I had a lovely summer, minus some hideous travel drama and ensuing customer service tribulations that made me and everyone who’s had the misfortune of hearing about it lose the will to live.
Let’s forget all of that now and look to the future.
Here is a lovely big round up of a few bits and bobs I’ve enjoyed recently and some new things to look forward in the weeks and months ahead.
Book: The Wedding People by Alison Espach
I knew nothing about this book when I started it, I didn’t even read the burb, so it was a totally unexpected delight. A newly divorced woman arrives at a luxury Rhode Island hotel in a state of intense emotional distress. That’s all I’m saying. Other than that it’s absurd, funny and wise.
Article: Curtis Sittenfeld vs AI
“This summer, I agreed to a literary experiment: What is the difference between a story written by a human and a story written by artificial intelligence?”
Any mention of AI sends me immediately to sleep but this is well done and involves Curtis Sittenfeld and romantic fiction. Fun.
Special gifted link here.
TV: Love is Blind UK
A brilliant series of the deranged reality dating show. Ridiculously compelling nonsense.
TV: Dark Matter (Apple) - out now
Pretty good sad dad sci-fi thriller based on Blake Crouch’s novel. A physicist and family man is abducted into an alternate version of his life and embarks on a very stressful and mind-bending quest to get home. I spent most of the series saying, “I don’t like it, turn it off” but duly completed the lot.
TV: Slow Horses, S4 (Apple) - out now
As of yesterday.
TV: Colin From Accounts, S2 - out now
I took a while to like series one but it was very nice. Let’s see how they tackle the difficult second series.
TV: Selling Sunset (Netflix) - 6th September
I feel a bit grubby even mentioning this but I’m self aware enough to know that I will watch the whole sorry series. Here’s my post from last year about hate-watching Selling Sunset.
Film: Nobody Wants This (Netflix) - 26th September
Brought to my attention by Lisa, one of my best sources of rom com intelligence. As a fellow believer said when I forwarded this trailer on: “That’s so custom designed for you I’m slightly suspicious that it isn’t just some kind of AI thing you’ve put together as a joke”.
TV: Bad Sisters, S2 (Apple) - November 13
This seemed to me like a one and done situation to me but if anyone can make this work, it’s Sharon Horgan.
-
More TV for 2025:
Too Much (new Lena Dunham rom com) - tell us the goddam release date, Netflix!
White Lotus, S3
The Last of Us, S2
Severance, S2 - 17th January (gets a gold star for providing an actual date)
-
What was the best thing you read/watched this summer?
Which series are you looking forward to returning? Share in the comments.
See you next time!
Hannah
Why hasn’t Adam Brody been in rom coms for a decade? He was born for this 😭
Kaos is the best thing I’ve watched in quite a while - absolutely loved it, and hope it will be back for S2