I’m not sure I would normally reach for a show like All Her Fault, because the concept of a missing child is pretty depressing and there are other things higher up on the list. The hook, such a good one in this show (you turn up to collect your child from a playdate only to find the person that answers the door has no idea what you’re talking about), usually grabs you but then the twists and turns that follow can be disappointing.

I don’t often read plays but whenever I do, I always think I should read more of them. You can picture the play happening on stage as you read through the script and this one is a great one. I actually haven’t seen the play performed anywhere but I knew of the story and that it cause quite the furore when it was first written because of its feminist angle. Such a great feminist role model, our Nora, and a surprising story with twists and turns and ultimately an incredibly forward-thinking ending. Loved it, and now need to seek it out on stage.

I’m fuming that I haven’t read this book sooner, it’s brilliant. A sort of memoir but focused very much on what it is to be a feminist as you grow up and try to navigate this difficult world. It was all brilliant but some of it was head and shoulders above the rest. The chapter on abortion was incisive and brutally honest, and the arguments about why women need a moment to really grab their opportunities and become legendary are great. It’s not all perfect but what I loved most about it is the message that women just need to worry less and live more.

Really loved this book. Obviously had watched the TV show on Apple TV which was incredible, and so reading the book was like returning to an old friend. The adaptation is pretty close to the source material, so I could picture some of the scenes as they played out, but there were minor differences and I enjoyed seeing them. It was nice, if enraging from a feminist point of view, to dip back into this world and I hope that Elizabeth is a bit happier after the end of the book!

During our second 90s evening (it’s becoming a thing!) I noticed something during the Gladiators episode that was so smoothly done, it hadn’t even registered in my mind. The men’s and women’s events were swapped in order throughout the show and for each episode. For example, who was introduced first, sometimes the men, sometimes the women. Who took to the Eliminator first at the end of the episode? This time it was the men, the other time it was the women.

An interesting book that details why it’s so hard and ultimately fruitless to have conversations about race when there is such a systematic inequality and so many opportunities for distractions and turning the conversation in another direction. It does take a minute to get your head around an entire book talking about race given the title, and there doesn’t really seem to be an overarching point to the book - other than continuing the important conversation and raising awareness of the ongoing issues.

I’ve never actually watched a Stacey Dooley documentary but often see them popping up on iPlayer, and they seem to be pretty popular. I think if you had seen them all, the book might not be that interesting as it just recaps different topics and talks about the experience of making them. But as I haven’t, it was interesting and harrowing to read about these women going through such awful things and still being resilient and brave to continue fighting on.

The third of this series of illustrated books lives up to the other two (art & science). It follows the same pattern of a one page biography of women through the years that have broken ground or changed the status quo for women and equality. I guess because of the nature of sport, these are more modern biographies, in the last centure or so, but it’s still inspiring and beautifully put together.

This is the second of three books of this kind that I have read, with Art already completed and Sport still to go. Just like the others, it’s so beautifully crafted that it’s a joy to read. The only thing about this one is it made me a bit more angry. I suppose slightly more so than the art stories, this one contained so many women doing the work and being overlooked or actively stolen from. But still, there were stories in there that made me want to find out more and that’s all I ask from a great book like this.

There were three of these books in the sale focusing in on the great stories and lives of women in Art, Science and Sport. The layout of the book is brilliant, gorgeously illustrated in a fun way with each double page spread focusing in on one woman’s story, gradually going through history to highlight achievements that have most likely been overlooked. It’s a great way of kicking off interest to find out more as well.

Such a good reference book this one. Hillary and Chelsea Clinton have written over 100 essays to cover the stories fo so many women both in history and in the present from a variety of disciplines. From local campaigners to global ambassadors, those that changed the world in medicine, history, law, in the world of romance, rights and respect, and in many other areas. On the one hand this book is incredibly inspiring, on the other hand it gave me moments of deep rage that these things have even had to happen. But ultimately we’ve come a long way and we’ve still got a long way to go, so women will keep on needing to be gutsy.

