Sunday Sundries: Apparently I'm Still Here?!

Happy Sunday everyone! I can never really tell if I'm happy or sad that it's Sunday, but I guess a switch comes somewhere in the middle of the day when I realise that I actually do have to go to work tomorrow, but it's about 4.30pm now and I'm still feeling pretty ok so that is fine with me!

I feel as though I stopped doing Sunday Sundries posts, actually mainly because I got out of the routine of blogging, but also because, *whispers* my life isn't really interesting enough to talk about. I say that, although one of my favourite things to read on the internet at the moment are money diaries, which is where people log all of their spending for the week (duh) but also jut generally talk about their lives and what's going on with those and I am always here for it! So maybe not so boring, but still... But still...

My most notable thing of this week is that I had a hospital appointment on Thursday, which in itself was not notable but it did mean that I worked from home for the rest of the day, and also the next day. I. Love. Working. From. Home. I can't overstate how much I enjoy avoiding the morning commute (and mine is quite nice!), or being able to have like a freshly cooked hot meal for lunch, or being, like, right at home when work is finished. It's just so good, and it's such a new privilege for me (I have only been able to do it since November) that it still feels like a treat AND I still feel kind of bad about it. Like, I told the doctor at the hospital that I was going to work from home after our appointment and she looked so sad and I tried to be comforting but maybe just ended up as smug (I should have told her not to worry, she earns WAY more than me anyway).

Anyway, they couldn't even do the thing they were going to do, so I'll have to go back, and then I'll have to work from home again, so... silver linings, you know?

This weekend has been a bit of a quiet one - I went up to London with my boyfriend quite literally just to go to this vegan diner (Temple of Seitan, look into it) and also to procure vegan doughnuts from Doughnut Time, so you can't say I'm not living my best life. The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent watching Futurama and then Luther (about which I have thoughts), and then today I have mainly been cleaning and reading and going for a walk and reading and I am about to make a yummy dinner and also there will probably be more reading. I have finished 3 books in the last 3 days you guys and I am on a roll - I have a goal to read 100 books between birthdays (the first time I have had a goal like this because it normally makes me want to never read again) and I now need to read 30 books in 85 days which at this pace seems do-able? We shall see!

This post mainly tells me I need to lead a more interesting life so I will work on that for y'all. I have a week off next week (which could explain why I don't feel so bereft this Sunday, so whilst this week coming will be business as usual, the week after might involve something a bit more interesting. But, then again, it might not because this is me we're talking about. ANYWAY - I hope you all have amazing weeks, and let me know about your boring boring lives too, please! 

30 Books Before 30: #10 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko is another book that I read ages ago now and so pretty much have to rack my brains to review. Bear with me, it's going to be... Interesting.

Pachinko is a really ambitious and wide ranging novel, covering 4 generations of one family spanning across two different countries. It's a love story and a poverty story, a story about mothers and children and a story about men and the choices they make. It spans quite a large time period too, I want to say most of the 20th Century, and it's so odd to me that I can hate historical fiction that takes place in, say, the UK, but looove historical fiction that takes place in other countries. I suppose, not really knowing the history of these countries, to me it feels more like history than fiction, which is maybe not a good thing!

Speaking of history though - I feel like (actually, know) there is so much I don't know about the world, and this book just revealed my ignorance on the history of Korea and Japan. Like, did you know that there is serious beef between the countries? And, when a country is as powerful as Japan certainly was, and kind of still is, that pretty much equates to the squashing and suppression of an entire group of people, i.e. Koreans in Japan. Koreans had to register as citizens every year on their birthdays, for example, and were passed over for the best jobs, homes etc etc for their heritage, even if they were born in Japan and/or grew up speaking only Japanese. I like Japan a lot because of their current policy of non-engagement in conflict (because of the horrors of Hiroshima, pretty much) but it's worth remembering that they haven't always been the kawaii nation that they now kind of are (in my brain).

