shelf care #9

Recommendations on reading and consuming, plus the start of monthly crosswords

Hi, hello, it’s great to be back to this nebulous gig of newsletter writing so if you think my work is valuable and would like to support me, follow 💌shelfoffering on Instagram, share this post, and do consider becoming a paid subscriber. You becoming a paid subscriber means a lot not only because it helps me make a decent living as a self-employed worker but also because I’m starting this all over again, having to build up my roster of paid subscriptions because I had to cancel all my previous ones (due to technical fucking difficulties). The climb uphill is herculean but I have been here before.

Going forward, all my newsletters will come out on every 1st, 2nd, and 4th Tuesday and the first one will always be free; paid subscribers will receive two exclusive ones: either a recipe, a crossword puzzle, the shelf care series of reading recommendations, and anything else that might just spark my joy!

I’m also looking to expand my repertoire as an editor, so if you would like to get feedback/comments/help with pitching, writing, and editing, I’m doing one-on-one consultations for a reasonable fee. Finally, our literary magazine chlorophyll is accepting fiction and poetry submissions for issue 2 on the theme of ‘language’; details are on the website, please send us your work.

I simultaneously have lots and nothing to say so I’ll try to keep this short.

Changing my newsletter schedule has (sort of) worked wonders for my writing. I was afraid of moving it to a weekly rota because I was afraid that I’d have nothing to say, and in many ways I still am afraid of that, but I have learnt to get on with it. My schedule now is big essay (free), recipe or something else (paid), and this roundup (also paid). I was thriving in self-doubt and various other anxieties and now I’m slowly trying to trust the process. Whatever idea or essay I was working on three years ago, two years ago, a year ago, has always come back to me. Nothing you work on ever is a waste of time; something I illustrated on a whim now greets you on the chlorophyll home page. This is a truth I’m trying to live by.

I also have a cat now which does wonders for trying to maintain any routine because having a cat means you have to work extra hard on trying to get any writing done. The cat is just the devil at play keeping you from finishing that essay on motherhood and memory for instance.

Here’s what I’ve been consuming since the previous shelf care newsletter.

[Note: The book links are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a tiny commission if you choose to purchase through those links, at no additional cost to you.]

P.S. If you’d like to get to the crossword, just scroll to the end!

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Books

Since the last shelf care newsletter (linked above), I have finished Anuk Arudpragasam’s The Story of a Brief Marriage and I’m reading it again for an essay on war, food, and hunger. I also picked up Caledonian Road by Andrew O’ Hagan, Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan, The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing, Cod by Mark Kurlansky, and Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad. Reviews and thoughts on these books will either appear as freestanding essays or in another shelf care roundup. As you can see I have a lot of catching up to do. My partner picked up Porno by Irvine Welsh and Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, both of which I’m looking forward to reading. I’ve been thinking deeply about art, creativity, sense of purpose, and boredom and magically, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron appeared to me at a charity shop which I bought. I’m halfway through it and have mixed feelings but it has propelled me to draw something every day, which I’m grateful for.