Part spoof, part pep talk, part genuine reflection on the every day ways we waste our time, energy and money on things that just don't matter. I absolutely loved this book, and have every intention of reading it again in the next few days just to really let things sink in.
The basic premise of Sarah Knight's book is that in our everyday lives so much time, energy and money gets wasted on things that just don't matter to us, because we feel some sort of obligation, or because we're so worried about what people think of us. Knight argues that we only have limited resources of said time, energy and money to give and she calls these 'fucks'. When we use up all our fucks on things we don't truly care about we're left without enough time/energy/money to actually use living a life that makes us happy. Much of the book is spent helping you figure out where you are giving these fucks, and which ones matter and which you can let go. The rest involves navigating the tricky worlds of family ties, friendships and work obligations, and working to set your boundaries, using honestly, politeness and a sprinkle of sass to remove the unnecessary fucks from your life, leaving you plenty to be used on things you actually give a shit about.
Sarah Knight writes the whole book in a very pally, dont-give-a-fuck-big-sister way. The book is liberally sprinkled with swear words so if that bothers you, either get over yourself or give it a miss. Knight does a great job of avoiding the preachy rhetoric that a lot of self help books have. It's your mate giving you a pep talk, not a guru helping you improve your pathetic existence.
I think a lot of people feel like something like this encourages an attitude that is mean and apathetic. It couldn't be further from the truth. Sarah actively encourages you to conserve your 'fucks' without being an asshole and has a lot of tips on getting out of seemingly obligatory fuck-giving without hurting feelings in the process. There is also a lot of emphasis on the transferring of fucks from stuff that's making you annoyed or angsty to things that give you joy. The money you save not going to that second cousin's wedding in Vietnam? That can go into the fund for the kid's trip to Disneyland! Time saved no longer going to the gym means time used going to a book group instead, and energy saved trying to keep that toxic friendship going can now be spent doing good for that charity you feel strongly about. The book is ultimately is about putting your life in perspective, and realising that there might be some fucks you HAVE to give no mater how much you don't want to, but there are plenty that you can work out of your life to make room for things that make you happy.
There is a lot in this book that is hyperbolic and facetious and silly, and I did feel that maybe that was paper wasted on spoofing rather than actually being helpful, but the moments of humour do make the book more engaging and enjoyable so I should probably just shut up.
I would definitely recommend this little delight, it's not going to change your life, but it might make you see just how much of it you're wasting on bollocks you don't care about and how you can change that and live a life that is more free, more healthy and more satisfying.
I love fantasy, but since I finished the current installments of the A Song of Ice and Fire series I haven't been able to find anything that really engulfed me and drew me into the world in the way good fantasy should. Not for lack of trying, I'd tried several authors, including one of Hobb's earlier books, but just never found anything that clicked. I was lamenting this issue to Luke and he suggested not starting at the beginning with Robin Hobb, but with the Liveship Traders. I also know that Mercedes ADORES this trilogy so it's come highly recommended. The only thing that was putting me off was the sheer size of the damn things.
Ship of Magic is a grimace worthy 880 pages long. I'm not the fastest and I'm easily distracted. This took me most of April, with me reading two books and three graphic novels at various intervals. I found that that stopped me burning out and giving up, but it also means that I felt like by the time I finished it on a blurry eyed morning before work, I had been reading the book for about ten years.
However, this was time well spent. Ship of Magic is a masterful piece of fantasy, written by someone who truly understands the genre, and has the skill to create a story that is at once a classic, traditional fantasy novel, yet subverts the genre in all the right places. She plays with gender and the tropes that go with it, her world is at once the epitome of a fantasy land yet something fresh and original.
Ship of Magic follows the Vestrits, a family of Traders who sail aboard a 'liveship', a ship that will come to life when members of three successive generations of a family die aboard her deck. The story starts as the ship Vivacia is readied for her ageing captain, and the third in a row, to come aboard and pass away on her decks so she can be brought to life. The story follows various members of the Vestrits as well as several characters connected with the ship. There are also a number of seemingly unrelated strands of narration, that begin to weave together throughout the novel.
Hobb's real standout are her characters. When I read, I have trouble forgetting that I'm reading a book, I can never treat the characters as people, instead reading them always as things that have been designed and crafted. I can appreciate a well written character, or get annoyed at one that follows stereotypes, but they are always 'creations' in my mind. This book completely obliterated that, Hobb's cast was just so real and complex and dynamic, each character incredibly just as well developed, self contradictory and impossible to truly understand as real people. I found myself abandoning any attempts to critically analyse her ability to build character and just flinging myself into a huge emotional investment. The last few pages, where we see certain characters in great distress saw me putting the book down for a few minutes at a time, because I couldn't bear to watch this character I'd spent so long with and come to really love, suffering in the way they were. Even more impressive are Hobb's villains. The assholes of the book are relatively apparent. It's not like Game of Thrones where people slide around on the scale of grey, we know, more or less, who our bad guys are. However we get a number of chapters from their points of view, and so while they infuriate us with the utterly prickish way they behave, with each character you also completely understand their motivations. It's hard to explain without giving spoilers away, but Hobb has created a number of 'bad' characters, that are still completely human and totally justified in their own minds. That is something I rarely see done properly in any story and Hobb just does it with such ease.
