Category: Blog

June 2022 reading round-up

Summer arrived! And then left again? I’ve done some lovely walks and bike rides but this week has been a washout.

Three of this month’s books were memoirs, including my favourite read One More Croissant for the Road by Felicity Cloake. I was genuinely inspired by it.

This month’s films haven’t been top tier but there’s still so much great TV to make up for that. We watched the third and final season of Derry Girls, which was of course amazing (and has the best soundtrack). We’ve also been watching What They Do in the Shadows and have just started Only Murders in the Building. And my list of TV shows to watch just keeps getting longer.

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May 2022 reading round-up

Reading in the garden

I would say May has overall been a positive month. The weather has been largely good, we’ve spent more time with friends than we had for two years, we had two long weekends away (including one without the dog – shock!). I finished six books, all of them good.

I’ve started a new K-drama, so look out for my review of that soon. And I’ve rediscovered the Indian TV show Little Things, which is a gorgeous look at the minutiae of one Mumbai couple’s relationship. Film-wise, my top hits were Turning Red and Definition Please, though I also very much enjoyed finally watching Johnny Mnemonic.

Here’s to an equally excellent June. Happy reading!

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April 2022 reading round-up

Easter weekend pleasures

Happy International Workers Day! April was super cold and then gorgeously warm and dry, so it feels appropriate that May has begun with grey drizzle.

Last month I finished four books but it felt like I read non-stop. I am more than halfway through three books at the moment, so I guess that’s related. And all our weekends have been busy, so I’ve had very few long stretches of reading time.

Anyway, the four books I read were all great but I especially loved The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe and co-authors. I love everything Monáe does, including the album Dirty Computer and its accompanying “emotion picture”, which is the origin of this book, so I am unsurprised but also relieved to have loved the book as well. I had pre-ordered a copy of this book for a friend’s birthday and was delighted to have two copies show up in the post because Tim had pre-ordered one for me as a surprise. What an excellent partner.

Last month we had friends and family come to visit; we went to the beach; and I went on a day trip to the Cotswolds for a friend’s birthday. This coming month we have our first holiday of the year, which we have barely started to plan, so let’s hope that comes together!

My top films watched last month would be Spider-Man: No Way Home, Wadja, Hello My Name is Doris and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. My top TV is a very close tie between season two of Russian Doll and season one of Heartstopper. The latter is based on the web comic by Alice Oseman, which I’ve discussed here before, adapted for TV by Oseman herself. It is a perfect adaptation – a mostly gentle and sweet (but sometimes dealing with serious issues) school drama about two boys falling in love (and their diverse group of friends). I know the web comic gets a little more serious over time, so I expect season two will be less light and fluffy. Assuming it’s renewed, but the ecstatic reception of season one hopefully means it will be.

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March 2022 reading round-up

Sick day company

Well, Tim and I have both now had COVID and survived, which makes the world feel a bit less scary. Obviously we know we can be re-infected, and it wouldn’t necessarily be the same a second time round, but for now we’re enjoying the higher level of immune protection and the psychological relief of our worst fears not being realised.

I read four books this month, which is a big drop from Jan and Feb, but three of them were science fiction and two of those I found pretty challenging. Plus I had COVID and then the weather got glorious and I mostly wanted to be outside.

My favourite book this month was The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders (see below for a brief summary), which I liked so much that even when I felt absolutely awful on my first day of having COVID, I avidly read for the majority of the day. Usually when I’m sick I struggle to read and turn to TV instead. Not sure if it’s because COVID is a different kind of sick to my usual, or if I’m turning to the wrong kinds of books at those times.

I did also watch a lot of TV as per usual, don’t get me wrong. This month I discovered Man Like Mobeen, This Way Up and The Woman Across the Street From the Girl in the Window – which are all ideal if you need to laugh. And as for films, even just the really good ones make for a long list. I can recommend Mixtape, A Quiet Place, Columbus, Encanto, Colombiana and Tick Tick Boom.

