Instead of scrolling away the day, read the The Bijoux List. It's Natasha Lester's monthly collection of muse-worthy moments: things to inspire, things to do, things to love and things to ponder.
I haven’t seen The English but will definitely go watch it. I been getting hooked on all the westerns series out lately. Yellowstone and the prequels have been incredible. My fav is 1883 on Prime (I think) with the amazing Isabel May - her voice overs and the way she describes the land, its perils and harshness, but so much beauty is mesmorising.
Love re-reading the classics mainly. Can’t go a year without Jane Austen or JD Salinger. I have Didion’s book you recommended on order from my local bookshop. Looking forward to reading it. Had no idea she had so many titles! The bookshop owner had to scroll through 8 pages to find the right one!
I haven't seen the Yellowstone series and I was wondering if it was worth watching, so thank you for answering my unasked question! It's next on my list now. And I hope you enjoy Didion – to my mind, she writes the most perfect sentences of any author I know.
I started The English last night and loving it so far! I would start with “1883”, it is the same era as The English and so beautifully written by Taylor Sheridan, I think you will love it. Follows a similar storyline and stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. It shows how the Dutton Ranch (Yellowstone) is founded.
Can’t wait for the book to arrive and get stuck into it.
Natasha, I am so glad you "stuck to your guns." Your work is inspiring and carefully researched. I am encouraging my three (adult) daughters to follow your work
I loved the Webinar with Marie Benedict, Natasha. It helps me appreciate your passion for writing about heroic women - my mum was my early hero! Having three daughters also helped me see the world through a different, sometimes most disturbing, lens.
My current passion is to teach people about the impingement of shame on their lives. I have one book published on that topic. I note you allude to shame your characters experience.
Thank you for watching the webinar! Marie was such a generous interviewer and it's always wonderful when something like that feels like a chat with a friend rather than a stilted Q&A.
And yes, shame – I actually think it's a more powerful emotion than fear. It's one I often unpick in my books because it can shape and drive a person, most heartbreakingly when they're taking on a shame that has been inflicted on them by someone else and isn't theirs to carry.
Natasha, a left field thought! I wonder if you would be interested in meeting Kate Chaney, our Curtin MP? You are both extraordinary women, and I know Kate would be delighted to (mutually) share vision with you. I appreciate you are both busy women, but I like linking awesome people!
I would also love to hear more from you re shame in your characters.
That would be great, Peter. Maybe in a month or so when all the publicity/promo has settled from my US launch? Although I imagine she's pretty busy. Thanks for the offer to link us up - she's actually my local MP!
Terrific, Natasha. I have asked Kate's PA to give me a list of options, effective March 1. I'm not sure of Kate's sitting days, but we will figure that out. Would you be good enough to also give me some options for meeting after March 1? I know Kate is delighted with the prospect of meeting with you. I loaned Kate my copy of The Paris Secret (close to my favourite to date), to read in the next couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, all the best for the US launch. Well done, re sharing the spotlight with Harry! I guess it is good for you?!
Wow! So much food for thought in this newsletter. It seems the more things change the more they stay the same with the atrocities of the past repeating. Well done, Natasha, for refusing to be silenced on what really happens to women in wartime.
I’m a little over the fiesty heroine trope myself and love to see characters who struggle to find their voice. Also, I’m partial to female characters on a spectacular downward spiral, like Miss Haversham, Emma Bovary or Fontaine from Les Mis.Sometimes, it’s as much as we can do to hang on by our fingernails and I like to see this reflected in the stories I read.
Yes, reading has become a blood sport in certain circles. Lately, I have enjoyed reading some books in private without reporting my findings to the world. It does a disservice to the writer if we do a rush job of reading their work, so this year, I will slow down and find the joy of reading again.
I love what you've said here about female characters hanging on by their fingernails and how their stories are fascinating too. It's one of the things about the publishing industry - when a book with a particular kind of character sells well, there's a rush to publish more books of the same type. Which then means people become tired of that character mould eventually. And so the cycle repeats itself. I think nuance is important - you can be both strong and hanging on by your fingernails at the same time. That's interesting to me, the multiple selves hiding beneath what we first see – Fantine's strength at the end when her fingernails are just about to let go forever.
I have to say I enjoyed your first ever ‘List’ Natasha! Thank you for sharing on such wide and varied topics.
