Recent Reads That Kept Me Sane: Spring Edition

Escapist fiction. Nothing wrong with it. I love it. It's keeping me sane. VERY sane.

I love my classics.

I love my literary fiction.

But, I've had to put most of those to the side for now. I never thought I'd say those words, but my brain can barely hold on to what is vital and necessary.

I am burned out. Fully flamed.

Romance novels and cozy mysteries are saving me these days.

My life is HARD right now and I LOVE well-written romance. I've been having a great time reading (and DNFing) a few books lately.

Books I've loved lately

LOVE this series

I normally cannot 
binge read cozies, 
but this series is different!

Another series I binged
I LOVE this one

These books hold up well
being read back to back

I didn't expect to love this
one as much as I did.
AMAZING.
The hero was delicious.

NOT the typical age-gap
TRUST me.
I struggle with those 
and this was romantic.

Books that have been okay-ish

I enjoyed this one. I don't
do a lot of historicals.
This was good.

My first Tiffany Roberts.
It was steamy. I really liked it,
but it felt about 75-100 pages
too long.

What I'm reading right now

This is on KU!

I've heard great things,
and my hold finally
came in from the library
update: DNF

If lightening up my reading has taught me anything, it's that it's all good. It's fantastic to read light novels with ONE or two (maybe) heavier reads to anchor it all down.

As someone who does NOT work in publishing, english lit, and is NOT a grad student in any of those subjects, I've realized just how much bookish content is made by those whose business or work revolve around the more intense novels.

Though it takes me out of the circles and conversations (let's be honest, people have called me crazy for saying I will focus on romance), I am in heaven now.

Happy light reading my slow living friends.

Lightening Up with Kindle Unlimited

I DNF a lot of cozy mysteries and romance novels.

I want to be able to read more of them than I am able, but I have been making progress with lightening up in general and that translates into being okay with a book NOT being life changing. 

As a result, I re-subbed to KU and downloaded a ton of books (20 to be exact!).

I love trying nonfiction from KU, easy (recommended cozies), and some rom-com type of books to help me ease up.

I've been struggling a bit lately with insomnia and bad dreams, and heavy classics and transformative literary fiction has NOT been helping.

Here's what I've downloaded lately. No shame in my game (can't believe I just said that). 

I'm almost ashamed of how difficult this felt. After a zillion years in college/grad school, I remember longing for the ability to read a "light" novel. Now that I am able to do so, I STILL read through classics and literary fiction novels with pretty much ignoring any real genre fiction though it brings me some joy.

I...

Don't work in publishing. Don't work as a professor in English Lit. I'm going to take the advice of a few people and try to lower my stress levels by living through lighter novels that are easy page-turners and allow myself this respite from intense living.

I've started Vacation Wars on audio and while I have to stop dissecting the childishness of the protagonist, I am taking this for what it is... a rom-com that meant for enjoying. I actually found myself laughing out loud :) 

I'm Drinking Tea and DNFing Books

The matcha is hot, the DNFs are piling up.

Moving more slowly than I'd like through Metamorphoses, I need to put it bedside so that I can keep my "page a day" quota going.

The Lie of Rebecca Jones was so boring I thought I'd pull my eyelashes out. I spent too much time on it. I have to resurrect my old DNF policy: DNF as soon as one line deeply bores me. 

There's just too much to read. Too much to read.

This week I'm still working on:

1. Mistress and Maid
2. On Borrowed Crime
3. And several nonfiction books

I'm struggling lately and need to add some lighter romance novels into the mix so that I can relax at night. 

Time to get some audiobooks for the treadmill. It's that time of year again.

A Long Month- Prioritizing Great Reads

I've had a long month. 

I've slowed down purchasing books until I continue to read through what I've currently owned.

By beginning to watch a few Netflix series, I feel more well rounded with my free time. I am incredibly intentional (most of the time) with the shows I pick.

DNFing is a full-time job these days and I will not read anything that doesn't appeal to me.

Currently working on...

I am loving this book. Feeling 5 star vibes.

A bit depressing, slow, feels like auto-fiction

Upcoming

I will continue with the current 5 books and I am considering adding a few others... 

1. The Idiot by Dostoevsky 
2. The Life of Rebecca Jones by Price
3. Mistress and Maid by Dinah Mulock Craik

Hoping to relax more and read more the next few days.

Thursday Reading Diary Check In

Unless I go back to some sort of bookish social media, this is just an online diary for me to look back on.

I toy with the idea of returning to BookTube, and then I decide against it. I've never been a big Instagram person, but perhaps I'll return there. 🤔 

In the meantime, I'll add what I'm reading on this busy Thursday.

I love this cover

I've had my eye on this 2012 biographical literary fiction (Wales setting) for a few years and I think now's the time to add it to my reading plate.

It isn't very long, but I will give it the time it deserves.

I'm working on reading through books I own and making sure that I don't succumb to the "endless TBR" energy that is so pervasive in the bookish community. No judgment, but I don't want to do that, and I fell into it for a while.

