Amy BoughnerI have discovered that I really enjoy listening to audiobooks in the car. I have chosen biographies and non-fiction because and it’s better than a podcast.
Three of my more recent listens that I have very much enjoyed are Sandi Toksvig’s Between the Stops and Susan Calman’s Cheer Up, Love and Sunny Side Up. Two British comediennes who happen to both be very short lesbians.
I chose Susan’s first book, Cheer Up, Love, because it was about her ongoing battles with depression. Having seen her on shows like QI, where she’s hilarious, I was surprised to hear she suffered from depression – and also glad that she was so open about it.
In the other two books, both of these women take pleasure in the things around them. In Between the Stops, Sandi rides the bus, thinks about the life she’s lived and the history of all the places she’s passing and both are fascinating.
In Sunny Side Up, Susan moves away from her depression and focuses on being kind and taking joy in things. The book was written before she started her shows Grand Week by the Sea, Grand Day Out, and Cruising with Susan Calman. Having watched those shows, I know she has faced a lot of her fears that she mentions in the book.
What I have taken from both of these women, their writing and their television appearances, is the joy they take in life.
Sandi takes great pleasure in knowledge but is not afraid to have fun and laugh about it. She’s had a fascinating life but isn’t afraid to admit there are things she doesn’t know – like when she asked Geri Halliwell what she did for a living.
Susan is not afraid to show pure excitement and joy and look ridiculous.
As I get older, that is what I want. I want to like what I like, take pleasure in the things that give me joy and fuck what anyone else thinks. I want to be smart, learn things, take joy in knowing things and, again, not being afraid of what anyone else thinks.
It’s something I’m hoping to instill in my kid too, but I know how hard that it as a teenager, but it would be great if they could feel this way before 40.