Pachinko, then, is the story of one Korean family's struggles against their Japanese oppressors and their attempts to just live a life and not have to take too much shit. The story begins when a Korean woman is seduced by an older man who gets her pregnant, and a travelling minister offers to marry her and raise her child with her as his own. The story of this, and of her child and his later struggles, is at the centre of the narrative, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's the most important - practically all members of this family get their say at one point of the novel, and they all have a unique and interesting perspective on their world.

Basically this was huge and interesting and I feel much better informed about Japanese-Korean relations than I ever have been before (in that I am informed at all). I wish I hadn't read it so long ago so that I could tell you more interesting things about it, but alas I am terrible and terribly behind in reviews. I was very engaged by this though, and even though it's quite a big book I still felt it was worth carrying around with me, so for whatever that's worth, that's how I felt about it. Read it, it is good.

Sunday Sundries

Hey guys! Welcome to the first weekend of the year (which is tragically nearly over, for me at least) and welcome back to Sunday Sundries!

I'm fairly certain this is one of those optimistic, start of year, yay I can blog type of things and your regular tumbleweed blogging style will start again soon, but in the spirit of optimistic start of year things, let's pretend I'm going to do this every week! Or most weeks... or, you know, once a month or something...

To kick start me off, though, I'm going to hark back to old faithful, the bread and butter of Sunday Sundries posts, because I think it'll be fun to look back and see what I was up to on the first weekend of the year. Get excited, because I am doing some STUFF at the moment!

Right now, I am...

Listening to: I am terrible and still basically only have Christmas music on my phone, and also terrible because I don't subscribe to any kind of music streaming things and stuff. Today, I went on a giant walk and listened to an episode of The Babysitter's Club Club podcast, and then to the first half of Hamilton, and you know what, my ears were pretty happy with that!

Reading: I just finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets today, so I'll soon be starting with Prisoner of Azkaban, since my 30th Birthday present to myself is reading all of Harry Potter again (see also, wine). I also started Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture which is an essay collection edited by Roxane Gay and which so far has made me furious but which is also so well written and ugh. Excited/terrified to read more of it, I guess.

Eating: Vegan! So I'm taking part in Veganuary which is an annual push to get people to try and eat vegan for a month. I'm 6 days in and I honestly haven't found it too difficult so far, although I will say that it is proving a bit of a challenge finding good vegan chocolate but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying! I feel like I will probably write a longer Sunday Sundries post about this because I'm having lots of feelings at the moment (mainly, why haven't I done this before?!) but I am loving trying new ways of making my favourites (hot chocolate is best made with oat milk and a little splash of maple syrup at the end, you are welcome).

Watching: Along with the rest of the world/internet, I have been watching Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix, and I've managed to watch the whole thing from Friday night to now. Firstly, I LOVE HER, she's so precious, but also, like, ok. So, I don't think I talk about it ever or have really acknowledged it until recently but I actually really like being organised and having systems in place to make life easier, so the KonMari method delights me, and it especially delights me when Marie recommends a thing that I already do. Still, one can always improve and so a significant part of this weekend has been spent refolding things and throwing a few things away and YAY ORGANISING! Ahem... This might need its own Sunday Sundries post too, just saying...

Making: You mean, making my house beautiful and organised isn't enough?! Honestly apart from food I haven't really been making too much recently, although crafts are sort of my happy place so I should really rectify that. I also have to ("have to") make two more beautiful things before I'm 30 (as per my 30 before 30 list) and so yes, I should definitely get on it. Any ideas on a postcard please!

Planning: I'm planning a few things at the moment, actually. Firstly there's a trip in a couple of weeks with my fella to the seaside for his birthday (although really that's already planned!), and then also I am planning to join a gym (egads!) because one near me has kickboxing classes and for some reason that really appeals! I have only held off because it's January and EYEROLL everyone is joining the gym right now, but... eh, why let that stop me?! Exactly. I'm also planning in my head for our spring/summer trip abroad, but that one might have to wait for a couple more paydays!

Feeling: Honestly, really really good at the moment. I can't work out if it's because I'm eating well(ish), or because I'm getting outside more, or because I feel like my brain has awoken from hibernation a bit, but I am feeling generally pretty good at the moment!

