Lockdown Literature - Everything I know about LOVE.

Hello! Bloomin' eck it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that. Lockdown hit and along with it my screen fatigue. 

I know I should probably do a bit of a catch up but right now I'm just a bit shattered so I'll leave that for another day. It's coming up to 3 o'clock on a mundane, Monday afternoon. I've finished work for the day, got a cuppa to the right of me and a slice of my flatmates lemon drizzle to my left. My copy of Kate William's, Rival Queens lies at the foot of the black leather sofa I'm currently lozzocking on. 

Over lockdown, I've turned to pages for peace, like so many of you. While the world was on furlough, I've been working, more intensely than ever, actually. So be the world of news. Switching off from a screen became more important than ever and I fell in love with books once more. I thought I'd start a new little series with a little round up of my lockdown literature. I'd love to say there's been loads - but as I've been working (did I mention that already?) There's not quite as many as I'd like. 

Everything I know about love - Dolly Alderton.

I thought I'd start at the beginning. This was my first read of lockdown: ~ if you believe the hype ~ it's an absolute no-brainer. I know so many of you will have already read this but if you haven't - this is your action call!

'Everything I know about love' was gifted to me by one of my best friends, last Christmas. I'd been flirting through a couple of pages for months before, never really giving it my full attention however lockdown gave me the opportunity to really go all the way.

Nowadays, Dolly really doesn't need much of an introduction. She's just released her newbie, Ghost, which actually I haven't decided yet, if it will be on my list or not.

I say that because although I loved this book by the end, it wasn't necessarily one of my favourites and I certainly struggled at times. The thing is, I just didn't relate to her experience. I've since read a few similar reviews sharing that same sort of detachment. I mean... Doll, hun, you're clearly a bit posher than me. The life of a teen to twenty something down South is clearly quite a lot different to that up North. Preston is no London. 

Honestly, my parents would be having kittens if I was getting as drunk as Dolly, at as many parties as Dolly and even getting lost on hour long tubes in the middle of the night! You cannae be doing any of that up North, let me tell you! 

That said, Dolly's writing really does draw you in and despite that lack of relate-ability for me, knowing it was HER life made the read a lot more enjoyable. I think if it had been fiction in memoir style, like Bridget Jones' Diary, it would have lost any scrap of 'realness' and despite not living a life similar to Dolly, learning about hers was a lot of fun. I also really liked the injection of satirical emails and recipes. They allowed me to draw on my Uni experience actually, which is probably the closest to Dolly's life I've ever come. I literally lived off scrambled eggs those three years! 

I actually related to Dolly's friends more so than the author, I could put myself in her friends shoes and really feel their frustration, love and concern. It's Dolly's friends that really are the key to this memoir. Those last few chapters... PHWOAR. Even if you aren't from a big girl group and only have a small group of friends, the chord of love connecting the females in these pages really reaches out and actually whacks you in the face. I won't ruin it, but the profound-ability of this work really lies towards the end and lifts the entire piece.

Well worth the read - even if just for that.

Next up: Girl, Woman, Other - Bernadine Evaristo