july round up
Hello and welcome to The Enthusiast. I glossed over the name change last time - have you done your Enneagram test? I’m number 7 - The Enthusiast. This was so obviously me when I read it. I realised straight away that my journal was the outlet for my enthusiast endeavours and should be named accordingly, so here we are.
What I Read in July
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
Open by Andre Agassi
Well it’s been tennis season so I thought it was finally time to get to Andre Agassi’s memoir. A memoir written in part by J. R. Moehringer, who wrote Prince Harry’s book, which I enjoyed despite NOT being a fan of the monarchy. The PDF was sent to me which is morally questionable (hi Ma!) but hey, I don’t feel he needs the money.
Agassi’s memoir is a lot longer, at 400 pages it actually took me nearly 3 weeks to read this and I’m a book a week kind of girl but I suppose he has had a pretty varied and long career. I enjoyed it, I like subversive stories of people who rail against expectations and the status quo. I watched the Brook Shields documentary a few months ago and saw something of their life from her point of view but the book really highlighted the internal life of an athlete competing at a high level and how utterly brutal, addictive and alien that life is for those top few. I don’t envy Stefi Graff either as that level of success takes out all in it’s path. The scene with Steffi and Andre’s Dads though… You should read the book just for that!
Pineapple Street was a gift from a neighbour who writes book reviews and I absolutely adored this book. Had I just read the description I may not have gone for it as it is about a rich New York family but this book is SO much more than it sounds, it’s funny and clever and has a true heart of gold. It got me through some tricky weeks this month and i looked forward every day to reading it in the evening. Hard recommend.
MONTHLY FAVOURITES
Listened to… Old favourites with new material: Alice Phoebe Lou has a new album - Shelter out, which is super chilled. I’m also loving the new Big Thief single - Vampire Empire.
Watched… I have been making my way through the three series of Easy. I love the episodes with Jacqueline Toboni and these are so short and feel really authentic, perhaps unscripted?
Turned up for… I went to Eastbourne to watch the ATP tennis tournament and lucked out with the final match of the day which was a men’s singles between Tommy Paul and JJ Wolf. The Wolf who hails from New Jersey looks just like one of the Trump fans who stormed the capitol in 2021 (hopeful it’s just his hair and not his politics which match). He played brilliant tennis and we were backing him all the way until he fell at the final hurdle. Coco Gauff played brilliantly too.