Loving: Kind of all of the above, really?! I am loving organising things, and eating vegan (I think it feels easier because I've wanted to do it for a really long time), and having plans and just generally life at the moment is being very kind to me. And long may it continue!

Wanting: My holiday to hurry up and get here (after three days back at work LOL) and just generally to plan lots of lovely things I can do with my days and evenings and all of those good times.

Thinking: At this very moment it's about rape culture and what the fuck is up with that, and in a wider sense I'm thinking more about my job and my life and what I really want to do with both things. I think this ALSO deserves its own blog post, but I've been feeling a lot about either doing something that is more interesting and satisfying, OR being ok with the job I have and not letting my job be my whole life. I'm not sure which path I'm going to take, but it's something to think about for sure.

Looking forward to: my January holiday, my summer holiday (as yet unbooked), trying to spend lots of time with people I love this year, going to get vegan burgers next weekend, and just generally trying to live as full a life as possible. Let's do this thing!

How about you? What's new with you?

Things I Read in December

HAPPY 2019 FOLKS! I'm calling that a wrap on 2018, a year that, I think, started better than it ended, and which I am not at all sad to see the back of. Onwards and upwards and time to face being 30 with a shaky smile and a terror in my heart (or something slightly less dramatic, maybe).

December was, as always, Christmas month, so there were many traditions to adhere to and events to attend. For me, it was also a month where I felt poorly for lots of it, as well as just a little... bleh, maybe? Still, there was CHRISTMAS and I haven't been to work for days and days and days so who can complain?! Not I.

Books wise, there was reading indeed! Annoyingly, in November I convinced my boyfriend to buy me this literary Christmas Anthology (he's the best) but I ended up reading not very much of it when I had intended to read a little each day in December - sad face! Do you want to see what I did read, though? Of course you do:

Ah, my little loves. Here are my thoughts:

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Yet another 30 Before 30 read, this is Malala's autobiography (kind of, it's written with someone). Although I loved Malala from afar before, I didn't really know what she'd done, and so this book was both a revelation and really super interesting in that it taught me a lot about the history of Pakistan that I didn't know before. I'm not going to say too much more because I'm going to review it properly, but it's definitely worth a read if you want to know more about Malala's mission the it's definitely worth a read.

Making Conversation by Christine Longford
This is, I think, the first Persephone book I've read that I haven't been crazy about. It's kind of a coming of age story about a teenager who can't really bear pointless conversation - and whilst I can relate, I couldn't really get behind the kind of teenage superiority of the story's protagonist. I think it does exactly what it tries to do, it just kind of bugged me as it did so.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
I spent the majority of December reading The Count of Monte Cristo (or so it felt) - forget decking the halls and watching Christmas films and all that jazz, I basically just constantly read The Count of Monte Cristo, but I finished the bugger! I actually had a lot of fun reading it so it didn't feel like a chore at all, and once again it's one I'm going to properly review so watch this space!

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
Ah, Harry Potter. Due to my aforementioned feelings of meh in December, I felt the need to self-soothe and of course I chose to do that with Harry Potter. I mean, what can I say about Harry Potter that hasn't already been said? Not much, only that in this reading, I couldn't stop noticing all of the parts that relate to later parts of the series - oh JK, you wily minx.

I have also decided that I want to re-read all the Harry Potter's before I'm 30 too, so expect to see more of these in the monthly wrap ups to come!

Christmas Comes to Moominvalley by Tove Jansson
This was a Christmas present from my lovely boyfriend, and I decided that of course I had to read it on Christmas Day evening. It's lovely, of course, although I felt very slightly cheated as this is Jansson's story The Fir Tree, but dressed up with bigger illustrations. Still, it's Moomins and it's Christmas so can I complain? I cannot.

