truth is that almost any kind of reader can fall in love with Jane Austen—and I’m here to tell you how.
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Jo and Laurie’s unpopular ending was Louisa May Alcott’s best move
This month, I finally got around to reading Little Women, after somehow managing to avoid it for 24 years. And—well, I had pretty mixed feelings, to be honest. I loved reading it (I mean, it opens on a Christmas scene; it’s like it was written specially for me), and I got really attached to the characters—but I found the messages pretty hard to get on board with. I just wanted to read about Jo’s adventures without Louisa May Alcott preaching at me all the time. However, after doing a bit of digging into the life of Alcott herself, I may have come full circle.
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We need to talk about Kesha
OK, we seriously need to talk about Kesha. Hang on, hear me out here. This isn’t like all those other times I’ve needed to talk about Kesha only to tell everyone that I believe she’s the Keith Richards of our generation, or that sometimes I imagine she’s my daughter and get really proud of her. You all thought those stories were weird and that I shouldn’t tell them again, so fine. But this time, we really need to talk about Kesha.
4 movies that would be ace with a female cast
I have not been as excited about a film in years as I am about the all-female Ghostbusters. Expect to see me queuing up at midnight to be the first in the cinema. So when news broke about the all-female Ocean’s Eleven remake, my face just about exploded with joy. This trend for female recastings of classic films is what I’ve been waiting for all my life, and I hope it doesn’t go anywhere soon.
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I first met Hilary Duff in her pyjamas
If you did Halloween even remotely right, you will have watched Casper Meets Wendy last night. This supernatural straight-to-video Casper sequel wasn’t even critically panned; it seems to have just been critically ignored. Bringing it some much-deserved attention is basically my sole mission in life—not least because it introduced the world to Hilary Duff. And Hilary Duff has been behind everything I have ever loved.
Reading round-up: My October shelf
A question I’ve been asking myself this month: if you don’t have heaps of bubbles, a glass of prosecco and a good book—is there even any point having a bath? (Answer: nope.) As this October chill has crept in, and London has turned a little greyer and a little dirtier—my bubbles have become the highlight of my evenings. And these are the books I’ve been submerged in while I’m…submerged.
Is Halloween the worst holiday ever—or do I just have terrible taste?
I feel like this is one of those unpopular opinions that’s going to get me punched in the face—like the fact I’m not crazy about Harry Potter, or that I think Dean might be Rory’s best boyfriend. But here it is: I don’t like Halloween. Like, at all.
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The third time Mara Wilson changed my life
Mara Wilson was the first person I ever followed on Twitter. This was at least three years ago, long before most non-famous people dared actually use Twitter; back then, it was strictly for following Stephen Fry. So I thought long and hard about whose tweets I would first allow into my empty timeline, and came up with a slightly unexpected answer: the little girl from Matilda. And what a good decision that was.
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5 reasons for not being a vegan—and why they’re all rubbish
Full disclosure: I am currently eating a Pepperami, the delicious meaty snack, while writing the intro to a guest post about veganism. Not an ideal start. So I better admit: I’m not a vegan. I’m not even a vegetarian. I actually eat a ton of bacon. But over the last six months, I’ve been starting to think that’s not OK.
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I’m not edgy enough to have a personal style
When it comes to clothes and fashion, high self-esteem isn’t exactly encouraged. I mean, the industry is pretty much reliant on making people feel “not quite good enough”, and then convincing them that all they need for a happier, easier life is new clothes. So whenever I come across body-positive fashion advice, this obviously feels like a great thing. Well, except that it always tells me to “embrace my own personal style”—and I never know what that means. But this month, I gave it a go.
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The Eggplant Emoji 