tbr

June Wrap-Up #PrideLibrary19 🌈

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So let’s see what kind of pride posts & books we’ve had this month –

Yay! Considering how hella busy June has been for me, I’m really happy with the amount of posts I made. I mean – I finished my last exams and packed everything for moving at the same time. That I started out the month writing a lot of posts saved me.

I also made a bi-weekly update talking briefly about how I came out as bisexual to mom as the first in my family this month, which I’m really proud that I went throught with. I didn’t feel relieved as much as I felt that the life I live now and the one I want to have is one step closer together, which is comforting. As for right now I’m visiting extended family and that’s always — sigh. Let’s not go there.

The TBR

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz: read & review coming, five out of five stars!

The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan: still to be read, but I’ve finally gotten it in the mail at least.

Running With Lions by Julian Winters: read & review coming, I loved how different it is from what I normally would pick up with its sports. four out of five stars!

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore: currently reading, I’m 15% in and it’s promising.

Karamo Brown’s Memoir: still not read, I started it and then realized I wasn’t in the headspace of anything too heavy emotionally, so I’m going to save it for a time I am

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee: still to be read, it’s probably going to be a while before I get around to it tbh

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling: read & reviewed, 3.5 out of five stars

Other queer books I’ve read

Heartstopper vol. 1 (and then the rest online): five out of five stars. review.

Fence vol. 1-3 by C. S. Pacat: three, three and two stars out of five.

Wild Beauty by Anna Marie McLemore: DNF’ed at 70%

Some great videos

Summer 2019 TBR | Top Ten Tuesday

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

My Summer TBR doesn’t have a lot of summer books this year? So I’m going to write another post with summer recommendations to give you all the fun & warm vibes of it, and not the university-preparing, trying-to-get-better-at-writing, learn-to-cook reality that this TBR turned out to be, haha! Some of the science books, like “physics of the impossible” and “alex’s adventures in numberland” was recommended by physics youtuber Simon Clark (here’s the link to the other books he recommended as well!)

Science books

A brief history of time by Stephen Hawking

  • Yes, I’ve read other books by Hawking like “The grand design“, no I’ve never gotten to read this one. Why? Don’t know, it’s a disgrace that I have to change quickly.

The body in pain by Elaine Scarry

Alex’s adventures in numberland by Alex Bellos

Physics of the impossible by Michio Kaku

Six not so easy pieces by Richard Feynman

  • I read and absolutely loved how “Six easy pieces” (review here), the easier first book of this type, explained concepts and hoping to watch a lot of Feynman’s lectures this summer as well.

Food

Frida’s fiesta by Marie-Pierre Colle and Guadalupe Rivera

  • Guadalupe Rivera was Diego Rivera’s daughter and because of that has a close connection to Frida Kahlo, so I’m so excited to see what kind of cookbook this is.

Salt fat acid heat by Samin Nosrat

  • Ilustrated cookbook! I need it! Also heard a lot of great things about it and Nosrat seems like a person that knows her stuff when I heard from her at the Reply All podcast, hosting another very limited podcast. Ah I love how much effort went into that joke and episode.
  • It’s also a Netflix show by the same/similar name, which I have yet to watch.
  • I love how Nosrat love salt. That speaks to my heart. I’ve read a couple pages of this book, all of the different types of salt there are, beautifully illustrated. SALT! Ok, let’s move on now –

Fiction

The vanishing stair by Maureen Johnson

  • The sequel to Truly Devious (review here), which I loved.
  • A part of my 5 star predictions post, so I’ll have to read it to find out, don’t I?

The serpent king by Jeff Zentner

  • Another of the 5 star predictions post

Writing

A poetry handbook by Mary Oliver

  • I don’t write poetry. I’m going to read it anyway, she’s my fav poet and I’ve got a feeling it could help me write and compose stories in general.

On writing by Stephen King

  • Here’s a secret – I’ve never read a Stephen King book. I don’t know why! I have no explanation. I started reading this one more than a year ago and found the perspective very helpful, but I didn’t have time for doing the writing practices he proposes so I’ll go back now this summer when I have time to really delve into it and commit.

Five Star Predictions ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

aquapages // eline5 Comments

After predicting Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro would be a five out of five stars and ending up being a disappointment, I looked at my TBR and what other books I think will be new favorites.

Hopefully I’ll revisit this in not too long and see if I predicted right! (And I might have already read some of the books when this is posted because a couple posts were postponed because they clashed with posts for the Pride Library challenge.)

Heartstopper vol. 1 by Alice Oseman: I’ve heard such great things, actually only great things, about this graphic novel and already know the art style is right in my alley! I love the colors so much, and Oseman is a great storyteller.

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson: The previous book, Truly Devious, was one of my favourites last year, with boarding school & mystery it was probably one of my all-time fav YA books. So I have high hopes for this one as well, Maureen Johnson is a great author overall.

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling: This book has a great synopsis with queer witches that seem badass and I just hope I love this new release.

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner: Also a book I’ve heard great things about, with a close friendgroup and the main character (as me) looking at graduation with mixed feelings. It’s also another debut novel.

Fence vol. 1 by C. S. Pacat: I’ve seen so many book blogs love on these graphic novels as well. I’ve fallen in love with queer sports teams before, and fencing shouldn’t seem to be an exception? Also I’ve had mixed feelings about C. S. Pacat’s books before, but to me it’s no doubt that she has talent in making catchy characters.

June TBR #PrideLibrary19 🌈

aquapages // eline9 Comments

The Pride Library 2019 Challenge is hosted by Library Looter, Anniek’s Library and Michelle Likes Things. Join in on it anytime or link your post in the comments so I see it! Also all reviews I’ve written will be linked.

I wasn’t going to make another monthly TBR for a while, because I suck at them, but then I went through the queer books I’ve been wanting to read for a while so here it is and I’m crossing my fingers that I get to go through more than 40% haha –

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz

goodreads

It’s 65 pages short and definitely caught my eye because of how much that title makes my eyes turn into hearts. From what I can see it has an asexual woman falling in love with a robot?? I need to know how that works.

The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

goodreads

Because it got a muslim lesbian teenage girl as main character dealing with family not accepting her, sending her to Bangladesh into an arranged marriage.

Running With Lions by Julian Winters

goodreads

Because it seems similar to The foxhole court by Nora Sakavic and I really am a sucker for friendgroup bonding like a family and having drama. With bisexual and gay male main characters on the team.

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

goodreads.

Because it’s magical realism (which I love!!!) with two bff’s turned romantic, where one is a queer girl and one a trans boy. 

Karamo Brown’s Memoir

goodreads. 

It’s Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown, so it’s gay af. But also dealing with mental health and a lot of healing, which I’m going to need to listen to on audiobook while I’m packing up memories and moving.

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

Because I liked the first book, and this sequel is following Felicity, the nerdy aromantic-asexual sister trying to become a doctor in 1700s Europe. I don’t know where the piracy plays in, but excited to find out.

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

goodreads.

Because it’s a new release with a queer girl main character who’s also a witch! Supernatural disasters in the city happens, dark magic is appearing, and also a cute new ballerina arrives, all throwing her off the normal state of things. I’M SO EXCITED TO READ THIS!

Let me know if you’ve read any of these and if you liked them. And if you have any other LGBTQ books to recommend!

Waiting on May | The Bi-Weekly Update

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New book posts:

Other books I’ve been reading:

  • Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro (currently reading)
  • The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (currently reading)

Movies and TV series I’ve watched:

It was easter break, so I had time! Homecoming by Beyonce was fantastic and inspirational even for someone who isn’t a hardcore Beyonce fan. The stamina! The comeback right after having twins! The vision!

Someone Great on Netflix is trash heart-break. It’s drug-filled fun trash, but the romance is boring, the actors too great for this, the “edgy relatable millenial” lines so cringy and even a lesbian romance with little screen time didn’t spice things up. If Jaboukie and Gina Rodriquex was in charge of this movie themselves, with no director experience, it 100% would have been three times better.

I’ve really fallen into two sesons of The Last Kingdom on Netflix and it’s vikings and great. Not the best, but great.

Added to TBR:

  • I should have honor: a memoir of hope and pride in Pakistan by Khalida Brohi. I found out about this book through an interview with Khalida on the Fresh Air podcast where she talked about her cousin being killed by her uncle for dishonoring her family by marrying someone she loved instead of who they had chosen. I definitely cried listening to her stories, as she did. It’s just so important to listen to the impact education has on women’s lives, how it gives them opportunities. Khalida is such a great story-teller along with being an activist for such an important cause. However, the first time I listened to this podcast it was because it autoplayed after another one (I had downloaded it) while I was asleep and I had the most vivid dreams on being murdered by family and didn’t realize what had happened before hours had passed.
  • Americanah (rec by Naty’s bookshelf) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who I’ve readDear Ijeawele from.
  • Becoming by Michelle Obama
  • The hidden power of fucking up by the Try Guys
  • Island’s end by Padma Venkatraman: I realized that the author of A time to dance has written more and interesting-looking books
  • Pan by Knut Hamsun: because this norwegian needs to read more norwegian books
  • Radicalized by Cory Doctorow: recommended on Do by friday

Posts I recommend by other blogs:

Three things on my mind:

  • I’ve been going so far down the stand up comedians on youtube rabbit hole listening to Joey Diaz and that group’s stories (Bobby Lee, Ari Shaffir, etc). I don’t think I’m the target audience for this, but it’s such great story-telling
  • I’m going to be partying the whole month of May because that’s tradition for graduation students here and I have so much else schoolwork to do before that period, to the point where it’s definitely going to pour over into May. No preparations are done either. I need to jump into the ocean, iron stickers on pants, buy ear plugs and a random list of other small and annoying things before then. This is going to be chaos.
  • I cried so hard watching this:

What Makes Me Pick Up A Book? | Top Ten Tuesday

aquapages // eline15 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

Seeing book bloggers I have similar taste as recommend it!

This one explains itself. Every time I see a good review, even if it’s a book on my TBR already, it’s bumped up a lot of places. I have to pick up “never let me go” Kazuo Ishiguro soon because of it, I think I’ve promised so many I would, haha.

“Strong” female protagonists (that know how to fight)

Know how to fight is mostly within the fantasy genre, but I guess in general as well. It’s my weakness for immediately getting new favourite characters – Inej Ghafa of “Six of Crows” immediately comes to mind.

Mermaids! Or Sirens!

I’ve yet to read a book about mermaids/sirens/sea creatures that I immediately fell in love with. I have some recommendations left to read, but I would love more!

WLW couples

I mean – lesbians/bi characters in general. I started reading more queer books a couple years ago, but realized that the books I liked mostly included gay men, with authors like Shaun David Hutchinson and Benjamin Alire Sáenz. I’m going to sit down and compile a list of wlw books I’ve loved sometime, but Nina LaCour was really the first I read who did it so amazingly! The romances are great, the plots are exciting! Her books are everything

Based on fairytale & folklore

I’ve kind of given up on “fairytale retellings” because if it’s obvious enough which fairytale it’s based on when I pick up the book, it’s always boring. But books like “Uprooted” by Naomi Novik, I didn’t realize before after, and I loved it.

Norse mythology

This is more of a continuation of the last point, but I’ve grown up reading norse mythology stories (I’m from Norway, so it makes more sense) and it’s fantastic seeing how well and badly done retellings and inspiration can be. I mean – there’s a difference in quality between authors having read some of the poetic and prose Edda (where the real stories mainly are) and having seen Thor from the Marvel movies. Both are usually entertaining in different ways though, haha.

Small-town witches

Protagonists with other cultural backgrounds

That kind of includes everything else besides about american-based fantasy or young adult books as well. I read mainly in english, so I get that it’s a lot of that, but books based on other cultures are more attractive because I want to learn more about the world when I read.

Science themes!

Any book with a scientist or quantum in the title, to the point where it’s definitely a weakness. I was burned on “Dark matter” by Blake Crouch because it’s an entertaining book, but certainly with a deceptive title!!

Disabilities?

I saw Siobhan mention disabilities right before I posted this and really felt I was missing that point. First off- I love characters having disabilities in books with other types of plot, already. Because it normalizes it so much. My problem has been that – as a person who’s grown up with physical illnesses and disabilities – I’ve run far away from the kind of books that is about disabilities. Which is bad, but I recently realized why – it’s the same reason I haven’t read many lgbt books before the last few years (not that it’s comparable, ohgodno). Every queer book I read wasn’t well-written, or comparable to my experience. NOW with #ownvoices authors I’ve really started to love queer books as someone who isn’t straight, because they’ve become so much better! I really want to read more books with disabilities as well, from authors that know how it’s like. Because with any theme that is intertwined with your own life as a reader, it’s so noticeable and, when I was a child honestly damaging, when it’s done badly. You know the whole “magically cured”, “she wasn’t sick all along”, “disability being their own fault in any way” kind of tropes. I really hope I can find authors and books that I can trust now! 🙂

How is my TBR going? Spring Update

aquapages // eline4 Comments

At the start of 2019 I made an ultimate TBR for the whole year. As we’re three months in and some more, and it’s starting to become spring everywhere else than where I live (there’s still danger of snow until long into May here) – let’s have a look of how I’ve followed it. I’m actually not sure if I have made any progress.

Books I’ve read so far

Books that were also on my TBR:

  • Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman (review)
  • BRANCHES by Rhiannon McGavin (review coming)
  • Women in science (review)
  • The wicked king by Holly Black (review)
  • Girl mans up by M-E Girard (review)
  • Legion by Brandon Sanderson (I’ve read first and second out of three books)
  • 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (just started reading)
  • The truth about keeping secrets (currently reading)

So from having read a total of 22 books this year, that’s 9 out of 47 books from the TBR list. I’m 19% there? Maybe a bit more considering that some of these books are norwegian and one of the goals was to read more (especially poetry) in my first language. That’s not too bad actually, I’m kind of surprised, even if I’d hoped for better.

My wish for the rest of the year

Is to read some books that becomes favourites! A lot of books have been enjoyable, but from the straight up fiction section I feel let down so far. It can also be because I have been reading a lot less than usual, in total page numbers, because I’ve had a lot to do.

2018 TBR Round-Up

aquapages // eline3 Comments

I’m always joking about how much (or little) I actually follow my TBR and before I wrote up my big TBR for all of 2019 I had this in mind. So I went through my pasts TBR myself, but Ally Writes Things inspired me to share it!

TBR Spring:

read 3, DNF 1, currently reading 1, not read 1

TBR Summer:

read 5, DNF 2, not read 1 and kind of currently reading 2

TBR Autumn (here’s where it goes downhill):

Read 2, DNF 1 and not read 7

  • Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake: not read
  • Slasher Girls & Monster Boys: not read
  • These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly: not read, but will this year
  • Palace of the Damned by Darren Shan: not read
  • Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson: not read
  • At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson: DNF
  • Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik: read & reviewed
  • The F- It List by Julie Halpern: not read, but will this year
  • The Concept of Anxiety by Søren Kierkegaard: not read, but will this year
  • The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman: read

If I throw the DNF in with the read ones (because at least I gave them a try), I’ve read 53% and not read 39%. Not amazing results, but better than expected honestly.

After that last disappointing list, I gave up on making a winter TBR and also apparently went full in on trying to make on for the whole of 2019. It’s been working pretty well one month into 2019!

