Philippa Moore's Blog, page 22

the latte years: the first week

This past week has been one of the most surreal weeks of my life, in the best possible way.  On Monday, The Latte Years came out and I felt like I did when I was a little girl and it was my birthday - absolutely beside myself with excitement and like the world just a little bit magical. 

It has been amazing and frankly mind-blowing to see pictures of The Latte Years on shelves, on Kindles, in hands.

State Theatre bookshop, Hobart. Thank you Isabel for the photo!

As crazy as this sounds, it’s still sinking in that this is real. It’s a REAL book. Even seeing these pictures I have to pinch myself a little. Possibly because the book isn’t out in bookstores here in London yet (you can get it online though), all the excitement has been happening 17,000 kilometres away. But it’s still been incredible. 

Fullers Bookshop, Hobart. Thank you Rae for the photo!

On Kindle! Thanks Mezz for the photo! 

Readings Malvern, Melbourne. Thank you to my friend Leanne for the photo!

You can see a whole album of where The Latte Years has been spotted all over Australia and the world on my Facebook page. 

As I sat alone in my study - almost this time last year - on the other side of the world, forcing myself back into Hobart of 2005 and Melbourne of 2006, and beyond, I wondered whether this was actually going to end up being anything worth reading, whether it would help anyone, whether I was doing the right thing. 

Writing The Latte Years took everything I had. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. 100 marathons would have been easier and I'd have had a more toned backside to show for it! But already, after just one week, I feel I have been repaid a thousand times over. I know it was all worth it. I’ve just been blown away by how people have reacted to this book so far - it’s beyond anything I dared to hope for. 

This book goes very well with coffee. Thank you to my friend Phillippa for the photo!

Every day I’ve been waking up to messages from people who have read it. People who stayed up until 1, 2 or 3am to finish it because they couldn’t put it down. People who have gone out and bought more copies for their friends. People who now feel less alone. People who are now inspired and fired up to do something outrageous and brave with their lives.

Which is exactly why I wrote it. 

The enthusiastic and loving reception my book has had so far is so incredibly humbling. I don’t think I’ve ever said the words ‘thank you’ so much in my life but it’s something I feel with every fibre of my being right now - thankful. So very, very thankful.

Have a lovely week, friends! And if you've bought a copy of The Latte Years, thank you! 

Much love, Phil xx

the latte years is out today!

My book, The Latte Years, is officially out in Australia and New Zealand TODAY! 

It’s a time of year where a lot of people find themselves thinking about their lives, what they might like to change and do differently in the year ahead. While I don’t think you have to wait for a new year to start changing things, my aim in writing The Latte Years was to share my own story of transformation and growth, and to give hope to anyone who feels a bit stuck or powerless in their life, wanting to change but feeling too overwhelmed to even start.

I know exactly how that feels, because I've been there.

In 2005, I was, as Cheryl Strayed brilliantly put it, ‘a free spirit who didn’t have the balls to be free.’ Due to my low confidence, insecurities and fear of change, my life had moved in very unsatisfying directions. I was overweight and out of shape, breathless after climbing a flight of stairs. I was married to someone I loved but who I knew deep down didn’t want the same things as me. I yearned to see the world but the furthest I’d ever been from my hometown was Queensland. I thought this was as good as it was ever going to get. And I was only 24.

As the fog slowly lifted, I could see why things were the way they were - but that I could change them.  In fact, only I could change them.

The Latte Years is the story of how I did that, and what happened next! (clue: lots of things).

But it’s not a “fat to fit” memoir, because that has only ever been one part of my story. Most weight loss success stories finish with getting to goal, the happy ever after. It wasn’t like that for me at all. In fact, merely weeks after I reached my goal, my life as I knew it was over.  

What happens after the ‘after’ photo is taken? That’s what The Latte Years is really about. 

It’s about going through a divorce in your twenties; starting afresh in a new city and a new country; the nuances, joys and pains of friendships; learning how to love and trust again after you’ve been hurt; the dark side of success; being true to yourself; the search for wholeness, freedom and empowerment and how you can find it in the most unexpected places.

The Latte Years was not a book I intended to write, but ended up being one that I had to write. We don’t choose our stories, they choose us. It’s the twist in the plot you don’t see coming at the time, but ends up being clearly the way things were meant to be all along.

I hope The Latte Years encourages you to cross your own finishing line, whatever it might be.

