January Wrap Up

Hey guys!

I’m back… again. I’m sorry…

However, this time I’m positive it’s going to be a different experience. I’m on a brand new blog that has been completely regenerated. I’m out of my reading slump, so I’m definitely more inspired to talk about books! It’s been well over a year, maybe even two, since I’ve been in properly blogging – so allow me a little time to get used to everything again. I’m really excited to share with you all what I’ve been working on and planning over the next few months!

For now, lets talk about last month.

January feels like forever ago, but it’s only been a week when I’m writing this.

I read a massive thirteen books last month. This was huge for me. In the whole of 2018 I only read twenty-one books, so when I read thirteen book in the first month of 2019 I was so proud of myself. 2018 was a difficult year for me and I lost all interest in reading, but at the end of last year I started rereading my favourite books and that seems to have set me up good for this year.

The first book I read was for uni and that was Nasty Women by 404 Ink which is a collection of essays by women detailing what it’s like to be a woman in the 21st Century. It was an eye opening read and was very inspiring for me in my fiction course.

Next, I read Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi which is a Snow White retelling. I remember enjoying the book whilst reading it however, it wasn’t a memorable book for me but one I’m glad nonetheless.

I’m going to group these ones together as they’re by the same author. I read: To Make Monsters out of Girls and The Princess Saves Herself in This One and The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace. I don’t think I’m ever going to tire of Lovelace’s style of poetry.

I also read Lovelace’s newest book with Nikita Gill and Trista Mateer: Dragonhearts. I did enjoy this book however I think I like Lovelace more when she’s on her own. I do want to read more from Gill and Mateer though.

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare was my next read. If anyone knows me at all, this was one of my most anticipated and I loved it so much. The Shadowhunter stories are my favourite books of all time and the conclusion to the Dark Artifices triology was everything I wanted it to be and so much more. Clare always continues to shock me and bring out every single emotion of me.

I also read Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia and it was such a beautiful novel and the first one in so long that fully hooked me in and I was able to read it in just a few sittings which was an incredible reading experience for me.

I decided to reread the first two instalments in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series: A Court of Thorns and Roses and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas. I love this series and every reread I get something new out of it.

I then had to read The Book Thief for my young adult fiction module at university and I was stunned by this novel, but because it took me over the course of months to read and read other books in between,  I think I need to reread this again to get the full experience of the novel. I did really enjoy it though, however, and could see why everyone loves it so much.

Jumping back to poetry, I read Be With by Forrest Gander. It was a really beautiful collection.

Lastly, I read The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu. Now – I went into this book expecting it to be like Moxie by Mathieu which is one of my favourite books. It was nothing like this and we didn’t even get Alice’s perspective until the last chapter and throughout I was uncomfortable with the amount of slut shaming that occurs, though I could appreciate it was supposed to be impactful, however I thought this could have been done differently. Saying that though, if I had been fourteen or fifteen instead of twenty-one while reading this I think I would have enjoyed it differently.

What books did you read last month and which one did you enjoy the most?