Things I Loved in November and Looking Ahead
Monthly Digest | November 2024
Hello, I’m Tiffany, your local town hermit. Welcome to my fellowship—a haven where you’re free to talk about taboo subjects you can’t anywhere else. Upgrade for full access.
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Dear Inklings,
Does anyone know where I can get a break from life? Lol (I say as I’m very much not laughing out loud).
For those new here, these monthly digests include:
a round-up of everything I published
7 recommendations of books, articles, films/TV shows, or anything else I think you might also enjoy
With patrons, I share personal life and writing updates, and any announcements I may have.
For Everyone
Lord of the Rings Challenge
For Patrons
Fiction
(* indicates a reread/rewatch)
📖 We Have Always Been Here (Samra Habib, 2019). I came across this book by complete accident, and I’m so grateful I did. Samra’s story of growing up in Pakistan, immigrating to Canada, and discovering their identity as queer, is an essential read for everyone. Theirs is an incredible journey of repression to freedom, of finding one’s voice in a world that says they shouldn’t exist. I recommend this to anyone who has felt like they don’t belong, and needs some hope (aka everyone).
📖 Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine, 1997).* This was one of my favourite books as a child. A girl cursed to obey any command anyone gives her tries to find freedom. Rereading it was so nostalgic. It’s still a worthy book for our time, as girls and women continue finding their voices. Read the book. Don’t watch the movie.
📺 Woman of the Hour (Anna Kendrick, 2023). This film came across my radar when the host of the Crime Junkie podcast interviewed Anna Kendrick about it. While not interested at first, I did listen to the interview and became intrigued. I have to say, the movie did a fine job of portraying the micro-aggressions women live with every single day—and the way we must learn to make calculated compromises in order to navigate the world. Will we always get killed for it? No, but that doesn’t diminish the high-alert anxiety we face on a day-to-day basis. I recommend first listening to the podcast episode with the interview, as well as the episode where Crime Junkie covers the case the movie is based on.
📺 Joy of Life (Ni Mao, 2019). I dislike starting series that are incomplete, so when I heard that this highly rated Chinese show ended on a cliffhanger, I wisely waited until season two came out before starting to watch it (five years after the end of season one). ALAS! There will be a season three that has not yet been filmed. Woe is me. But the hype is real; it comes pretty close to the quality of Nirvana in Fire, one of the best Chinese shows ever. If you enjoy shows with political intrigue, conspiracies, multi-faceted characters, and a well-woven plot, I recommend this one to you.
🗞️ The Norwegian Butter Knife ( , 2024). This beautifully crafted tribute to a grandmother love and sacrifice moved me. Written with such tenderness, Some Guy shines a light on how the stability of just one adult in a child’s life can make all the difference. “I take the Aquinas view, that to love is to will the good of another. You start to grow inside of other people, the same way they grow inside of you. You sew the seeds and you reap the harvest of your affection.” Incredible piece. I’ll be reading more from this writer.
🗞️ James and the Giant Question: Should We Cancel Roald Dahl? ( , 2024). Joel raises quite the question in this article, especially as creatives find their private lives exposed far more easily than in the past. Personally, I don’t believe there is a benefit to cancelling authors for moral failings. They will continue to enjoy success, their diehard fans will continue to support them. If the work itself is not “problematic,” I don’t have a problem consuming it. Even then, I don’t believe the answer is to avoid these works, but to engage thoughtfully with them. “There’s a lot of good art by bad people, and bad art by good people.” But how moral should someone be? Where is that line?
🗞️ Enduring Grace ( , 2024). Chloe’s writing is always a treat. Every time I see one of her essays in my inbox, I’m filled with delight. This one is no exception. She writes with profound wisdom on the brevity and preciousness of life by reminding us of the inevitability of death: “Death is not the enemy, it is the enduring grace of nature. The enemy, if there is such a thing, is whatever prevents us from seeing that the appropriate response to existence is love. And only ever more love.”
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