📚 I find it incredible how quickly books on current events get conceived, written and published. It makes me reflect on what I get done over a similar time period. John Sopel’s book on the 2020 US election is the latest one that Amazon alerted me to. Published in mid-January!

📚 Started reading Mr Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of the Byrds’ Gene Clark by John Einarson. Bought a copy after watching The Byrd Who Flew Alone (2013) and wanting to learn much more about him. Has been sitting on my shelf for some time.

📺 Just finished watching season 3 of Spiral (or Engrenages if you’re French.) It took a couple of seasons to get going, but it is well into its stride now. A brilliant mix of characters that are all flawed in their own way. I’m so glad we still have five seasons to watch.

📚 Finished reading Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. A vampire novella published 25 years before Bram Stoker’s Dracula. For a reader in 2021 the plot was obvious and not scary at all, but I can see why this is considered an important book given the context.

📚 Backed the production of Affinities, a beautiful book of images from the Public Domain Review. 24% funded so far with 58 days to go.

At a free Meetup. Someone posts this into the chat window as the speaker is getting warmed up. Why would you do this? There’s no obligation to be here!

📚 Started reading Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. It’s time for a little 19th century gothic horror. Pushkin Press books are typically superb.

📚 Finished reading Forever Employable by Jeff Gothelf. Very short; more of a long essay than a book. Gives a basic framework for how to start building a career around your own personal brand, and a few useful questions to ask yourself before you set out.

📚 Other than the fact it’s April, this was a perfect highlight to pop into my inbox this morning.

Yesterday was spent outside in the garden with my parents, basking in the sunshine. Today…

📚 Started reading Forever Employable by Jeff Gothelf. Attended a webinar by the author in May last year and have been thinking about this book since.

📚 Read The Forgotten Village by John Steinbeck. Weird little book, with every page containing a grainy still of the film of the same name alongside a small snippet of text. Better to watch the film than to read this, but the film isn’t that great either.

Starlings have taken to nesting in the eaves of our house every year, always in the same spot. They are beautiful, and make the most lovely noises. Their nesting site is too high to see, but we get to hear the chicks when the parents return.

🎬 Watched Leave No Trace (2018) with the family last night, after seeing it recommended by multiple people on micro.blog. It’s a beautiful, slow-moving film. Made me think of What It Is Like To Go To War by Karl Marlantes, and the experience of war veterans in daily life.

📚 Finished reading Illusions On The Path: Buddhist Thought For Modern Times by Stan B. Martin. Picked up as it was written by an old colleague and friend. Brought back memories of our conversations all those years ago. Interesting thoughts on how cultures and religion combine.

Broke my Clubhouse speaking duck just now in the RecordHouse room, where their topic for the evening is movie soundtracks. Shared Dexter’s Tune from the Awakenings (1990) soundtrack; it features at the movie’s key turning point and kills me every time.

📚 Started reading Illusions On The Path: Buddhist Thought For Modern Times by Stan B Martin. An old colleague and friend got in contact this week after 15 years and I learned that he wrote this book. Great memories of discussing religion with him when we worked together.

📚 Finished reading The Pearl by John Steinbeck. A simple, beautiful and tragic tale whose characters are immediately knowable. Steinbeck had written a couple of paragraphs in Sea Of Cortez some years earlier which gave a general outline of the story.