The story is sprawling and complex, but never in a way that feels gratuitous, or purely for reader frustration (which is something I often felt reading ASOIAF) it doesn't feel like the reader is being flung in a tornado of events, rather that, although we don't necessarily understand the full scale of the story yet, we are in completely safe hands and things will be revealed at the right time. The end of the story saw a lot of questions answered... and even more raised, and I cannot wait to start the next one. I think I'll give myself a few weeks break, just so I can read a few books without having a massive tome hanging over my head.
If you've read this, let me know what you think. If you haven't read it, for God's sake read it and if you've read the whole trilogy keep your spoilers away from me or endure a painful death.
Thank you for reading!
Isabelle
xox
Earlier today I saw that the amazing Bee from Vivatramp posted her TBR for the authorathon, and being the easily influenced little person that I am, decided to join the fun. The AuthorAThon runs from the 18th to the 23rd of April, midnight to midnight, and was created by Sam and Joana. I haven't tried a readathon in quite some time, and have quite a bit of time off this week so I thought, what better way to work through a little of my TBR? There are six categories, the goal is to pick a book to match each and to see how far you can get through them. As I started yesterday, and there are some pretty chunky books on the cards I'm going to cheat a little and allow myself until the 26th to tackle my little pile. That's still a butt tonne of pages to get through in under a week, so I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't manage to finish everything. I'm just going to dig in and do my best and see what I can accomplish.
01. Read a Book by One of your Favourite Authors - About Grace by Anthony Doerr.
I've only read All the Light We Cannot See by Doerr, but it stole my heart completely earlier this year. I've been looking to read his debut novel About Grace from the moment I closed ATLWCS and I thought now would be the perfect opportunity to get on it.
02. Read a New-To You- Author - Nod by Adrian Barnes
This is a book of a slightly more optimistic length. An author I hadn't heard of before I picked this book up, intrigued by the cover, and utterly drawn by the description on the back. I've been so excited to read this book but have just been distracted by other reads, the length makes it perfect for a readathon however, so time to get on it!
03. Give an Author a Second Chance - Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
Yes I know, I know, this is a long ass book. But I'm already just over half way through and am absolutely loving it. I started to read the Assassin's Apprentice, the first of Robin Hobb's books but for whatever reason it just didn't happen. Luke is a huge Robin Hobb fan and when I explained that I hadn't quite clicked with her, he suggested I try the Liveship Traders trilogy instead. I started reading it maybe a week ago and am absolutely loving it so far.
04. Read a Debut Author - The Girls by Emma Cline
I was kindly sent this proof for review, the Girls will be released in June and has been creating quite a stir in the book community. I know very little about it, but what I do know involves a young girl being drawn into a cult in the intoxicating 1969 Californian summer. How can I pass that up?
05. Read a Book Written by More than One Author - Saga Volume 1 by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Stapler
I read this one yesterday and already have a review up. Saga is one of those graphic novels everyone's either read or is meaning to read. If you need to know whether I enjoyed it, I bought the second volume earlier today.
06. Read a Book by an Author from A Different Continent from You - The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
(That'd be Africa by the way) I feel like a short story collection is a good form for a readathon. Little glimpses of story like penny sweets in a bag to just be enjoyed one at a time. And Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie can always been relied on for powerful, engaging storytelling.
So that's my little stack for the Authorathon. As I said I'm not really aiming to finish all of them, but I'd like to push myself to get through as big a page count as I can. Here's hoping!
Let me know if you're doing the readathon and definitely link my to your TBR if you've posted about it.
Thank you for reading!
Isabelle
xox
The amount of soil that ended up on my bed due to these photos was not worth the end result...
We see some of the most bizarre life forms anyone could imagine, and watch as they have explicit sex, get into bloody fights, swear, argue and generally dick about during an intergalactic war. The story revolves mostly around the two new parents trying to find a way off the war torn planet with their newborn baby, but we also meet those hunting them. A robot prince with a pregnant wife, a woman who looked like Meryl Streep had ten seconds to dress as a unicorn, a strange but awesome topless dreadlocked spider assassin lady and 'The Will' a bounty hunter with a giant lie detector sphinx cat, who looks to be being set up as the 'not all bad' bad guy. It really does seem like they had a brainstorm where anything goes and then couldn't bear to lose any of the ideas. I won't pretend it's not weird as balls but Saga does seem to be carrying it off so far!
