I read a lot this month! Holidays rock. We spent a week in Snowdonia with friends, chilling in the most awesome holiday house. There were two hammocks in the big garden, a balcony around the entire first floor and access to the roof. Plus it had a copy of Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama, so I read about a quarter of that. Maybe one day I’ll buy/borrow a copy to read the rest. He’s a good writer, unsurprisingly.

As August is Women in Translation Month, I read three and a half books by women in translation from my TBR (I’m halfway through an Isabel Allende right now). I’ll write another post about them soon.

As always, I also watched a lot of films. The top ones were Rocketman, Late Night and Tune in for Love.

Continue reading “August 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.

Continue reading “June 2021 reading round-up”

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.

Continue reading “January 2021 reading round-up”

Another quick post to celebrate the stack of beautiful new books I received for my birthday that I’m eager to get stuck into (what about my existing TBR of 140, you say? I mean, they’re also great books I’m sure, but less new and shiny!). Yes, I did also receive a lamp in the shape of a book, with a remote control to change the colour.

Continue reading “New year, new books, 2021 edition”

I 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

Continue reading “Best of 2020, books edition”

November was a tough month. I didn’t think I would mind a second lockdown but it’s actually been hard, particularly in combination with the short days and bad weather. At least Beckett doesn’t seem to mind the cold.

On the plus side, I have continued to find excellent films to watch on streaming. Highlights include Animals, Sorry to Bother You and Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse (which we’d seen and loved at the cinema; still love it second time around).

TV-wise, I watched the BBC drama of Normal People immediately after reading the book, and it was excellent. I’ve also been thoroughly enjoying season two of His Dark Materials. And because I have spent a lot of evenings too tired/in a funk to concentrate on something new, I have also been rewatching Gilmore Girls for the thousandth time. It’s really comforting.

Continue reading “November 2020 reading round-up”

Just as I was starting to feel comfortable with the idea of venturing out into the world more, it looks like we are on the verge of another lockdown. Having a dog gets us out of the house twice a day, but we won’t get to introduce her to most of our family and friends this year. Not in person, anyway. Beckett is still both awesome and exhausting, but a little less exhausting than she was.

Which is probably why this has been a better month on the reading front – six books! – and I even wrote one whole book review. I plan to write some mini reviews (more than the synopses below) so that I can finally put away the growing stack of read books on the arm of the sofa. I’m going to need to get them out of Beckett’s reach soon as she is expanding the list of things she tries to eat every day.

Historically, I am a fan of October. It’s the pretty leaves, blue skies end of autumn. For some reason I associate it with Daphne du Maurier, and I do have a few of her books still to read (she was prolific). But I am anxious about the COVID-19 situation getting worse as the days get shorter, colder and wetter.

Continue reading “September 2020 reading round-up”