January Wrap Up

Wow… what a month. What a start to 2020! We’ve had our fair share of disasters around the world, and sure, maybe some of us aren’t doing the best personally in terms of certain optimistic New Years resolutions (yep, I’m totally talking about myself), but we’ve survived. And if you’re lucky, you’ve even had the time to read a few books!

I started the year with a leisurely pace, working my way through books while lying on the couch under the air-conditioning and staying up until 3am impulse-buying ebooks. You know. The usual. In amongst my schedule of work, beach days, and a solid week spent watching Netflix, I managed to read nine books in total!

Time for a little breakdown:

• Novels: 5
• Short Stories: 2
• Comics: 2
• Audiobooks: 1 (also counted in “short stories”)

I’m so happy with the books I managed to read in January – my reading year is certainly off to a good start already! Ready to find out which books I loved the most? Check out my thoughts on all the below titles, then come tell me what your favourite book of January was down in the comments!

Expectations vs Reality: My 19 Favourite Books of 2019

If you’ve been reading my blog for longer than a year or so, you’ll know that it’s kind of my tradition to predict what my favourite books of each year will be – and then I do an expectations vs. reality post at the conclusion of the year! And yep, you guessed it! I’m going to be spilling the tea on whether or not these books lived up to my expectations. So sit down and buckle up, because I’m going to be sharing alllll my thoughts on these 2019 YA releases.

Which Character From The Office Are You, Based On Your Reading Habits?

If there’s one thing I believe in, it’s that every book nerd can be matched to one character from The Office according to their reading habits. It’s basic science. I mean, I was just sitting down eating some ice cream and watching The Office for the 239th time when I started wondering, What kind of books would Angela read? What would Creed’s reading habits look like? And so I put on my lab coat and goggles, sat down, and did some equations.

Sure enough, the large and dynamic cast of The Office proved to be the perfect people to match reading habits to! In my own little universe, I like to imagine that all these characters are avid readers and take part in a book club every month together. WE NEED A SPIN-OFF SERIES ABOUT THIS IMMEDIATELY. We do get a glimpse of some of the characters reading together in the Finer Things Club, but I thought I’d do an even more in-depth analysis in my post today.

So without further ado, scroll down to find out which character from The Office you are, based on your reading habits! Come and tell me who you got down in the comments!

10 Books I Need to Read Before the End of 2019

HELLO. JUST A CASUAL REMINDER THAT IT’S ALMOST 2020. NO NEED TO START PANICKING YET. *screaming into the voice* Ahaha yep, I might be slightly worried about that fact. Not only are there a ton of things I still need to do before the end of the year, but there are also a MASSIVE STACK OF BOOKS still to read! And do you think I’m anywhere near close to completing my Goodreads goal for the year?! (Let me just go cry in a dark cupboard for an hour or so.)

But because I’m currently freaking out about all these books that I should have already read, I’m going to be making a post about 10 books that I really, REALLY need to read before the end of 2019. This is a life or death situation. I’m not even kidding. And what better way to procrastinate actually sitting down and reading all these books than writing about them on my blog? *softly cries*

SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, let me introduce the 10 books that I’m going to aim—wait no, SUCCEED—in reading this year! Let’s do this.

When the World Feels Like Sh*t, Read These Books

The world can be a pretty sh*tty place sometimes. We only have to check our Twitter feeds or turn on the nightly news to hear about more death, more injustice, more reasons to make you feel like you should just give up and curl into the foetal position. But just because things are tough, that doesn’t mean we can give up. In fact, we have to fight harder than ever before to make our voices heard and stand up for what’s right.

It’s certainly not easy, and even though we’ve come so far, we still have a lot of work ahead of us. But in these difficult times, sometimes we just need to escape into a fictional world for a little while. Being constantly switched on to the disturbing and sickening news we’re bombarded with on a daily basis is known to take a toll on people. And that’s why I think so many people find solace in books, and shows, and movies.

One of the most important things about fictional worlds is that, more often than not, they depict stories about overcoming evil and fighting for what’s right. In these dark and uncertain times, we need these kind of stories. We need to be reminded that there is always hope. Friendship and love will outweigh hatred and fear. We all need to be reminded of that at times.

So I’ve compiled a list of book recommendations for when the world feels like sh*t. Because let’s be real: it so often does. Pick up one of these books, get lost in the pages, and you’ll find yourself coming out the other end a slightly different person to when you started it. Whether it’s a realisation that you matter, or that you have the power to be heard, each of these books have messages that we need now more than ever.