As graphic novels are so damn short there isn't a whole lot more to say. The story is incredibly silly, a tonne of fun and the art is absolutely excellent. I'll be purchasing the next few volumes soon and will do a catch up review once I have more story to talk about.
In the mean time let me know if you've read any of Saga and what you thought!
Thank you for reading,
Isabelle
xox
Hibo Wadere's memoir is utterly devastating, but should be compulsory reading around the globe. I read this in less than 48 hours, unable to really focus on anything else. I had no idea the brutality of the practice, and more shocking was how prevalent it is, even here in the UK.
We follow Hibo from a six year old awoken in the early hours of the morning, led into a tent at the bottom of her garden by her mother, held down by her aunts and mutilated in a painful, undignified and barbaric manner. It does not make easy reading, Wardere spares no details of her ordeal, however the descriptions of the pain and fear she felt are incredibly powerful, and truly bring home how hideous the practice is.
We follow Hibo from a six year old awoken in the early hours of the morning, led into a tent at the bottom of her garden by her mother, held down by her aunts and mutilated in a painful, undignified and barbaric manner. It does not make easy reading, Wardere spares no details of her ordeal, however the descriptions of the pain and fear she felt are incredibly powerful, and truly bring home how hideous the practice is.
Her story describes growing up, living with FGM; the shame, the pain, the constant infections, and the now destroyed relationship with her mother who she saw as the reason for her troubles, until she grew up and decided to start a new life in England, where she could protect her own future daughters from the fate she suffered. She begins her new life, falls in love, settles into the English culture, and has some minor surgery to relieve some of the difficulties of her mutilation. However she comes to realise that her new sanctuary isn't as safe as she had first thought and slowly faces the reality that FGM is a prevalent problem in many communities in the UK, and that there were girls at the school in which she worked who could be in danger.
Hibo could have buried her head in the sand, ignored the issue and continued to live peacefully. Instead she decided this was her chance to take a stand. She used her position as a classroom assistant to bring attention to the teachers, many of whom knew little to nothing about the practice. A few even thought it was a harmless, even joyful, coming of age ritual. Wardere used her own testimony to educate the staff, and she found herself being invited to speak at other schools, explaining the reality of FGM and it's consequences, and teaching them to spot the warning signs of vulnerable girls. Hibo's message has since spread and she is nationally recognised as one of the leaders in the movement against FGM today.
Her story is harrowing all the way through, however it is ultimately one of triumph. She has survived one of the most disgraceful abuses still considered acceptable in parts of the world and used her experience to save other women. She talks with grace and conviction and her testimony is engaging. She highlights the importance of the role men must play in ending FGM, by taking a stand and saying that preserving a woman's supposed purity is no justification for removing sections of a child's genitals and stitching them up, leaving them with a hole the size of a hole-punch puncture through which they must urinate and bleed. All so that their husband can be assured that his wife is untouched on their wedding night... before getting to break her in... leading to several days in hospital.... But y'know we don't need feminism anymore. She also does a beautiful job of talking delicately about the women who allow the practice to continue, and get their daughters cut. Rather than vilifying them, she looks instead at the culture that fears female sexuality, and brainwashes them into prioritizing purity over all else, because it will ensure a good marriage, and therefore a good secure future for their daughters, who have no other opportunity to create a good life for themselves.
I would urge anyone to read this book, it has truly opened my eyes to something that I have allowed myself to ignore for too long. Maybe I don't have any power to stop this happening as an individual, but part of eradicating this is creating the conversation, ensuring that we as a society are informed and united against this practice. Only by creating an open dialogue about a problem that is so taboo can we begin to develop legal policies protecting children, and perhaps engage with supporters of FGM and present a united front against their way of thinking. Steps have already been taken in the right direction but there is a long way to go. It's not simply a matter of implementing laws or catching the cutters, it's a case of changing a cultural mindset that has gone mostly unchallenged for generations. It's a long uphill struggle but Hibo Wardere's passion and power make me feel like perhaps it can be done.
All of this aside, go read the fucking book. Deal with the discomfort and come out a more educated person, with a deeper knowledge of something that is often treated as a shameful secret. You will not regret it.
Here are a few other resources for anybody interested in finding out more.
Hibo could have buried her head in the sand, ignored the issue and continued to live peacefully. Instead she decided this was her chance to take a stand. She used her position as a classroom assistant to bring attention to the teachers, many of whom knew little to nothing about the practice. A few even thought it was a harmless, even joyful, coming of age ritual. Wardere used her own testimony to educate the staff, and she found herself being invited to speak at other schools, explaining the reality of FGM and it's consequences, and teaching them to spot the warning signs of vulnerable girls. Hibo's message has since spread and she is nationally recognised as one of the leaders in the movement against FGM today.
