Everything team IMAGE are reading, watching and booking this November
As the month stretches out in front of us, the IMAGE staffers share their entertainment agenda. From cinema trips to see the new Paul Mescal film and nail appointments to get Business of Beauty Awards ready, to weekends away, Irish gigs, and long awaited dinner reservations — here’s what we’re getting up to this November.
Amber O’Shea, Social Media Manager
This month, I just finished Intermezzo by Sally Rooney and Bodies by Christine Anne Foley. I loved how both of these books explored the vulnerability and depth of relationships and personal grief. Next on my list is Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima and Butter by Azako Yusuki. I’ve had my eye on these for a while now and I feel excited to start the month with two new reads.
This month I want to go to the cinema as much as possible, but I am currently looking to binge The Rivals, which is out now and looks like everything I need after finishing White Lotus two years ago. Nothing has filled that void since. There is also a fantastic selection of films out this winter and I’m very excited to go see some of them, first up on my list is Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These.
I am booking some tickets to Vino Sensoria by Lidl who are offering a 1 hour wine tasting experience in the dark and all ticket donations will be going to charity. I’m also booking tickets to go to Other Voices in Dingle later this month, I can’t wait for it. Of course I will be booking a much needed nail appointment (STAT) for our amazing Business of Beauty Awards this month. Woo!
Emily O’Neill, Marketing Account Executive
November is one of my favourite months! It is a month where I celebrate my birthday, do my Christmas shopping and soak up the beginning of the festive season. To celebrate my birthday this year, I am heading to see the wonderful Amble at one of their three sold-out nights in the 3Olympia. I bought the tickets earlier this year, so it has been a long time coming.
The top of my ‘to watch’ list at the moment is Rivals on Disney+. I am a huge fan of David Tennant, so I am very excited to sit down and more than likely binge-watch the whole series. I always mention Portia MacIntosh’s books when I am asked what I am reading. They are easy, light reads which suit me perfectly when I want to switch off. Her latest release You Had Me At Chateau is next on my list.
Holly O’Neill, Editor, IMAGE.ie; Beauty Editor, IMAGE Magazine
Just in case there’s anything happening news-wise over the next couple of weeks you might want a distraction from, I’m currently listening to the audiobook of Playing Dead: How Meditation Brought Me Back To Life by Robert Sheehan – read an extract of it here.
I’m not sure if vagus nerve breathing counts as meditation if you do it squashed against the door of the Luas, but it’s definitely a better alternative for the brain than doomscrolling. It’s like if the HeadSpace app had funny stories about your first confession and was read by Tommy Tiernan when he’s in a poetic and introspective mood. And reading it is a timely reminder that life is fleeting and you have to find a way to live before the stress kills you. No worries if not!
I’m also watching The Franchise on Sky, a really funny workplace satire of a crew working on an MCU-esque blockbuster superhero film called Tecto: Eye of the Storm with difficult directors, self-conscious stars and an under-pressure production crew. Booked for joy this November is Wonderlights with all the family, which this year has expanded its award-winning spectacular light display to Marlay Park as well as its original homes in Malahide Castle and Cork.
Sarah Finnan, Deputy Digital Editor
There’s so much to look forward to this month with the likes of Gladiator II and of course, Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters coming out – both of which I have on my watch list. I’m also incredibly excited for Paddington in Peru and Say Nothing, a new Disney drama set during The Troubles. On the reading front, I just finished Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo (which I loved!) so next up is Coco Mellors’ Cleopatra and Frankenstein. She released her second book – Blue Sisters – earlier this year but I thought I’d start with her debut – I read an essay she wrote for British Vogue this summer and was immediately drawn in by her story so I have high hopes.
Other than that, I’m looking forward to a second showing of Hamilton at the Bord Gáis (it’s just so bloody good) and a weekend at The Johnstown Estate – their spa is blissful. I love the run-up to Christmas but as an introvert, I find the constant socialising a little draining at times so I’ll be laying low while I still can!