This is such a great concept for a book and well executed as well - focusing in on names and faces from history that you may have heard of but also those that have absolutely been overlooked. I really liked how engaging the book was but must admit some of the layouts were a bit tricky to read on a digital device. Otherwise, definitely recommended.

In a further effort to reach out and communicate with fans and players of The Sims 4, the team behind the game started the first of a series of streams called Behind the Sims where they shared lots of sneak peaks and updates about what’s happening and what’s coming soon. I didn’t watch the video myself but have seen plenty of the news that’s been reported on since, and some of it is very exciting.

Variety published a story yesterday detailing a walkout by the jury at the Sundance film festival from a film where closed captioning wasn’t available. They’ve been striving for greater accessability anyway, but in this instance it was a specific problem for the jury, which includes wonderful actress Marlee Matlin. The article suggests it was a dramatic walkout after a captioning device didn’t work, whilst the statement from the Sundance organisers was more muted, that the jury just decided to watch the film at a later date so they could do so together. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

This is a good book of advice and insights for women to take on board about how they should see themselves in the world and how the world should start behaving just a little bit better. There’s no real new news in this, but it’s always good to have a reminder and the affirmations contained within. The book covers a lot of topics in a short amount of time, so there’s not huge amounts of detail but it’s another one that will just make you that much more confident about the space you take up, and that can only be a good thing.

This book wouldn’t usually be in my field of vision but I saw a lot of people saying how good it was on Twitter and wanted to check in. It’s a short manifesto of a problem that I, because of my privilege, didn’t really know was a thing… which is exactly the problem being highlighted. The most eye-opening thing for me was the double standards - being considered both too powerful and too low-cast for compassion. A swift but important read.

I’m aware of, but have not seen, the movie adaptation of this, so dived straight into the source material instead. It’s such a harrowing story, highlighting once again the horrific nature of slavery, how awful human beings can be to each other for no good reason, and how no one is safe. At some points, I had to pause reading because it was just too awful, but it was worth pushing on to have a little bit of redemption at the end. Northup tells the story very stoically, factually, from moment to moment, and although you can tell he’s holding the true emotion of it back, you still get a feel for how these events affected him. Certainly an important read.

There are almost no words for this one. It was a similar reading experience to Invisible Women - intensely insightful, well written and incredibly well researched, but so frustrating. I had to keep pausing for these moments of revelation and/or anger, so it took a while to get through it. It’s a must read for anyone who wants to understand why the world works the way it does, with particular regard to racism in America but also across the rest of the world.

Watched the movie and almost immediately started reading the book. It’s interesting in the way it’s intensely similar but has a few differences. I feel like the book was slightly darker, some of the things that took place really take your breath away. But then there are some circumstances the film does better - the fact that the main guy was the son of the male principal in the book seems very specific, whereas the female principal in the film is a more likely occurance and creates a more nuanced story. But still, it’s girl power, it’s kick-ass, and it’s brilliant.

I can absolutely see how this book came about, Adam finally having enough abuse on Twitter to warrant a response longer than the however-many-characters is allowed. It does exactly what it says on the tin and whilst initially I wasn’t sure how a whole book could be sustained by the simple notion of ‘stop being an idiot’, actually, it does a really good deep dive into why we essentially don’t know anything about anything and therefore can’t be so cock-sure that one race is better than the other. Because they’re not. What is race anyway?

Wow, I really loved this book. Such a great idea, a sort of Sliding Doors but for gender. The book follows the lives of one person Lou Alder, but splits into two timelines where they are female and in the other male. Both stories are fascinating and would stand up in their own right, but the real joy is in seeing how they intersect. The similarities between the two are intricately plotted, and even the vast differences seem to come back to the same thing in the end.