Her story is harrowing all the way through, however it is ultimately one of triumph. She has survived one of the most disgraceful abuses still considered acceptable in parts of the world and used her experience to save other women. She talks with grace and conviction and her testimony is engaging. She highlights the importance of the role men must play in ending FGM, by taking a stand and saying that preserving a woman's supposed purity is no justification for removing sections of a child's genitals and stitching them up, leaving them with a hole the size of a hole-punch puncture through which they must urinate and bleed. All so that their husband can be assured that his wife is untouched on their wedding night... before getting to break her in... leading to several days in hospital.... But y'know we don't need feminism anymore. She also does a beautiful job of talking delicately about the women who allow the practice to continue, and get their daughters cut. Rather than vilifying them, she looks instead at the culture that fears female sexuality, and brainwashes them into prioritizing purity over all else, because it will ensure a good marriage, and therefore a good secure future for their daughters, who have no other opportunity to create a good life for themselves.
I would urge anyone to read this book, it has truly opened my eyes to something that I have allowed myself to ignore for too long. Maybe I don't have any power to stop this happening as an individual, but part of eradicating this is creating the conversation, ensuring that we as a society are informed and united against this practice. Only by creating an open dialogue about a problem that is so taboo can we begin to develop legal policies protecting children, and perhaps engage with supporters of FGM and present a united front against their way of thinking. Steps have already been taken in the right direction but there is a long way to go. It's not simply a matter of implementing laws or catching the cutters, it's a case of changing a cultural mindset that has gone mostly unchallenged for generations. It's a long uphill struggle but Hibo Wardere's passion and power make me feel like perhaps it can be done.
All of this aside, go read the fucking book. Deal with the discomfort and come out a more educated person, with a deeper knowledge of something that is often treated as a shameful secret. You will not regret it.
Here are a few other resources for anybody interested in finding out more.
A Guardian Article about FGM becoming increasingly medicalised for profit
A Map showing the rates of FGM across England.and Wales
A Map showing the rates of FGM across England.and Wales
Thank you for reading
Isabelle
xox
The Vegetarian - Hang Kang - 2015 - Portobello Books
While scrolling through my pictures that I'd taken of this book while reading it I became very aware that I hadn't managed to get a single one where I wasn't about to eat something... The irony is not lost on me but at least I didn't use the McDonald's pic...
This book has been getting a lot of attention recently, and I've been making more of an effort recently to read more diversely, and to read translated works. I'd also just finished All the Light we Cannot See and The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet which are both pretty chunky, slow burning books, so I was looking for something short and snappy to break things up. All of these factors culminated in me reading the Vegetarian, and I'm so glad I did.
This book is short, but it is not an easy read. It is a rather harrowing account of a meek, submissive Korean housewife, beginning to lose her mind. It's hard to explain too much of this book without ruining the very carefully constructed narrative, but essentially her story is told in three acts, through the eyes of first her husband, then her brother-in-law, and finally her sister. We follow her through the eyes of other characters so we never get a true account of what is going on inside this woman's head, how mentally sound her decisions are, to what extent she understands what she is doing. It's impossible to truly identify with her, as such she remains a distant, though not unsympathetic character throughout the novel. In many ways this story isn't really even about her, it's about the people around her, and their reactions to watching this woman completely turning her back on societal expectations and decisions. It's about her husband, worrying more that his wife's eating habits will embarrass him in front of his co-workers, than the reasons she is suddenly eschewing meat. It's about her brother-in-law, an ageing failed artist, who sees his sister's wife's sudden transformation as a spark that could rekindle his artistic fervor. Through all of the acts, it is about her sister, a self made woman who has survived by always doing the right thing, faced with this sudden act of rebellion, wondering whether her own life is simply slavery to societal expectation and nothing more.
This book is appalling, without being melodramatic. Kang does a beautiful job of treading this fine line of controlled hysteria. The novel shows one awful scene after another, but each is relayed in this incredibly restrained way, never getting to the stage where we're rolling our eyes and the suspension of disbelief has worn thin. Deborah Smith's translation is gorgeous as well. Obviously I cannot compare to the original Korean, but the sparse, beautifully written prose perfectly relays the bleak, bizarre narrative and the ways in which imagery and natural scenes are described is rich and melancholic.
I would really recommend reading The Vegetarian, I'm definitely going to reread it in a few months, as I don't feel the first time round was quite enough to truly absorb the intricacies of the novel and I definitely want to spend some more time picking it apart.
Let me know if you've read this book and what you thought!
