Regent’s Park, London, 20 December 2023
Hello,
How are you? I’ve been quiet these past couple of months. I’ve sat down several times to write to you, only to be pulled away before having the chance to complete a letter. Pulled away, fortunately, by good things, such as a couple of short trips and a number of paid writing commissions. Still, that desire to write (not least as plenty of stories and reflections I wanted to share with you have been bubbling up), sits somewhere inside, as an unfulfilled longing. And as a reminder we can’t, usually, do everything we want to do, at least not at any one time.
I’ve also had to accept I’m not a fast writer. I wish I was one of those people who could sit down and whizz a letter out to you in an hour. But I’m not. Writing takes me time: the reflection, the crappy first draft, into which I pour it all out, then the honing and editing.
Anyway, that’s a long-winded way of saying hello, and I hope you are doing well, as we approach Christmas and the end of the year. I intend to be back in your inboxes with more regularity next year. Until then I wish you and your loved ones all the very best for these final days of 2023 and the fledgling ones of 2024.
I’ll leave you with my 3 favourite books of 2023, plus a great film and a delicious restaurant.
Love,
Annabel x
MY FAVOURITE NOVEL
Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
An exquisite and philosophical novel, centred around a family secret, which oscillates between different timeframes and perspectives, and explores grief and loneliness, along with grace and connection.
MY FAVOURITE MEMOIR
Stray by Stephanie Danler
I loved Danler’s debut novel Sweetbitter, set in a New York restaurant, so was thrilled to discover she’d written a memoir. This book is set in the wild landscape of Laurel Canyon in California and the desolate mountains of Colorado, and is a story about survival, love and starting over again.
MY FAVOURITE NON-FICTION BOOK
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
The brilliant music producer, Rick Rubin, reflects on the creative process: how creativity has a place in everyone’s life, and how it is, as much as anything else, about our relationship to the world. It’s a book that’s both mystical and practical. My copy is heavily underlined.
A FILM
Anselm, is a beautiful portrait of the artist Anselm Kiefer made by the director Wim Wenders. There are minimal words, haunting music, and the experience of watching it was quite meditative, even hypnotic. It’s a film about creativity and the physical act of making things, as well as about grappling with Germany’s recent past, by someone born in the final days of the second world war.
A RESTAURANT
I’ve been meaning to visit Carmel, in London’s Queen’s Park for ages, so I was thrilled when I was invited to a Christmas lunch there. It’s the sister retsuarant to Berber & Q in Hackney (also delicious) and has a menu full of fabulous Eastern Mediterranean fusion food, such as Charred Hispi Cabbage with labneh & macadamia nuts and incredible flatbreads (with toppings such as burrata, chili, basil and honey). Desserts (Medjool date Crème Brulee) are well worth saving room for, too.
Ooo thank you! Love some good book recommendations (especially memoirs) - and trust you to make good ones :) And there’s much to be said for slow writing.