March was rubbish so I read some books
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- čas přidán 8. 04. 2024
- In order of mood, here are the books I read in March. Which books did you recently finish that put you in a good mood? It's spring and I really want good reading vibes only :)
Also - confusingly - good, better, best mood really does not refer to happy or carefree topics in the books I read. My ranking is highly subjective... maybe I should just return to star ratings...
Books mentioned:
00:40 Talking as fast as I can - Lauren Graham
01:42 Ghost Season - Fatin Abbas
05:51 Trout Fishing in America - Richard Brautigan
07:34 All about Love - bell hooks
09:54 Nightbitch - Rachel Yoder
12:53 Western Lane - Chetna Maroo
17:44 Disfigured - Amanda Leduc
20:45 Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin
25:00 Wut und Böse - Ciani-Sophia Hoeder
28:57 Sunburn - Chloe Michelle Howarth
Find me online elsewhere:
/ fayesparallelstories
🥰 Welcome back! I'm glat to hear, that my choice was not the book to make you feel even worse. I totally agree on the second half problem and also on the feeling that it reads a little like Backman - without the annoying foreshadowing, though ;-) What do we read next? 😋
It feels really weird that I compared a book to Backman and didn’t love it 🙃 are there any May reading plans of yours I could piggy-back on? I am overwhelmed by my bookshelf currently 😅
Glad to see you back. I'm currently reading The South by Colm Toibin, which I'm enjoying but it hasn't grabbed me completely.
His writing is beautiful though.
It feels good to be back 😊 I have somehow managed to not read a single Colm Toibin book, but you inspired me to search through his backlist and some of his books sound great. Maybe something good for a vibes only reading weekend, when I can fully embrace beautiful writing and don’t need a fast plot.
I looooooooove that a book on anger put you in a good mood xx
Anger needs better marketing 😉 I feel like I could ace that job 🤓😁
Best wishes with what you choose to read. I'm currently reading the Count of Monte Cristo. It is excellent but I might be some time. Good luck. I hope you get some great stories. Close to 700 subscribers too.
Thank you for the wishes 😊 I think I may have to wait for my mood to be fully in happy-Spring mode before I can join you in taking on chunky classics 😅 Glad you are enjoying it!
Nightbitch is one of those books where the longer it's been since I've read it, the more highly I think of it. Although I'm not sure if that's just because I'm forgetting what I disliked 😅 "Passive" is a very apt word for the discussion on being a housewife in that book! I couldn't put my finger on it while reading, I just remember being frustrated because I wouldn't really disagree with what the main character was saying, I just wished the ideas were introduced in a more interesting way than the woman coming to them in an internal monologue and then going about her day. I disliked the ending a lot at the time, but again it feels more fitting the more I think of it. I definitely want to watch what else Rachel Yoder puts out especially if it's another horror-adjacent work. It's one of the only things I've read where I've had to skim because certain instances were too much to handle but then still thought that scene was worth having in the narrative and wanted to keep reading.
I like the mood scale, it's fun! I've also dropped star ratings recently (at least for now) just because I would find myself trying to figure out what my rating would be while reading, like adding and docking points, and I realized that was a bit silly. I was trying to think of what book has put me in the best mood recently and got a bit tripped up weighing content vs overall effect of the book...like I'd never call something like Sula by Toni Morrison a "feel good read" or anything as its content is very heavy, but I think it's more like extremely well written -> reminds me how good books can be -> good mood, even though the reading experience and the mood in the book itself is upsetting. So I relate to the content ≠ mood rating statement ❤️
I 100% agree that I constantly change my opinion on a book the longer it’s been since reading it. I am torn on the ending of Nightbitch… it did get the protagonist out of her rut at least! I saw the other day that Nightbitch is being turned into a movie. I may have to pass on watching that, as gore in books is much easier for me to „digest“ than in film. But I am still curious how much they will interpret in a literal way or leave open to the viewer to interpret themselves.
Your reflection on mood ratings made me smile- I love how we over complicate book ratings in the best way possible 😄 But now I am curious what book put your in the worst mood recently!
Oh funny I'm completely the same way about horror books vs horror movies! I read from the horror genre pretty often, but I can barely watch scary movies at all especially if they're gory. It's just more palatable when I'm imagining it myself I guess 😅 I'm curious about how it'll be as a movie, it seems like it'd be a difficult one to adapt to screen.
Definitely my worst mood from a book was from this historical fiction called Remarkable Creatures that was about Mary Anning that I picked up randomly from my library, I thought it was so pointless and I was kind of just mad at myself for choosing it when I knew it was so different from my usual reading habits...
My favourite book in March was Nichts davon ist wahr/Lost on Me by Veronica Raimo, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize, but unfortunately didn't make the shortlist.
Ooh thank you for the recommendation! I have been consciously trying to read more translated fiction and this one totally passed me by. ❤️
March was rubbish but interesting for me.
Here's some of the 11
-The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison 3☆ (it was fine but even the author thinks it's a bit of a mess)
-When Darkness Loves Us and Beauty Is by Elizabeth Engstrom 3.5☆ (very wierd but interesting)
-Ducks Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann 4☆ (very long scattered stream of consciousness but pretty good)
-The Lost Villlage by Camilla Sten 4.5☆ (surprisingly good Swedish thriller)
-Taken by the Witch Queen by Luna Fury 4.75☆ (filthy smut but well written and has a real intriguing story)
This month has been much better
-Godzilla x Kong by Greg Keyes 4.75☆ (movie novelization that zi loved)
-The Hidden Guardian by J.D.L Rosell 4.75☆ (book 3 in a obscure series that evenn made me cry)
-My Friend Natalia by Laura Lindstedt 3.5☆ (I wasn't a fan of the translation and I'd have to reread it to get everything, but you might have better luck)
Currently reading New Animal by Ella Baxter I'm enjoying it. I'll try to get to Nightbitch, New Animal isn't supernatural but they might go well together.
I missed your wrap ups 😊
Did you find an interview with Toni Morrison saying she thought The Bluest Eye was a bit of a mess?! That is so intriguing. I really struggled through the book and in the end thought it was a tad too cerebral for me to really enjoy it.
I marked My friend Natalia as a book I was interested in reading a while back. Tbh I was probably hoping for a book similar to Big Swiss. I will try to check it out!
I love pairing books together. Good luck with New Animal!
@@fayesparallelstories
My library's edition had an afterward Toni Morrison wrote in 1993 for The Bluest Eye, you might be able to find it online somewhere.