Thanks for reading,
Isabelle
xox
I'm going on a little trip next week! As part of my new job I'm being sent on a four day jolly trip to the Waterstones in Cirencester to see their very successful coffee shop and essentially steal all of their ideas. But that also means that my week is going to involve to long train journeys and three nights in a hotel room with a wi fi connection I'm feeling skeptical about. So this means treating myself to some new books to wile away the hours spent waiting for The Walking Dead to buffer:
Ship of Magic - Robin Hobb
Robin Hobb is one of those authors that I've wanted to get into for a long time. I started reading Fools Errand but realised about a third in that having not read the first trilogy, I was missing out on a lot of information that I needed to really engage with the story. I started the first book in the original farseer trilogy but just wasn't in the right place for it. However Luke (name you might recognise, went to Canada, ended up coming back early, whole other story) has read a lot of Robin Hobb, and tells me that The Liveship Traders trilogy is also a good place to start, so I've bought the first book which is a nice chunky volume that will hopefully keep me quiet, and if I enjoy it, I might purchase the next to from the Waterstones in Cirencester!
A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara
Another paving slab of a book. I've been very apprehensive about getting this, I have friends who thought it was incredible, truly life changing, but I've heard others call it melodramatic and worthless. Honestly I wasn't really intending to read this, but I'm just so curious to see which side I fall on and how I respond to it that when it finally came out in paperback I caved and bought it. I'm hoping I'll enjoy it, it's going to be quite a time commitment so hopefully it'll be worth it.
Nod - Adrian Barnes
There we go, that was exciting wasn't it? I know I don't do those impressive, ridiculous, double digits books hauls, but when I do that I just find that about two thirds of them go unread and that makes me sad. I find it much easier to buy two or three books, read through those, then treat myself to another two or three. That means they all get read and I don't spend way beyond the realms of sensibility which, when you're a dedicated book buyer, is easy to do.
If you've read any of these and have opinions, let me know!
Thank you for reading!
Isabelle
xox
All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr - 2015 - Scribner
So I saw this book getting a lot of praise, but all I knew about was that it followed a blind girl, and an orphan, in World War II. Quite frankly that immediately put me off and made me dismiss it in my mind as a cheap yank on the heartstrings with no real substance. However two of my bookish besties, housemate Holly and fellow bookseller Kieran, told me that it was so much more than that, and that it was a book they KNEW I would love.
I was still unsure, but pulpy quick buck war stories don't win the Pulitzer, so finally I was convinced to pick it up and God I'm so happy I did! ATLWCS is a beautiful novel, and a refreshing take on the well trodden path of the WWII narrative. It took me a good fortnight to get through, I won't say its a gripping read that kept me frantically turning the pages, but every time I opened the book I was drawn into the worlds of Marie-Laure and Werner. Their stories were so rich and beautifully written, made up of these fragmented moments of life, scattered through time, glittering like gems.
What I love most about this novel is that it sets itself apart from the more traditional World War II novels by setting out to find the light in the darkness. Both characters are caught up in tragedy, of course they are, but even in the most harrowing of times the beauty in human relationships remain. Rather than attempting to shock with gory battlefield scenes or forcing tragedy down the throat of the reader, Doerr crafts a story of survival, of quiet defiance and sheer will. It's a story about wonder, and the importance of owning your own mind. Werner is driven by scientific curiosity but restricted by the rise of the Nazi regime as they attempt to stomp out any characteristics that do not adhere to their vision of 'perfection', Marie lives adventure after another through her braille books and the games of imagination she plays with her great uncle but is housebound in the midst of the French resistance. We follow both characters through two very different coming-of-age stories and watch as their two stories wind ever closer together.
The writing is beautiful but very occasionally slips into being bloated and a little over flamboyant. and the story has moments where it's so dense you have to wade through it a little bit. The novel also jumps around in time which can become disorientating now and again. For me the biggest flaw in the novel is in the ultimate climactic scenes in which the various threads finally weave together. These passages honestly feel slightly rushed, as if Doerr had actually become slightly bored with building up to the ending and just wanted it out of the way so he could get on with the 'ten years later' style ending chapters. Having flitted in and out of the situation the entire way through the novel I was expecting something a little more sensational than what I got. But perhaps that was the point. The novel consistently refuses the melodramatic and seeks out the subtle moments buried under the drama. These qualms aside it is a glorious read. Gentle and understated but honestly unforgettable. It's definitely a novel I'd recommend. For the most part the gentle story and short chapters make it a relatively easy read but it has so much substance and is an incredibly enjoyable, sumptuous reading experience.
Let me know if you've read this, and what you thought!