* Emily Blunt and The English - let me state right from the start - LOVED it! Much like you it would seem, I would not necessarily consider myself interested in Westerns per se. Yet, much like 1883 (don’t get me started on the impact that had on me!) both were presented in such a way that truly spoke to their audience. To quote you Natasha, ‘fascinating and real, inspiring and relatable, spirited and vulnerable’ (the latter most definitely). I would also love peoples thoughts on your comment regarding the lens we look back on history with - history was cruel and very violent, mistakes were undoubtedly made - yet … many parts of today’s society seeks to pass comment through the wrong lens I cannot help but feel. I highly recommend this and 1883 which had me scurrying to read the now-iconic monologues by Elsa Dutton that I would truly pay to have written and bound for me to read again and again.
Which leads me nicely onto the topic of re-reads.
* Being a book reviewer, your words Natasha touched a definite growing nerve of reading being competitive. I cannot even begin to imagine what is often at stake in the publishing business. As a reviewer I often feel equal pleasure and pain. As the saying goes, ‘life is too short to read bad books’. There are the ones that touch your soul so deeply you wish you had the time to read the words once more. Reading is deeply sacred and must, most definitely, be savoured. To see the similarities with listening to music or viewing a painting made the perfect comparison. If I made one resolution at the beginning of this year, it was to ensure that my reading included books that I truly wish to read, or in some circumstance, re-read!
* I watched Lady Chatterley’s Lover this weekend and loved it. Part of the problem why I don’t get enough book reading done is that I go off on research tangents and found it so interesting to see slight changes made or commentaries from both past and present. Still, it was really well done. I also saw a pre-screening of Emily - another fabulous interpretation by our very own Frances O’Connell.
* As to quiet quitting, I self consciously raise my hand. I don’t even like the word ‘quitting’ (as I still take on some hours to my chosen profession each week) rather its readjustment, reprioritising and making decisions about how I wish to live the second half of my life (the choice to do so I am very much aware is a privilege and I don’t take it for granted). Yet, the time has come to do what works for me and lifestyle changes will be required but my change in values and priorities are now the driving force.
Thank you for both the podcast and NGV links - I checked them both out. Your experiences with the Russian publisher was a definite eye opener and more of us must learn to not just ‘talk the talk’ but ‘walk the walk’. Well done you!
Once again, thank you for such a though provoking ‘list’ and encouraging me to sit, reflect and put pen to paper on things inside of me that I wished to say
Hi Helen! I'm very glad you enjoyed the list. You're the second person who's recommended 1883 to me so I plan to start watching that now. I'm actually pretty excited to see it now that it's been recommended so heartily!
And I know what you mean about the pressures of reading as a reviewer. I also feel that pressure to read books for endorsement quotes. I want to do as many as I can because I genuinely want to support other writers in the same way that I've been supported. But sometimes there are so many that reading starts to feel like work, and I never want something so magical to feel like a chore. So I've decided to ration that kind of reading a little – and that setting a limit like one a month is still doing what I can, but keeping my reading time sacred too.
Good luck with the readjustments this year too. It's a learning process and I know it will take me some time to separate more completely from social media but even just being conscious of my desire to do that helps, I think.
Hi Natasha - thanks for a wonderful list and lots of thoughtful content. I really appreciate it :-)
On re-reading, I re-read The Alice Network and The Nightingale recently and loved them both just as much - if not more - than the first time. Just, wow! An on notebooks, Kate Forsyth put me on to Paperblanks notebooks which are just as fab as BESPOKE Letterpress and Moleskin. I actually bought myself the monkey print BESPOKE Letterpress 2023 diary for Christmas, small world! Currently reading GREAT CIRCLE but it doesn't have me hooked just yet ... and picked up Angels of the Resistance by Noelle Salazar at my local library, so that's exciting! Thanks for continuing to be so gracious and wonderful, you're a legend! And last but not least, I refuse to buy or read Spare. Mostly because it has too much attention online at the price of better writing, and also because something feels wrong about hanging all your dirty laundry out in public. Hope you have a great month, Ike xx
Thank you! How funny that you also have the monkey print on your Bespoke diary! It's so pretty and I love all of their products, plus it's nice to support an Australian business. I have tried the Paperblanks as they are gorgeous but I need a soft cover on mine as I find the harder covers more difficult to write in – my fault, not theirs as I have very messy handwriting!
Stick with Great Circle – I was also pretty uncertain when I started it and it took me a while to fall into it but then I reached a point that I couldn't put it down. Let me know if that happens for you. And thank you for joining me here!
At this stage I am still struggling ... and have already read 100 pages! Will persevere as I trust you, but may put it down for a while and start again! :-)
I haven’t seen The English but will definitely go watch it. I been getting hooked on all the westerns series out lately. Yellowstone and the prequels have been incredible. My fav is 1883 on Prime (I think) with the amazing Isabel May - her voice overs and the way she describes the land, its perils and harshness, but so much beauty is mesmorising.
