Ellen

my january reading what i've been reading recently

New #substack - what I read in January

#reading #librarian #librarysky

Only read one of these so time to get stuck in! #SchoolLibrarian

Like I'll be anxious at work and i'll try to be introspective about what the specific worry is and my body is mostly coming back to me with 'anxious' and then when I'm like, well, why, my body says 'many sounds, many demands' and like yeah i'm getting WAY too much sensory input

I'm meant to be doing a CBT exercise where I have 'worry time' for 15 mins every evening where i look at a list of worries I've had that day, and worry about them. What it's giving me more clarity on, however, is how unrelated my anxiety seems to be to specific 'worries'.

please stop sorting the children into houses what to do when the hat calls you fash.

First time writing anything particularly directly related to my #SchoolLibrarian work in the #substack but here we go: my thoughts (misgivings) about the practice of sorting kids into houses in children’s fantasy and whether we’re ready for something new:

(Just so it doesn’t catch anyone off guard, there was basically no way to talk about it without discussing the Sorting Hat-shaped elephant in the room)

please stop sorting the children into houses what to do when the hat calls you fash.

First time writing anything particularly directly related to my #SchoolLibrarian work in the #substack but here we go: my thoughts (misgivings) about the practice of sorting kids into houses in children’s fantasy and whether we’re ready for something new:

tight squeeze, cool breeze, now you've got the shiveries! is asmr art? is it fetish? or is it play?

New #Substack! Looking at #asmr and thinking about ASMR roleplays as a form of play #Writersky

The sun rose at 8:01 this morning in London, and will set at 4:16. We gained 14 additional minutes of daylight this week!

IT’S TIME FOR MY FIRST ANTI-DESPAIR DAYLIGHT UPDATE OF THE YEAR!

The sun rose at 8:05 this morning in London, and will set at 4:06. This is 8 additional minutes of daylight on last week. Yay!

celeste ng, yaa gyasi and - for all that is good and holy - mother tartt: why must we hunger so long?

my year of big, fat books in the game of tomes, the stitches on my tote bag straps are the real loser

New #substack, looking back of my year of reading big, thick books. #booksky #librarysky

where do you feel that in your body? / horchata the problem, fundamentally, was the maine coon.

new #substack: on being fundamentally incompatible with your therapist #writersky

at this point you're probably aware i'm having a few people over / improvised red wine gravy on hostessing with the mostest-ing

New post: on having a few people over open.substack.com/pub/ellenmun...

what's cracklin? / blue cheese n leek spaghetti the statistics do not support the idea that 'video killed the radio star'

new on my #substack: my thoughts on growing up at the tail-end of mass radio-listenership and a blue cheese and leek pasta

#foodsky #blogsky #substacksky #writersky

Giving our library a freshen up

Oh nice!

Peter Apps is the GOAT when it comes to untangling London’s housing crisis. Show Me The Bodies was as gripping as a thriller and left me in tears. This one is basically showing me the straight line you could draw between landlord greed and schools cutting support staff - including librarians

#writersky #substack

a swim in the local leisure centre in the rain on my fraught journey back to the pool, and the struggles of having a big heid.

New on substack: my thoughts on taking up swimming for my stupid mental health as an adult after a fraught childhood experience with it

Right #LibrarySky and #Booksky — what are your top #kidlit books of 2025? Particularly keen to read stuff on the MG/YA boundary!

puddle / paneer not a recipe, a journal maybe, maybe cope.

I've not made much of a secret of the fact that my mental health has been a little less than stellar of late. Have decided to revisit a teenage coping mechanism, blogging. (This is my roundabout way of saying I've started a substack)

#Substack

Big day to be me.

Boyfriend and I have a back and forth on the go at the moment. He recently finished reading Don Quixote, for context.

Me: We need to get you a new book to read.
Him: Nah, I've finished reading. Finished all the books.
Me: You literally just read the first one.

I grew up right at the perfect golden time to make friends on the internet, who have become some of my closest IRL friends. I got to go to one's wedding a couple year's back! I went to another's birthday party on Wednesday. I feel sad for kids now that a lot of these opportunities seem closed off

“Where do you get your ideas from, Ms Le Guin?” From forgetting Dostoyevsky and reading road signs backwards, naturally. Where else?

I always hate the way Blinkist frames its services like "read a book in 15 minutes" as if you would get away with telling your pals you'd read the Count of Monte Cristo when actually all you'd done was read the synopsis on Wikipedia.

i always think about the recording i first heard of this where jamie introduces it with "this is a poem simply about being very tired"

Happy #NationalPoetryDay. I picked Lochan by Kathleen Jamie for a school assignment in primary school and it's still my favourite to this day

We agree but add this: the #GreatSchoolLibraries campaign highlights that all children need a school library because adequately funded, staffed school libraries deliver enhanced & independent learning as well as reading & curriculum support & contribute to building lifelong readers. #Staffed