Friday's Five ✋ #197
Happy Friday! ☀️
I’m back in the French countryside near Bergerac in the Dordogne for my workation and a mix of remote workshops with my client ShareNow and some individual coaching sessions. Chouette!
What I’m reading 📖
‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’ by Shirley Jackson is a book I saw highly rated by a voracious reader friend on Goodreads. It’s a short yet fascinating novel (<200 pages) written in crystal-clear prose and with a suspenseful opening chapter that completely captivated me. Two sisters and their uncle, an old house, and a mystery about what happened to the rest of their large family. Just saw that the book was adapted into a movie and I’m planning to watch it. More about the book.
What I’m listening to 🎧
My friend Manuel is a journalist I’ve admired since meeting him in Cologne 20 years ago for his thoughtful and respectful journalistic approach. In his tv show ‘Wild Germany’, he explores the stories at the fringes of society, stories that are often overlooked by traditional media. He turned his show into a podcast and I loved the episode in which he speaks to people who have left right-wing organizations. Listen!
What I’m watching 📺
If you’ve watched ‘Love & Anarchy’ on Netflix you’ll know Ida Engvoll. In ‘Rebecka Martinsson’, Ida stars as a hotshot Stockholm lawyer who returns to her hometown in rural Sweden to help solve a series of gruesome murders as a prosecutor. I really enjoyed watching this series for its strong characters and in particular for Engvoll’s acting. Watch it here.
What I’m thinking about 🧠
“My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all, I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in our family is dead.”
– Opening paragraph of ‘We Have Always Lived in the Castle’ by Shirley Jackson.
What else?! 💯
So apparently it’s a tradition in Brasil to give the first slice of your birthday cake to a person you love and care about most. And this kid’s reaction is just precious.
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!
David
P.S.: if you liked this, your best friend might too. Thank you for sharing: https://davidnoel.substack.com