Books that I've enjoyed recently

I must admit, some of the books that I've read recently have been a bit mid, as the young people say. But on the other hand, several of them have been fantastic enough to share, so here are a few books that have really stood out to me amongst my recent reading.

The Safekeep by Yael van der Ouden

This book was a wildcard entry to my to be read shelf. I received a book voucher as a gift, and was browsing the 'buy one get one half price' table in Waterstones when I spotted a book that I really wanted - The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. Short of time, and wanting to make up the offer, I chose The Safekeep mainly because it was a Women's Prize for Fiction winner and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. And also because it had a little handwritten card on it with a personal recommendation from a shop employee. It was an excellent choice because I loved it, and it's a worthy addition to my fiction bookshelf. 

Set in a rural Dutch province 15 years after the end of the Second World War, it tells the story of Isabel who lives alone in her late mother's country home, until her brother sends his girlfriend Eva to live with her for the summer. It's a story that begins by leading you to think think that it's about one thing, and then turns on its head to develop a completely different angle to the story. I loved the writing, and the story about an aspect of history that fascinates me.

Three Mothers by Hannah Beckerman

This book was borrowed from Amazon Prime Library, and I knew that I was going to enjoy it as soon as I started reading. It was beautifully written and the narrative just drew me in. The book follows the stories of three mothers who are interlinked by their teenage children and their involvement in a tragedy. I enjoyed the different voices of the mothers, and the way that the full story was revealed slowly but not too slowly, with plenty of twists and turns along the way.

Us by David Nicholls

This is a slightly older read that I picked up in a charity shop having enjoyed many of his other books. It was slightly familiar to me so I suspect that I may have already read it at some point before I started tracking my reading on Goodreads! The story is about a couple with a teenage son, trying to save their marriage by taking a family trip around Europe. Folded into the travel narrative are memories and anecdotes from their marriage, and I found the story telling really compelling.

High Adventure by Edmund Hillary

This is another book for my 'odd shelf' - where I gather all my Everest inspired reading material. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to summit Everest in 1953, and this is their story as told by Hillary. It covers Hillary's early climbing career, as well as the years of Everest expeditions to the south side of Everest which eventually led to a successful summit. It's really well written and engaging, and I love the way that these early expeditions involved large numbers of people all working together to achieve a team summit rather than it being about the individual effort. It was an incredible achievement.

Photo credit Stefanie Jockschat via Unsplash

Not letting comparison be the thief of joy

Recently I wrote about how I had been inspired to craft after spending some time on Instagram. I have my Instagram feed pretty well curated, and I'm regularly greeted with gorgeous finished craft projects and some great mini tutorial videos. 

I've always loved doing patchwork, and I found that I had been presented with a number of videos featuring a patchworking trick that is new to me. The reel below explains it much better than I can - basically you cut out your squares and lay them out on some fusible interfacing, meaning that you can iron them into place before you sew your seams. The edges of the patches should line up perfectly, and it's a really easy way to make beautiful patchwork fabric.

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A post shared by Maggie Eason (@sunshinestitches.bymaggie)

I have lots of odd bits of fabric lying around, and so I decided to try this method out. I didn't really have a finished project in mind, but I thought I'd quite like to have a mat to put on my table for when I have a project on the go, or some drinks and snacks out. I used mainly 2" squares, with a few 2" by 4" rectangles. Here are my squares after they've been ironed to the interfacing.

And here is my finished mat, once the patchwork squares are sewn together and a fabric backing has been added.

It's not that good! I hear you politely protest, but it really is very wonky - some of the squares look more like rectangles, and you can see the white backing around some of the border.

But do you know what, I am really proud of it. I've seen reams of finished projects on Instagram that are absolutely perfect, and mine isn't anywhere near that quality. But I have learned to remind myself that what I'm seeing there are the very best pieces that the maker can produce. They are often made by people that are selling their work, and an Instagram feed is their shop front. They need to show the very best that they can do - and what's more they are showing the final results after many hours of practice.

I expect their first pieces looked a lot like mine!

I'll keep practising here and there, and in the meantime I'll just enjoy what I'm doing.

Consume less to create more?

There is a phrase that I often see shared on social media - create more and consume less. As well as going out and shopping, consuming also means the digital content we absorb, like scrolling social media feeds or binging television shows. It's a great motto to live by, because removing the clutter of consumption leaves your mind free for more worthwhile pastimes like writing, drawing, playing an instrument, gardening or baking.

I don't use social media a great deal, but one channel that I've recently rediscovered is Instagram. I've managed to curate my feed really well and it's filled with lovely scenery, tempting baked goods, pretty interiors and my new downfall which is craft tutorials. 

Recently I posted about how Instagram influenced me to buy a stamp punch and how much fun I was having with it. I'm pleased to say that it has not sat idly on my desk, I've used it almost every day to make little punched stamps from all my junk mail and food packaging. A recent travel brochure led to a page in my journal which I love.