This is a fantastic collection of essays, in a variety of formats, from women across all walks of life - actors, broadcasters, writers, poets, activists. The only thing they have in common is feminism, and this book aims to share some of their thoughts with you. What I love about it is that it’s not a manifesto, it’s not a guide to being a feminist pointing out all the ways you’re doing it wrong. It’s just people and their thoughts on the struggles of feminism, from using the word itself to throwing yourself into the cause 100%.

This is an interesting read because it’s not your standard comedian-writes-memoir book but instead a stream of consciousness from someone who clearly has a lot of thoughts and research to share on a particular topic - that topic being the human body, particularly female. That topic then stretches to include consensual and non-consensual sex, bodies growing and changing, and of course the more general feminism and equality that comes with the territory.

Criado Perez does an incredible job of highlighting a wide variety of issues that I would never have thought of, and delves into what research has and hasn’t been done on the impact these problems have. But what I like most is that Perez really takes a good stance on this – obviously the fight for equality does have its enemies, but the issues we’re talking about here very rarely are done maliciously. It’s just that the data isn’t there, and everyone, women included, has been societally trained to consider the male form default.

The best kind of podcasts are those that have a simple premise that can run and run. Encyclopedia Womannica is exactly one of those. Hoping to give some attention to those women from history that have either been overlooked completely or have not had the attention they should have had. Over the course of a year, the hosts aim to feature the profile of a historical icon, as the podcast blurb explains:

I’ve never really got on that well with Siri. Apple’s voice activated assistant can do some cool things but she never really listens to me and I find it easier just to swipe and tap to get what I want. I’m not alone in getting frustrated with Siri, but I’ve long been complaining to Mr C that she just doesn’t listen to me. He’s not experienced the same level of problems and I was taking it personally.

I’m currently listening to the audiobook Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. It’s focus is on the gender data gap - the ways in which the world is often unthinkingly designed for men and how that affects women in real and unexpected ways. I’m finding it hard going, not because of the book itself - it’s well written, researched and read - but because the unintended and far-reaching consequences of a simple lack of thinking weigh heavy on me. I’m having to listen in short bursts and then stop to do something else.

Documenting the story of women searching, campaigning and battling for equal terms, laws and votes as men with suffragettes the key to the story. I’ve heard of people chaining themselves to the railings, of course, but this goes far deeper. I hadn’t realised the fight for equality started so early on, and that it took so long!

I seem to be going through a period of consuming media about segregation and racism, but none of them have so far hit home quite like this one. I wanted to read the book before seeing the film, and I’m glad I did. The differing perspectives add so much to the narrative, and to the conflict - between both the employer and employee, and within the help themselves.

I hadn’t heard of this one, so probably wouldn’t have picked it up if it hadn’t been in my reading list. I’m glad I did, because it’s interesting to see what dystopian teen fiction was like before the recent glut of Hunger Games style madness. Whilst it’s a good book, very readable and with some interesting characters, I wasn’t left feeling very happy at the end.

I requested some sticky tape and then made the mistake of taking a couple of days off. The stationery catalogue is hidden away in my filing cabinet, but someone must have found it and placed an order. When I mentioned this over on Sidepodcast, the reaction was instant and very divided. As an over-generalisation, the girls hate it and the boys think it’s funny. I’m sure you already know what I think of it.

A few months ago, I posted my hastily edited video of Red Arrows footage, and I thought I did a pretty good job following those speedy little planes around the sky. I love the Red Arrows. It’s bizarre because I do not like to fly, everything about the idea of being in the sky fills me with dread, I have nightmares about plane crashes that I’ve clearly made up, but I do love those planes.

There’s a particular electronics retail outfit that starts with a PC and ends with a World and has rude staff. I was sent to the World today, and was very happy when I found exactly what I wanted straight away. I took it to the desk, where a man with a ginger beard took it and scanned it. “Is this for business or pleasure?” he guffawed, “need I ask.” How RUDE!! Why is it the funniest notion ever to think that I could be buying for business??