If you want to get yourself, and every single one of your friends (!), a copy, here's how:

Paperback, in Australia and New Zealand: your local bookstore should have a copy. If they haven't got it in yet, ask them to order it!
Or online, Booktopia

Paperback, rest of the world: it hasn’t been released in bookstores in the UK or US yet but if you’d still like a physical copy you can get one from Book Depository (they ship worldwide) and it also looks like you can get a paperback copy on Amazon US and Amazon UK.

E-book/Kindle:  Amazon UK, Amazon US, Kobo, iBooks

Audio book (released 21 January) by Audible

If you get a copy, please tweet me, Facebook me or insta me (and hashtag #thelatteyears) - I’d love to see where it is in the world and who is reading it!

Thank you so much for all the support and being a special part of this journey. I am so grateful for you all xx

the third, wherein I discuss best books of 2015

Goodness, another blog post from me already? Could this be what they refer to as being on a roll? 

Today I’m going to do something I’ve never done. 

I’m doing my best books of last year post…in JANUARY. I know! This is a first!

If I’m not writing or running or eating something, I tend to be reading. And yet I read a surprisingly little amount, compared to previous years, in 2015. A big reason for that was that the writing of my own book took over my entire life. When I did have free time, I wanted to spend it with my husband and friends, preferring to go for long walks or out to see live music, away from a screen or a page.

But what I did manage to read was magnificent.

Two of my top reads of the year I’ve actually not yet finished but I want to mention them in my 2015 reads regardless. 

The first is George Eliot’s Middlemarch. This is embarrassing for someone who did honours in English at university to admit, but I’d never finished reading it. The length was enough to put me off for a start. Austen was always a little more manageable, and her satire and wit so sharp, she was my preference for a long while.

But in 2015 I found myself being drawn back to George Eliot. Her satire and observations of society of the day are just as sharp as Austen’s, but there is a real wisdom there, an appeal to our sense of humanity to take pity on people like Fred Vincy, Featherstone, even that complete knob Casaubon. Eliot is very witty, for sure, but she is never cruel. She paints these people as flawed human beings as opposed to caricatures, doing their best with what they know, and in many cases, they are merely products of their society, their environment, the norms of the day. I am finding reading Middlemarch fascinating and hugely enjoyable, and Eliot's writing is exquisite in places. There was even a quote about marriage that rang so true for me I ended up using it in The Latte Years. For those reasons I am savouring it and didn’t manage to finish it before New Year’s Eve. But I shall continue. 

The second is Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. This title was familiar to me, I’d heard many women I know and admire sing its praises for years, but when I first tried to read it myself, I think around 2012, I just couldn’t get into it. But sometimes books appear again in our lives when we’re ready for them. Over the summer of 2015, my friend Holly announced she was off to Colorado to attend a conference about this book. An entire conference?! I was intrigued. There had to be something in this book after all. 

Well, it’s safe to say I’m now hooked. It’s like reading about my own life. I never really appreciated how many of us, as women, silence our true selves and compromise our true natures. The book examines traditional folktales and myths to illustrate how repression of feminine power has been the norm for centuries, and how we can overcome it. But in a culture where a woman being brave with her life and being unapologetic about getting her needs met still makes some people uncomfortable as hell (something I’ve written about in The Latte Years too), it’s not easy and we’ve still got a long way to go. 

And now for the books I managed to completely finish reading, and loved. 

The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard (five books in total, this is the first)
This series was one of my most joyful reading discoveries of the year. I started seeing these appear on several Instagram feeds I follow, being read in cosy English cottages, hand-knitted blankets and mugs of hot chocolate alongside. They looked like wonderful cold weather reading. I snapped up the first in the series at the local charity bookshop, and the next day I bought all the rest!  The series follows the fortunes of an upper middle-class family, the Cazalets, before and after the Second World War, with five books in all. It’s utterly enthralling, like ‘Enid Blyton for grownups’ as one of my friends put it. If you want a series to get lost in, I highly recommend them. 

One More Thing…stories and other stories by B.J Novak
This book caught my eye while I was waiting at JFK airport after our wonderful trip to NYC in May and I'm so glad I got it. It’s a collection of such surreal, clever and funny writing, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary, and vice versa. Not only very funny, but every story makes you think. As Oscar Wilde said, "if you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh" and BJ Novak does this brilliantly. I liked the playfulness of the writing too, something you don't see nearly enough of. Some stories are only a few lines long. It's a book full of surprises.

