Sneaking in with an end-of-year wrap

I just turned on my kindle to see what I’ve read this year — or part-read — and here is my list in reverse chronological order (please excuse me not always listing author, I’m being lazy. Also I’m not going to ever style things properly like italics for book titles, and there WILL be typos. Fast and furious is my intention and that way I will be able to blog more frequently):

Next Level Basic, Stassi Schroeder (31%). Stassi was one of the people on Vanderpump Rules, a brilliant and funny and sociologically fascinating/terrible trashy brainless reality show on Bravo TV — pick your own descriptor. Her book was published 2019 and while the writing is limited in expression (there’s a lot of repetitive and dated terms like ‘AF’ (for as fuck)) the basic (lol, get it?) thesis is that we love what we love, our hearts want what our hearts want, and we shouldn’t be ashamed of the things that we like, that maybe aren’t cool, that others might judge and look down on. So leading with this particular book in my 2025 kindle reading list is doing exactly that. And in fact mentioning the show VPR is exactly that as well. Don’t be scared to be a basic bitch is the key thing here. Don’t be scared to be open about the things that you like, that you think others might look down on your for.

* Margaret Atwood memoir (26%)

* Box Hill (the novel Pillion is based on) — completed. In a single delicious inhalation. Cannot wait for the film.

* Flesh, David Szalay — completed. Adored.

* Widow Basquiat, completed. Really enjoyed.

Diane Keaton memoir, Then Again. 67%

Nobody’s Girl, Virginia Guiffre, 80%. A tough but important read. Will go back to. Needed a breather.

*On the Calculation of Volume I. 68%. Not sure why I stalled as was enjoying very much. Will go back to. An extraordinary brain is responsible for this story.

Britney Spears, The Woman in me. Completed.

*Novelist as a Vocation, Murakami. 70%. Will go back to. It’s great,

Pachinko, Min Jin Lee. 26%. Probably won’t go back to. Not sure why. I just seem to be off historical novels, not that I was ever really on them.

Disentangling from Emotionally Immature People, 78%. INTERESTING.

High on Arrival, Mackenzie Phillips. 75%. Big red flag waving from me as a trigger warning. This book is fucking TOUGH. But also, see connection below. There is a thread between the Phillips family and the Didion family via Harrison Ford which is kind of funny.

The Safekeep. Read. Didn’t like AT ALL. Let’s discuss?

Catherine, Princess of Walges, 25%. I love reading royal stuff but stalled on this. Maybe it was boring?

Empire of the Elite, 37%. Interesting and will go back to.

Gwyneth Paltrow bio, 60%. A bit obsessed with her. She’s kind of insufferable but compelling. Will probably finish, but it’s an interesting read, going into her business dealings as well. A nicely cynical tone sneaking in there.

Entitled (about the Yorks, ie Sarah Ferguson and the Andrew formerly known as Prince lol). 71%

Joanne Lees memoir, 32%. Rawther self serving.

The Hidden Rules of Comedy, 50%. Trying to work out how to write funny.

Dead Centre (about Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio), completed. Not sure what got me onto this now, but think it was an anniversary this year?

Tilt, Emma Pattee. 52%. Might go back to if only to remind myself what it might be about. I have absolutely no memory of any of it.

The Queen Mother, 67%. This was a re-read. I loaded it to the kindle because the book itself is so heavy. It’s a FASCINATING book. Written by this enormously eccentric woman Lady Colin Campbell (who has a youtube channel where she mostly bitches about Prince Harry and Meghan). Lady C is an aristocrat out of Jamaica, she has this fabulous accent, she’s very snobby but also refreshingly down-to-earth. Very affected. And has written this book, among others. Her own personal history is fascinating as well. But in this Queen Mother book, we learn not only that she was illegitimate (her bio mother was a cook or something in her father’s castle in Scotland) but how she wrangled her way into marriage (had her sights set on the heir, but then of course he abdicated and the second son who she’d settled for became king anyway, well played!), how she might have been somewhat behind the abdication crisis, how she manipulated everyone around her and was very cut-throat. It’s impeccably researched, so not just a gossipy hit piece.

I’m with the band, Pamela des Barres, 30%. I remember hearing about Des Barres being one of the most prominent, ‘successful’ (??) groupies of the ’60s and ’70s. I’d always wanted to read more and got the memoir but stalled. Maybe again too many of the guys are still alive?

Death, Kubler-Ross, 26%. Because my mummy died this year. I’m not sure how my grieving is going. Maybe a post about that in the future.

Sally Field memoir, completed.

Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro. 53%. I will go back to.

Demi Moore memoir, completed.

Carl Jung Dreams, Memories etc. 69%. Will go back to.