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February 2022 reading round-up

Valentine's

Oh dear. I had grand plans for an LGBT+ History Month reading summary, with slightly longer than usual descriptions of what I’d read. But then for complicated reasons I didn’t have access to my laptop for a week and a half and suddenly it’s 11 March. Ah well.

I did read a lot again in February (right now it is not looking like March will be so successful) and most of the books were excellent. I think my favourite read was Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis, so I will definitely be looking out for more books by the Uruguayan author.

I seem to have watched an even greater than usual roster of films old and new, including Blade Runner, Last Night in Soho, Lady Macbeth, Aliens and Passing. And in-between the grey drizzly days there was some glorious sunshine for dog walks. We even went out for a super fancy meal at an actual indoor restaurant.

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January 2022 reading round-up

Reading snuggle

Well, January has been a bit grey and cold-but-not-snow-cold, but on the plus side I have torn through books this month. I finished 10 books – four of them in the first week. A lot of them were good but I think my favourite was Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram.

As has become habit now, we watched a lot of films. I’d say the best were Don’t Look Up (the recent big budget sci-fi film on Netflix) and Only Yesterday (an old Studio Ghibli film about a city woman who takes a holiday to the countryside and reminisces about her youth).

I also turned 41, went on a lot of dog walks and finally, after a few months’ break, started watching another K-drama (Cinderella and the Four Knights), which was…fine.

Maybe next month we’ll actually leave the city at some point. Who knows?

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Top reads of 2021

It’s a few days late, but I have finally picked my favourite books from the last year. They include the second book I read in 2021 and the last one I read, so it’s a good thing I did wait until the year was well and truly over!

In total I read 67 books last year. Only 8 were in translation and, despite good intentions, only 4 were by African authors, so I will try to improve on those stats this year. That said, 17 were non-fiction, including several that I loved, so working towards that has been positive for me.

But the real question is: which were my favourites? I tried really hard to whittle it down to a top five, but just couldn’t so here are my top six reads of 2021, in no particular order.

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December 2021 reading round-up

Christmas day walk with Tim, my brother Adam and the dog

Another year is over. December has been hectic but once we finally reached Christmas (which was lovely, if not quite what we’d planned) I had free time and devoured several books. Also, most of this month’s books have been really good. It’s nice to end the year on a high point.

My top book this month was in fact the last one: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. As always, I watched a lot of films – most of them Christmas-related. My top picks would probably be Single All the Way, The Long Kiss Goodnight and of course Die Hard. Still a great film no matter how many times we rewatch. Oh, and I finally watched the 2019 Little Women directed by Greta Gerwig and I loved it. TV-wise I recommend the French Christmas romcom miniseries Christmas Flow.

I got a beautiful stack of new books for Christmas, which I’ll post about soon, as well as my top reads of 2021. But for now, I hope you have a fabulous 2022. Happy reading!

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November 2021 reading round-up

Beckett in one of our local parks

A better reading month than October, but I still need to pick up the pace if I’m going to hit that arbitrary target I set myself on Goodreads of 65 books. It’s achievable but it might rely quite heavily on the week’s holiday I have for Christmas!

November alternated between miserably cold and wet, and gloriously sunny but still cold. Beckett and I have kept up our weekly run together and our extra long walks every Sunday morning, but we’re spending more of our evenings and weekends curled up on the sofa. Sometimes Tim joins us too and Beckett is in doggy heaven wedging herself between us.

My favourite book this month was Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith but everything I read was great, which is nice. My top films this month were Harriet and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. My favourite new discovery in TV land is Feel Good. From tomorrow my TV and film choices will be decidedly Christmassy, which may lead to a drop in quality. Or maybe not…

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October 2021 reading round-up

Oh dear, I only finished two books this month and neither was very big. I did have a really bad cold that meant I spent a week mostly watching The Mindy Project and failing to read anything at all. I am currently halfway through three books and gave up on another that I was struggling with. But I was still surprised when I checked Goodreads and saw my October stats.

I did watch the usual quota of films, my top picks being Moxie and Summer of Soul.

Anyway, I’m over the cold and currently away in Devon for a long weekend with Tim, Beckett and our good friend Tushna, so I think things are looking up. Hopefully.

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