Something Special, Something Rare: Outstanding Stories by Australian Women
A wonderful friend bought me this as a present, as it was a collection put out at the start of the year by my own publisher! It’s a simply magnificent collection of fiction from Australian women writers, with the themes, settings and characters as diverse as they are engaging. Many well known names in here, as well as some new to me. Contemporary and compelling, I had many favourites in this collection and couldn’t pick just one - but I always enjoy Karen Hitchcock’s writing (her book of short stories was one of my favourite reads of the year a few years back). 

The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
Oh wow, where do I begin with this book. I don’t know if anything I write can do it justice, only that if you are a creative type, please read it. Amanda shares her journey through music, creativity, expression and connection - and the vulnerability that comes with it -  with so much honesty and heart. I identified with so much of her story and her experiences. I think every creative person has experienced 'Imposter Syndrome' or a raid from the 'Fraud Police' at some point. We've all thought 'who am I to want this, to ask for this?'. Amanda shows that you can indeed ask for it. There will also be seasons where it will be you being asked, as that is the cycle, of giving and receiving. But life has a way of rewarding you for having the courage to ask, to reach out.  I tried to explore this a little in The Latte Years too.

Springtime by Michelle de Kretser
This novella showed up in my local bookstore quite unexpectedly. Whenever I see a book by an Australian author in this part of London, I snap it up! This is a beautiful little book, with finely tuned observations - less a ghost story in the obvious sense and more about the other ghosts in life - an ex partner, a parent we didn't get on with, a beloved pet, places we've loved living in but had to leave. Quite exquisite. 

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Another ‘oh wow, I have so little to say that would do this book justice, just read it’ kind of sum up, really! This book was a god-send and a game changer for me. It came along at exactly the right time for me, exactly when I needed to hear its messages.  

My biggest takeaway was about how you have to let your creative work be what it is, whatever it needs to be. Because, after all, you are just the messenger. If the work feels safe and supported, with no pressure to be a bestseller, to make you heaps of money, or give you any kind of external validation, then it will show up and do its thing. It made me think about my own process - how I fought and fought for so long for The Latte Years to be the book I wanted it to be, the book I thought would reflect best on me, or protect me. In the end I had to let it be what it is. Fascinating stuff. 

The Fictional Woman by Tara Moss
Part memoir, part social commentary but 100 per cent compelling, this book opened my eyes so much.  You only have to glance at the book’s cover to see how many ‘fictional’ labels are put on women, labels that have nothing to do with who we are, labels that are stereotypical and dismissive at best, and downright dangerous at their worst.

Tara Moss, working as a model as well as being a highly accomplished writer, has had to take a polygraph test to prove she writes her own books. This mind-boggling story opens the book and the rest barely pulls any punches. There are experiences Tara relates here, with so much honesty and courage, that reminded me of things I and other women I know have been through and my eyes pricked with tears as I read it. It makes you notice the sexism and prejudice still so prevalent in our society, especially in the media. This message was hammered home one morning on the train when I noticed the reading material of the man next to me:

I think The Fictional Woman is essential reading for everyone - men and women. It is a brave, intelligent and beautifully written book.

Lillian on Life by Alison Jean Lester
I was already a fan of Alison’s excellent short fiction - and was lucky enough to meet her when I visited Singapore many years ago - so when I heard she had published her first novel, I was all over it. Lillian on Life is the story of a woman reflecting on her choices, taking stock on the cusp of turning 60, wondering what else she might have to look forward to.

Each chapter is a little vignette from her past, or in some cases her present, flitting from the 1930s through to 1990s, where the glamorous, energetic yet thoughtful Lillian ponders the road she took, and the roads she didn’t. As she recalls the stories, lessons and memories, she speaks a lot about how vital it is to be the author of your own life, rather than standing by “like a teenager next to her mother at a cocktail party.” In fact, Lillian advises, if you really want to get to know someone, don’t ask them what they’ve done with their lives, ask them what they wanted to do. “What they want to do is who they are.”

It’s a thoughtful, elegant, quirky and very wise book, and very funny. But equally, in places, heartbreaking. You forget it’s a novel, as the voice is so strong and some of the experiences so painfully real. I loved it.

Letters to a Young Artist by Anna Deavere Smith
A recommendation from Brain Pickings, I found myself reading this over the summer.  Every chapter is a letter from Deavere Smith, an actor and writer, to an imaginary young artist she calls BZ, sharing insight and wisdom about the creative life - everything from confidence and discipline, to the fear of failure, to paying it forward. Every letter has some kind of gem in it and I found myself reading with a pencil in hand, underlining many things I wanted to take in and remember.