Brooke Shields memoir, 79%

* Notes to John, Joan Didion, completed. More about below. But I loved this even though I know there were questions about ethics around its publication. I will say that Didion would have destroyed her notebooks/diaries if she hadn’t wanted them published. She knew how fucking famous she was. Or she would have left explicit instructions for her estate to NOT publish ever or for a period of time. So I think it’s naive to believe the vultures landed and published it because they could. Surely it was more complicated that that! Let’s discuss.

* Shattered, Hanif Kureishi. Completed. I read this while in hospital for my first stay back in May, after I broke my knee. This book is beautiful and inspiring and put my situation into perspective. I was following Kureishi on Twitter when he had his accident and began tweeting (dictating to his son(s) and partner from his hospital bed) about it all. And what a gift it is. Read it. It inspired me to consider whether I might do something memoirish because I was already compulsively taking lots and lots of notes about my own situation. Perhaps I could do a little memoir? We’ll see.

The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford. 46%. Will return to.

Hons and Rebels, Jessica Mitford. 36%. Will return to.

The Mitford Girls, Mary S. Lovell. 69%. Will return to.

Wait for Me, Deborah Devonshire (a Mitford girl), completed. Fabulous, especially as Lily and I visited the Devonshire family seat Chatsworth House last December. So interestingly decorated, by the 6th Duke, the ‘bachelor duke’ who I suspect had a bit of a dark side. Several rooms were very gloomy and quite gothic. And in another younger son inherits story, JFK’s sister Kathleen married the Cavendish heir but he was killed in action towards the end of the second world war, and then a few years after she was killed in a plane crash. Debo Mitford’s husband then inherited it all. The current duke is the 12th and his first name is Peregrine. Love it.

Carrie Fisher, one and a half of her memoirs. One was well-written and one wasn’t, if anyone cares I can look up which is which. I loved her Postcards From the Edge, so she can write, so it wasn’t that. It’s possible she censored too much, she would have had WILD experiences and possibly suffered a lot in the business, both as child of famous person and star herself. For example, I got the feeling she had a lot more to say about Harrison Ford. Connection: Harrison Ford built Joan Didion and John Dunne’s deck. It took him months if not years. Another connection: there’s an anecdote attributed to Michelle Williams of the Mamas and Papas see Mackenzie Phillips book above. Michelle was her step mother. When Michelle saw Star Wars and saw Harrison Ford on screen she said ‘that’s my weed dealer.’ Another connection: Joan Didion’s adopted daughter Quintana Roo went to Bennington College (see below), there’s a story that Bret Easton Ellis stole her underwear while there.

* The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Didion’s nephew by marriage). Fantastic book. Another connection, in that he also made the Didion documentary The Center Will Not Hold, which I rewatched this year, it’s terrific. And I’ve just remembered another connection: his sister Dominique was killed by an ex boyfriend (commonly referred to as ‘a sous-chef at Ma Maison restaurant’, how very LA, how very terrible. I don’t mean to be flippant.) This is all mentioned in the Bennington podcast as well.

Play it as it Lays, Didion. 23%. Not sure if I’ll go back to it. Maybe.

Stet, Diana Athil. Completed. Great stuff especially for writers.

Orbital, completed. I read this on a beach in Thailand and it didn’t grab me. I really wonder if it was just the wrong place, wrong time. Will retry next year for sure. If you read it did you like it?

Didion & Babitz, Lili Anolik. This is a book about the relationship between Joan Didion (we all know who she was) and Eve Babitz (a perhaps less-known Hollywood character), and is super interesting in the way it draws those connections. Lili Anolik has been on my radar for a number of years. I first read about her work on Babitz, and had no idea there was any connection to Didion. And then she came out with the Bennington podcast which is just so so fabulous. Reading Didion & Babitz reignited my interest in all things Didion (after she died there was an auction of her household effects. I really really wanted to bid on a couple of things and it was the shipping costs that put an end to that folly. You can see the catalogue here and the final prices. For me it was the set of china, on page 5: Chinese Rose. The same as one of my grandmother’s. We ate off that setting every Christmas… I have a small milk jug, a small dish and a big platter like in the pic. But who wouldn’t want Joan Didion’s le Creuset?? Her empty notebooks? WH Chong and I texted furiously back and forth for a couple of days about this list. We also talked about David Lynch’s estate sale, and I think the whole thing started with Steve Jobs’ Birkenstocks? Ah yes, here it is: they sold for nearly $220,000. Wild!

By the way, here’s a sketch Chong did of me a few years ago. I love the ET finger.

Anyway, back to the reading list.

Anna (about Anna Wintour) by Amy Odell. 40%. I will get back to this.

Cher memoir, part 1. Completed and hanging out for part 2.

* all the books marked were my faves

In terms of reading ‘real books’ ie hard copies, I did a Helen Garner complete re-read of the diaries (for maybe the fourth time? It’s an annual thing). I also re-read Didion’s Year of Magical and Blue Nights. I have Let Me Tell You What I Mean to read as well because I don’t think I got to that one but can’t be sure. Time is super fucking weird this year. I probably read some other real books but I’m runing out of time and wordpress is slowing down my typing and there’s a lag. I remember this. I need to keep my posts shorter!

