Heeeey, I am back! My plan for this summer is to write a bit more, but to focus on reviews; I recently did a cleanup on the blog and I discovered that - surprise, surprise - I really like my reviews, which is pretty weird for me to like something I write or do. Anyway, to ease back into blogging I am starting with the Mid-Year Freakout Tag that I also did last year! It is funny that last year I revived the blog with this tag and now I am pretty much doing the same thing. I shouldn't be surprised because Gabriel García Márquez proved a couple of months ago that life is circular (I finally read One Hundred Years of Solitude).
Before we start, let's talk about a few stats!
So far this year I've read 160 books - which is a lot for me. The thing is... I am suffering from migraines. It started last year in October... and those mind-numbing migraines threw me in the biggest reading slump (or rather anything slump because I can't even focus on watching sitcoms). Until December last year, when I discovered that I can focus on reading spicy romances and they actually help me forget about my migraines. Hence why I read so many books this year - maybe I should write a blog post with all the spicy novels read so far because I’ve read some really interesting things, some very interesting things, and I haven't even entered the dark romance area!
The average rating is 3.5 stars, which is good enough for me. I only DNFed 8 books so far.
Mood-wise, unsurprisingly, most of my books were lighthearted (Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - the film is coming out soon in August on Prime), followed by emotional (This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki), adventurous (which I never know exactly what it means, but apparently Finding His Princess: A Cinderella Story (Filthy Fairy Tales #1) by Parker Grey fits this label - it's a fun spicy novel), reflective (Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa), funny (Heartburn by Nora Ephron) and dark (The Villa by Rachel Hawkins - well how dark can a mystery set at an Italian villa be really, but I absolutely loved this thriller).
The pacing was mostly fast, most books (81%) were under 300 pages, 87% of them were fiction (I try to have at least 25% non-fiction, but it's hard anyway to read non-fiction as easily as I read fiction, but now with the migraines it's even harder).
And now...*drumrolls* the tag!
1. Best book read so far this year?
It is funny how a book might not be a 5-star read, yet still be one of the best books read this year. To be fair, 4 and 5 stars are pretty much on the same level for me, the only difference being that the 5 star reads have a little something of je ne sais quoi.
As always, I have more than just one book to talk about:
Normal People by Sally Rooney. This is the year I finally read Sally Rooney and I obviously hate her so much I love her. You do not understand! This human has the power to read my mind, to pick me up from my comfy reading spot and send me back in my past, in that small town I grew up in, during my high school years... She understands how I think and she makes me confront those feelings. Needless to say I loved Normal People. I gave it 4 stars because I was not sold on the secondary characters, but everything else in this book is perfection! From the misunderstanding conflicts, from assuming what others think or what they mean, from the loneliness it holds in every page... I have yet to watch the TV series. That being said, Normal People is about Connell and Marianne and their relationship as they grow and change. It's amazing!
Mr Salary by Sally Rooney. This is a short story - it seems I always have a short story that is not part of a collection on my shelves and this time it is another Rooney masterpiece (last year was The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, which is still one of my favourite short stories EVER): Mr Salary, a 30 pages short story about a young girl navigating the crush she has on an older man she used to live with, as she returns home to visit her dying father. It's about love and death and it's brilliant. The way Rooney builds up tension and desire - and once again reads my mind and touches on memories I wanted to keep hidden.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I read this book in one day - actually, I listened to it. And I recommend the audiobook because it works so well with the format of the book which is interviews with the members of a fictional-band that was famous in the 70s! There is also a TV show, and although it changed a few things, it mostly follows the book and it's also just as amazing. Expect a lot of complex characters, grey situations, grey morals, grey characters, grey and real everything. Oh, and a lot of heartache!
A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio. I bought this book on sale on Kindle and I knew nothing more about it other than it was translated from Italian by the same translator who worked on Elena Ferrante's books (and I love Ferrante's books in English). This is the book that follows the journey of an unnamed girl who finds herself transplanted from a single child middle class family to a poor family with three more siblings. This book broke me and made me sob in my pillow.