Love re-reading the classics mainly. Can’t go a year without Jane Austen or JD Salinger. I have Didion’s book you recommended on order from my local bookshop. Looking forward to reading it. Had no idea she had so many titles! The bookshop owner had to scroll through 8 pages to find the right one!
I haven't seen the Yellowstone series and I was wondering if it was worth watching, so thank you for answering my unasked question! It's next on my list now. And I hope you enjoy Didion – to my mind, she writes the most perfect sentences of any author I know.
I started The English last night and loving it so far! I would start with “1883”, it is the same era as The English and so beautifully written by Taylor Sheridan, I think you will love it. Follows a similar storyline and stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. It shows how the Dutton Ranch (Yellowstone) is founded.
Can’t wait for the book to arrive and get stuck into it.
Kristy, are you talking about a book on the Duttons? I have been looking everywhere?
No book, just the series. Obsessed! Now watching 1923 the next series 🙌🏼
Yes. I am sooo looking forward to watching 1923. I got excited for a moment as I had hoped there would be a book.
Isn’t 1883 the best!
Natasha, I am so glad you "stuck to your guns." Your work is inspiring and carefully researched. I am encouraging my three (adult) daughters to follow your work
Thanks so much, Peter! I hope your daughters enjoy the books. Authors love it when readers spread the word!
I loved the Webinar with Marie Benedict, Natasha. It helps me appreciate your passion for writing about heroic women - my mum was my early hero! Having three daughters also helped me see the world through a different, sometimes most disturbing, lens.
My current passion is to teach people about the impingement of shame on their lives. I have one book published on that topic. I note you allude to shame your characters experience.
Best Natasha
Thank you for watching the webinar! Marie was such a generous interviewer and it's always wonderful when something like that feels like a chat with a friend rather than a stilted Q&A.
And yes, shame – I actually think it's a more powerful emotion than fear. It's one I often unpick in my books because it can shape and drive a person, most heartbreakingly when they're taking on a shame that has been inflicted on them by someone else and isn't theirs to carry.
Natasha, a left field thought! I wonder if you would be interested in meeting Kate Chaney, our Curtin MP? You are both extraordinary women, and I know Kate would be delighted to (mutually) share vision with you. I appreciate you are both busy women, but I like linking awesome people!
I would also love to hear more from you re shame in your characters.
That would be great, Peter. Maybe in a month or so when all the publicity/promo has settled from my US launch? Although I imagine she's pretty busy. Thanks for the offer to link us up - she's actually my local MP!
Terrific, Natasha. I have asked Kate's PA to give me a list of options, effective March 1. I'm not sure of Kate's sitting days, but we will figure that out. Would you be good enough to also give me some options for meeting after March 1? I know Kate is delighted with the prospect of meeting with you. I loaned Kate my copy of The Paris Secret (close to my favourite to date), to read in the next couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, all the best for the US launch. Well done, re sharing the spotlight with Harry! I guess it is good for you?!
Wow! So much food for thought in this newsletter. It seems the more things change the more they stay the same with the atrocities of the past repeating. Well done, Natasha, for refusing to be silenced on what really happens to women in wartime.
I’m a little over the fiesty heroine trope myself and love to see characters who struggle to find their voice. Also, I’m partial to female characters on a spectacular downward spiral, like Miss Haversham, Emma Bovary or Fontaine from Les Mis.Sometimes, it’s as much as we can do to hang on by our fingernails and I like to see this reflected in the stories I read.
Yes, reading has become a blood sport in certain circles. Lately, I have enjoyed reading some books in private without reporting my findings to the world. It does a disservice to the writer if we do a rush job of reading their work, so this year, I will slow down and find the joy of reading again.
Here’s to a better year in 2023!
I love what you've said here about female characters hanging on by their fingernails and how their stories are fascinating too. It's one of the things about the publishing industry - when a book with a particular kind of character sells well, there's a rush to publish more books of the same type. Which then means people become tired of that character mould eventually. And so the cycle repeats itself. I think nuance is important - you can be both strong and hanging on by your fingernails at the same time. That's interesting to me, the multiple selves hiding beneath what we first see – Fantine's strength at the end when her fingernails are just about to let go forever.
Hello!
I have to say I enjoyed your first ever ‘List’ Natasha! Thank you for sharing on such wide and varied topics.