As soon as I showed an interest in short videos of sewing projects I started to see lots of things that I wanted to make. I love the idea of this pen pocket which wraps around a notebook and is used to hold a pen - I have lots of lovely fabric and some basic sewing skills but I knew that I would need a pattern to make it properly. So I bought the pattern from the creator (you can find it here - Pen Pocket Bookmark) and I soon managed to make myself a couple.

I'm so happy with them, and I even managed to make them with the fabric going the right way up! I love making things that are both pretty and practical.

So even though Instagram has led to me consuming - both in buying the physical supplies that I needed for the projects and also the time that I've spent scrolling in order to find them - it has also led to me taking the time to create some lovely things.

And it's not just crafting. I often find myself thinking about the longer articles that I've read online and I've read many things that have spurred me on to learn more about a subject. Things that definitely wouldn't have popped into my head unbidden.

So I find that I need to consume in order to create, and that's something that I'm completely happy with!

Things that the Substack algorithm has introduced me to

I recently started using Substack and I've discovered that I love it - it reminds me a little of how Twitter and other social media used to be. Lots of interesting people sharing their thoughts, their art, and well-written and long-form articles, and most importantly no adverts!

Although I've subscribed to a few creators, I've found that I spend most of my time in the main, algorithmically generated feed. It's generally pretty good, although I have found that once I read an article on one topic I do find myself being flooded with similar content for the rest of the day. Because it's the only social media platform that I really use, it's opened my eyes to the topics are trending among people with similar interests to myself.

These are some of the current trends that I've learned about after spending time on Substack:

The Analogue Trend

This inspired me to write a blog post about the analogue trend - it's a shift to living a life that prioritises physical media and screen free hobbies. I think I'm a little old for this trend as I can still remember a life before the smartphone. Instead it's something that has been embraced by the younger millennials and Gen Z who have grown up with screens and are ready for a break. I sometimes find it really funny to read these posts, and then imagine them all carefully filming and photographing their analogue activities with their digital devices and sharing them online.

The Whimsical Trend

This has apparently been around for a while now, with 2025 being declared a year of 'whimsy'. To me it's about embracing your inner child, and doing the things that you either weren't allowed to or couldn't afford to do when you were younger. It's about adding a little more interest and fun to your monotonous days - picking fresh flowers for the breakfast table, decorating journal pages with sweet stamps and stickers, collecting cute stuffed animals and trinkets. It's a little bit of escapism from everyday life, and it's something that I can definitely get on board with. 

Photo credit Tim Wing via Unsplash

Personal Curriculums

A personal curriculum is a way of taking a 'deep dive' into a subject that really interests you or one that you want to find out more about. You can find a guide here - Setting your 'Personal Curriculum' - and in a nutshell it involves choosing your topic then selecting primary and secondary written sources as well as complementary films, television shows or podcasts. Ideally at the end you will have something to show for your hard work - perhaps a completed notebook or your own Substack article. With a bit of research you can easily put together a curriculum for yourself on any topic. I have actually been doing this unwittingly since the beginning of the year, as I've been immersing myself in everything to do with Mount Everest. I'm even keeping a notebook with maps, diagrams, and notes of things that I've learned! 

The thing that I love about all of these trends is that they are a way of disconnecting from the online world (even if there is then an urge to then share your experiences on your social media platform of choice!) Have you embraced any of these?

Our new outdoor vertical garden and living wall

When we planned our garden last year, a living wall was a part of the design. We had a big expanse of brick wall right next to the main seating area, and a vertical garden was the perfect thing to fill the space. But we couldn't do everything at once, so adding the living wall was first on our list when it came to garden projects for the year.

After some research we chose a Shady Daze vertical garden kit with PlantBox. We paid £438 for the largest kit - ten troughs, 40 shade tolerant evergreen plants and a bag of compost. We also bought the watering kit. This is not essential, but as it can connect to the adjacent hosepipe it will make the watering from the top of the planter much easier.

Buying a full living wall as a kit is an expensive way to do it, and of course there are cheaper solutions available. But we wanted to install a sturdy set up, so we chose a company with great reviews and excellent customer support. I am also no expert when it comes to choosing plants, so having a selection of suitable plants delivered directly to me, ready to plant, was a must.

We arranged for the planting troughs to be delivered a few days before the plants so that we had time to attach them to the wall before planting. You can plant the troughs up first, but I think that would make it very awkward to mount them. Assembling the troughs was straightforward - I found a video online to follow and it didn't take too long. Attaching to the wall took a little longer only because our DIY skills are fairly basic, but even we didn't have too much trouble. Measuring for the holes and trying to avoid the grout between the bricks was the most difficult part!