The Inseparables by Simone de Beauvoir. A masterpiece from Simone de Beauvoir that was not published during her lifetime, unfortunately. It's a coming of age novel that is part memoir, about female friendship, religion, family and society. It's a beautiful story with vivid imagery of Paris and the French countryside. It follows Sylvie and Andree as they each find their own ways towards happiness and independence.
And there's more. Actually all these books fall under the same umbrella: any rom-com from Cara Bastone! Her books and her characters just make me want to be a better human being and to live my life like a happy-go-lucky sunshine rom-com character. I devoured all of her books from the Audible catalogue, written especially for the audiobook format - think of them as audio-plays in a way, but not only that, there is no narration, just dialogue:
In Call Me Maybe, Vera calls the customer support for the company that hosts her website and that's how she meets Cal, the customer support representative who stays with her on the line for over 8 hours trying to help her. And then they keep calling each other, trying to solve Vera's website but also to flirt.
In Sweet Talk, Eliot (Vera's brother!), who is dyslexic, texts a number by mistake... the number texts back and they somehow spend all night talking. Except the mysterious number knows who Eliot is and she has had a crush on him since forever! Although it focuses on Vera's brother, each book can be read as a stand-alone.
In Seatmate, the author changes the mechanic a bit and our characters know who they are from the start. I mean, they do not, but they get to know each other because they both are on a 5-hour bus ride from Boston to New York City. It's a lot of fun and I giggled constantly!
Lastly, Love at First Psych is about two college students working on a project together where they interview five couples about love at first sight. And while they do that, they might also fall in love, who knows. It is very cheesy but it made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside!
2. Best sequel read so far this year?
No surprise here, but as I said last year too... I don't really read a lot of series - or at least series that share more than just the same space/universe. So for this one I am going to reply with:
Angel, Vol. 2: City of Demons. I know it's a comic book, but it's also a sequel so... it fits the question! In this volume Angel (even though it's his series) is MIA helping Buffy in her comics, so who takes over this Angel volume? My darling Spike! Okay, I might be biassed and Spike is the main reason why I love this volume so much, and in this volume Spike is heartbroken, poor baby!
3. New releases you want to read?
As I said last year too, I am really bad at keeping up with new releases and remembering what comes out and when - plus there are a lot of old books I want to read too. Heck, I have not even read those new releases I said I would last year I did this tag. I am a mood reader. Anyway, here are some new releases from the first half of the year that are on my radar:
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff. I've seen this book everywhere and so far I have yet to hear a negative review from the people I follow that have similar taste in books with me. It's about a woman whose husband goes missing but everyone thinks she had something to do with his disappearance and she does nothing to change their minds. Then other women start coming to her for help... Sounds thrilling and exciting!
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood. Look, if Ali Hazelwood writes a book it gets on my TBR instantly and I have no idea why because I've only read The Love Hypothesis from her and it was a 3-star read, although a fun 3-star read! Maybe it's because I love rom-coms, maybe it's the cute cover illustrations that are so superior to all the other cartoon covers out there! I don't know what it is, she writes it, I want to read it. I don't even know what this one is about - fake dating, probably!
Pageboy by Elliot Page. Because I've been a fan of Elliot Page ever since Juno (2007) and I always look forward to any project he is working on. And this time it just happens to be a book, his memoir.
4. Most anticipated still to be released books?
Remember what I said above? Yeah, I am that bad. Luckily for me there are a few sequels or prequels of some books I really enjoyed this year and they will come out soon - soon as in November this year I think! I lied, I have more anticipated still to be released books than I first expected!