* Emily Blunt and The English - let me state right from the start - LOVED it! Much like you it would seem, I would not necessarily consider myself interested in Westerns per se. Yet, much like 1883 (don’t get me started on the impact that had on me!) both were presented in such a way that truly spoke to their audience. To quote you Natasha, ‘fascinating and real, inspiring and relatable, spirited and vulnerable’ (the latter most definitely). I would also love peoples thoughts on your comment regarding the lens we look back on history with - history was cruel and very violent, mistakes were undoubtedly made - yet … many parts of today’s society seeks to pass comment through the wrong lens I cannot help but feel. I highly recommend this and 1883 which had me scurrying to read the now-iconic monologues by Elsa Dutton that I would truly pay to have written and bound for me to read again and again.
Which leads me nicely onto the topic of re-reads.
* Being a book reviewer, your words Natasha touched a definite growing nerve of reading being competitive. I cannot even begin to imagine what is often at stake in the publishing business. As a reviewer I often feel equal pleasure and pain. As the saying goes, ‘life is too short to read bad books’. There are the ones that touch your soul so deeply you wish you had the time to read the words once more. Reading is deeply sacred and must, most definitely, be savoured. To see the similarities with listening to music or viewing a painting made the perfect comparison. If I made one resolution at the beginning of this year, it was to ensure that my reading included books that I truly wish to read, or in some circumstance, re-read!
* I watched Lady Chatterley’s Lover this weekend and loved it. Part of the problem why I don’t get enough book reading done is that I go off on research tangents and found it so interesting to see slight changes made or commentaries from both past and present. Still, it was really well done. I also saw a pre-screening of Emily - another fabulous interpretation by our very own Frances O’Connell.
* As to quiet quitting, I self consciously raise my hand. I don’t even like the word ‘quitting’ (as I still take on some hours to my chosen profession each week) rather its readjustment, reprioritising and making decisions about how I wish to live the second half of my life (the choice to do so I am very much aware is a privilege and I don’t take it for granted). Yet, the time has come to do what works for me and lifestyle changes will be required but my change in values and priorities are now the driving force.
Thank you for both the podcast and NGV links - I checked them both out. Your experiences with the Russian publisher was a definite eye opener and more of us must learn to not just ‘talk the talk’ but ‘walk the walk’. Well done you!
Once again, thank you for such a though provoking ‘list’ and encouraging me to sit, reflect and put pen to paper on things inside of me that I wished to say
Hi Helen! I'm very glad you enjoyed the list. You're the second person who's recommended 1883 to me so I plan to start watching that now. I'm actually pretty excited to see it now that it's been recommended so heartily!
And I know what you mean about the pressures of reading as a reviewer. I also feel that pressure to read books for endorsement quotes. I want to do as many as I can because I genuinely want to support other writers in the same way that I've been supported. But sometimes there are so many that reading starts to feel like work, and I never want something so magical to feel like a chore. So I've decided to ration that kind of reading a little – and that setting a limit like one a month is still doing what I can, but keeping my reading time sacred too.
Good luck with the readjustments this year too. It's a learning process and I know it will take me some time to separate more completely from social media but even just being conscious of my desire to do that helps, I think.
Hi Natasha - thanks for a wonderful list and lots of thoughtful content. I really appreciate it :-)
On re-reading, I re-read The Alice Network and The Nightingale recently and loved them both just as much - if not more - than the first time. Just, wow! An on notebooks, Kate Forsyth put me on to Paperblanks notebooks which are just as fab as BESPOKE Letterpress and Moleskin. I actually bought myself the monkey print BESPOKE Letterpress 2023 diary for Christmas, small world! Currently reading GREAT CIRCLE but it doesn't have me hooked just yet ... and picked up Angels of the Resistance by Noelle Salazar at my local library, so that's exciting! Thanks for continuing to be so gracious and wonderful, you're a legend! And last but not least, I refuse to buy or read Spare. Mostly because it has too much attention online at the price of better writing, and also because something feels wrong about hanging all your dirty laundry out in public. Hope you have a great month, Ike xx
Thank you! How funny that you also have the monkey print on your Bespoke diary! It's so pretty and I love all of their products, plus it's nice to support an Australian business. I have tried the Paperblanks as they are gorgeous but I need a soft cover on mine as I find the harder covers more difficult to write in – my fault, not theirs as I have very messy handwriting!
Stick with Great Circle – I was also pretty uncertain when I started it and it took me a while to fall into it but then I reached a point that I couldn't put it down. Let me know if that happens for you. And thank you for joining me here!
At this stage I am still struggling ... and have already read 100 pages! Will persevere as I trust you, but may put it down for a while and start again! :-)