Snapshot: April 12th 2020
Happy Easter everyone!
It's Quarantine: Day I've Lost Track, and it continues to be profoundly weird. I followed along with the Vatican's virtual mass for Easter service earlier today, and it did perk me up a bit - the Pope blessed me through my computer, y'all. The continuously glorious weather here, as London moves into spring, has also been helping keep my spirits up, as has the opportunity to spend most of every day of this long weekend (Bank Holiday four-day weekend here; seems a shame to waste it in lockdown but ah well...) sunbathing in my garden. Look, all I'm saying, is living in the arse end of Zone 3 does have perks - the equivalent of my rent in Central London would be a tiny studio flat with no backyard, so who's the real winner here? My point exactly. I have also been doing a truly alarming amount of online shopping, as receiving quarantine presents is usually enough to cheer me up for the day. This is probably not a sustainable model once lockdown lifts and I have to start spending money on other 'adult' things, such as monthly travel cards and all the pub visits I'm planning on doing. And I will eventually want to go on holiday again. My Pinterest board is filled with dream city breaks to Berlin and Vienna and Seville and Lisbon...
Right, where was I? Oh yes, slowly losing touch with reality.
Currently reading: To Lie with Lions by Dorothy Dunnett. Book 6 in House of Niccolò. A bit of a slow starter, this one: the main players of the Bank of Niccolò are spread out all over Europe; Nicholas is in Scotland with his wife who hates him (they have a very dysfunctional relationship); there's a new Pope in Rome; war is brewing with the Ottoman Turks in the East... I'm sure this will all be brought together somehow in the last hundred pages, but right now the pace is a bit slack so I'm having to really work to keep my attention on all the cogs slowly starting to turn. Also, Nostradamus is here, for some reason that is as yet unexplained.
Currently listening to: bingeing 'Martinis and Murder'. I love true crime. This podcast is fun, the cases are interesting, and every episode starts with a recipe for a fancy martini. I've just finished an episode on a couple in San Francisco who were killing 'witches' in their incredibly weird, bastardized version of Islam. I had never heard of these murders and they were fascinating. Highly recommend for all you murder fans out there.
Currently eyeing: these stud earrings from Mejuri. I have very sensitive ear-holes and so can't wear earrings every day unless they're 14k gold (I know how that sounds. Believe me. I know.), and what with not wearing earrings at all right now (since I'm not leaving my house...) my pierced ears are closing up. So a pair that I can wear every day without noticing - such as these - would come in handy currently. I'm calling this a necessary purchase rather than "BUT THEY'RE PRETTY!", which is how I feel about this jumpsuit. I want it. I want it. I need to find myself a sugar daddy stat.
Currently in my online shopping carts: Some new releases at Waterstones that I'm intrigued by: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires (still desperately trying to get ahold of this, I really want to read it...); If I Never Met You (a kitschy, cutesy inter-office romance); Keeper (a murder thriller); and Shakespeare in a Divided America (non-fiction historical analysis about the role of Shakespeare in American culture. It's literally my porn). I've also got the last three books of the Lymond Chronicles (Pawn in Frankincense, The Ringed Castle, and Checkmate) in my cart at World of Books and ready to go for payday next week.
Hope everyone is staying safe, sane, and healthy out there - drop me a note for how you're filling the long hours of lockdown (other than with wine. I am drinking an alarming amount of wine.)
Happy reading,
Amélie xx