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood. Well, I couldn't answer this question without another Ali Hazelwood rom-com (actually two). Check & Mate will be out this November and it's obviously about chess and rivalry - this one is possibly YA so I will miss my spicy Ali Hazelwood chapter (I think there was only one spicy scene in the only novel I read from her, but it was good). Also from Ali Hazelwood I am looking forward to Bride, but this one will be out in February next year and there's an alpha werewolf and a vampire bride!
Bookshops & Bonedust (Legends & Lattes #0) by Travis Baldree. This is the prequel to the cosy fantasy Legends & Lattes that I read earlier this year and had so much fun with it - it's about cinnamon buns and other yummy baked goods and coffee! In Legends & Lattes, Viv, a retired orc, decides to open a coffeehouse in a city where the residents have no idea what coffee even is! In Bookshops & Bonedust we follow Viv before she discovers her love for coffee - she gets wounded during one of her adventures and while healing spends the time at a bookshop, as one does! This one will be out in November too.
A Demon's Guide to Wooing a Witch (Glimmer Falls #2) by Sarah Hawley. This is not a sequel per se, but it's a romance set in the same universe as A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon and it follows Mariel's friend Calladia who saves the demon Astaroth (Ozroth's evil boss!), but guess what! Astaroth suffers from amnesia! Oh, no! Look, A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon was very cartoonish too plot-wise, but the rom-com is there and it's really good, plus the spice is good too - even though there weren't that many scenes and a lot of times they got rudely interrupted!! Also out in November!
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell. Lisa Jewell is one of my favourite thriller mystery writers and I cannot wait for this one to be out at the end of this month - hopefully on audiobook too because that's how I like my Lisa Jewell books and I think I read everything she has published so far. It's about Alix, a woman who has a famous true crime podcast, who keeps bumping into a woman born on the same day as she was - then the woman suddenly goes missing and Alix finds herself the subject of her own podcast!
Lights (Sheets #3) by Brenna Thummler. I loved Sheets, a paranormal cosy mystery graphic novel about grief and loneliness with a spectacular art style! Sheets can be read as a stand-alone, which is why I had no idea there was a 2nd volume, let alone a 3rd one that comes out in September!
Heartstopper Vol. 5 (Heartstopper #5) by Alice Oseman. I love the Heartstopper series (and the Netflix TV series) and I cannot wait for the 5th volume to be out this November (told you almost everything comes out in November) - unfortunately we don't know the cover yet! I reread the series a couple of months ago and they are still 5 stars in my heart! Heartstopper follows Nick and Charlie as they fall in love and come to terms with their sexuality.
5. Biggest disappointment?
Such a Good Wife by Seraphina Nova Glass. This year I read more Seraphina Nova Glass thrillers and quite enjoyed them, but Such a Good Wife was not up to my expectations, mostly because I couldn't care for any of the characters. I think this is also her debut novel, so it makes sense that her books only got better. Such a Good Wife follows a wife who is maybe not as good as the title implies, she is tired and unfulfilled, so what's a housewife to do other than start an affair with a sexy writer? A sexy writer she then discovers dead and things only go downhill from there.
Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell #1) by Hilary Mantel. To be fair, I did not start well with this book because what I wanted to read was Bring Up the Bodies, which is the sequel - only it was not advertised so anywhere on the online corporate library we use at work - imagine my disappointment when my book arrives and it's part of a series and it's not even the first book in that series (and it did not even come with the advertised cover)! So I started Wolf Hall. Now here's the thing about me... I like the Tudors history, more exactly I like Henry VIII's wives and not only. I have a thing for queens and royal mistresses. Needless to say, I don't think Hilary Mantel is for me. I understand she researched the book a lot - but this is not non-fiction, this is historical fiction, so why are the characters so stiff and the writing so cold, and why did I not care about this huge novel at all? It follows Thomas Cromwell (obviously) as he is trying to help Henry VIII annul his marriage to Catherine, his wife of more than 20 years, and marry Anne Boleyn.
