April was a super successful reading month for me, I managed to finish 6 books which is probably the most I’ve done in one month in 2020. Hopefully I can keep this up and manage to keep up with my Goodreads goal. This month was interesting for books, and 5/6 books I read were by women…we love to see it! I thoroughly enjoyed a lot of these books and would recommend you read all of them, which doesn’t happen too often.
I feel like DNF’ing books is hot topic for bookishly inclined individuals. I posted the above picture on my Instagram, and I saw a divide between people who were telling me to give certain books another chance, and I also saw people who were saying that they never go back to books they failed to finish first time round. I think this is so interesting because I am definitely someone who keeps all of my books until I have read them, I don’t disregard them straight away. I think this depends on how much mood affects your reading, some people are naturally more resilient with books and use it as an escapist experience. Although, I do this to a degree, I am definitely not always resilient. I am so susceptible to reading slumps and leaving books when I am not feeling like reading. I would say that this is what has happened for the majority of these books. Only one of them I definitely won’t go back to. It is interesting to look at, because on paper these books are right up my street, which is why I paid for them with the intention of reading them. Without further ado, I am going to dive in and maybe give you some explanations on why I haven’t read these books.
Emira knew that Mrs. Chamberlain wanted a friendship, but she also knew that Mrs. Chamberlain would never display the same efforts of kindness with her friends as she did with Emira: “accidentally” ordering two salads and offering one to Emira, or sending her home with a bag filled with frozen dinners and soups. It wasn’t that Emira didn’t understand the racially charged history that Kelley was alluding to, but she couldn’t help but think that is she weren’t working for this Mrs. Chamberlain, she’d probably be working for another one. – P.187
This year set off to a rusty start when it came to reading, I must have DNF’d 3 books in January-February, I rated the 3 books I had read as 3 stars, and I just wasn’t motivated to read at all. March came, and I was finally ready to get back to it, slowly but surely I tackled some of the ARCS I should have read back in January. I am about 3-4 books behind where I should be with my Goodreads challenge.
I’m a big fan of the Women’s Prize, and have to say it’s one of the only prizes (besides the Booker) I look out for every year. 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the notorious literary prize, and they are celebrating with none other than a really fun reading challenge. This challenge lasts the entire year and comprises of 24 books in total. I was gutted that the announcement of the shortlist was postponed due to the current global climate, but thought instead of saving my money to purchase some of the shortlisted books, I would take part in reading all of the past winners of the Women’s Prize.
We are living in one wild world right now. Every day the government are increasingly implementing measures to confine us to our houses, and the world is emanating a real apocalyptic vibe. The only way to solve what I know is going to result in boredom, is to buy more books…
Wars, plagues, names upon tombs tell us only what happened. But history lies in the cracks in between. In the inexplicable, invisible turns and decisions. A person saying no instead of yes. …It is not that they had lived…but how.
“Why is it,” an old news anchor growls, “that out of all the terrible news in this terrible world, we care so much about this one downed plane and this one little boy?
“BITTER: always a bit unanticipated. Coffee, chocolate, rosemary, citrus rinds, wine. Once, when we were wild, it told us about poison. The mouth still hesitates at each new encounter. We urge it forward, say, Adapt. Now, enjoy it.”
Molly Elizabeth Marcelle Books 