Thank you for reading,
Isabelle
xox
*Alternative title - Take a Drink at Every Use of the Word 'Read' and See if you Can Still Stand Up'
I have only really gotten back into reading in the past three or four months. Before I went to University I was what you would call a 'big reader'. I got through the first three A Song of Ice and Fire in as many weeks, blasted through six books a month easily and read consistently one after another. However once Uni life began to settle I essentially found myself reading
1. Get into the habit.
Making reading just another part of daily life takes a few weeks of effort. Like going to the gym or tending a garden, making reading a regular habit takes actively forcing yourself into it for a little while until it just becomes something you do. Try and find space at least once a day to read, you can set yourself a page count or timer if you like, or just make sure you're reading, however little, every day. You could choose a specific time of day, on the bus in the morning or while dinner is in the oven. If you find it hard to set a certain time try using something like Don't Break the Chain to give you motivation or get someone else to hold you to account. After a while reading will stop feeling like something you need to make time for, and be as much of a habit as brushing your teeth.
2. Stop adding to your TBR pile.
I know this will sound strange, but the more unread books I see on my shelves, the harder it is for me to actually read any of them. I know, I'm insane. For the time period that I was really not reading, I was still buying books, because I wanted to read, I wanted to get out of this slump and get back to being the avid reader I was before. But I would try and start my new books, then feel guilty about all the unread books already sitting on my shelves and think I should really get through some of them first. But what do I pick? Do I finish that series I enjoyed but never got to the end of? Do I go for one of the classics I really should have read by now? Do I read these new books I've just bought while they're still relevant? Being overwhelmed with choice is a huge detriment to getting anything done. I had the bookshelf equivalent of the woman rifling through a stuffed wardrobe complaining of having nothing to wear. In the end I took most of my unread books and put them in a suitcase. I go back now and again and some make it out and get read, but I will probably end up donating most of them. It's silly to waste them on my shelf when they could go to someone who will read and love them. The likelihood is I'll forget about them. And if I find myself pining to read some in later years I can just pick up another copy and actually read it straight away this time. So stop crowding yourself with more and more unread books. Trust me.
3. Figure out if you're a 'TBR reader' or a 'Mood reader'.
In the book blogging/ booktube community there's a trend in which we post a declaration of our TBR, a pile of books 'to be read' over that month/summer/weekend and for some people that structure and planning really works. I however, have learned that if there's one way to guarantee a book goes unread forever, it's to put it on a TBR pile. I find that for me this method works once a year (bizarrely) and that's making a long list of books to get through over summer. Even then there must be no order or time frame or I will just never get to them. I don't really have an explanation for this. Maybe I just really don't do rules and 'limits' even when I'm the one deciding them? Whatever the reason, I find I read more consistently and enjoy my reading more when I just buy two or three books, read them and then buy some more once I've finished. This means I'm unlikely to have those massive haul posts/videos that I actually quite enjoy reading and watching, but it does mean that I'm a much happier reader. So work out whether a TBR is something that works for you, or if you find that just going one at a time suits you better.
4. Balance dense or complex books with lighter reads.
I love literary fiction, but sometimes reading can feel like a chore because you feel like you have to concentrate to get through it. Fortunately I also love fluffier reads and find that reading one alongside the other works beautifully! I read a lot of non fiction this way, and got through Quiet by Susan Cain, which is dense and deals with a lot of research and studies, alternating with the first three books in The Emperors Edge series by Lindsay Buroker (incredibly trashy, moreish steampunk books that take less than a day to get through each). You can see my reviews here. I did a similar thing with Wool, a book that I began to find heavy going and slow about half way through but really wanted to finish. I began to read fifty pages of it, then treat myself to fifty pages of Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman which is a joy the whole way through and kept me motivated to finish Wool. It worked perfectly! If like me you often find yourself reading dense or slow moving books, balancing fluffy humour or fast paced fantasy can be a great way to keep your reading pace and finish your books.
5. Make Reading 'Your' Time.
Reading for me is one of the few activities that I have to be completely focused on. You can watch TV and play on your phone and have your emails up on your laptop all at once, but reading needs all of your attention, and for me that means that reading is one of the few activities I do that allow me to be completely switched off from everything else. For a while I had trouble really sinking into reading, as I'd find myself having to come back out and check my phone or refresh twitter. Now it's become the ultimate 'me time'. Something that is about taking time for myself, to do something I enjoy without feeling the buzz of connectivity that is part of modern life. So turn your reading time into a treat. Create a comfy reading area on a soft rug by the fire, sinking in pillows and blankets on your bed or stretched out on the lawn in the sunshine. Reading in the bath is a bit of a stereotype but it's a good one. Occasionally I treat myself to some LUSH goodies, toss them in the bath and relax and read until I go all pruney. Books are an escape from daily life, to enter a different world or meet different kinds of people, or be exposed to different ideas, and I think that makes reading a perfect opportunity to take some time completely for yourself. Make reading part of your wind down at the end of a long day or your Sunday lie in and it'll become something you look forward to and crave.
