Josie Eldridge > Recent Status Updates

Morning 'debauchery and chill', very on-brand 😂 this book is an excellent insight to the policing of sexuality and how it doesn't suppress desire, it just forces it into a shameful dark corner which is rife for exploitation and fostering unsafe outlets.

A really good series of interviews interposed with Slimani's thoughts about her own experience and context.

A woman discusses phases of her life surrounding a visit to a wellness retreat to a Victorian Sauna in Budapest as a respite from her autoimmune disease.

My infinite Sieve Brain decided that this was a book about the investigative journalist who posed as a patient to enter an institution but ended up being unwell herself, despite the fact I'd actually seen a review of this and a recommendation from a YouTube video.

What will I do when I inevitably finish this book quite soon 🥹 I hope my grandma hasn't read it yet, it's just her kind of gritty. If she has, we can relive the experience in depth because she has a very good memory for storyline detail

This is like a more masterful Billy Elliot, but way less joyful and currently no dancing

Wonderfully descriptive, but very brutal (and funny). I think a lot of scenes will really stay with me

Really interesting but depressing to think about extremism taking root nearly everywhere and preying on vulnerabilities 🥲 some tactics are sophisticated, and others are just blunt racism and other types of isms that certain people seem to gravitate towards.. these online communities are pretty worrying but more so the threat of terror in public spaces

Taking a break from Girl, Woman, Other to read about two women in a psychiatric ward (ever the cheery topics this year). It somehow manages to be light and heavy (and empathic/well researched). The characters have strong identities and different voices - Merle's duality of experience (internal/external voice) is well portrayed. I bought this as part of Bernardine Evaristo's Penguin Books series

Mmmm I can't make my mind up about some chapters

Ahhh I can't tell if I like this or if the characters feel like clichés

I don't think the intention is to read it all in one go, but it's all the non-academic reading I brought with me today. Pretty good so far, esp for bridging the gap into the creative industries and going after what you want at work ✨

And we're into the Spacey focus chapter that I wasn't sure I'd like, but actually the Apollo mission is a very good example of government risk taking

Was amused by the realistic discussion of the London theatre scene - when I tried working in the Barbican Centre recently, I kept getting weird looks from 'destitute chic' types, and a man huffed me out of my seat by moving a chair directly next to me and sighing loudly and heavily while continuously looking over until I left 😂

I sense that I'm fundamentally going to disagree with this, but my tutor is like an encyclopedia of reading recs and I'm writing an Aid essay so...

Not very light hearted, but all it took was a 15 minute tube ride to get completely absorbed in the beautiful language, told as a series of letters from a young man about his experiences with his mother and grandmother as refugees after the Vietnam war and the intergenerational trauma it created

My review was due today (thankfully all deadlines were moved due to the strike). It's taking a ridiculous amount of time to read this, 40 pages since Monday? But I have been at work on Wednesday.. hopefully finish this tomorrow and crack on with the review a bit more... Jeeeez

Just started the chapter on 5 neoliberal myths about the economy and government market intervention, which the author is doing a fantastic job at disproving. Suddenly I understand the theories from my lectures *wide eyes*

There's a good structure in that it covers the beginning/development/Arab Spring (+post) experience of the MB branches in Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia (yet to read Yemen/Transnational) but sometimes it can be a bit confusing between key figures in each movement/it can get a bit repetitive. Still very interesting so far, especially the comparisons between each state's repression/embracing of islamism

Haven't finished the books I've started already but now it's Reading Week - as good an excuse as any to borrow my boyfriend's books! My lecturer keeps quoting Mazzucato and I have to say, she makes a lot of good sense

Apparently I don't have anything fluffy to read at the flat 😂 seems like this will be good to dip into during work breaks

Picked up this hefty read on Friday after browsing for some 'light' fiction (oh lord). The first part is set in an alternate version of 1893 America, with New York as Free State where adopting orphaned slaves and LGBT marriage is commonplace - it has tones of Kindred and The Handmaid's Tale and has yet to crush my soul

Uni's great but have you ever tried reading an entire academic text for a review assignment? (Jeeeeez) my little weekend brain 🥲

Not far in and we've already explored the democratic turmoil in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon in the post-colonial years - really interesting and accessible so far - a history of key cultural and political figures and movements but not too dense, almost like a story

Getting to the end of the Ethiopia section, but Spain is next :'( and you're not in the mood for Spain today. It's too warm and holidayey and the food is so nice. Maybe tomorrow

The Sahel is now my special interest

Practically eating this book

Iran and Saudi Arabia were really interesting chapters, the UK was a bit of a drag (maybe I wasn't in the mood) but Greece has redeemed it - suddenly I wanna read Thucydides and Yanis Varoufakis (anyone for geopolitics and ancient travelogues?) Makes me wish I'd focused a little more on the Greeks at uni (city state golden age confusion put me off)

I'd forgotten how densely packed Tim Marshall's writing can be. It's really interesting, but I remember now why I had to read his earlier book at least twice. The Australia chapter was very military focused, but Iran's chapter was more nuanced