My Mum Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson
My sister and I decided to do Jolabokaflod this year (i.e. we gave each other a book on Christmas Eve) and this is the book she got me - PURE nostalgia, as Jacqueline Wilson was my favourite author when I was little, and Tracy Beaker, whilst not my favourite character, is probably her most famous. In this, Tracy is all grown up with a daughter of her own and honestly this book was pure joy - I read it throughout Christmas Eve and Boxing Day (and a little on Christmas Day) and it didn't take too much work but was delightful (albeit kind of angsty, as is Jacqueline Wilson's way!) Good stuff, if you like that kind of thing.

They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
My last read of the year was really very different to what I was expecting. I've just had a little shock to my brain that I read this over just three days (I really use the Christmas holiday to read) because it felt like longer, but that's maybe just because the story was so traumatic it felt like it was on my mind all the time! This book is about three sisters - one of them was caretaker of the other two after their mother died, and is the sister doing the best - one of the others has a seriously emotionally abusive husband and the other is used to being a pretty ornament but has quite literally no character at all. This novel is about their trials and tribulations (of which there are MANY) and there is a bit with a dog that I simply can't talk about. It was not a christmassy read AT ALL (not that it needed to be!) but it was a very good one.

And, for the edification of the Court (and because I did it last year and really enjoyed it!) my favourite books of the month for the year:

January

Shrill by Lindy West

February

Talk Talk by T C Boyle

March

Eat Up! by Ruby Tandoh

April

The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield-Fisher

May

Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter

June

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

July

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

August

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

September

It by Stephen King (Always)

October

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

November

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

December

                                               

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

And that's a real real wrap on 2018 - onto the reads of 2019!

End of Year Wrap Up

Well, well, well. Hello there, beautiful internet people, and welcome to the last day of the year. It has been quite the year - a whole bunch of weddings (I can't tell if this is just my age group but did EVERYONE you know seem to get married this year? Cause, same), both of my parents turned 60 and there were just events and obligations GALORE.

I feel like so many things have happened, I have completely forgotten that I had surgery in the summer, that I have had 3 different jobs (!!! - in the same building though) this year, and just generally that there has been so much change happening that I feel kind of like I have whiplash from it all! I have not been feeling excellent mental health wise this past month which has not been extremely fun, but I have been using this time between Christmas and New Year to just try to rest and listen to my body and myself and all of those other good self care things that are good. It's a bit of a weird time of year for me feelings-wise anyway, so I'm just trying to feel them all and then get on with it, really. Life, innit.

ANYWAY. Let's just talk my year in reading, shall we? Actually, to talk about my year in blogging first, I was surprised to see that I blogged more this year than last year, but not at all surprised that I blogged more in the first half of this year than the last half. I feel like I started the year with quite good intentions and then it all went off the boil a bit over the summer because of weddings and all associated events, and then I never quite got back into the swing of it? I am of course not going to make any blogging promises for next year because who knowwwws, but I have been feeling a lot lately that I NEED a project (or, like, 5) to keep my mind occupied and whatnot so maybe regular blogging could be back on the table (she tells herself).

ACTUALLY BOOKS THO. I feel as though, especially looking back over it, my reading has not had a lot of shape this year, which I have found is actually quite a good thing. Looking at last year's wrap up post, I talked about ending various reading projects etc, and I didn't really pick any new ones up, which has meant that I have really been reading whatever the heck I wanted to and just going wherever my shelves took me *mysterious smile*. The latter part of the year has been taken up with trying to read all of the 30 before 30 books (well, at least the ones I haven't read) which has been going excellently, but that list also doesn't have a particular theme or anything which has meant that I've read widely and gone with whatever I wanted to read. I have also read more books (and pages!) this year than I have in recorded history (i.e. since I started keeping a spreadsheet per year) which is weirdly exciting to me, but also makes complete sense because I have been taking the bus to work all year which is where much of my reading takes place.

Shall we talk about some stats tho? Let's!

Number of Books Read: 92
Number of Pages Read: 30,189
Fiction vs. Non-Fiction: 64/28
New Reads vs. Re-Reads: 83/9
Men vs. Women: 33/59 (makes a difference when I'm not reading Stephen King all the time, eh!)
White vs. Non-White: 73/19 (I suck, I suck, I suck)
Translated vs. Not: 13/79
Digital vs. Physical: 6/86 (hahah why do I even buy kindle books?!)