One part particularly spoke to me - “the need to be heard is not enough. To develop a voice, you need to develop an ear. To develop a vision, you need to develop an eye. To develop your mark as an artist, you need to see the marks of others - especially the marks of those who are unrecognised.” Over the past two years, my own creative practice has shifted to what Deavere Smith describes - developing an eye, a voice, a vision. Before then, it was all about trying to “find” something. These days I’m trying to use my art to start conversations and be of service. I’m trying to be more fearless and less apologetic about who I am and what I want to say, to dig a bit deeper and notice what others are doing as well. 

Having spent the past ten years testing my physical limits with triathlons and marathons, I have realised that creative endeavours require just as much fortitude, discipline and pushing yourself. Books like this are a real tonic to pep you up when you’re flagging. 

Bossypants by Tina Fey
The great Tina Fey needs no introduction. 2015 was also the year I discovered 30 Rock (I know, I must have been living under one) and so reading her memoir, which was as funny, observant and well-crafted as her television show, was a real treat.

Tina Fey and this book inspired me a great deal in the writing of my own. Early on in the drafting process, I was trying to write that all-important but ultimately laborious second chapter, the one that sets the scene, and getting nowhere fast. Everything I wrote didn’t work, or felt too heavy. Eventually, after a whole weekend of writing nothing I was happy with, I took a break and sat with a cup of tea and turned to where I was up to in Bossypants. I had a revelation as I read. I thought, why not try to make it funny instead? Tina even manages to write about a physical attack on her as a child with a detached kind of humour. So, feeling fresh and inspired, I rewrote my second chapter from scratch, trying to tease the funny side out of it instead, and I think it worked.

Bossypants also has some wonderful wisdom about dealing with internet trolls (Tina’s responses are hilarious), sexism in the workplace, and about the creative process. I learned a lot about letting go in 2015, particularly in regard to my work. Letting The Latte Years go was a sticky and involved process but, as Tina writes, “you can’t be that kid standing at the top of the water slide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.” 

Bossypants is as brilliant as the woman who wrote it and telling you about it has made me want to read it again. 

And so there you have it, friends, my 2015 in books. What gems they were, how much they taught me, how they made me laugh and think and see the world in a new way - as all good books do. 

What were your favourite books in 2015? 

PS: Full disclosure and all that, most of the links in this post are Amazon Affiliate, you know the score! xx

the first

Today is New Year’s Day, 2016. 

It’s been a cloudy, cold, intermittently wet day here in London. Somehow my husband and I managed to start the year without hangovers, despite drinking two bottles of champagne and chasing it down with whisky before crawling to bed around 3am. Perhaps we aren’t getting too old for this after all.

Today my husband also fixed my phone, which has been driving me batshit crazy for months. It was one of those things I just don't have time to sort out.  It finally has enough memory to update all its apps. WhatsApp finally works again and in it I found many messages I had missed over the past few months, including one from a friend who, it turns out, quit her job before Christmas and is now cycling around Canada. I had no idea. I’d seen her snaps on social media but thought she was just on holiday. 

I suppose that’s a metaphor for how I feel about life in general right now. I finally have enough memory, enough brain power, to plug back in to the world and life now that The Latte Years is ready to be released. 

The process of having a book published has been nothing like I thought it would be, at all. Every author says that and I didn’t believe them. It’s been a rollercoaster, in the most incredible, amazing and challenging ways. One minute you’re fantasising about what it will be like to see a book with your name on the front cover. The next you’re running along a frosty street at 6:30am to get to the sorting office when it opens, because a copy of your book has arrived, but as you work full time, you weren’t home when it got there. Later that day, you’re sitting in a cafe on your lunch break, reading it, and people walk past the window, burrowing themselves deeper in their coats against the cold, back to their offices, life keeps going.

Eventually you remember to look up and sip your coffee, and it hits you that this isn’t just a book you’ve borrowed from the library. You wrote it.

Books aren’t books to you any more. You know what the author went through to write it. It is all-consuming, intense, exhilarating, powerful, exciting, frustrating, even heartbreaking. You know about deadlines, about getting up at 6am to write before work, writing in the evenings, writing for nine to ten hour stretches at the weekends, your social life dropping dead. You know about days when you forget to eat, you’re so caught up. You know about drafting and redrafting. You know about cutting 50,000 words. You know about the frustration of feeling golden sentences forming in your brain and your typing fingers not able to catch them before they slip away. You know about fighting that nagging voice in your head that tells you you’re a fraud, you’re going to be a laughing stock, that you’ll never be good enough. You know about the sick dread you feel when you realise it’s over, it's gone to print, and you’ve just thought of something else you wish you’d had time to change. 

