Perhaps I’ll do
this every month because why would I not. I mean, with the BEST WILL IN THE
WORLD – and let me tell you, my will is good – I never ever get to review all
of the books that I want to review and this seems like a nice little way to
make sure that the books I don’t manage to spotlight get a mention. And I can
talk all about all the other stuff that’s been going on also, because my life
is nothing if not fascinating. I mean, I read a lot and I sleep and lot and I
drink a lot of coffee and why would you not want to hear all about that?
So, let’s do
it. Let’s talk about May.
May was a
month, wasn’t it. A month where we were once again reminded that the world is
full of shitty awful people and a month where we wanted to hold our loved ones
just that little bit closer; that little bit tighter.
The terrorist
attack in Manchester hit hard. It always hurts, I’m always astounded and disgusted
and angered but this one hit that little bit harder; I felt it a little bit
more because it happened here, in this city, 40 minutes away from where I live.
I had tickets for a concert in that very arena within days of that attack; I
eat, shop, go to the theatre in Manchester; I know it. And this news, this
attack, it shook me. I was in bed when I heard about it, my phone rang at 6.55
am ‘have you turned on your television yet today?’ and then ‘Manchester. They
got Manchester, the arena.’
The prevailing
sentiment, I think, for me, is that we can’t let these bastards win. This is
our city, our country, our world and
we can’t live in fear. Things like this make me just want to live harder you
know, not waste a single second. Embrace
every moment, be a person I love surrounded by people I love doing what I love.
It makes me want to live my life. & it makes me so fucking angry that there are people out there
trying to take all of that away. I’m angry, and I’m so sad but then I look at the aftermath, at the way people have
rallied together, at the strength and the support and the sheer determination
in the face of this bullshit and I’m proud. Terrified, but proud. I don’t want
to dwell on it, but it happened and I want to acknowledge it and that’s what this
is I think – me saying that this was a thing that happened in and it was ugly,
so ugly, but look at all those people still holding on. Fuck you, if you want
to bring us down. Fuck you.
ANYHOW. Let’s
get back on topic and that most burning of questions: what did I read?
Well.
The book of the
month was absolutely Matt Haig’s How To
Stop Time which I talk about here but I didn’t read just that one book. I
also read….
A Court of Wings and Ruin which is the third in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by
Sarah J Maas. These books are pure escapism. And they’re full of flaws and
things that make you want to bang your head against the wall and things that
make me want to demand further explanation and turnarounds so rapid they give
you whiplash and there’s too much sex and I don’t say this because I am a
prude, I say this because it is gratuitous and not relevant to the plot and the
sex scenes are…kind of really strangely written, and the pacing was a little
off in this book and Feyre’s getting annoying and I feel like it’s kind of
shoved in my face that I must like this character and I must hate this one and
yet despite all of this, I like them and I will mostly read them all and I will
not care a single jot how hard you judge me. So I read that.
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater which is a weird
one. Stiefvater is one of those everywhere authors and I kept hearing people
going on about how much they loved these books and I wanted in. All the bookish
bandwagons ever seriously, let me on them. I actually started it in January,
read 67 pages and then put it on my beside table and didn’t look at it again
until about 3 weeks ago. It was over hyped I thought, and confusing and boring
and just not for me. I have no idea actually what made me pick it up again because
I was so done. Probably my Kindle needed charging and it was the closest book
to hand. Whatever the reason, I did pick it up again….aaaaand I read it in a
day. I KNOW, RIGHT? The opening is obviously not that strong, but once you get
into it, you get into it. A manic
pixie dream girl and some asshat rich kids this book is not. Or actually it
totally is, but its more than that. It’s also psychics and ghosts and dead
Welsh Kings and a boy with a pet crow and strong female characters and a
magical forest and real life problems and a fabulous supporting cast. This
story is weird, really weird. I seem to be a fan of weird lately though, which
surprises me. I’m loving books I never thought would work for me. It’s sort of
refreshing. Also Gansey is totes Chuck Bass in my head so you know, bonus.
The Manifesto On How To Be Interesting by Holly Bourne which made me angry.
It’s problematic this book, on several levels and actually I think I might come
back to this one, which I hadn’t all planned to do until I started writing
this. Watch this space: opinions are a coming.
Queen of Shadows, again by Sarah J Maas because I like
Caelena more than I like Feyre ok. Except she’s not Caelena any more she’s
Aelin and actually who am I even kidding these days I’m all about Manon and Axbraxos
because WITCHES AND WYVERNS. And Axbraxos kind of made me think of A through L
from the Fairyland series.
The Boy on the Bridge by M R Carey. I love this guys writing and
I want to shove in the faces of all the people everywhere. I didn’t love this
as hard as I loved TGWAtG (I loved that book so very much) but I still loved it
a whole lot and I still sped through it and it was still the same rollercoaster
of emotions and if you’ve read TGWAtG then you really ought to read this and if
you haven’t then sort out your life please and then come back to me. Also
Greaves. GREAVES
What have I
listened to?
The Joseph
soundtrack on repeat. I found my CD (Jason Donovon baby) and sorry not sorry. I
do love me a bit of Joseph. I know the whole thing by heart. I’m so cute.
What have I
been watching?
Gilmore Girls.
Again. Because it’s my happy place. I’ve rewatched seasons 5 and 6 just for the
Logan of it all.
Whitney: Fat
Girl Dancing with my BFF because with love that show and we love Babs Thore
Dr Who for the
first time since David Tennant because it came with cuddles. And actually I
really liked it. I can totally see myself getting sucked back into that if I’m
not careful.
What have I
been doing?
Well the May
Bank Holiday at the start of the month was my birthday weekend and involved
Thai food because Thai food is my favourite. I ate my bodyweight in Pad Thai
and King Prawns and then I went to the pub. IT was the nicest time. The
restaurant we go to is a lovely drive over the moors, all winding country roads
with the top down on the car.
I had a catch
up with my oldest friends over Italian food, I think for the first time this
year which is strange any mysterious
thing actually because we all get on so well and we all live so close and yet
somehow we just cant get our shit together.
My littlest God
daughter LEFT THE COUNTRY. With her parents, but still: holy separation anxiety
batman. I missed her. She’s two in the summer and she’s made of delightfulness
and she sent me a video all about her new shoes and I watched it a million
times.
Some friends
had a massive garden party complete with gin bar and Elvis and a live band. I
wore cowboy boot wellies and I drank too much and I spent the next day on the
sofa asleep.
There was a
super hot day and I hung out on my BFFs new patio furniture and chatted and
played in the paddling pool.
I fell down my
stairs and then fell over roller booting and actually, looking back, May was
pretty lush. I liked it. June has a lot to live up to.
What then does
June look like it might look like on this old blog?
Well I’ve got
reviews lined up for The Names They Gave Us,
The
Manifesto On How To Be interesting, The
Flight of the Starling which I am reading right now and The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil.
Handmaid’s is on Channel 4, and actually my tonight
plan is to watch the first two episodes of that so I might pop back and talk
about how I feel about all of that, and I don’t mind telling you right now that
my hopes are the highest. I hope I’m not going to be sad.
Oh, and I also
planning a fun thing over on my Instagram where I’m going to take a book (or my
Kindle) to every place I go over the summer. I kind of feel like it might be
cool and interesting a little bit differentto have photographs of me reading on
places you know; random pictures of me reading amongst the hustle and bustle of
my actual life – if I remember you’ll definitely see me reading in London and
Tenerife and Scotland over the summer. I’ll be tagging it #josbookishsummer and
I might do the odd blog post to go along with it if any of my adventures are
super fun and you can follow my insta here if you would like.