“We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on…that’s who we really are.” — Sirius Black

YA Books with Deaf Representation

Isn’t it just the best feeling when you read a book and go YES. That’s me, right there on the page!? There’s nothing quite as exciting as feeling seen in a novel. It can be because of a character’s ethnicity, or sexuality, or even something small like a character quoting The Office or shipping Quirrelmort like you do (#1 Quirrelmort shipper right here). Seeing a part of you in a book is one of the things I love most about reading, and as a queer cis white woman, I’ve been lucky to see myself represented on the page in a lot of what I read.

REPRESENTATION IS IMPORTANT, Y’ALL. I’m sure as fellow bloggers, I don’t have to tell you that twice. But one of the aspects of representation that I believe we need to see more of in YA is disability representation—and the spreading of awareness for books with disability representation that we already have available to us. So today I just wanted to shine a light on some of the books featuring Deaf characters that I’ve read recently.

Of course I have no place to say whether the representation in these novels is accurate or how well these characters are written, but I do hope that if you’re looking for more books with hearing impaired representation this list helps you out! I really enjoyed all of these, and I’m definitely on the lookout for more books starring Deaf protagonists. Hit me up with all your recommendations!

Top Five Contemporaries of 2019 (so far!)

If you’ve glanced at my blog for longer than ten seconds or know me on social media, you’ll be well aware than I’m a massive fan of contemporary YA. It’s definitely my favourite genre out there. Sure, I love a good fantasy story, and yeah, thrillers are pretty cool too, but nothing makes me want to curl up with a mug of tea and a book on a chilly afternoon quiet like a cute contemporary does.

As we’re halfway through 2019 already (umm, excuse me? where did my year go?), I thought it was the perfect time to share my top five contemporary reads of this year so far! There are still a ton on my TBR that I need to get to before the year’s over, and I’ve got a massive stack on preorder, but these are just a few that I’ve absolutely loved from the first six months of the year.

If you’re looking for a new contemporary novel to pick up, I highly recommend checking out these ones right here!

10 Weird Bookish Things Non-Readers Don’t Understand

There’s a lot of bookish things that non-readers just DON’T UNDERSTAND. Whether it’s your family giving you weird looks when you scream with excitement about the arrival of a preorder, or if it’s dropping bookish drama into conversation with friends and getting blank looks in response, it can be both frustrating and hilarious. So I’ve decided to list my top ten things non-readers are completely oblivious to!

1. Book-Themed Candles

I absolutely love book-themed candles. I love searching for candles that are inspired by my favourite books and characters, or ones that just include some of my favourite scents. But you know what? My family just DOES NOT GET IT. “Why would you want a book candle?” they say. “You can just take a book off your shelf and smell it. Why do you need to buy a candle?” BUT IT DOESN’T SMELL LIKE BOOKS, OKAY?! Or even the ones that have a hint of that “old book smell”, it’s always coupled with other things. Like pine. Or coffee. Or roses. And my family just… doesn’t get that.

How Queer YA Changed My Life

It’s a well-known saying that books have the power to change us, and I couldn’t agree more with that sentiment. Some of the most important things I’ve learned, not only about myself, but also about the world around me, has come from books.

Book have taught me that I’m not alone in whatever I’m going through or whatever I’m feeling. Books have taught me to be brave. Books have taught me how to stand up for myself, and believe in myself, and learn to love myself—flaws and all.

And most importantly, books have helped me realise that I am indeed hella queer, and they’ve helped me not only come to terms with my sexuality, but EMBRACE it. Be PROUD about it. And I think that’s a really important thing. I have YA to thank for that.

Sorting My Recent Reads into Hogwarts Houses

I’m absolutely OBSESSED with sorting people into Hogwarts Houses. One of my first questions when I’m getting to know someone new is “what’s your Hogwarts House?”, because I really feel like it gives you a snapshot of a person and what they might be like. As a Slytherin, I’m well aware of the bad reputation we have in society (WE’RE NOT ALL EVIL, I SWEAR), but I just loooove finding out how my friends and my colleagues have been sorted. I also love hearing what people’s Myers-Briggs type is, but less people know that than their Hogwarts House. *sigh*

And you know who else I love categorising into Hogwarts Houses? Characters! Especially the characters I write about in my own novels. Right now, I’m working on one with a Hufflepuff whose love interest is a Gryffindor, and I’m having so much fun with it. So today I decided to sort my recent reads into Hogwarts Houses, inspired by Christine @ polandbananasbooks‘s epic video where she did a similar thing! If you’re looking for a new novel to pick up based on your Hogwarts House, I definitely recommend these ones!