But then you realise your book is a bit like you. Flawed, but still lovable. Still able to find a place in the world. And lucky - so very bloody lucky - to have so many people who believe in it. 

And that’s why I can’t wait to do it again. I’m already writing the next one.

So, that’s my wish for 2016. To keep writing. To learn, to grow, to push myself. But to keep going, above all.

What’s yours, my friend?

Much love, Phil xx

my favourite reads of 2014

I think it's now well and truly embarrassing to have anything with 2014 in the title of a blog post.....but despite that, I wanted to share my favourite reads of last year with you. It's become a bit of a tradition that a few readers look forward to, so here you go, with apologies for my extreme tardiness! (though I have had an excuse).

I read some amazing books last year and I couldn't possibly just pick 10 to tell you about, as I did in previous years. So here were my favourites of the 94 (!) books I read last year, in no particular order:

Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi The Narrow Road To The Deep North by Richard FlanaganMy Heart Wanders by Pia Jane BijkerkSteal Like An Artist by Austin KleonCatching The Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity by David LynchDaring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene BrownShiver by Nikki GemmellThe Great Failure and The True Secret of Writing by Natalie GoldbergEnglish Food by Jane GrigsonMy Madder Fatter Diary by Rae EarlI Quit Sugar For Life by Sarah WilsonThe Engagements by J.Courtney SullivanSpilt Milk by Amanda HodgkinsonGlaciers by Alexis M. SmithLove and Hunger by Charlotte WoodDevotion: A Memoir and Still Writing by Dani ShapiroFoal's Bread by Gillian MearsAt Home In The World by Joyce MaynardThe Tea Chest by Josephine Moon

That's 22 - must be a new record of some kind for me - but 2014 was a great reading year. Some of those books were newly published but others had been around for some time and I only just discovered them. Some were Australian books published a few years previously that finally made their way to the UK, to my great joy. Some I sought out, thanks to recommendations on social media or podcasts, others I happened upon by  accident (always wonderful). 

Last year was also a year I tried to find my own voice again, to face a few demons, think about what I wanted to do next and just chill out and enjoy life for a while, rather than worrying about goals and progress and every bloody thing needing to be an achievement. My reading reflected that, I think.

So rather than offer individual reviews on every book, as we'll be here all day, I thought I'd categorise them based on the big themes of my life last year and share some thoughts that way. Here goes:

Letting go

My word for 2014 was release and boy did that sum up last year for me. We sold our place out in the country, moved back to London, I went back to full time work after a few years of freelancing, and I let go of a lot of stuff I realised I was still holding on to - not because I longed for those days again (far from it) but because I was using a few scars from the past as an excuse to stay small and think small.

There was a massive clear-out of physical stuff from the move, there was a bonfire on the night of a new moon where I wrote letters that needed to be written and then burned them, and there was a massive shift in my thinking that was a long time coming. And it was funny how once I released the old shit, some new exciting stuff came right in.

The books I found wonderful companions for this aspect of life last year were Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown and The Great Failure by Natalie Goldberg. All three of these books are very much centred around letting go of what you think you know, what you believe about yourself and allowing yourself to live consciously and wholeheartedly, embracing the supposed failures (because what is failure, really? Who gets to decide?). They are highly recommended if you want some clarity and a kind, wise voice to cut through the crap that you tell yourself, the crap that keeps you small and afraid to shine. 

Creating a voice

At the start of 2014, I wanted to reconnect with my creativity and immerse myself in a writing practice again. I wanted to find my voice again (I wasn't sure where I'd put it) and it was during 2014 that I realised that a voice wasn't something you found, it was something you created. "Art is craft, not inspiration," said Stephen Sondheim. 

And so 2014 involved returning to my roots, as it were, with a lot of journalling, a lot of poetry (a form I hadn't written in since 2008), and committing to a regular writing practice. My husband Tom and I started getting up early and writing (or drawing in his case) before work. It felt important to begin our days with what mattered most to us, instead of scrambling around trying to find time for it in the evenings when we were exhausted. It changed my mindset entirely.

I have piles of notebooks that I crammed full last year with my writing practice. Most of it is unreadable as I was trying not to think while I wrote (and it shows). But I've kept them as testament to what I learned - that showing up and doing it every day is important.