6. Chill man, it's just reading.
God we all make a fuss about reading. We can attach so much weird guilt when we don't feel that we're reading as much as we want, or as much as others are. You only have so many hours in the day and we all have to figure out our priorities to fit them. Maybe you're happy to give up reruns of Next Top Model in favour of curling up with a book. Maybe you aren't. Maybe you can dedicate a whole evening to reading, maybe you've got other shit on. Reading should be something you enjoy and yes, if you want to cultivate a reading lifestyle, there will be pockets of time where you have to push yourself to read, but most people who consider themselves 'readers' have worked out a pace that suits them and their lifestyle. I have some days where I will do nothing but lie in bed and read, I have days where I catch twenty minutes reading on the train to or from work. I have days where I just don't read at all. I also read pretty slowly. It can take me a couple of weeks to get through one book, particularity if its very dense and something to savour and pick apart as you're going through. This can be frustrating as it feels like every book is a time commitment, unlike my housemate Abby who can inhale books in days. But it's not something I let myself get stuck thinking about. The more you stress and guilt yourself about how much you 'should' be reading, the more you'll give yourself analysis paralysis and not be able to get started. Let go of this obligation to be reading, start to see it for what it is: a past-time. Literally a thing you do because you enjoy it and it gives you a pleasing way to spend your time, as well as having some benefits to you (if you make that masturbation joke I swear to God.) Sometime you might want to do other things or just not feel like it and that's fine.
So those are my tips for making reading part of your lifestyle. Feel free to share any tips and also check out this similar post by Bee over at Vivatramp, which I remember being really helpful to me last summer.
Thank you for reading.
Isabelle
xox
I can't believe it's March already! And yet so much has happened in the first two months of the year I'm almost surprised that we're only just at March. I started seeing a guy called Luke at the beginning of January and had my first Valentines for about three years (in which I got this adorable handmade door sign!(1)) and have generally had a wonderful few months with him. He flies to Canada tomorrow, and we knew that when we were setting out so though I'm going to miss him the goodbyes weren't too melodramatic.
We also had pancake day (3) in which my own apron was entirely for aesthetic effect as my kitchen-savvy housemates were in charge of the batter and the flipping, while I was in charge of the application of delicious toppings and of course the very important eating process.
The lovely Coralie Bickford Smith (illustrator of Penguins clothbound classics and writer of the Fox and the Star) came to do a signing with designer Paul Barnes at my branch of Waterstones. They were both lovely and Coralie spent a lot of time talking to guests and signing books and I had a great time putting together the displays (4).
The lovely Coralie Bickford Smith (illustrator of Penguins clothbound classics and writer of the Fox and the Star) came to do a signing with designer Paul Barnes at my branch of Waterstones. They were both lovely and Coralie spent a lot of time talking to guests and signing books and I had a great time putting together the displays (4).
The last few days of February were intense! I had a job interview for a new, more senior role at a different Waterstones, and got the job!! So I'm really sad to be leaving my current friends at Waterstones, but excited to go on to new challenges, more hours (and better pay... ahem.) And I really shouldn't only work part time... I end up sitting around derping with Tom all day, which leads to pictures like (2). After my job interview I worked a NINE HOUR SHIFT HOLY HELL and then got home and into pyjamas just in time for Luke to come over and stay for a few nights before he leaves the country. We had a lot of fun, we went to London Zoo and made friends with some teeny tiny monkeys (5), got attacked by an escaping parrot, saw baby gorillas with their mama and generally had an awesome time.Then on the last night we had a house party and bought all of our various nerdy weird-ass friends together (6). It was a really good night and lovely to hang out with my work friends somewhere that doesn't involve a rota.
So February has been jam-packed and lots of fun. March is going to involve considerably more hard work and challenges, but after two months of essentially bumming about it's something I've been craving.
Let me know how your month has been and what you've got on the cards for March!
Isabelle
xox
I don't generally follow recommendations when it comes to books. I usually like to browse through books in shops or online and figure out what I'd like. There's something lovely about finding a gem among rows and rows of choice, and going into a book with no expectations and knowing very little about it. However this Sunday I found myself buying three books, all because other people who share my reading tastes have read and loved them and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
The Vegetarian - Han Kang (trans. Deborah Smith)
I've seen this doing the rounds on Booktube, and have become intrigued by the praise it's been receiving. It seems like every booktuber I enjoy and respect the opinion of loves this book, while a few whose tastes differ vastly from my own were not impressed. It's a dark, gnarly portrayal of South Korean family dynamics and as I've been wanting to read more books in translation and non - white authors, love shorter books and am a sucker for strange unsettling slightly creepy stories, this seemed perfect for me.
