This week's edit - 8th May 2016

Read

Not Working by Lisa Owens is a funny and insightful look into the life of a twenty-something woman who feels she should be doing something worthwhile with her life and can't find what that thing is. We've all been there.

Listen

A few pre-released tracks from Laura Mvula's new album, released in June, have reminded me what a wonderful talent she is.  Perfect sunshine tunes.

See

Just a few more days left to see Hilma af Klint at the Serpentine Galleries.  This wonderfully forward-thinking female Swedish artist was a pioneer of abstract art in the early 20th century but was hardly known before the 1980s.

Watch 

The Good Wife is drawing to a close after seven seasons (sob).  Possibly the most consistently great of American dramas, I will miss it hugely. The only solution is to start watching again from the beginning.

This week's edit - 2nd May 2016

Read

When She Was Bad by Tammy Cohen comes under the genre of 'griplit' - I just couldn't put it down and didn't see the twist coming AT ALL. 

Watch

There is still time to catch up on the first four seasons of Veep before the fifth starts on Sky Atlantic tonight. It is such a joy and the funniest smartest show on tv, especially for an American politics junkie like me.

I will be slightly pacified on Thursday night without Line of Duty by the return of the stylish and gripping Peaky Blinders. 

Listen

It's finally happened - I have started listening to The Archers. The daily podcast keeps me sane and calm on my walks into town. 

See 

Botticelli Reimagined at the V&A is a fascinating show which goes beyond the work of Botticelli itself, although there is a gorgeous amount of that, to explore its influence on art, fashion and design of the centuries since his death. 

RIP Prince

This post is hard to write so I've put it off and come back to it a few times.  I loved Prince.  He was my favourite musician, by a country mile.  About half of the tracks on my 'Favourites' iTunes playlist are his, and that was me editing hard.  I was lucky enough to see him live three times and those gigs remain the best I have ever seen.  Most recently, I saw him play at the Roundhouse in Camden in June 2014 with an audience of only 1,700.  It was phenomenal.  I mean, really phenomenal.  The musicianship, the showmanship, the energy and emotion.  I could think or talk about little else for days, and I feel much the same now.  I simply can't believe or accept that I won't see him live again.  I'm so sad. RIP Beautiful One.

Prince at the Superbowl 2007

Prince and the Muppets

Craig Charles on Prince

This week's edit - 25th April 2016

Read
Curtis Sittenfield's Eligible is a total JOY and I can't recommend it highly enough if you're a fan of Pride and Prejudice and/or smart American fiction.

Watch
The final episode of Line of Duty is on BBC2 on Thursday.  How I can start to describe how good Line of Duty is?  Twisting and turning plots keep you on your toes from minute one, the performances are stunning and the writing is superb.  I honestly think it's the best thing on British TV in YEARS.

Listen
The shock of Prince's unexpected and premature death last week has broken a bit of my heart but 6Music have hit the happy/sad sweet spot for me in their tributes.  Find Lauren Laverne's show on Friday and Sunday's Craig Charles on Prince special on the BBC Radio iPlayer and enjoy his genius.

See
Pick Me Up is an annual exhibition at Somerset House - or as they describe it, a graphic arts festival. Full of emerging illustrators, designers and graphic artists, it's a fantastic place to pick up some fun and inexpensive art for your home.

This week I am...

... mourning Victoria Wood.  She was a true idol of mine.  At one school prize day a hundred or so years ago, we were asked to choose a book as our prize.  I chose a collection of her scripts.  Her wit and empathy shine through her writing. Only last week I was quoting word for word with a friend from Is It On The Trolley? and Two Soups has become part of my family's vocabulary.

... being mildly disturbed by The Maids at Trafalgar Studios.  A very strange but powerful play by Jean Genet, with strong performances by Zawe Ashton, Laura Carmichael and Uzo Aduba.

... pre-ordering my holiday reading.  No, I'm not going for eight weeks but it's good to be prepared right?  New books by Maggie O'Farrell, Emma Cline, Nicci French, Nina Stibbe and Jessie Burton will be popping up on my kindle over the summer...

This week I am...

... bingeing on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the second series of the hilarious Netflix comedy from Tina Fey with the catchiest theme tune EVER.

... looking forward to next week's book releases - Not Working by Lisa Owens has been recommended by all my favourite book tweeters, and Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld which is being touted as the 'book of the summer'.  A modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, I have already planned an afternoon on the sofa next Friday to read this.

Reading material

I don't normally hold much truck with book awards but I've read three of the six books on this year's Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction so here are my thoughts:

The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie is a quirky but easy to read novel which I am very surprised to find on the list.  I loved it - one for fans of Where'd You Go Bernadette and other slight oddities.

I hated A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara but still read it in its entirety which is unusual for me as I have the attention span of a toddler and will delete an unsatisfying book from my kindle at the drop of a hat.  Relentlessly depressing and traumatic, I still can't identify what kept me reading and I have no intention of picking it up again to do any further analysis.

The Impossibility of Love by Hannah Rothschild is featherlight but whips along at pace and with style.  I loved all the London art world details and Rothschild's passion for, and knowledge of, art shines through.

Victoria

Victoria is an immersive, adrenaline-fueled two and a quarter hour ride through a night out in Berlin. Shot in one continuous take, it is a remarkable feat, but is not a gimmicky film or one trick pony.  The long tracking shot immerses us in the world and actions of the characters and builds a momentum and sense of exhilaration/exhaustion which helps us understand the (very bad) decisions Victoria makes.

This week I am...

... ill with the flu bug that WON'T DIE.  Two days ill, two days fine, two days ill.  So so tedious.

... binge-watching Transparent, which is both hilarious and moving.

... settling in with a good book.  Who's That Girl by the brilliant Mhairi Macfarlane appeared on my kindle over night so I'm dragging the duvet onto the sofa this afternoon, mainlining lemsip and diving in.

... contemplating a diet.  Or rather - contemplating stepping up my new health regime.  I am LOVING reformer pilates more and more each class and really noticing the difference it's making to my strength and flexibility.  And my running progress is slow and steady.  So maybe I'll up the ante slightly with the help of Elly Pear's Fast Days and Feast Days, which looks right up my street.