Hello! I'm back again because I thought you might be craving some benign content. Today: a beautiful film set in Dakar, saucy French cartoons, one of my favourite graphic novels and some Harry Potter fanfiction.

Article: This Guy Accidentally Read NSFW Harry Potter Fanfiction Instead Of The Real Thing And He Was Confused by Stephanie McNeal, published by Buzzfeed
A short one this time. I remembered this story the other day and then reread the whole thing. As the informative Buzzfeed title suggests, a guy read the entire Harry Potter series in one go, got to book five, then realised something was off. That's it – but it did make me laugh. Again.

Film: Atlantique (Atlantics), directed by Mati Diop
Souleiman, a young man working on the construction site of a futuristic tower project in Dakar, hasn't been paid for months. He leaves to attempt the boat trip to Spain without telling his girlfriend Ada, who is engaged to another man. Soon, strange things start happening: Ada's wedding celebrations are interrupted by a fire; various people fall ill; and Ada, grieving for Souleiman, is haunted by his absence – or is it his continued presence? I really liked this ghost love story about money, class, migration and friendship. Some of the shots (Souleiman and Ada smiling at each other as a train goes by!) will stay with me for a long time.
Note: Atlantique is streaming on Netflix.

Book: Spinning by Tillie Walden (2017)
This graphic novel is a memoir chronicling Tillie Walden's coming-of-age as a figure skater in Texas. She navigates moving from one part of the country to another, becomes increasingly disillusioned with the world of competitive sport, and embarks on her first romance with another girl. Walden was 21 when Spinning was published; it's a wonderful book that I've been thinking about a lot since I read it last year. In fact, I'm ordering another one of Walden's books from my local feminist bookshop as soon as I click send on this email.

Other: In Our Time: Marie Antoinette
In Our Time is a BBC radio programme in which academics give an overview over a topic – history, science, literature, whatever. Episodes are either excellent or excruciating (the presenter is somewhat of an acquired taste). The recent episode about Marie Antoinette was very good, especially because the public perception of her was put in the context of diplomatic and revolutionary moods. I can't say I'm particularly interested in historical persons per se – who cares about royals if they're not Napoleon?? – but occasionally biographies do seem illuminating. Also: the pornographic propaganda used against Marie Antoinette was... something else. I strongly recommend clicking this link, but maybe check who is looking at your screen because you will see a drawing of a giant penis.
Note: One of my favourite episodes of In Our Time is about the Maya Civilization. All academics are so excited and optimistic about the topic; it's so informative and interesting; Melvyn Bragg is on his best behaviour.

That's it for now! Tell me what you loved and take care.