While I was working hard, I also completely let go of any expectations. I put my novel that I'd been working on since 2010 in a drawer. I decided that the practice and the work was the most important thing, rather than the external validation I had been seeking for some time. As with the first theme above, I simply let go. 

The books that really fired me up, got me thinking about my work and practice in a new way or that were simply volumes of kind wisdom and instant inspiration were: 

My Heart Wanders by Pia Jane BijkerkSteal Like An Artist by Austin KleonCatching The Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity by David LynchThe True Secret of Writing by Natalie GoldbergStill Writing by Dani Shapiro

Still Writing in particular was the most wonderful volume of inspiration and I highly recommend it to all you writers out there.  Dani Shapiro's memoir Devotion was also a very moving read, as were At Home In The World by Joyce Maynard and My Madder Fatter Diary by Rae Earl. All three lingered long in the memory and really helped me think about how I wanted to tell my own story. All of them involved exposure of some kind and a willingness to be vulnerable and brave, as their stories didn't necessarily cast other players in the best light. I learned a great deal from reading them, pulling them apart and seeing how the stories were put together. 

Fun and escapism

Reading remains one of the greatest pleasures in my life. I love losing myself in a good book, whether it's in a park on a sunny day or in front of the fire on a freezing wintry afternoon. You know you're reading a good book when you're happy your train is delayed or stuck in a tunnel so you can stay and read a little bit longer! 

Seeing how magical the works of other writers are gives me so much energy and much to aspire to. I am in awe of how they create their believable and compelling characters, enthralling storylines, delicious just-enough details, and worlds that are a joy to be lost in, even if it's just the minutes snatched on the commute each day.

The Narrow Road To The Deep North by Richard Flanagan was the best novel I read last year. I had been dying to read it ever since listening to this magical interview with him (Aussie expats, subscribe to the podcast - it's like a little taste of home each week) in 2013. It's one of those books that overwhelms with beauty and horror at the same time - there were times when I had to put the book down and come back to it later. Nearly a year after reading it, there are still moments of it I remember vividly. It examines some of the really big questions - what does it mean to be a good person; how do you go back to normal life after witnessing horror and trauma - and it is also a quite beautiful love story. It's deeply moving, like most of Richard Flanagan's work, and I highly recommend it. 

Shiver is the first novel of one of my most favourite writers in the world, Nikki Gemmell (who I interviewed here), and even though I remember my mum buying it when it first came out in 1997 and I've read every by-line of Nikki's since, I had not yet read this one, the novel Nikki has described herself as her most autobiographical.  I felt like I had taken a trip to Antarctica myself, such was the poetic and vivid nature of the story. And you might think Antarctica as an unlikely setting for a steamy, all-consuming romance but it works - the extreme nature of the environment matches up brilliantly with what's going on for the characters. I really loved it. 

The Engagements by J.Courtney Sullivan was a novel I found in my local Red Cross bookshop and it piqued my interest having seen it reviewed as a "must read" of last spring. I found it enthralling - five characters, separated in time, narrate the novel and each storyline shines a light on some facet of love, marriage, dreams, betrayal and commitment. One character, however, is not fictional - Mary Frances Gerety, who was a copywriter in the late 1940s and came up with the slogan "a diamond is forever" for DeBeers, hence creating the "tradition" of a diamond engagement ring. She, however, never married. The other four characters' storylines are post 1940s and Sullivan considers how the "diamond is forever" idea impacted their beliefs about love and commitment. It's very clever and perceptive, the perfect antidote to the "Don't Tell The Bride" (a show I actually guiltily enjoy!) age. 

The Tea Chest by Josephine Moon was a new book from Oz I couldn't wait to get my hands on - it follows the story of an Australian woman who moves to London to open a tea shop, and the lives of various other women she encounters to help her make this dream a reality. All of the women have their own demons to battle and the story ultimately is about resilience, following your dreams and trusting yourself. Spilt Milk by Amanda Hodgkinson was a magical book, a wonderful piece of historical fiction that had me spellbound to the end;  Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith was a novella that takes place over one day in the life of an ordinary girl who works in a city library, but so beautifully written it read like a long poem; and Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears was a slice of home, a haunting and evocative story of loss and hardship in country New South Wales from the 1920s through to the 1950s. I found it difficult to read at times but the storytelling was so powerful and the characters so resilient despite all the tragedy and loss surrounding them. 

