This has been a weird week. I feel like it’s both flown by and dragged on. I can’t believe that last weekend was only last weekend. If this is giving us an idea of how the year is going to go then 2023 is going to be interesting in a temporal sense. Whatever is going on with the timeline, I have managed to finish a few books this week. I started the week behind schedule for my reading goal but now I’m ahead. I just need to get back into the groove.
The Netflix film debate is a weird thing. Not only is it ridiculous that certain people seem to be gatekeeping cinema but it refuses to accept that the way people consume media has changed. Why should it matter whether people watch films on a massive screen with a bunch of strangers or at home with their loved ones? Yes, I agree that going to the cinema is a joy but I’m also well aware that I haven’t really been to the cinema much since Covid. We also have to question why, if streaming services are ruining the film industry, so many famous directors are releasing films on it? Martin Scorsese, Bong Joon-ho and now Guillermo del Toro are just a few of the great filmmakers who are now Netflix official. If films should only be watched at a cinema then why are they so willing to take their money?
I picked this up on a whim when I was browsing the January sales. I hadn’t heard of it before and was probably only interested in the cover. Thankfully, it also sounded like exactly the kind of book that I enjoy reading. Although, I’ve never been a massive fan of short story collections. I always find that they’re too, for lack of a better term, short. I’m a greedy reader and want the chance to get to know a character first. Short stories give us too brief a glimpse into their worlds and they end just as I’m getting excited. Still, I was willing to give this a chance and I figured it would be a good read during a pretty busy time. It was good to be able to dip into a short story of two a night without worrying about keeping track of a longer narrative thread.
I’ve had the audiobook version of this book in my Audible library for quite a while but never felt like listening to it. I don’t find it easy to listen to myths when I’m working because I tend to lose track of who everyone is. Those Greeks had such similar names so I always worry that I’d get lost. It’s also much longer than my usual audiobooks, so it wouldn’t be something I could finish over the course of one day. Meaning I’d had to rely on my memory to remember what I’d just listened to. In my constant attempt to decrease my TBR, I decided it was time to listen to it. Over the last week, I’ve listened to it in between reading a physical book. I definitely think this was the best way to do it. That way I can take a break whenever things get a bit too weird or rapey. Although, thankfully, there isn’t as much in the follow-up to Mythos.
Things are still pretty stressful at the moment but I do think January is finally starting to improve. The last 7 days have been pretty full on but it looks as though we’re finally going to catch a break. Meaning I can get on with some serious reading again. Something I’m looking forward to. Although, I’ve not been doing too badly so far this year. Not only am I on a good streak in terms of quality reads but I’m actually reading two books at a time. Slower than I’d like but I am reading something every day.
I absolutely fell in love with Andrew Sean Greer’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel Less. I constantly recommend it to friends and suggest it every month in my book club. I just believed that everyone should and would enjoy reading it. Okay, not everyone but a lot of people. It’s also my main piece of evidence to throw into the ring every time somebody says “Literary Fiction is just depressing and dark”. Less was anything but dark. It is the opposite of dark and I’ve been obsessed with ever since. So I was genuinely delighted that there was a sequel coming. I wanted to spend more time with Arthur Less and couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to it in 2022 when it was released. Instead, I figured I would start the year off on a positive note and make it my first book of 2023. Would it be as good as the first book? Or would it be a tricky second album?
I’m a pretty awkward person when it comes down to it. Not great at the whole social interaction thing. I feel as though I have the ability to stop a conversation dead by saying the wrong thing every time. I’m also the kind of person that would rather go along with a lie I told in order to save face. So, I kind of empathise with the main character of my final read of 2022.
I liked history. It was one of my favourite subjects at school even if it wasn’t my best. History is pretty big so my understanding of it is fairly limited. Especially when it comes to Irish history. This is just my way of saying that I don’t know whether Martin McDonagh’s film is actually a good metaphor for the Irish Civil War or not. It certainly seemed like a fun way of explaining it and was definitely interesting.
I’ll be honest, January hasn’t started quite like we’d wanted it to which has meant I’ve been pretty distracted this week. I have done some reading but not as much as I’d have liked. It’s taken me quite a while to get through my current read. I also didn’t manage to get my film review written this week but I did watch something. Next week might end up being a rare 5 post week but we’ll see how it goes.
I managed to finish quite a few books before the end of the year and I’m getting behind with my reviews already. It’s not a typical problem that I have but I don’t want to start 2023 with a huge backlog of books to review. So, I’m bringing back an old favourite to get two out of the way at once. As the third book ended up being in my top 5 books of the year, I figure it’s only fair to give it its own post. I’m not sure that I’d have enough to say about the others to warrant a longer post.
Yipee ki-yay, motherbooker 