Shayna (Sappington) Healy, Branded Content Editor and Wedding Writer
There are so many good films out at the moment that I’ve been itching to get to the cinema and watch – Small Things Like These (I read the book and have no doubt Cillian Murphy will do a fantastic job), Heretic (I got goosebumps at Hugh Grant’s portrayal of the villain in the trailer), Gladiator II (Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington… need I say more?) and, of course, Wicked (which I will be singing along to!).
As far as events go, I’m tagging along to this really cool Reader’s Day in Dublin City Library with some friends, where two of my favourite crime authors Tana French and Lucey Foley will be chatting all things books alongside some other big names.
And speaking of books, I’ve already filled my to-be-read list for November on GoodReads. Right now, I’m reading an absolute pageturner, The Apollo Murders – written by a real astronaut who makes some shocking revelations about what really occurred during The Space Race in the 1970s. Next up will be Sally Rooney’s new Intermezzo to see which side of the mixed reviews I land on, and finally, Catherine Ryan Howard’s The Nothing Man, a riveting crime thriller about a serial killer in Ireland which I’ve heard great things about (but honestly, I’ll read anything Howard writes!)
Sarah Gill, Features Editor, IMAGE.ie
I just finished reading Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn, and honestly could not recommend it more. It’s a series of conversations with authors, experts and academics who candidly share their reflections of love, longing and loss with incredibly staggering empathy and generosity. Most pages of my copy are either smudged by tears, or heavily underlined. Next up is Let’s Dance by Lucy Sweeney Byrne, a short story collection published last month that promises to be dark, hypnotic, witty and insightful.
If you started November with a cinema trip to see the incredibly powerful adaptation of Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These, and are looking for further reading or viewing on the subject of Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, I would recommend picking up a copy of Republic of Shame: How Ireland Punished ‘Fallen Women’ and Their Children by Caelainn Hogan and Bessborough by Deirdre Finnerty, and watching The Missing Children on the RTÉ Player, Ann (2022), and The Magdalene Sisters (2002).
For me, it’s a booking bonanza this month, in a desperate bid to squeeze as much fun into the end of the year as is humanly possible. Myself and some friends are booking last minute accommodation for a trip to Manchester later in November to see the woman of the moment, Charli XCX, and embrace brat girl autumn in all its glory. My boyfriend and I are booking our ferry to the Aran Islands to dodge raindrops, drink Guinness and look at sheep, and I’ve also got a reservation to look forward to at Cork’s Paladar, a Latin American cocktail bar whose costilla saltado (slow cooked beef rib) has been the object of my desires for quite some time now.
Lizzie Gore-Grimes, Editor-in-Chief
I am hooked on The Diplomat – with season two just out. I’m desperately trying to hold back and not binge the whole thing in one go. I just love everything about Kerri Russell in this role, and the dynamic between herself and (on-off husband) Rufus Sewell is just electric, so complex and intriguing. On the flip side, for a perfect nonsense-escape, I watched the Fall Guy the other night and thoroughly enjoyed it (available to rent on Apple TV) — the “Taylor Swift in the Truck” scene is cinematic gold (IMO)! Books-wise, I just finished The Life Impossible by Matt Haig and enjoyed it (enough) — mostly for the atmospheric off-beat Ibiza setting. For a feel-good light read, You are Here by David Nicholls is spot-on.
Ciara Elliott, Acting Editor, IMAGE Magazine
I have two photo books I have my eye on right now. One is Heaven and a Hard Place by Irish photographer Frank Keane (just out, frankkeanephoto.com) and the other is the new fashion book by the brilliant and iconic Martin Parr, Fashion Faux Parr, published by Phaidon.
I am probably the last person in the entire world to see this but I am finally going to see ABBA Voyage in London before it closes at the end of November (although as I am writing this I have just noticed they have added extra dates so maybe it is not closing after all!). I am not a mad ABBA fan but have only heard good things about the show and feel it is a bit of a once-in-lifetime experience so we got tickets for my pal’s birthday. Now whether or not we will get dressed up in ’70s gladrags for the night out remains to be seen…
I’m booking ‘The Irish Writers Handbook’ at Dublin Book Festival, which is a sort of ‘how to get published’ talk from expert Irish publishers with tips on editing and writing now. It’s on Saturday, November 9 at The Printworks in Dublin Castle.
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