Betraying the Pack (Pack #2) by Eve Langlais. It's been a while since I found a spicy series that I wanted to read more than the first book from and after I read Defying Pack Law and really really enjoyed it, in spite of how The Vampire Diaries it turned out to be (except the woman here does not have to choose), I was so enthusiastic to continue the series that I got all of the next books!! Enter Betraying the Pack, which was to be fair not my favourite overall, but it was a decent read until SPOILER ALERT! the author sacrifices one of the MMCs to save the FMC's life, which I was not prepared for because usually this does not happen in romance (hence why they are safe to read, low stakes and all), but nonetheles, there I was... crying for Jaxon - it did not help that I imagined him like Jesse Williams who plays Jackson Avery on Grey's Anatomy, so similar names too, but I digress - so here I am, crying for beautiful amusing Jaxon and sure the FMC cries for a minute or two too, and then she suddenly decides that "whatever, life goes on, the show must go on" and fucks the other three MMCs! Just like that! And let's not forget that they bonded before he sacrificed himself so she can bloody feel him in a way and at the end she even mentions that, but instead of convincing the three asholes she is with now to go and find and help Jaxon, she just waits for him while having pups with the other MMCs. UGH! I was so annoyed that now I cannot convince myself to continue the series even though SPOILER ALERT! I know Jaxon is alive and he will show up in the next book! I hate that he will show up for her because they are mates *rollseyes* because that bitch does not deserve him!
6. Biggest surprise?
Cara Bastone. I already talked about her books above. I devoured her books and I cannot wait for what else she comes up with. She also has other romances, but they are not the audiobook audio-plays, so they don't use that gimmick that attracted me to her books in the first place. But I plan to give them a try someday.
7. New favourite author?
Without a doubt... SALLY ROONEY. Look, I know I've only read one novel and a short story, but I just know I will love anything she writes because of how she writes.
8. New fictional crush?
I don't really do the whole crush thing... I like characters together, as in I never imagine myself with said character crushes but I have crushes for other characters? I guess what I am trying to say is that I do ships, not crushes.
And this year I have a new ship from old characters: DRARRY! I started a Dramione fanfiction (Meet Your Match by morriganmercy on AO3) in the beginning of the year and my lovely husband asked me if I've read a Drarry fanfiction. So I got curious and a month ago or so I finally read my first Drarry fanfiction (All Our Secrets Laid Bare by firethesound on AO3) and I abso-fucking-lutely loved it! Drarry makes so much more sense than Dramione - how was I ever into Dramione? I cannot explain it. Draco is basically a blonde Hermione and I always thought that Hermione would be great for Harry, but Draco is even better!
But let's try to think of some crushes...
Maybe Billy Dunne from Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid? Please don't hate me! I know he is not a good man, I know he sucks! But Finnick Odair aka Sam Claflin plays him on the TV mini-series and you cannot deny the sexual tension!! The heart wants what the heart wants, okay?! I just can't help it!
Then there is Marianne from Normal People, who is actually more of a character I could see myself with (unlike Billy who I can only imagine with NOT GONNA SAY IT - read the book, make up your own mind, but I expect even more people to hate me if I say it). Also from Sally Rooney I could mention Mr Salary from Mr Salary, but he is a lot like an ex of mine so... is the character a crush or is it because he reminds me of someone else?
Since I read a lot of romances, of course I have a crush on all of Cara Bastone's characters - but more like ships too and more like I want to be like them, not exactly I want to be with them. But there is one character from a romance that fits the bill of a crush: Nathan Hawkins from Icebreaker by Hannah Grace - I may not have enjoyed the book, but I definitely enjoyed Nathan - a golden retriever character, and I definitely do not ship him with Anastasia (who does?), actually I still don't understand how he could stand Anastasia (or Stassie, which is the stupidest nickname to have derived from Anastasia).
9. New favourite character?
All of Cara Bastone's characters? Need I say more? Okay, maybe I do not like all of them the same, but it's pretty much 80% of them.
