Rosie Barton is a contributing London-based writer.

All the world's a stage and the current climate couldn’t feel more farcical. And no, I’m not talking about our own thespian poobar that is Boris Johnson, but the ever so slightly less dramatic explosion of comedy in Scotland’s capital. It’s that time of year again when those of a comic persuasion, who are not stuck in London, make the pilgrimage to 'Auld Reekie' for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. So for those of us left back in the capital – desperately scrummaging to get tickets in the Fleabag lottery as a tentative nod to partaking in the month of theatricalities – this week’s book and podcast recommendation transports us to the cobbled streets of Edinburgh for a fee much smaller than a Virgin East Coast Train ticket.

One Day - David Nicholls



David Nicholls’ One Day celebrates a decade of success as a multimillion-copy bestseller, so there is a chance this is a book you’ve come across before. But being a novel that tracks time through an anniversary-centred structure, it seems silly not to revisit it ten years on. 

I won’t waste time surmising this structurally perfect novel; if you haven't read it, you’re bound to have seen the film featuring a woefully disappointing Yorkshire accent (Anne Hathaway, I’m looking at you), and even if you are oblivious to both film and novel (have you been living under a rock?), the title is far from cryptic. Twenty years covered by a hot July, St Swithin's day each year, Nicholls’ novel emphasises the importance of a single instance in our ever fast-forwarding lives, and to create a real sense of nowness in a book that dances rapidly through two decades of seismic change, love, loss, hope and despair. It is nothing if not true literary gold – not to mention the irony and comedy and relatability as these characters face a life that is no less tragic and brilliant as our own. 

So grab a copy and take a stroll down the grey Edinburgh lanes, laughing or crying, but either way this book is sure to deliver you from the sliding doors of the tube into the world of what might have been, had it not been for that one day. God, he really brings out the philosophising poet in all of us, doesn’t he. 

Side note: should you have read the above to death, never fear as it just so happens that our old chum Dave has just released another sure-to-be epic tale, Sweet Sorrows. Brace yourself for an equally weepy-sounding book to get stuck into as you traipse that long walk between the Piccadilly and Jubilee line at Green park… 

Click here to discover One Day.


Table Manners with Jessie Ware, Series 7 Episode 2: London Hughes



Should One Day have left you in a puddle of your own tears, try Jessie Ware’s podcast Table Manners to dry your eyes and tickle your tastebuds. A fabulous combination of humour and hummus, this podcast – set over supper – provides an excellent milieu to lure guests into sharing more than just food and will have you doing an Oliver Twist in no time (to the clueless amongst you, that was a reference to “Please Sir, can I have some more”, not some dance move to a Beatles song that might have been perfected by Patrick Swayze). 

This episode takes place at the Edinburgh Fringe with one of its many fabulous performers London Hughes, who is putting on yet another “roof raising” show entitled To Catch a D*ck... (And no, that word is not duck). She is raucously funny and only marginally obscene but also, quite charmingly, refers to Jessie’s mum, and the cult following’s favourite, Lennie Ware, as “Mumsy” throughout. A hilarious discussion ensues about why Jewish people don’t eat gammon (prosciutto is apparently allowed), and how many middle names might be too many, not to mention the revelation that there is a Love Island Whatsapp group out there with Jessie, London, Jonathon Ross, Lena Dunham, Megan Barton-Hanson and a hundred other members (the names of which we can only imagine, but my money’s on Ed Milliband, Carol Vorderman and possibly Shania Twain). Any reference to The Do-Bits Society certainly ensures that this podcast cuts the mustard. 

An easy listen, filled with recipe inspiration too, Mary Berry fans out there, give this one a go.Who knew the sound of people eating could be so great?

P.s. This is the first time I’ve finished a podcast only to be left with an incredible desire for a sausage roll...

Click here to tune into Season 7 Episode 2 of Table Manners.

Also on Because Magazine:

+ One read and podcast not enough?

+ Flashback to last week's #WomanCrushWednesday nomination.

+ Levi's Head Tailor invites us to spy on bespoke orders in the making...