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! 

Anita Brookner Project Check In

I love the slow novels of Anita Brookner.

They are deeply character drawn, and honestly feel a bit claustrophobic. They are nonetheless fantastic. 

She has a way of writing that moves me so deeply. 

source: New York Times

Here is my April 2024 Check In

My next Brookner: The 1983 novel Look at Me

isn't this cover sullen?

I've decided that I will read her remaining novels in publication order. I am so excited about this project.

Deep reading through an author's oeuvre is one of my favorite things to do.

Happy reading. ☕️ 

Update: Fall 2023

I won't make myself read in publication date. I've decided to read whichever I'm interested in at the time. You can't go wrong with Brookner. And, even her "miss" is a closer home run in 3/4 of what I read from the contemporary section these days. 

End of March DNF Energy

I am just DNFing up a storm. Honestly, I love a good DNF.

Too many of them and I start to feel antsy...

"Am I choosing the right books? Why am I not finishing these novels? Am I feeling slumpy?"

Turns out that most of my recent DNFs have been recommendations or gleaned from watching videos. Ummmm well that HAS to change!

Cue my deep journaling session about my reading taste.

stock photo

I use this in all areas of my life: If NO ONE was looking (and honestly no one is looking :) , what would I be reading or wanting to read?

The facts are:

My stakes are low. 

My reading is JUST for my enjoyment and enhancement.

My time is limited so I need to choose my books wisely. 

Henceforth (clearly things have gotten serious now), I will be documenting my DNF escapades and reveling in the joy I feel when I delete a book from my kindle or remove the download.

Exhale... what a beautiful space of reading freedom I am living in. Although I've expressed this in the most dramatic fashion possible, I feel fantastic to shout into the void, "If it isn't worth reading twice, it's not worth reading once."

It's Okay to Read All The Time

shutterstock

Quick reminder to myself and any/all who pass this post.

It's okay to read often. It's okay to re-read often. It's okay to read a ton or a few number of books.

It's okay to read non-fiction only. Fiction only. Classics only. Middle Grade only. Or anywhere in between.

I loathe the new society (though is it new really?) that demands we all be the same, yet different.

I soak up all of my free time with chapters of great books.

I don't justify or explain this to anyone.

Only fellow bibliophiles understand the sublime feeling of coming in close contact with great literature.

There is a feeling of complete love and joy when I conquer a great work (Hello Proust, I'm looking at you).

No matter who you are. No matter where you are on your life's journey, novels hold the key to a certain happiness that touches the soul. And unlike a favorite ballet, or museum... you get to return to the work over and over again.

Happy reading ☕️