Sooo yeah. That is what that is. I think I definitely use my spreadsheet to track rather than alter my reading habits, so for example I'm finding it so interesting that I practically have a 2:1 ratio of women to men (so high!) and I'm still preeeetty ashamed at my white:non-white ratio because come on me, but then also... I'm really trying to read from my shelves and they still have quite a lot of white people on them and yes I am totally making excuses for not reading more diversely but I know that when I add too many conditions to reading, it makes me want to do it way less so... *shrug emoji*, I guess. I'm STILL going to try and do better, but it's me and I'm pretty crappy so we'll see how that goes...

Speaking of reading for my shelves though - how did:

go this year?

You know what, it went ok. I have eased up on it a little based on the aforementioned 30 books before 30 challenge, where I've been borrowing a lot of books from the library, but out of 92 books read this year, 57 were books that I owned already. That means that 35 were books I didn't own last year, which makes me a bit frowny, but of these, 11 were library books (and so freeee!), another 10 were either borrowed or presents (again, free!) which leaves 14 that I bought and simply had to read straight away (one of the absolute pleasures of book buying!) either because they were charming and about food (Eat Up! by Ruby Tandoh) or because the film about about to come out (A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engel) or because they were the Neapolitan books by Elena Ferrante and I'd been to Naples earlier in the year.

Basically, I'm happy with my decision making but still want to do a little better next year (always). In overall reduction of books terms, at the end of last year I owned 256 books that I was still yet to read, and as of right now I have 240. THIS IS NOT GOOD, I realise, and mildly annoying because I was doing really well at various points of the year not-buying books and then would buy a load at once. Before Christmas, also, this number was at 232 (still high, but better!) so damn you generous family for being so damn generous! (I mean, thank you, I love you). I would really very much like to have this figure at 200 or below at the end of next year which really SHOULD be possible, so I'm going to set that as a goal now and see how I go... *steels self for challenge*

So that's me all wrapped up for 2019! I will post my usual monthly (plus annual faves!) wrap up of books read in December tomorrow, and from there it will be all new stuff. Life-wise, I have literally no idea what I'm doing in 2019 - other than, as I will be telling everyone all year until it happens, I'M GOING TO BE 30 AGHHHHHHH. I so far have plans for a getaway in January, one hen party and wedding, and one show, but I'm mainly hoping to fill it with laughter and friends and love and all good things, and maybe a touch of blogging along the way too, who knows! I wish you all a very happy new year, and may many many good things come your way in 2019.

30 Books Before 30: #9 The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy

Oh, you guys. It was all going so well and then I went and did that thing where I disappeared from blogging for weeks (for no good reason, other than finishing The Count of Monte Cristo, which took some ATTENTION!) and now I can't at all remember most of the things I still need want to review... Bear with me, because this could be a bit of a rough ride.

It's not just a laziness and a giant 19th century French novel that has kept me away from writing this review in particular, though, as I was primed to write it when I was all about the blogging a... while ago, and then I read a review of this book that was less that satisfactory. I won't link to it because I found it kind of mean spirited, but it talked a lot about Levy's privilege and the fact that her problems are things that a lot of people have to go through with less, you know, resources and stuff than her. Which is fine, but frankly I don't think said writer of the review would cope very well with giving birth to their non-viable (too premature) baby all alone in a far away country, and would probably write their own pain out about it too, ya know?

Ahem. Anyway. The Rules Do Not Apply is Levy's memoir, it is her story, and her struggles should not necessarily be minimised because they are not as serious as others' (IMHO). Levy is a writer for The New Yorker, which I realised basically straight away because of her writing style and also the fact that I think I've read the stillbirth part of her memoir before and it was indeed published in The New Yorker. She is, above all other things, A Very Good Writer, and if this is not clear after almost 8 years of blogging (oh my) this is something which I value above most other things when reading a book. Did her writing skill ALSO make me a little mad at the reviewer (who didn't really mention that?) Sure, a little.