An endless appetite

Cookbooks are a huge weakness of mine as they combine two of the greatest loves in my life - food and reading! Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi was my Christmas present from Tom and I read the whole thing in one day, having earmarked every recipe I wanted to try (I cooked the tagliatelle with walnuts for New Years Eve dinner; and the chickpea and bulgur wheat soup was a favourite winter meal). As with every Ottolenghi cookbook, the recipes celebrate vegetables in all their glory and give you lots of ideas for new flavour combinations.  English Food by Jane Grigson was another charity shop discovery and proved utterly delightful - I loved the history of England told through its traditional recipes and what is still considered "English food" today.  I love the way Grigson writes, she was one of my discoveries of 2014, for sure. 

I Quit Sugar For Life by Sarah Wilson was another favourite 2014 foodie read - Tom and I "quit" sugar in 2013 and the way we eat, and hence our lives, have been transformed. I had followed Sarah's tips and recipes via her wonderful website but had never read one of her books until they became available in the UK last year (I even met her at the London launch!). I loved IQS For Life - it's accessible, generous and delicious, filled with all sorts of ideas and tips for living the healthiest, most empowered and fulfilling life possible. I know firsthand how transformative it is when you take control of your health and make it a priority to nourish yourself properly, and not just with food.

But my favourite foodie read of 2014 has to go to Love and Hunger by Charlotte Wood, which is a wonderful collection of essays about food, cooking, sharing meals with friends and family, the psychology of eating, how food can soothe and comfort. Her observations are warm and witty, and the recipes are fantastic too. Part memoir, part cookbook, this is a food lover's delight.

Phew....we got there eventually! And now it's almost time to tell you my favourite reads for 2015!

What have you been reading lately? 

Full disclosure and all that, most of the links above are Amazon affiliated, you know the drill! xx

A very special announcement

Well, crack open the champagne folks. 

I haven't been the most regular blogger this past year, I know, but a lot of stuff has been going on behind the scenes! 

I am beyond thrilled to announce that, if you live in Australia or New Zealand, you will be able to walk into a bookstore and buy my book The Latte Years which will be published by Nero/Black Inc Books in January 2016.

This is what my publisher (!!) has to say:

Nero publishes exciting and entertaining commercial mass market books. Our authors include the iconic Diane Keaton, actor/singer Lea Michele, Oscar-winner Diablo Cody and proudly now, award-winning and popular blogger, Philippa Moore. An Australian expat residing in the UK, Philippa's forthcoming, frank memoir of weight loss and taking chances will resonate with many. Publisher Jeanne Ryckmans says: "I was taken by Philippa's candour and humour. We are thrilled to be taking Philippa from blog to book and reaching readers who will be as inspired as we were when we first read the proposal". 

I am still pinching myself, to be honest. It is finally starting to sink in that this is real. After years of tapping away in Starbucks after work, scribbling during my lunch breaks, writing hundreds of thousands of words (most of which was just practice as it turned out!), it's actually HAPPENING! My book is going to be REAL and in BOOK SHOPS! This is something I've dreamed of since I was about nine years old! It's been a long, long road to this point but now that I'm here I realise it couldn't possibly have happened any sooner or any other way.

Whether you've been loyally reading my ramblings since my Melbourne days or have stumbled upon me only recently, thank you for your support and encouragement and letting me into your lives. I can't wait to share the next chapter with you all. It's going to be very exciting indeed.

In the meantime, the advice of a dear friend is to "make friends with your deadline", so that's what I'm doing!

My wonderful husband drew this in my honour this morning - insidemyfred.com

I have so much to say and share with you all, so make sure you check in again. More details coming very soon! xx

obsessed with pesto

You know how when you make something that's so delicious you just want to eat it all the time? 

Make this pesto and you'll understand!

And as usual, with a Phil recipe, it makes a lot! I got large jars and enough for a decent amount on toast with this batch.

Best ever kale pesto

250g curly kale

80g basil leaves (roughly two packets)

Small bunch parsley (roughly 80g)

50g pine nuts + 100g walnuts + handful of almonds (you could just use 160g nuts of your choice, this particular combo is very tasty)

Juice of 1 medium lemon

1 large clove garlic, peeled

40ml extra virgin olive oil

125ml filtered water

Salt (I use Pink Himalayan salt) and pepper

If you prefer the nuts toasted, toast them first in a dry frying pan until golden brown. Set aside. I love the flavour of toasted nuts and would recommend you do it if you have time. When you're in  a rush, you can just skip that step but it will still taste amazing. 

Place the kale in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. You need to do this first because, unless you have some industrial sized food processor, you won't be able to fit the rest of the ingredients in there until the kale has broken down a bit.

Add the basil and parsley. Pulse again.