Oh, and also Murderbot from All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells - but who doesn't want to just binge-watch sitcoms all day long and not deal with humans? Me too, Murderbot, me too!
10. A book that made you cry?
Most of my favourite reads so far: Daisy Jones & The Six, the heartache in that book - I was reading it at work so I couldn't really cry but I did cry on my way home while listening to Poison & Wine by The Civil Wars on repeat.
I cry easily when it comes to books and TV anyway, but I especially cry at regency romances - there is something about the slow burn and formal codes they had to follow that just does it for me - like Gabrielle's Discipline (Bridal Discipline #2) by Golden Angel. There is a lot of miscommunication, misunderstanding and emotional turmoil! My heart was hurting for both main characters and I just wanted them to bloody speak their feelings to each other and solve this mess. But there wouldn't be a book to break my heart and keep me up at night if these characters would just talk to each other, would it?
11. A book that made you happy?
Well I will repeat myself but Cara Bastone's novels! But also...
Hundred: What You Learn in a Lifetime by Heike Faller, illustrated by Valerio Vidali. This is a graphic-novel about life. Think of it as a self-help book in pictures (gorgeous illustrations) that are all about enjoying the little things and making jam. I loved it.
12. Most beautiful book bought?
I have to admit I did not really buy that many books for the looks this year - I got a bunch of books from the Little Clothbound Classics collection from Penguin. They are very very nice (spines pictured in the first photo of the blog post). But I did receive two very beautiful books:
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. This is a beautiful cover and it also has illustrations on the inside. The Bell Jar was one of my favourite reads from last year and I also wrote a review of it here.
Ariel by Sylvia Plath. This is a book I now own twice - only I have this edition because it has a few extra things and also because it was cheaper than the Faber & Faber 90th Anniversary Edition. I did not know this book was on its way to me when I got my copy, but I love that I have two copies, two VERY different copies! I am currently reading this book and Lady Lazarus broke me!
Oh, oh, oh! I remembered! I bough a book for the cover:
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. This cover... let's just say that almost every month before or after our book club meeting last year (which coincidentally always takes place at a cafe next to a bookstore) I would go and look at this cover. Couldn't buy it. I already owned the book, in the cover everyone knows, and it's a good cover too- but it wasn't this new cover that made me always return month after month and look at it. Until I decided to get it. Fear not, I gave away my other copy - plus my copy was translated and I prefer to read the books in English.
13. What do you want to read before 2022 ends?
I have a few books on my list, but here are my priorities for this summer:
All the Sally Rooney I can get my hands on and I think I already own everything she wrote so Conversations with Friends and Beautiful World, Where Are You. I don't know what they are about, I don't want to know what they are about, I just want to get lost in Rooney's writing.
The Girls by Emma Cline is a book someone said was written for me because it has that summer feeling I always look for in the books I read during summer. And I will definitely read this one because I proposed it as the book for July for an online book club I am part of. So now I really have to read it! It's 1969 and there is a Mason-like cult in this book. That's all I need to know.
Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan because yet again it looks like a book that has that summer sadness quality I look forward to. It's a classic, set on the French Riviera, the author was 18 or 19 when the book was published. It just screams I have to read it!
We couldn't end the Summer Priority Pile without mentioning a book by Ali Hazelwood - and I have a copy of Love on the Brain! I also own three of her novellas on Kindle. So I want to read those too: Under One Roof, Stuck with You and Below Zero (these novellas are also published together under Loathe to Love You).
And if there is time... I want to reread Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. But I do have a few books I want to finish before I even start anything else (other than the book club book) from this Summer Priority Pile. I want to reread Lolita because I know I did not give it a proper chance when I first read it. We have a long history and I avoided reading it for some time, then when I did I rushed through it and then got rid of my copy as fast as possible. But now I received an annotated edition and what better sign than that (plus I am older now) to reread this classic?
This was the tag in all its glory! Should I mention Cara Bastone or Sally Rooney one more time just because?