I also went on a total Bronte binge, specifically Emily. I ordered probably six books this year. Last Christmas I was in Haworth and visited the parsonage and went to the church a couple of times, including for Christmas morning service. You know I’m a deadset atheist but I love the interiors of old churches, I love the music and hymns, and carols. I don’t mind the sermons. I don’t worry about bursting into flames. We were in the parsonage museum on the anniversary of Emily’s funeral and I got literal chills as the person there spoke about her coffin being carried through the house and out to the church in front. ‘It would have come just through here, this hallway.’ Then Lily and I walked out to the moors one day, it took hours, we reached Top Withens and it was the culmination of an interest I’d had since 17 when I first read Wuthering Heights. Here are some pics of that walk. (I’ll do a dedicated post on Haworth and our Bronte pilgimage next year, maybe around 14 Feb which is when the new Emerald Fennell WH film comes out. Spoiler: I am expecting to HATE IT. But news of this film reactivated my Bronte mania this year. Lily and I re-read Wuthering Heights in Haworth which was fantastic. We also listened toTess of the d’Urbervilles as we tootled in our little car around Hardy country in England. Lily: ‘Never again!’ — about Tess, not the countryside which was stunning of course.)

Other things that have occupied me this December:

Tarot (a newish obsession even though I have a deck I bought in the early – mid nineties). I have a suite of readers on youtube that I cycle through. Let me know if you’d like recommendations. I find them interesting and helpful in terms of looking at patterns in self and others, areas that I need to focus on. As well, it’s uncanny how often the same cards repeat across six or seven readers, over time. What do we call that? Surely it’s beyond coincidence.

Cross stitch. We started this a few years back in the pandemic and heinously butchered a very expensive Elizabeth Bradley plum pudding, see below, which I picked up again this December to continue with. As well as some el cheapo kits from England.

Stanley Kubrick films. I know this one is a bit out of left field but hear me out. I do think Eyes Wide Shut is the most Christmas movie ever. I first saw it when it came out, or close to that time. And hated it. Thought it so boring and pointless. BUT last year I rewatched it and noticed how many Christmas decorations and trees appear. And also had been reading on Reddit all the conspo theories. And this morning found a substack piece on how the literal settings for filming the weird elite parties are REAL and belong(ed) to the Guinness family and the Rotschild family. I mean come on. (You can read the sub piece here.)

So I decided to do a retrospective. These are the Kubrick films I’d seen already:

EWS (VHS? certainly not the cinema)
The Shining (cinema in Lorne, in 1980)
Dr Strangelove (VHS, in the ’80s. Thought it was dumb.)
2001 (cinema as a kid. LOVED IT. Was totally entranced and it has stayed with me, and I’ve seen maybe three other times)
Clockwork Orange (cinema on a date in early ’80s, hated it. Not romantic at all haha.)

Of them — apart from 2001 — I didn’t really think any were fabulous, and some (Strangelove, Clockwork) were shit. BUT I came across a list on reddit, recommending the order to watch the films and decided to give it a go, considering I had a new interest through realising EWS is my favourite Christmas film now.

The list:

Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Barry Lyndon (1978)
Strangelove (1964)
Spartacus (1960)
2001 (1968)
The Killing (1956)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Lolita (1962)
EWS (1999)
The Shining (1980)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
AI (2001)

I watched FMJ last week and really enjoyed it. Not what I expected. Quite beautiful. Shocking. Unusual.

Then I watched Barry Lydon and MY GOD why has it taken this long? As someone said online, every frame is like a painting. It’s pastoral. The costumes are fabulous. It’s epic. And a young Ryan O’Neal as the titular character. A surprise. I thought it was gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. And there were scenes from Stourhead House, a rather obscure property (that we’d never heard of) in Dorset (?) that we visited and fell in love with.

All the interiors lit with candles. The hair. The scene at Stourhead.

And I’m half-way through the Kubrick Lolita (I’ve seen the Jeremy Irons one, this version is less creepy? Less salacious? Definitely more subtle but because of the times had to be. Nabokov wrote the screenplay and is fully credited but apparently, while he didn’t mind Kubrick’s version, noted how different it was and that Kubrick made changes. I have — oh, how funny. In happy timing this was JUST delivered. So I was about to say I’d ordered Nabokov’s screenplay. Here it is and in the new year I’ll finish the film then read this to see what was different.

I must finish. I’ve gone on and on. But that’s the beauty of blogging. It can be as long or short as I want. Happy New Year and a wonderful and safe 2026 to you and yours. I’d love to know what you’ve read this year that you loved and can recommend. What didn’t you get to? What are you keen for that’s coming?

x j