The plants arrived a few days later, well packaged and mostly labelled. I did some research into planting ideas but in the end it wasn't too difficult. I just spread the plants out, trying to place hanging ones like ivy around the edges and at the bottom, taller ones to the top and aiming for a mixture of different shades and textures. The plants were mainly in 12cm pots so they are already a good size, and they will soon grow to fill the gaps. 

We are so pleased with how it looks! It was a really quick and easy way to add a huge amount of interest to a bare wall. I've been eyeing up the rest of the garden to see if we can add any more - I love the idea of putting another one in for herbs or colourful flowers. 

I think it will be fairly easy to maintain - each trough has a water reservoir with an indicator so you can see if you need to add more water, and the water should last for a week or two even in summer. I might just need to trim it a bit if it starts to look overgrown.

I can see the living wall easily from the house so I can admire it from inside, and I'm looking forward to enjoying it for a long time to come!

I got suspended from Twitter (or should I say X)

Oops.

Years ago I used Twitter all the time. It was an essential tool if you were a part of the parent blogger scene - as well as taking part in conversations I used it to share blog posts and connect with brands. Back then I was very concerned with my social media stats, and so naturally I worked hard to increase my follower count.

Things have changed, and I've not posted over there in years. I set my account to private a while back, but I still had nearly 3000 followers. Many of these had followed me to enter a giveaway, and the majority were no longer active users. Realising that I was unlikely to return, I decided to have a bit of a clear out. 

Deleting all my posts (over 22,500?!) wasn't an option unless I wanted to pay for it. So I decided to start by removing all of my followers. It's a manual process, so I spent ten minutes a day clicking remove, managing to get rid of about 200 each session. I was doing so well, until I got an e-mail telling me that my account had been suspended for 'inauthentic behaviours!'

My account is now in read-only mode. I can't post, re-post, like or comment. I can see posts and use the search function, but I can't interact with anything. However as an unexpected bonus, all my followers and the people that I'm following have been removed automatically, so that has saved me a job.

I felt bad at first, and submitted an appeal, even though online consensus is of the opinion that this is unlikely to work. But I've since realised that the suspension has done exactly what I was trying to achieve - no-one can view my old posts and all of my followers have been removed, but my username remains registered to me and I can still search for and find information. 

I think I can cope!

How I find interesting long-form content

Lately I've found myself drawn to long-form content. Detailed podcasts to listen to while I'm driving, in depth documentaries that I can settle down in front of, and of course books that I can lose myself in for long periods at a time. 

But with all the content that is out there it's difficult the media that I really want to engage with. So here are some ways that I've discovered interesting online and offline content to entertain and educate me.

Podcasts

I find searching for interesting podcasts very difficult. Search recommendations on the web are usually out of date, and the Spotify search function isn't very good if you are just browsing. 

Some ways to find new podcasts:

BBC Sounds has podcasts on a wide range of subjects, both as a one-off or a longer series.

Reddit is a really good place to look for podcasts and other media on a specific topic. Just use Reddit and Podcast as search terms, along with what you are after. Recommendations are usually accompanied by a description or review so you can see if it sounds interesting to you.

Social media is a great place to keep an eye on, I personally always prefer to listen to something that has been recommended. Sometimes a podcast that I'm listening to will introduce a guest with their own podcast, or a writer that I follow will offer a curated list. I have a Notes file on my phone where I jot down anything that sounds interesting to look up later.

Videos

I've found YouTube to be a really valuable source for interesting long-form content, as long as you can avoid being distracted by the shorts and clickbait titles. I look for older documentaries that have been shared, as these are often slower and more detailed in content. It helps to use search terms like 'full documentary' or 'full show' and I find that once I start watching a certain type of content then the algorithm will pull up related videos which are just what I'm after.

I also pop into the streaming services that we have and use the search function rather than just browsing the recommended content. iPlayer is really good, and of course free to licence holders in the UK. The BBC documentaries are always high quality and on a wide range of subjects. We have Netflix too, and I have a watchlist of interesting content lined up for when I'm in the mood.

Books

I rarely find myself browsing for books, I just somehow seem to acquire piles of them! But if I am desperate to find some new reading material here's where I look:

The library - this is my first port of call. Even in our tiny village library I can always find a book or two that I've heard of and want to read, and a pile of other books that have caught my eye.

Charity shops - especially those slightly out of the town centre with cheaper prices. I've found one in town that sells three books for £1 - you can't go wrong!

My Notes document called 'Books to buy' - these is where I add books that I've heard of, either recommendations from friends or family or that I've spotted on social media. I save up a batch to buy secondhand on World of Books.

In-depth articles

Many of the online news sources and newspapers have long form content, but it can be difficult to find among the shorter, newsier articles and is often behind a paywall. You can try:

BBC InDepth

The Guardian - The Long Read

Telegraph Long Reads (sometimes an account is needed to read)

Substack (some content is subscriber only)

Photo credit Roman Kraft via Unsplash

How do you find interesting content?