Category: Blog

July 2021 reading round-up

I am currently in the middle of three different books and I’m on holiday next week so hopefully next month’s “books read” list will be much longer. We’ll see.

This month we went from heatwave to weeks of rain storms, so outings have been sporadic. We ended the month with a trip to Brean Down in Somerset, which was a fantastic afternoon out. And Beckett graduated from doggy obedience classes, so she is now officially a Good Dog.

My top films this month were Black Widow and The Dead Don’t Die, which are both very entertaining. I also watched the first season of Rita, a Danish comedy about a school teacher who initially appears to not care about anything or what anyone else thinks, but it gradually becomes clear that this is a facade. It’s wryly funny and has been left in a very interesting place for season 2.

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June 2021 reading round-up

We had a mini heatwave this month, but it’s mostly been just right for a sun-avoider like me. We’re starting to take Beckett on some longer walks and train journeys, preparing for our holiday later this summer. She’s also started obedience classes, mostly to learn to follow instructions when there are other dogs around. Other dogs are so very exciting.

This month’s reading, not hugely unusually for me, has been distinctly feminist and/or queer. Every single book has been great, as is the one I’m still in the middle of: Fire, the third volume of Anais Nin’s diaries. It’s a big oversized hardback, so I’ll be dipping in and out of it for a while to come.

I had a big sort-out of my books last week and weeded out a bunch from my TBR that had been there for too long and just didn’t excite me. The charity box is getting heavy. And besides gaining a little shelf space, it had the added benefit of reminding me about lots of titles on my TBR that I am excited about, hence picking up Fire several years after buying it.

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May 2021 reading round-up

Oh look, another month in which I read loads but failed to write any reviews. And I really do want to write about some of this month’s reads, especially The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie, which is packed with ideas and references.

Top films watch this month include One Night in Miami, Rocks and Liar’s Dice. We also watched Army of the Dead, which is silly action fun with lots of zombies and explosions.

A week ago I got my second COVID jab. It was a less emotional moment than the first one for me, but it’s still a big step toward moving on from all this.

Happy June!

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April 2021 reading round-up

Beckett at the beach
We took Beckett to the beach!

The world opened up a little bit this month and the weather wasn’t terrible. Which meant I spent more time outdoors and less time reading. I’m definitely happy to start seeing friends and family again, though I do feel we still need to be cautious, as most people our age are only just starting to be vaccinated and our younger friends are still waiting.

My top film watches this month were Call Me By Your Name, Palm Springs and Easy Rider. I also started a project of watching all four versions of A Star is Born – two down, two to go. And I watched another terrible-in-a-good-way K-drama called I Am Not a Robot.

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March 2021 reading round-up

Beckett enjoys the sunshine
Beckett enjoying the mini heatwave in our local park.

Well ending a month with a mini heatwave is one way to feel better about it. But I’m feeling more positive about the month ahead. Better weather plus the first steps of lockdown easing should make April a wonderful antidote to that horrible winter. Here’s hoping.

I read a decent amount this month and wrote two whole reviews! Excellent films watched include The Vast of the Night and Roma. And TV-wise I decided better-late-than-never and inhaled the first season of Line of Duty. I’m trying to give myself a week or two off before I start season two.

Better weather, lighter evenings, plus a dog who has decided she likes being carried in her doggy backpack again, mean we can start going for walks that are a bit longer/further from our house. I just have to be careful not to try to do too much too suddenly, or I’ll trigger a lupus flare. Gently does it.

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February 2021 reading round-up

Beckett and a book

It finally feels like spring is here. I have more energy with each week that passes. And it’s way easier keeping a dog with very long fur clean when it’s dry weather for a few days in a row.

This month’s reading was pretty good. Five books, of which I loved two. I watched some pretty trashy films but for a genuinely good watch, I highly recommend The Handmaiden.

Here’s to a March of walks, bike rides and more good books.

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January 2021 reading round-up

Beckett and a book

This post is delayed because my laptop once again almost died. Tim saved my sanity and my wallet by fixing it, but I suspect I will need to budget for a replacement in the next year or so.

I read six books in January, which isn’t bad at all for someone who was constantly sleep-deprived. My favourites were Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo and Arabella by Georgette Heyer, which I guess were also written in the most straightforward style, so maybe I shouldn’t be attempting anything too experimental at the moment.

In other book-related cultural stuff, I watched the TV series Bridgerton (as apparently did half the planet), which is delightful frothy fun, and The Luminaries, which I enjoyed more than the book. I am also really enjoying Pose (currently on season one so no spoilers in the comments please!).

Top films I saw last month have to be Do The Right Thing (yes, I have only just watched it for the first time; I am trying to plug some of the gaps in my film education) and Good Vibrations, which is a wonderful celebration of the power of music.

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Best of 2020, books edition

Kate and BeckettI read 63 books last year, which is a better total than I feared it would be. Some of them were amazing books, some stretched my perspective, some purely entertained. Like many people, I am ashamed to say, 2020 was the first year when I put real effort into my anti-racism education, and I am now determined that will continue in my reading and in the rest of my life.

Of those 63 books, 40 were written by women and 12 were works in translation. A small change this year is that 17 of those books were non-fiction and only three were SF. But the real point of this post is my favourite reads of 2020, so here we go.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

Loving Sabotage by Amelie Nothomb

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

We That Are Young by Preti Taneja

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Giant Days Vol 13 by John Allison

The Smallest Lights in the Universe: a Memoir by Sara Seager

Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas by Maya Angelou

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December 2020 reading round-up

December reads

It’s been a cold, wet, grey end to a difficult year. Which means we’ve spent most of the last week curled up indoors with blankets and hot drinks. I think even Beckett is feeling the cold, despite her double fur coat, as she’s been cosying up to us more than she had for a couple of months. It’s either the cold, or she’s just grateful to have more of our attention while we’re not working for a week and a half. Next week could be stressful for her.

This month I finished seven books, which is pretty high for 2020, though it should be said that includes two books I started last month and one that I started in October. I blame Christmas and my dead/dying laptop for my not having written a book review despite having had a week of holiday.

I think I badly needed to unwind this past week. And the quantity of TV that I’ve watched suggests I’ve not done too badly at that. I have watched and thoroughly enjoyed both seasons of Home For Christmas, a Norwegian romcom about a nurse who lies to her family on 1 December that she has a boyfriend who she will be bringing to her parents’ on Christmas Eve, and then spends the next three weeks trying to find a suitable man. It’s not cheesy or simplistic, the characters are all interesting and varied, but it’s still fun and very Christmassy.

I also watched the first season of Dash & Lily, another show set in the run-up to Christmas, this time set in New York and based on the books by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. As there are multiple books I’m guessing they hope to do another season, but they probably couldn’t shoot it this year so the teen characters might look rather older when next we see them! This one was also enjoyable but quite cheesy and fluffy, and I am starting to get a little annoyed by the trope of the bubbly, happy-go-lucky girl being paired with a sulky, constantly negative boy.

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