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5 books this month, but 2 of them were short plays, so I really only read 3 books, but they were all amazing reads. 2 of the 3 I flew through; the remaining 1 I savoured. I also read 2 other books throughout April that I didn’t finish in time to add to this wrap-up: The Best of Roald Dahl, a short story collection I decided to pause halfway through (I do plan on picking it back up eventually! It’s a good read, but I’m not in the mood for short stories currently), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which would have completed my first reread of the series in my entire life!

– I received a free copy; this post contains affiliate links. –

To be published by WW Norton on 12 May 2020
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In the age of Trump and Brexit, every crisis is instantly overridden by the next. The turbulent political weather of the twenty-first century generates anxiety and makes it difficult to know how to react. Olivia Laing makes a brilliant, inspiring case for why art matters more than ever, as a force of both resistance and repair. Art, she argues, changes how we see the world. It gives us X-ray vision. It reveals inequalities and offers fertile new ways of living.

Funny Weather brings together a career’s worth of Laing’s writing about art and culture, and their role in our political and emotional lives. She profiles Jean-Michel Basquiat and Georgia O’Keeffe, interviews Hilary Mantel and Ali Smith, writes love letters to David Bowie and Wolfgang Tillmans, and explores loneliness and technology, women and alcohol, sex and the body. With characteristic originality and compassion, Funny Weather celebrates art as an antidote to a terrifying political moment.

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I think many people were excited to get more reading done during this time, and I think many people found—unexpectedly, though logical in retrospect—that they couldn’t gather the focus. Mid month, it took me ten days to finish one book; that’s a third of a month! But this past week I’ve been feeling out a new rhythm, so things are looking up. Plus, I started a 2020 book thread on Twitter to track my reads (inspired by Katie and Nicole), which I’m sharing with a single favourite quote from each read, and have already updated it with the 18 books I’ve read so far this year, so that’s been fun.

In other news, my library is closed, like everyone else’s library, but luckily I have plenty of ebooks, ARCs, and other unread books on my shelf to work through.

– I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. –

To be published by Wednesday Books on 07 Apr 2020
Goodreads | Buy it

Fifteen-year-old JL Markham’s life used to be filled with carnival nights and hot summer days spent giggling with her forever best friend Aubrey about their families and boys. Together, they were unstoppable. But they aren’t the friends they once were.

With JL’s father gone on long term business, and her mother struggling with her mental illness, JL takes solace in the tropical butterflies she raises, and in her new, older boyfriend, Max Gordon. Max may be rough on the outside, but he has the soul of a poet (something Aubrey will never understand). Only, Max is about to graduate, and he’s going to hit the road – with or without JL.

JL can’t bear being left behind again. But what if devoting herself to Max not only means betraying her parents, but permanently losing the love of her best friend? What becomes of loyalty, when no one is loyal to you?

Alternately titled: Taking Inventory Of All The Unread Books On My Shelf To Shame Myself Into Reading Or Donating Them.

I was only going to focus on the 28 books sitting on my shelf unread, but seeing as that made more than 50% of my collection (54% to be exact), I figured that I might as well give the whole bookshelf tour—all two shelves of it.

It’s a long one, so I don’t expect anyone to read it all the way through, but here’s what you can expect: A straightforward list of my unread books that you can skim through. Then I go through each book on my shelf (read and unread) in the order they are organised on my shelf, which is labeled in the next photo. I share a few sentences about each book on things like memories attached to the book, how much I got it for, reasons for adding it to my shelf, reasons for keeping it on my shelf, etc.

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[Note: Re-uploaded this blog post because the comment section wasn’t loading under the original post.]

I’ve been on the go in February, so my Kindle has been getting a lot of lovin’! Finishing a book on a Kindle is not quite as satisfying as finishing a physical book, but I do love how easy it is to whip out a Kindle, whereas with physical books, I really need to get settled.

An unexpectedly positive development from reading on my Kindle is that my impulse to buy books and obtain ARCs has cooled off. I suppose that ebooks take away the distraction of shiny new covers, which is what makes a good part of bookstagram hype, and brings the main focus back to the writing.

All that said, there’s something romantic about a physical book that just can’t be beat.