Vol V: The Stories of Our Lives

Welcome to the love club, a monthly newsletter about writing, lifestyle, art, and all the thoughts in between. Thank you very much for being here.

Have you ever had a dream that felt like it was an innate part of you? A dream that you’ve carried for so long that you can’t remember a time without it? For me, that dream is to write a book. Despite never having written a story longer than a few thousand words, I subconsciously think of myself as an author, just one without a bibliography.

Books have always been the great love of my life. When I was younger, I would most likely be found racing through the literary works of Jacqueline Wilson and Cathy Cassidy who allowed me to dip into the melodramatic world of teenagers well before my time. When I was in secondary school, I started reading terribly sad books about immigration, post-colonialism and war (think Brick Lane, The Kite Runner etc) and thus one of my favourite genres was established: brown pain. Recently I haven’t made as much time as I would like to for reading (I have made this more of a priority since the great creative burnout of May), but it still remains my favourite thing to do.

My affinity for stories comes from my love of daydreaming. Books give me the opportunity to slip out of my own life and into the imaginary realities of exciting, messy, strange, scary strangers. Sometimes this can be fun and romantic and other times it can be painful and depressing. Both are good in equal measure, and give us the opportunity to learn compassion and patience. My favourite books are the ones that leave me with some kind of complicated emotion - whether that be guilt or doubt or sometimes sadness. The books that leave you with more questions than answers, that make you feel like you’re learning and unlearning simultaneously. Don’t get me wrong, I love easy, fun books that require little critical thought, but when books have the capacity to teach us about people and the world, it seems like a disservice to not take them up on it.

That’s the kind of feeling I want to leave somebody with some day, after having read one of my books. It’s a tall order, and honestly I don’t know if I’m wise or philosophical enough to teach anyone anything about the human experience that they don’t already know. But I’m also 22, and have experienced relatively little that is out of the ordinary in my years. I’m still yet to learn what I want to teach, and that feels both comforting and daunting.

The dream of writing a book that leaves a mark, even a small one, on somebody is something that is very dear to me. My dream inspires and motivates me, it subconsciously shapes the way I understand the books that I read, it helps me make sense of who I want to become. I feel oddly protective over it, like it’s a small child that needs me to stay alive. I suppose it does.

In time I hope I can share with you a story that changes both of our lives. But until then, I hope that you keep reading, and that you look after your own big dream.

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This newsletter was created with the intention of being collaborative, so each month, I’ll be talking about life, writing, creativity, and more, with someone who inspires me.

This month I was lucky enough to speak to Molly Masters, the founder of the feminist book subscription service, Books That Matter. Molly is an award-winning entrepreneur who took her hugely successful book business to Dragon’s Den last year. Read our conversation below:

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What was the first book you read that made you fall in love with reading and why?

As a girl, I remember taking my pocket money to WHSmith and Woolworths most weekends to buy lined notebooks for my writing, and whatever paperbacks I could afford. One of these weekend trips yielded a beautiful copy of Little Women, which I tore through in days. The love between the sisters felt incredibly real to me, close to home, and I was captivated. I was inspired by Jo, and her unruliness and creativity. I related to Meg's adoration for a love and family of her own, and I harboured a fond love-hate for Amy and enjoyed her character arc which depicted what it meant to grow into a woman. I think the death of Beth was the first proper character death I encountered in a novel as a young reader, and I wept inconsolably. The way Louisa May Alcott constructed their family unit, and was able to capture the bustle and noisy affection of a family home is viscerally one of the first times I felt fully immersed in a narrative and the world a writer constructed and it fuelled me to continue my pursuit of books that made me feel the same. 

Where did the idea for Books That Matter come from?

I was studying literature at Sussex Uni and started being introduced to so many amazing female authors I had never previously had the pleasure of being introduced to. I read June Jordan, Mina Loy, Virginia Woolf, Jamaica Kincaid, Mary Wollstonecraft, and so many more. I was pretty outraged by the end of my first year that it took applying for grants, financial aid, and destroying my mental health to work to get into uni and be the first in my family to do so to access these books. It was the act of being introduced to the authors, critically thinking and analytically reading, and coming together in a seminar space (essentially a very structured book club) which made me feel truly connected to an author's work.

