Book stuff, life stuff, love stuff from December

If you care to find me, look to the western sky

Jan 06, 2025

I’m about to see Wicked (the movie) for the third time, so that’s all you need to know about my feelings on one of the most hyped releases of 2024.

My advice? Go with mid-range expectations, as I did, especially if you’ve seen the live musical (several times, like the tragic I am). Laura and I saw Wicked on our first day in NYC when it was too early to check into the Airbnb, so that means we basically spent three weeks speaking key lyrics to each other during opportune or tense moments. She complained about my laissez-faire attitude to getting to the airport on time? I would simply respond, “if you care to find me, look to the western sky.” A good time.

Before now, I couldn’t have told you anything about Ariana Grande if you offered me $10,000, but now she’s my entire algorithm. Stole the show, no notes. Obviously I also have a big crush on Cynthia and have been listening to the album for weeks. I am ruined.

Before I move onto my December round-up, I need to announce the winner of the latest monthly book giveaway! It’s paid subscriber Margot. I’ve emailed you :)

Onwards —

A movie I wish I wrote

On the plane overseas, I watched Babes, written by and starring Ilana Glazer (from Broad City) and I loved it so much. Best friends since childhood, Eden and Dawn are at pretty different stages of life, with Dawn married and giving birth to her second child in the opening scene, and Eden perpetually single and a yoga teacher who indulges in magic mushrooms on the reg. When Eden falls pregnant after a one-night-stand, she decides to keep the baby and their friendship evolves to the next level. It’s so funny and real and full of heartache. I particularly loved and could relate to the exploration of how friendships morph and change as we move further into adulthood and children are thrown into the mix. It’s one of those movies I finished and thought, “damn I wish I wrote that script”. Plz watch it okay!

I promised I’d show you the books I bought in NYC so here they are

Across three weeks, we visited The Strand, Books Are Magic, The Ripped Bodice, Sweet Pickle Books, Transom, Book Club Bar, and Powells in Portland OR, which is the world’s largest independent bookstore, and also female-owned! That’s just a handful I’m mentioning, btw. Some were revisits (Books Are Magic), others were new discoveries (The Ripped Bodice) and bucket list visits (Book Club Bar). I made this reel of bookstore visits so you can also enjoy the erotic experience, from afar.

So far, I’ve read Make the Season Bright, which was on the front table at The Ripped Bodice romance bookstore, advertised as a ‘sexy queer holiday rom-com’ and I was like OKAY TWIST MY ARM. It was such a fun read in that nebulous space between Xmas and NYE. The Wilderness was a one-read sitting too, an extended essay from the author about the first 40 days after giving birth — her experience, plus how other cultures handle that time through the ages. Fascinating, beautiful, frightening. And then Women, obviously, I’ve read a bunch of times and interviewed Chloe Caldwell and I’m a big FAN, but it’s just recently been re-released in the original format, with a new intro from the author, so it was an essential purchase. I spent a solid hour in the ‘small press’ section of Powell’s, which is where I bought a lot of these books that aren’t available in Australia and which I’ve never heard of.

Oh, also, if you want to read my complicated feelings on honeymooning and America and all the things, I sent this to paid subscribers before Christmas.

Brief yet complicated feelings I had on honeymoon

Amy Lovat

December 23, 2024

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I read six books in December but this is the one I want to tell you about

Reading Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts while driving across the exact landscape she describes in the book was a breathtaking experience. Releasing in March 2025 with Ultimo Press, this book is easily one of my favourite reads of the year. It’s about a young married couple driving through the southwest of America on a work/play road trip, navigating a changing landscape and the breakdown of their relationship. Wildfires rage around them as they chart the course of the Colorado River; she’s doing postgrad study and contemplating the future, he’s an artist grieving his mother, who died suddenly a few years back. Elegy, Southwest is about love, grief, climate change, and the power of place. The ending absolutely broke me. A stunning read — definitely preorder or look out for it in bookshops soon.

Speaking of book releases in 2025, get keen for these ones

Groomed by Sonia Orchard — a memoir about Sonia’s experience with the legal system when she reported a crime from her teen years, decades later. I read it during one rage-filled evening on my phone over in NYC. Out Feb 2025.

Cold Truth by Ashley Kalagian Blunt — a satisfying thriller! Out Feb 2025.

Signs of Damage by Diana Reid — her best yet, trust me! Out March 2025.

An Onslaught of Light by Natasha Rai — honoured to have blurbed this one, about love, culture, sexuality, and family. Out March 2025.

I also read in the weekend Review mag that Kate Mildenhall and Hannah Kent both have new books coming out this year, which excited me greatly. I will never stop being grateful for my job(s) and the fact I am sent early copies of books every single week. The pile awaiting my return from NYC gave me whole-body tingles, much like the titular notes of ‘Defying Gravity’ (iykyk).

Honourable mention to yours truly (!!). My second novel is out in June 2025 and I will reveal the title, cover and details all in good time! Here’s another exclamation mark for good cheer!

One earnest recommendation for this month

Around this time last year, I had close to 40,000 photos and videos on my phone, dating back to 2012. Atrocious. Caused me lowkey stress and panic every day. I had been craving a digital decluttering solution, when another author shared an instagram reel with a life hack that changed everything.

Each day, go into your photos app and search (I didn’t even know you could search things) for today’s date, and your phone will serve you every single photo you’ve taken on this day over the years (in my case, back to 2012). You then declutter only those photos, deleting all the old random screenshots you don’t need, the 17 photos you took of the same sunset, etc. The next day, repeat. Set an alarm on your phone for a time each day that you’re likely to be browsing (in my case, bedtime) and by the end of the year you’ll have a clean and organised and less-overwhelming camera roll.

I’m now down to 22,000. Which still seems like a lot, to be fair. I consider throwing my phone into the ocean daily.

The best part of the whole exercise is that I got to trip down memory lane and regularly annoy my friends and family with random photos from five years ago. When do we ever just scroll through old photos on our phones? We take the pictures but do we ever stop to remember them? I didn’t, until now. I even got super nerdy and made a “best of” album for each year while I was at it.

I’m so grateful to the author (I forget who it was soz, and I also can’t find the reel!) for sharing that random reel, so if this reaches just one person who needs it, that is my earnest recommendation KARMA for life.