Add the remaining ingredients apart from the water and oil.

Get the motor running and put the oil and then the water into the drip feed container at the top on the food processor's lid. Process until the oil and water has dripped through and the pesto is smooth enough to your liking. You can add more water if you want it less thick.

Spoon into jars and keep refrigerated. Lasts well up to two weeks (if it lasts that long!)

Enjoy it any way you like - I have eaten it with pasta, gnocchi, on toast, as a dip, dolloped in soup, stirred through risotto. It's so versatile and delicious and you'll seriously be thinking of an excuse to make it every single weekend! 

 

 

 

a post for coffee lovers...

My rather brilliant friends over at The Public Studio made this truly stunning short film in tribute to that wonderful gadget that has seriously transformed my morning coffee, the Aeropress. I've been watching it over and over. Check it out here.

 

things I've learned this week

Guacamole is very easy to make at work.A good mechanic is worth their weight in gold.Today is going to be a good day.

a letter to my 22 year old self

Last week Sarah Von Bargen launched the Post-College Survival Kit and as part of the promotion she had a bunch of lovely wise ladies write letters to their 22-year old selves, sharing lessons, wisdom and encouragement. I thought I'd write one too. This is it.

Dear 22 year old me,

I'm 11 years older than you are right now - that's right, half as many years as you've currently been on the planet right now...that's scary...and wow, how much you will live through and witness and experience and lose and gain in those 11 years. I can't wait for you to get started.

To be honest, it's taken me a very long time to go easy on you, 22 year old me. For a long time I just wanted to shake you, knock some sense into you. "What were you thinking?" "Oh God, why didn't you know any better?" Well, the reason you did the things your future self paid for and tore her hair out over was because you actually didn't know any better. You did your best with what you knew.

You're currently in the most unfulfilling period of your life and I wish you knew that it didn't need to be that way.  And as powerless as you think you are, the life you're living is actually the result of choices you have made.  Poor choices, admittedly, but choices all the same.

You have nothing but good intentions, 22 year old me, and yet you can't figure out why you're so unhappy.  But you will. And once you do, your life will change forever.

I can't tell you much more, because it would ruin all the surprises, but the things I most want  to tell you are.....

It will get worse before it gets better, but it gets SO much better. Hang in there.

Make the most of being in Australia and being able to see your friends, your sisters, your parents and your nephews whenever you like because one day you'll live on the other side of the world and you'll miss them all like crazy.

Stop settling. You don't have to put up with crap jobs, crap friends or a crap relationship just because they came along. Until you have some higher standards you'll keep attracting the same kinds of things.

Stop drifting. Life doesn't just "happen", you have to make it happen.  You have to have a plan and some goals. All those people you're so envious of, they've worked hard to get where they are and what they have. Stop being so defeatist and expecting it all to be easy.

Stop letting people walk all over you and treat you badly. You're allowed to stand up for yourself. (In all fairness, it will take you until you're nearly 30 to start doing this!)

Get out of your comfort zone. Trust yourself a bit more.

Stop waiting for permission and stop waiting for someone to knock on your door and rescue you from this mess.  Only you can rescue yourself. The world won't come to you on a silver platter, but the world is waiting for you.

The most important thing you will ever do is learn to love yourself. It takes a long, long time. But it transforms everything.

I know you're very unhappy right now, but actually this time in your life is laying the foundations for everything that is to come. It will make you stronger, more capable, more determined and so, so grateful for all the good things in your life in years to come.  Everything that happens does so for a reason. Even the big mistakes. Well, especially them.

If you had any idea what you're truly capable of, or what lies ahead of you, you wouldn't be waiting another minute.

But, much as I hate to admit it, where you are right now is exactly where you need to be.  I'm not sure you would have learned what you needed to learn any other way. If anything had been different, perhaps you wouldn't be where you are now....and that's something I wouldn't change for the world.

I gave up long ago any hope that the past could have been any different. Everything will work out. 

And don't ever, ever think - not for one minute - that the mistakes you've made mean you don't deserve to be happy in the future. Your mistakes and errors in judgment will only scar you for life if you let them. Don't listen to the naysayers. People will talk, so let them. True friends only care about your happiness and won't judge you for how you got there.

The life I'm living now is the one you constantly dream of and hope for, so don't give up. You will get there. I'm proud I (and you!) made it happen and I'm grateful for it every single day.   I'm sorry for the dark times you had, but I'm so glad you started running towards the light.

Love always,

Phil xxx

What would you say to your 22 year old self?