Here’s why you should never set ‘reading goals’ in an effort of grim self-improvement
The idea that reading is innately virtuous, other than religious material, is modern
Sarah Moss
A collection of articles by Sarah Moss
I navigate new places without the internet because I believe in getting lost
I am convinced that way-finding without a phone schools us to pay attention in a way that we lose when we merge with a blue dot on a screen
There’s a clear difference between those who grew up taking photos of themselves and those of us who didn’t
Unlike the generation which has grown up with mobile phone cameras, when I am photographed I look awkward, wooden, smiling like someone who just wants this to stop now
If we really wanted to be good and healthy in 2025, we’d resolve to pester our politicians
Childhood rickets is back in Britain – and it’s not because ill-health is the logical outcome of poor choices
Fiction to look out for in 2025: From Eimear McBride to Ben Okri
Emma Donoghue, Joseph O’Connor and Colum McCann are just some of the big names with new books coming out in 2025. Here’s our pick of fiction for the year ahead
Christmas - and the perfect family life it represents - is an oppressive fantasy
Most families have someone missing even if the table is holly-decked and groaning
Assisted dying: Do we understand it properly?
I’ve seen the slow loss of dignity and the increase of pain that mark the last years of lives drawn out by healthcare in modern society
We should stop moving so fast. Resist where you can. Hold space to grow and digest
We should stop moving so fast. Resist where you can. Hold space to grow and digest
How did ‘granny’ become the byword for dimness? That’s so wrong
Some of the grandmothers I know are a surgeon, a judge and professors, while many others belong to the English literary canon
Eating disorders in later life: Some of my peers have had teenage weight levels for decades
In fact, a locally-made, organic doughnut might well be better than green beans grown with scarce water in Namibia and air-freighted in plastic wrap
I’m a Brexit-era ‘citizen of nowhere’, trying to settle in Ireland
If I have a family tradition, it’s moving, being an outsider, starting again
I was taught to avoid the ‘trap’ of cooking but I take pleasure in domestic life
I long for ways of thinking and writing and cooking that admit in the most serious and simple way, food is love
I had my kids in my mid-20s, which was unheard of among women of my class and generation
I’m making friends who are much younger and much older than me, because many women of my age are still ferociously juggling work and childcare and not free for coffee or a film
Men are deemed more masculine for taking up more space, women more feminine for taking up less
Binary categories hurt everyone, especially those whose natures or physiques are non-compliant
Only mothers who find recognition in professional life seem to be guilty of ‘having it all’
Society considers mums suspected of working by choice to be playing a zero-sum game where career ambition comes at the cost of motherly love
Some say you’re not a writer if you’re not willing to sacrifice your family to your art. Not me
Sarah Moss: Writers have the same responsibilities to family, friends and community as everyone else
Being English in Ireland, I often sense I’m being too frank
An English person in Ireland speaks with eight centuries of history gesticulating over her shoulder
I’m a university professor but I’ve never been greatly invested in my own kids’ grades
It’s hard to see how training students to concentrate on their own fear of inadequacy and desire to beat their neighbour is likely to open paths out of the death spiral of climate change and capitalism.
It was only after moving to Ireland from England that I had deep conversations about emigration
It was only after moving to Ireland that I had deep conversations about emigration with Irish friends who’d moved to England
As a teenage girl in the 1990s there was a level of harassment that I hope is unthinkable now
I’m a parent, tolerating worry is in the job description, and so is the gradual handover of physical safety from parent to child
My friend’s effortless joyful incompetence sets an example that’s difficult to match
It’s an interesting challenge to start something without the aim of mastering it
I’m not against HRT but are we once again medicating women for being angry?
It is horribly regressive to say that all women lose their minds in midlife. Did you know that men have hormones too?
My Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss: A bleak, often brilliant personal history
The desire to be worthy, or the fear of not being worthy enough, is explored in this moving memoir
Friends said that I’d ‘let’ my hair go grey. That’s not what happened
It’s interesting to think about the difference between ‘letting go’ and ‘letting yourself go’
Changing your mind is more interesting and more useful than changing your body
Fennel, yellow and yoga: Liking food or colours or activities I once disliked reminds me that preferences aren’t fixed
I do the same thing and expect different results, but thinking reality remains the same is sheer fantasy
Time continues to pass, the world of next time is not the same as the world of last time for anything we do
If you’ve read the literary canon, you know how to think like a bourgeois white man
Part of the work of art is to allow us glimpse worlds we don’t inhabit, or see worlds we inhabit through others’ eyes
Sarah Moss: Until recently, I assumed everyone had infinite worlds of light, sound, scent, taste and touch in their heads
It was a surprise to find other people had such different experiences of being conscious
The problem isn’t me and my sourdough and my kale. Access to nourishing food should be a right
We have accepted the baseline that what we all deserve is highly processed food
Sarah Moss: I find the phrase ‘first world problems’ deeply objectionable
It suggests that humans live on different planets, determined by economic conditions, which lets us off many hooks we would have to discuss if we accepted that all global resources are inequitably shared
I fly too much and I feel guilty about it, but I keep doing it
On a burning planet with limited resources, we need more international understanding, more curiosity about other lives in other places
I’ve always been suspicious of writers’ block. Nurses don’t get nurses’ block
There is a time to count and a time to be counted; the work is to know when that time comes
The man I met while out running thought I was wrong not to track my miles
Counting time and distance when I run would quickly turn joy to punishment
I don’t use social media and of course I sometimes wonder if the cost is worth the benefit
It’s mostly comfortable for me to be away from my phone because I don’t use social media, which means that probably not much has changed since I last looked
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE...
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Six Nations 2025
Get the latest news, analysis and match reports from the M6N and W6N championships
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Family NoticesOpens in new window
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices