Reading slump, looking for Alaska & music: Bi-Weekly Update

These last two weeks have gone both too quickly and too slowly. Which means I was feeling really bad, so I have not done much, but also stressing over how little is being done. So I’m kind of in a reading slump, but one caused by having too much else to do. Thankfully I’d scheduled some posts –

New book posts:

Other books I’ve been reading:

  • The truth about keeping secrets by Savannah Brown (currently reading, unfortunately not loving it yet)

Added to TBR:

  • Utopia for realists by Bregman Rutger – added after he was on Trevor Noah’s The daily show and I really wanted to read more of some out-there new ideas
  • Salt, fat, acid, heat by Samin Nosrat was one of Rhiannon McGavin’s fav books of 2018 and I really love cookbooks done in a different way, so hopefully I’ll pick this up when I have time to try some recipes
  • The raven’s tale by Cat Winter
  • The cold in her bones by Peternelle van Arsdale
  • A lot of polar fantasy books, because I didn’t know that was a thing before this week

Posts I recommend by other blogs:

Art Journal by Ink Stained Forest is such lovely watercolor paintings! The hobbit door is especially mind-blowing. I recently got the Winsor & Newton pocket box watercolors she has, dreaming about being able to paint while travelling, but I haven’t gotten a chance yet. This is really inspiring and lovely

10 Book retellings by Jenacidebybibliophile. A great list of book retellings which I’d never heard of before, including some new releases. Who doesn’t need a Medusa retelling.

Act your age and read YA by Siobhan Novelties and Why can’t female villains get better backstories? are both great discussion posts

Books with the best writing by Ally Writes Things. I really need to read more of the books on this list, because I agree with several of these authors and love the attention to language they all have

The Dysasters by P. C. and Kristin Cast by Books, bones & buffy is a great review about a book I probably won’t read, but I was really interested to see what those authors were up to nowadays

An introduction to the Inky Saga by Inky Saga, after her rebranding from Betwined Reads!

Reading the lowest rated books on my TBR by Laniakea Books. It’s such a great way to shorten the TBR and I want to try it out soon.

Three things on my mind:

Let’s make these three things youtube videos again, because the only thing on my mind right now is having to learn all of my physics syllabus in five days, before a five hour test that decides whether I get in at uni. Ahhh.

I like Troye, but wasn’t a big fan of “I’m so tired”. Before THIS VERSION, it’s perfect.

John Green’s “Looking for Alaska” is being made into a movie, and here’s the first look at the Miles and Alaska, during a visit to the campus where John wrote the book.

My ABSOLUTELY FAV DANCER Koharu Sugawara was back at Urban Dance Camp and they released this dance video, she and Yuki Shibuya always seem to have so much fun. Watching Koharu’s dances always brings a smile to my face.

New podcast&book finds! Bi-Weekly Update

New book posts:

Other books I’ve been reading:

  • Soft magic by Upile Chisala (review to come)
  • Women in science by Rachel Ignotofsky (review to come)
  • Unngå øyekontakt av Nora Aschim (norwegian poetry)
  • Gull i grusen av Rebecca Kjelland (norwegian poetry)
  • Andvake av Jon Fosse (norwegian)

Added to TBR:

Spoiler alert – it’s a lot.

  • The love & lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabrina Khan (ya, new release)
  • These witches don’t burn by Isabel Sterling (ya, new release, lgbt)
  • Fence by C. S. Pacat (graphic novel, lgbt)
  • Spin the dawn by Elizabeth Lim (new release, fantasy)
  • A separate peace by John Knowles
  • The lessons by Naoimi Alderman
  • Special topics in calmity physics by Marisha Pessl
  • Rosalind Franklin by Brenda Maddox (biography)
  • The reheasal by Eleanor Catton
  • Obsessive genius about Marie Curie by Barbara Goldsmith (biography)
  • Wicked lovely by Melissa Marr
  • Severance by Ling Ma (sci-fi)
  • So far so good by Ursula Le Guin
  • Plastic by Doug Wagner (graphic novel)
  • The master algorithm by Pedro Domingos (science)
  • Call down the hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
  • Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey (fantasy)
  • The body keeps the score by Bessel van der Kolk
  • Illness as metahphor & aids and its metaphors by Susan Sontag
  • Kuby immunology by Judy Owen (like literally an immunology textbook)

I feel I should explain the three last books? In my 2019 TBR I explained some of my reading goals, in which one of them was to search for good descriptions of pain. The immunology textbook I can’t explain, other than I heard it was good, it’s just my exsistential crises over choosing an uni programme coming through (still think it’s going to be physics).

Recent book buys:

  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  • In the woods by Tana French
  • The sea around us by Rachel Carson
  • A portrait of the artist as a young man by James Joyce
  • The trial by Franz Kafka
  • Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Three things on my mind:

  • I watched Divergent again on netflix. I haven’t sat down and watched the whole thing since the release. It’s not a good movie, but it could be a whole lot worse (like Allegiant aah). The book just gives such an insight into Tris’ fears and fearlessness. What it made me think about though is just how much teenage me adored that book and any book where the main character breaks free and exchanges monotony with freedom, even if it comes with risks. Like the training, especially fight training, parts of a book, tv series or movie is absolutely my favourite part, because the main character has to find their strength quickly. And they’re always unfamiliar with the people and how far they mentally can push themselves.
  • I’ve been sick. And studying. It’s been a bit of a mess of trying to figure out a new schedule that still meets deadlines and tests, which is always fun
  • I’ve been listening a lot to “the Robot and the Unicorn” podcast by Alex Cox and Kathy Campbell and it’s wonderful. Fav episode I’ve heard this far is “Priests and belief”, but if you don’t know about any of them before, perhaps start on another episode that’s a bit more goofy and regular. Also the Ologies podcast by Alie Ward had new episodes on sea turtles and tortoises, which were so much more interesting than I expected!