I was thinking, "Well, life is short and I'll never read all the books I want to anyway".  That's foolish. Yes, that's true, but it doesn't mean that I need to amass a collection of books that I am not ready to read within the next 6 months.

So, anything new I buy I must begin immediately; otherwise, I have to read what I own. It makes the most sense. 

Happy "I already own that book" reading 🍵

Adding My First Reading of the 1842 Novel Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

 

I love this cover

I know that I have a lot going on in my reading life, but I adore the great works. I love having multiple novels going at a time, and why not begin to tackle this LONG time TBR novel by Gogal.

Book Summary:

Since its publication in 1842, Dead Souls has been celebrated as a supremely realistic portrait of provincial Russian life and as a splendidly exaggerated tale; as a paean to the Russian spirit and as a remorseless satire of imperial Russian venality, vulgarity, and pomp. As Gogol's wily antihero, Chichikov, combs the back country wheeling and dealing for "dead souls"--deceased serfs who still represent money to anyone sharp enough to trade in them--we are introduced to a Dickensian cast of peasants, landowners, and conniving petty officials, few of whom can resist the seductive illogic of Chichikov's proposition. This lively, idiomatic English version by the award-winning translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky makes accessible the full extent of the novel's lyricism, sulphurous humor, and delight in human oddity and error.

I am so excited to begin this novel. 

The week before Easter, I don't watch tv shows or movies, so I dive more deeply into my books. We have a few extreme medical appointments this week, so I will be reading on the go as well.

Happy deep classic Russian reading my friends ☕️ 

Emma by Jane Austen My Spring Re-Read: Book Review

Always Austen all the time.

I can never re-read her enough.

💐 Springtime equals Emma by Jane Austen for me.

This early spring read of Emma was a true delight. I laughed over and over again. 
Yes Emma is easily unlikeable from page one chapter one, but though "handsome, clever, and rich"... we can instantly (most of us) realize that Emma's experiences will be FAR outside of ours. Emma has had "little to vex her".

Most of us have had real issues in life. Jane knows we won't truly relate.

This makes it easy to loathe Emma, but makes it all the more fantastic to see her character arc and development by the end of the novel. It surprises me every time.

If you've been sleeping on Emma because Pride and Prejudice gets all the hype (and rightfully so!), do yourself a favor this spring and read Emma.

Happy Austen reading 🍵 

Reading Thomas Hardy's Oeuvre

I've read and re-read Hardy for years. 

I don't know if I haven't finished his novels because I'm afraid NOT to have another new major work on the horizon. 

This is my declaration. I will read all of Thomas Hardy's works. 

I will allow his deeply melancholic, depressing narratives to lull me into a state of despondency.

I will make a hot cup of mushroom tea (to mimic coffee), add vegan creamer and settle in with a sad novel of his. 

source: The Dorset Guide

Yes. 

Yes this is the lot of the Hardy fan. To enter into despair with the turn of every page.

My Thomas Hardy Check In

My Hardy Novel List

With only 4 Hardy novels left to complete his major works oeuvre, I will resist the urge to re-read any of his novels (AGAIN).

If I had only read each work twice, I would've been done a long time ago. 

Far From the Madding Crowd is one of my favorite novels and I have re-read it three times. I've re-read Tess and Jude as well. Ughhhh. 

Okay. I've accepted this. I will NOT re-read anything by Hardy until I complete the last 4 novels that I have of his to read.

I've downloaded them all and will start with The Hand of Ethelberta! 

Happy Hardy reading 🫖 

The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Fyodor Dostoevsky: Review

you can special his last name with or without the "y"

I loved this story. But then, Dostoevsky can do no wrong in my eyes so take it with a bucket of salt. 

Part philosophical work, part story, part dream... this story made me reflect on life, death, lost, longing, etc.

I don't want to say much here because mostly anything will spoil it.

I loved it.

Is this even a review? Maybe not. It's an entreaty to read all of Dostoevsky. 

Off to start The Idiot :)

Happy deep Dostoevsky reading. 

TransReadathon TBR and Recommendations

I am so excited about this April's TBR. 

I am so excited to live in a world where more and more of these stories get published. I am speaking as a straight cisgender woman. I am HERE for it all. 

I'll post the photos of the books I recc in hopes that you go and do research on EACH one. 

Tips for recommendations:

1. Go to the publishers and authors homepages
2. PURCHASE the book if you are able. It sends a clear "yes, more of this please" to the publishers and authors
3. Show and discuss these books far and wide
4. Let's normalize what should already be normalized: equal shelf space for ALL authors

Now let my TBR & recommendations begin with one of my favorite novels of ALL time:

one of my top favorite novels of all time

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is a riotous,
razor-sharp bildungsroman whose hero/ine
wends his/her way through a world
gutted by loss, pulsing with music,
and opening into an array of intimacy and connections.

gothic psychological thriller

Tripping Arcadia is a page-turning and shocking tale with an
unforgettable protagonist that explores family legacy and inheritance,
the sacrifices we must make to get by in today’s world, and the
intoxicating, dangerous power of wealth.

Click below to check out Penguin Randomhouse's detailed reccs.

Happy trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming reading!