Bookish Post – May 2023 Reading Wrap-Up

books, wrap-up
Teacup on top of vintage books.

Number of books read: 8
Number of rereads: 0
Number of physical books: 4
Number of ebooks: 0
Number of audiobooks: 4
Number of ARCS: 0

5* reviews: 1
4.5* reviews: 0
4* reviews: 2

May started well because I was on holiday. Although, the weather was so lovely that I didn’t spend as long inside reading. Still, I thought I was getting into a rhythm. Unfortunately, I slowed down thanks to a couple of books that took me longer than expected to finish. Thankfully, I got better towards the end of the month and finished 4 books in quick succession. Always good to finish strong.

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Book Review – The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I can’t promise that this will be the best thing I’ve ever written. At the time of writing, I haven’t slept for about 32 hours. After a bit of unexpected drama, I ended up spending 11 hours in an A&E department. Nothing to worry about in the end but there were some very stressful moments. By the time I got back, I decided it was best to power through for the rest of the day so I don’t mess up my sleeping pattern before work tomorrow. The last-minute outing to the hospital meant that I wasn’t able to get this review written yesterday, so it was my sole mission when I did get back this morning. Well, once I’d finished the last 30 pages of the book at least. I was so close to the end when the drama occurred and I was hopeful I’d be back in time to finish it that night/morning. I’d forgotten just how much of a mess the Tories have let the NHS in.

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Sunday Rundown: That’s What She Read

books, films, rundown
Sunday Rundown

What have you been reading this week?

It’s been so hot this weekend. I’m not at all ready for the sun, so I’ve been madly trying to stock up on Summer clothes. I need to be ready for more record-breaking temperatures like last year. Those few days of scorching weather were just unbearable. This is the UK. We should not be getting into these situations. I was having to sleep under a towel soaked in cold water. It’s not even the kind of weather that you can sit outside in. It’s just too much. You’d find me cowering inside with the curtains closed. Anything to avoid being burnt t a crisp. If I even see a glimpse of the sun, I go red. It’s just not worth the hassle. Good job reading is the kind of hobby that doesn’t force you outside unless you want it to.

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Book Review – An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn

books, reviews

Rating: 2 out of 5.

I was surprised by how into Bridgerton that I got. Okay, so it’s essentially just a sexy soap opera set in Regency-era London. I knew it would be a pretty casual watching experience but I didn’t think it would be my thing. I’ve never been a lover of romance novels, so didn’t think I’d care about all of those same tropes being dusted off again. I won’t pretend that I’m a huge fan but I binged watched both series 1 and 2 pretty quickly recently. An act that made me curious about the novels the show was adapted from. I had no illusions that I’d ever undertake reading the whole series but I did at least want to give one a try. Why start with book 3? Well, it made sense after finishing season 2 of the show, even if the next season is based on book 4. I also think that Benedict is the most interesting of the siblings, so was interested to see how he came across in the books. Also, I had to see if the Cinderella elements were as awful as they sounded. So, without having any belief that I’d enjoy this book, I set about reading it. How bad could it be?

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Book Review – Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I have to admit I’ve sort of abandoned my plan to reread every Agatha Christie book. I started it ages ago and knew that it would take me ages. Not because her books take that long to read but because I didn’t want to suffer from burnout. Still, I haven’t really been keeping up with it this year. I think the last Christie book I read was back in December. Although, it’s not as if I read a great deal in 2022. I only picked up 4 of her books. Absolutely abysmal when compared to the 16 I got through in 2021. So, I’m going to try and improve this year. I’ve still got over 30 to get through so I need to get cracking. To get me started, I finally listened to an audiobook I’ve had in my library for too long. I normally like Hugh Fraser’s narration but surely David Suchet would be even better, right? At least Poriot would sound familiar.

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Film Review – Air (2023)

films, reviews

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

There’s something to be said about the power of certain actors. One of the only reasons that I wanted to watch this film was because of Viola Davis. She’s such a powerhouse of an actor and could make anything seem great. I guess I also love Jason Bateman but he’s hardly as consistent with his film choices. And Ben Affleck? He’s been doing good things lately but I wasn’t sure that he would be able to make this concept work in the same way he made Argo work. After all, there’s something tricky about an underdog story about one of the biggest brands in the world. How can you make audiences sympathetic towards a billion-dollar company like Nike? It feels like the kind of story that someone like Adam McKay could have done fun things with but Nke would never have risked that.

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Sunday Rundown: That’s What She Read

books, films, rundown
Sunday Rundown

What have you been reading this week?

Normal service is resumed this week. It’s been a pretty decent week although I haven’t done as much reading as I wanted. Thankfully, I’ve got a couple of 4 day weeks coming up thanks to a long weekend. Hopefully, that will give me the chance to get back on top. I’ve not listened to any audiobooks at work recently, so my totals are down a little. I might try and get back into it this week. There are a couple that I have on my library app to get through.

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Book Review – The Last Bear by Hannah Gold

books, reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5.

I’ve been meaning to get this book for ages because it just sounded perfect. The fact that it was winning all of the awards only convinced me further. I think hyped books for older readers tend to be disappointing for me. However, hyped kids’ books are usually as good as we’re told. So, I was excited to read this book. Partly because of something I did at school. We were asked to write a leaflet about an animal and I chose bears. I went into so much detail that I became a bit obsessed with bears. I’ve never forgotten it and, as I found out when I discovered it recently, the leaflet holds up. The clipart isn’t great but the rest is gold. So, I reckon younger me would have loved this book and I’m reading it for her.

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Book Review – Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

How do you approach hyped books? I tend to buy them immediately and then put them on the shelf for years. The minute people start praising a book, I lose all confidence in it. I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve heard nothing but good things about a book that I didn’t like. Or, at least, that I didn’t find very interesting. So, I do worry when a book comes along that sounds right up my street but is also massively hyped. It didn’t help that my friend also insisted that I give this one a chance. I do tend to trust her judgement so I decided it was finally time. I figured this would be good holiday reading but I didn’t start it until near the end of the week. Getting back to work meant that it took ages to finish it

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Monday Rundown: That’s What She Read

books, films, rundown
Sunday Rundown

What have you been reading this week?

I’m running a little behind this week thanks to a particularly hectic weekend. Well, a hectic Saturday that ended in a Eurovision party and a Sunday spent recovering. Meaning I’m late getting my weekly rundown written. Not that there’s much to report. I’ve only just finished the book I was reading last week because work pretty much destroyed me last week. I had no energy for reading beyond two chapters a night. I need to get back on form this week.

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