I read a lot in February and arguably too quickly because I am horribly behind on book reviews for all of these!
February seems to go by in a blink! I know it is the shortest month but WTF happened? I read a lot but I had no time to write up reviews. This was not aided by the fact I’d decided to read 3 quite heavy books in a row where I felt like I needed to give them proper thought in a write-up and so I kept delaying it because I didn’t have the bandwidth for that… and now I have a backlog of 4 (soon to be 5) unwritten reviews for books that are fading from my memory!
There has been a lot going on lately, I’ll catch you up in a life digest post shortly! This post is just meant to be a reading round-up, so let us not get sidetracked.
As usual, if the title is linked, you will be taken to my review. When I finally post reviews for these, I will come back and add links.
6 whole books!
Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
This one was a non-fiction audiobook and explores the idea of identity and doppelgangers in today’s increasingly crazy political climate. Naomi Klein (a left-wing climate and anti-capitalism journalist) uses her own bizarre experience of being constantly confused with right-wing conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf as inspiration here, it is insightful and very well written.
The Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to! It isn’t perfect but it was highly entertaining and strangely tied into themes raised by Doppelganger quite well.
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Guys, I finally read it! It was slow going at first but once I got into it I was really into it, and again it paired quite well with the two books above. This book really deserves a full analysis-style book review but I’m not going to have the time for that… I need to give myself permission to just throw up whatever thoughts I still have in my head about it nearly a month later!
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
This is a 175-page novella that caused a #MeToo style movement in South Korea when it was released. It very matter-of-factly runs through the life of Kim Jiyoung from childhood to motherhood and notes all the experiences small and large where she was treated differently or was forced to make a sacrifice just because she was a woman. It is very effective, and OMG the ending!
Alan Partridge: Nomad by Alan Partridge
After loving my re-read of I, Partridge it was onto his second autobiography which chronicles Alan’s deeply personal journey in the footsteps of his father (TM) which was definitely not about trying to get a TV show. I love this just as much, it had me howling with laughter. Especially, his one-sided rivalry with Dawn the yellow nose clip-wearing pensioner at the swimming baths. It also explains what happened with his budding romance with receptionist Angela following the Alpha Papa movie.
She’s a Killer by Kirsten McDougall
This started off so well but ran out of steam quickly, took quite a juvenile direction I wasn’t expecting and then by the end, I had no idea what the point of it was… A shame because it had some really funny moments and I enjoyed the main character.
Marvel Unlimited
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 1
This Collects Giant-Size X-Men #1 and The X-Men #94-100.
This was a really fun read! I didn’t realise how much the 90s X-Men cartoon took from this. Different line up but The stories are essentially the same.
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 2
Collects Uncanny X-Men #101-110.
This story introduces Phoenix and the Shi’ari and continues to be basically the same as the cartoon with minor character changes. I enjoyed the growth in the team in this volume, they’re starting to feel more like a family and Wolverine’s crush on Jean is confirmed.
Currently reading
I’m almost at the end of re-reading Jane Eyre on audiobook through the Library… I’m in the boring section I’d forgotten about where she’s just run away with no money (like a total idiot) and I’ve lost all interest and patience with the story because there is no fucking way she’d at random end on the doorstep of her long lost relatives… but only got 4 hours left so I’ll power on.
I’ve also listened to some of the My Lady Jane audiobook on Spotify and it’s a fucking riot. Enjoying it just as much as the TV show!
On Kindle, I’m reading A Lady’s Guide to Scandal but I’m not sure it’s going to be for me… I’ll keep on and try to give it the benefit of the doubt!
Adding to TBR
I only bought one book on Kindle for 99p and that was Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.
Moving away from Amazon
After the news about Amazon preventing ebook file downloads I spent hours backing up my eBooks last weekend (instead of writing reviews as planned!), and now I think I’m going to try buying eBooks from Kobo or Google Books instead and deal with manually loading them to my Kindle. I’ve updated my preferences for my BookBub email subscriptions and I created a wishlist in the Kobo stores so I can also keep an eye out for deals that way.
I’ll keep using my Kindle as my eReader because it’s only a couple of years old and is totally fine, but I don’t want to buy eBooks from Amazon any more if I can help it.
Book Tag/TTT!
I’m really loving joining in with Top Ten Tuesday! I’ve now added a category to my blog for these posts to make them easier to find. It is a really fun way to find new blogs and potential book friends.
- 10 Books I Read for My Old Book Club
- 10 Favourite Love Stories
- 10 Books I Have Read But Not Reviewed
- 10 Books Set In Another Time
Yeah, the coincidence of Jane stumbling upon her relatives was just a little too far fetched for me. And by a little I mean a whole hell of a lot. Definitely the weakest part of the book.