All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
Ok so I knew this was about a blind girl in WWII. And honestly that is a premise I felt like I would hate. It sounded like another Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and that is a book I honestly hate. Nothing annoys me more than a book that just cranks out the sad to try and pull the heartstrings and roll in the money. So this was on my 'never going to read this list for several months, however one my oldest friends Holly and my buddy and fellow bookseller Kieran both absolutely love that book have specifically told me I need to read it. So I'm taking the plunge and giving it a try. I'm actually about 50 pages in and honestly I'm really liking it so far!
All the Birds in the Sky - Charlie Jane Anders
I had seen this book on various tables at work. I really liked the cover but never found myself interested enough to pick it up and turn it over to see what it's about. I figured it was probably one of those stories that's described as 'a dazzling portrayal of childhood and identity' or some shit like that. However I started to see it cropping up over Booktube and blogs, and again it seemed to be loved by everyone who shares my tastes. It turns out it's about a mad scientist and a witch who team up to save the world...which sounds amazing!!
I'm really looking forward to reading these now, and if I enjoy them I'll probably find myself taking recommendations more often!
Thanks for reading,
Thanks for reading,
Isabelle
xox
Ok, so you see this falling apart, disgusting, might be moulding or maybe that's just a stain, not sure where page 118-19's actually gotten to, scuffed and creased to shit book? This is one of my most prized possessions. Like most kids my age I went through the Harry Potters and loved them, I had other series I became heavily invested in and wolfed Jacqueline Wilson books one after the other. I read plenty as a child and have plenty of books saved from my younger years.
The thing about this book though, is that nobody else has read it. It's a translation from a little known German author and was bought for me by my mother in a Borders about 5 months before the company closed it's stores. Whereas most of my childhood reading experiences are shared and loved by many, Mimus is all my own. I've never known anyone else who's even heard of it before I've told them, and yet it's one of my favourite books. Mimus was my first experience as an individual reader, to read and experience a book all by myself, not just another Jacqueline Wilson read at the same time as all my friends. I also read this book to my younger brother when I was a teenager, doing all the silly voices. For years I read this book over and over again, sometimes cover to cover but often just picking out my favourite passages and plot points and revisiting them. My point being that this book is well loved, and in becoming well loved, it has also gotten battered to within an inch of it's life.
It's easy, when you keep up with book-tube and book blogging to fall into the trap of seeing books as aesthetic objects. The 'dream' is usually peddled as rows and rows of white shelves lined with pristine books, clothbound editions and series with matching covers, and for a few years I bought into that. I was obsessed with keeping my books like new, I didn't want to bend the spines or write in the pages, I only wanted to buy books in the prettiest editions available, or, if the only covers I could find were ugly, I was sometimes completely put off buying the book! I barely even read the books I bought. I realise that for a little while I stopped actually being a reader and just became a collector.
It was Mimus that got me to come to my senses. I found it in an old schoolbag tucked away in a drawer as I was moving out of my parents house, and when I first saw how creased and stained it was, how the pages were coming loose and the spine was cracked to shit, my first thought was "Oh God I used to love this book, but this is ugly, I'm going to need a new copy." But then I remembered sitting on the floor of my messy bedroom with my brother doing the stupid voices while he laughed. And of sitting in bed on cold evenings flicking through to find my favourite bits and reading them again and again, getting food on the pages and bending the cover as I rolled over in the blankets. I sat down and started reading Mimus and suddenly books were books again. The rows of beautiful, pristine, unread books on my shelves seemed soulless and stupid.
It was Mimus that got me to come to my senses. I found it in an old schoolbag tucked away in a drawer as I was moving out of my parents house, and when I first saw how creased and stained it was, how the pages were coming loose and the spine was cracked to shit, my first thought was "Oh God I used to love this book, but this is ugly, I'm going to need a new copy." But then I remembered sitting on the floor of my messy bedroom with my brother doing the stupid voices while he laughed. And of sitting in bed on cold evenings flicking through to find my favourite bits and reading them again and again, getting food on the pages and bending the cover as I rolled over in the blankets. I sat down and started reading Mimus and suddenly books were books again. The rows of beautiful, pristine, unread books on my shelves seemed soulless and stupid.
In the last three years I have grown up, stopped being a tool, and am now financially responsible for myself. Second hand bookshops are my best friends, I love highlighting and scribbling in all my books and I enjoy a certain satisfaction looking at the creased spines on my bookshelf. I recently discovered The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison in a charity shop for £1.20, with two different sets of scrawls and underlining already in the pages. I love the idea that two people have already owned my book and I get to see how they felt about the same story as I was reading through. I'll probably donate it again at some point, to pass it on to someone else, so they can have the same experience I did.
Let me know how you feel about this? Are you happy to let your books get ugly? Or do you prefer to keep them in good condition?
Thank you for reading!
Thank you for reading!
Isabelle
xox
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