2019 TBR!

aquapages // eline10 Comments

I don’t usually follow TBR’s anyway, but I looked around and saw I already owned a lot of the books I want to read this year, which makes it much more likely I’ll stick to it. My biggest genre is fantasy, but I’m excited to also read more science books in preparation to hopefully go to university, along with poetry, about writing, new ya releases and some classics.

One of my big goals this year is also to read about physical pain, which needs some explanations. As someone who is chronically ill I’ve avoided books about pain or disability like the plague (or the flu, because that can really fuck me up also). Mental illnesses are fine for me to read about, because I can learn a lot (as long as I check it’s true to real people’s experience). But when it comes to physical illnesses, it’s been very difficult when authors get it wrong or if the character feels hopeless, because there’s no distance between me and the character all of a sudden. Still I love when for example there’s a character with a disability in fantasy books, if done right. I do also really want to find a good discription or a book I can show someone who asks about chronic illness or pain, which is what I’m trying to do this year, starting with “the body in pain”. I can’t find the right words to describe it, so I’m searching for people who are. Last year I found “when breath becomes air” which is one of my favourite all time books, and inspired me to do this.

January is nearly over already, but I’ve read like 9 other books. There’s around 46 books on this list, and I read 60-80 books a year, so I have good chances I think! We’ll see at the end of the year.

Let me know if you are going to read any of these books, at any point this year and if you want to read them around the same time and discuss them! Like a buddy-read with not strict times to finish it hahha

Books I already own:

2019 or recent releases:

Older releases:

Authors I’ve read and liked:

Other books:

Let’s Start the New Year with an Update

aquapages // eline3 Comments

These are usually bi-weekly, but the last one was end october.

Here’s my TBR of physical books that I probably should get through in 2019, so I’ve halfways committed to it:

New book posts:

Other books I’ve been reading:

  • La belle sauvage by Philip Pullman, 4/5 stars
  • Six easy pieces by Richard Feynman (currently)
  • At blackwater pond by Mary Oliver (currently)
  • The grand design by Stephen Hawking (currently)

DNF:

What if it’s us by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli – I like fluffy, but this felt like a romance just describing everyday things. I wanted to like it so much, but it wasn’t for me and after the karaoke bar I was out

Added to my TBR:

  • The five stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson (queer ya)
  • The apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by
    Shaun David Hutchinson (queer ya)
  • Skyward by Brandon Sanderson (sci-fi)
  • Ender’s game by Orson Scott Card (sci-fi)
  • Emergency contact by Mary Choi (ya)
  • Circe by Madeline Miller (fantasy)
  • How the immune system works by Lauren M Sompayrac (science)
  • Immuno-biology by Charles Janeway (science)
  • By grand central station I sat down and wept by Elizabeth Smart (poetry)
  • The falconer by Elizabeth May (ya fantasy)
  • The armored saint by Myke Cole (fantasy)
  • No matter by Jana Prikryl (poetry)
  • The year of femme by Cassie Donish (poetry)

Recent book buys:

  • Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
  • These shallow graves by Jennifer Donnelly
  • The grand design by Stephen Hawkings
  • Netgalley: Monument by Natasha Trethewey
  • Netgalley: Lord of the butterflies by Andrea Gibson

Three things on my mind:

  • 2019 is the year of Change for me, where change will come whether I like it or not and I don’t yet know if it’s going to be net-positive or net-negative. Last year had it extreme bad times and also very-good times. So I’ve decided to embrace it, to throw myself into the ocean of change and see what happens.
  • Coffee is my new love. I got a moka pot and it’s been my savior for the end of december and the beginning of january so far.
  • Nearly every toilet visit ended with blood for the last week, and I’m not on my period. TMI I know, but that’s life with crohn’s. I need that change – whatever it is – to come soon, I think. I feel like in a good space right now, but also like I’m watching a house burn around me and not feeling the heat of the flames yet. In other words – hell is surely coming. I’ll read in the meantime. Cheers.