I wanted to find a way for people to access this experience, especially focussing on women's writing, which wasn't so academic and gate-kept. I'm thrilled there are many different ways of accessing women's literature (especially now with Booktok and Bookstagram!) now, but even 8 years ago when I started this, it wasn't the case. Book spaces on social media were sparsely used and not really very established, and there was a lot of pushback to creating a space especially and exclusively for women, NB people and the trans community. But I'm so proud of the space we've carved out for this and pioneered in publishing, I couldn't imagine doing anything else! 

Has running a book-centred business changed your relationship with reading?

I'm a little ashamed to say that until this year, it really did. I think the challenge of being so connected and involved with the business de-romanticised books a bit. I suppose it's like trying to find creative inspiration and time for reading when studying. However this year, I've felt SO different and have really made space for my own wellbeing and time to read. It's transformed my self care and my sleep, and my mental health has been wildly improved when I've spent time connecting with stories that aren't just for the books or my podcasting. I've been making sure this year I'm in a regular reading routine, and also incorporating yoga practices and mindfulness which gives me a lot more headspace for creativity. This year has definitely been the year of realising things (thanks Kylie Jenner), but for me, it's been realising that I have to make space for my own reading and creative practices in order to do my best work within BTM! 

Can you give the love club a feminist writer recommendation?

I'm obsessed with a Bristol based writer called Peace Adzo Medie, she has a book called ‘His Only Wife’ which is all about disobedient women and coming of age; and a new release called ‘Nightbloom’ which is about female friendship! I also can never stop recommending ‘Detransition Baby’ by Torrey Peters, a book which is ALL about love in all its forms, and how parenting can be un-gendered and unconventional in the most beautiful way. 

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For this volume of the love club, I would like to share a piece written by @medhaawrites that has been sitting in my mind for a while, like a fond ache.

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A few recommendations…

Books:

I don’t tend to recommend books via the love club as I usually share what I’m reading on my personal social media, but as this volume is book-centred I thought I’d share a list of some of my favourite reads:

And The Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini (pretty much anything written by Khaled Hosseini)

Everything I Know About Love, by Dolly Alderton

Open Water, by Caleb Azumah Nelson

Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng

Normal People, by Sally Rooney

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

One Day, by David Nicholls

Almond, by Won Pyung Sohn

The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

Articles:

BookTok’s Shallow Revolution and the Death of Literary Depth, Aarna Taneja for medium.com

Should I “Soft-Quit” My Life? Tom Rasmussen for British Vogue

The rise and fall of Love Island, Libby Pierzak-Pee for Mouthy Magazine

Double standards in tragedies: Refugee boats vs. Titan submarine, Mehmet Çelik for Daily Sabah

On Screen:

Never Have I Ever - Netflix’s very delightfully cringy teen drama Never Have I Ever returned to our screens in June for its fourth and final season. And it was great! I have to admit, when this show first started I really didn’t gel with it, but it did a rare thing for television shows in that it got better with each season. The latest season was clever, funny, heart-warming, and I loved the progression that each character made in navigating their futures. It’s a very easy, binge-able watch - perfect for grey summer afternoons.

Shutter Island - I first watched this film years and years ago, but I recently rewatched it and remembered how excellent it is. Starring Leonardo Dicaprio and Mark Ruffalo, Shutter Island is about two US marshals investigating a psychiatric facility after a patient goes missing, but they quickly discover that the doctors running the facility are hiding bigger secrets. Although my rewatch reminded me that the special effects and green screen aren’t the best, I remembered how good the acting and storyline of the film are - and there’s a great plot twist too.

Music:

You can find my current playlist here! Be warned, it is the most random collection of songs but that kind of reflects my mind over the last couple of months

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That’s a wrap on Vol. V of the love club, thank you for your grace and patience with the volumes lately - I hope to become more consistent soon. Wishing you all the joy that July has left to offer.

Mohsina x

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