So yes, Levy can turn a sentence, and she's also a little annoying. I found myself mildly grateful that I don't know her in life, because the aspects of her personality that she proudly talked about as having been there since childhood were also those I find kiiiind of annoying in an actual real life person. Not to give too much away, although I personally don't really think of spoilers as applicable to memoirs, but I also felt like her partner made allowances for her that she did not, in return, make for her partner. They were different allowances, sure, but still. Still.

But then, on the other hand, memoirs are a little hard to review in a narrative sense really, aren't they? These things happened, and this is now the writer's perception of them, and whether I agree or not with her choices or actions or whatever, it doesn't really matter, nor make a blind bit of difference to the outcome of them. It also comes to a point where you're kind of just judging someone's life, and that's not reallllly a cool thing to do, you know? Yeah. You do.

So, anyway. Excellent writing, if a slightly annoying writer, and I'm not sure if it's life affirming in any way, but does serve as a pretty good guide of what not to do as a person (in some parts, others are just kind of devastating). I think I liked it more than this review makes it seem immediately after reading it, but time and hindsight and one really mean review are excellent moderators of memory/feeling - but let me know how you felt about it, if you read it, below?

30 Books Before 30: #8 Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

I have a horrifying confession. I used to own Bel Canto by Ann Patchett but, I think because of the uninspiring cover, I never had any inclination to read it and I think it finally left the Rowsell Collection last year when I moved house.

This, I now see, was a terrible mistake. Commonwealth was SO good, you guys. Like, disturbing levels of goodness that I'm obviously incoherent about and obviously won't even be able to express properly because I am me (why do I even have a book blog? Not sure) This book is like a masterclass in storytelling - I was reading this whilst also trying to do NaNoWriMo and not only did it make me feel like a terrible writer, reading it also became the only thing I wanted to be doing which sounded the death knell for my own novel (don't worry. It wasn't any good)

The storyyy though. Let's see. Commonwealth is told in a non-linear way which I LOVE and it follows one very complex family through about a fifty year period. I think that sounds like it could be a long and rambling mess, but in fact Patchett chooses key moments from each of the characters lives and weaves them together into this amazing story. There is one main narrative moment that the stories revolve around, and it's perfect as a framing device but in the end it's only as important as all the other stories around it and I love that. I think writing at the same time as reading this only made me understand and appreciate the perfection that lay behind the crafting of this story, and so I appreciated it that bit more.

That still didn't tell you anything about the actual story, huh? Ok so. The novel opens at a baby's christening party, where I can remember none of the characters names but where the (married) mother of this new baby catches the eye of a bright young lawyer, changing both of their lives and the course of their two families' lives too. When I said that this is told over a fifty year period, what I mean is, this is the first chapter and then in the second chapter, the aforementioned baby is about 50 years old and accompanying her just young and healthy dad to a chemo appointment. The story unfolds in much the same way, going backwards and forwards throughout the years and circling around the same crucial moment.

What I especially love about this book is the tricky combining-of-families aspect of it. I think it's because my family life growing up was so normal, but I really really love well told tales of family combinations, and this one combines the two girls of one family with the four children from the other, and that combination is irresistible. There aren't even that many parts of the story where they're all together, but there is the constant impact that their time spent together has on the rest of their lives. They become interwoven in interesting and unexpected ways and did I mention that it's all just so good?

My favourite part of the story, though, was not even especially a part of the story. The (sort of) main character (also the baby from the very first chapter!) meets a famous author (which actually is a big part of the novel) and he asks her if she wants to be a writer. Her response: "No, I wanted to be a reader". I mean, same. So much the same that I still find it gross that you can't make money just from reading books and having thoughts about them, because ugh that is unfair. This happens fairly early on in the book, so that made me feel a certain kinship with this character and this book and just everything and yes.

So, yeah. This list did once again not steer me wrong, and I'm so glad it led me to this book. I now really really need to find whatever charity shop I donated Bel Canto to and get it back, and I also need to read all of the other things because oh Ann Patchett, you are a most excellent Ann, just like Ann(e) Tyler and Ann M Martin. Ten thousand thumbs up.