Why I'm Going to Cut Back on Physical Books| Carenza Bramwell

As much as I love collecting books, it has reached a point where I have to acknowledge that I have more books than I have space for. Although it breaks my heart, I will have to part with some books and I will also have to cut back on the amount of physical books I buy. In this post, I will be sharing some of my thoughts on my book collection and the amount of books I buy.

A box of books I prepared to donate to my local community recently

My Shelf Space

I am in a very privileged position to still be able to live at home with my parents. I am in an even more privileged position to have my own little office/library space in our new home. For Christmas 2019, I got three Billy bookcases to fill one of the walls in my office. I now have a space to store all of my books. 

My Book Buying Habits

Back in 2016, when I first discovered there was a book community online, I went a bit crazy seeing all these people with all these amazing shelves online. I thought that to be a reader, my shelves had to look like that. So I bought a lot of books in 2016, mostly from charity shops. It's safe to say that my book buying habits have changed a lot since then. I am a much more picky reader and book buyer. I haven't bought a single book in May, I'm honestly amazed with myself. 

Why I'm Cutting Back?

To put it simply, I am cutting back on the amount of physical books I buy for two reasons- space and money. I am a student and being a student is very expensive, so I would like to save my money for books I really want to read. I also want my shelves to be filled with books I love and reflect me as a reader.

Recently, I've been reading a lot of three star books, which is an average for me. However, I very rarely feel attached to these books and have been making piles of books to donate when the shops reopen. I plan on buying myself a Kindle so I can start to read more eBooks, there by saving space on my shelves and saving me a penny or two on new purchases. I will still be an avid reader and book purchaser, I am just trying to be more selective with the books I add to my physical collection. 

Carenza :) x

The Joys of Rereading| Carenza Bramwell

When I first properly became a reader and aware of the reading community when I was fourteen, I had a very small collection of books. It could have filled a shelf and was all the YA classics at the time. The Mortal Instruments. The Hunger Games. Divergent. I was a big fan of all them at the time. Back then, as I had such a small collection of books, I would reread them all the times. I must have reread the Divergent series at least three times in one year. 

Now that I have a much larger collection after many years of accumulating books, my rereads have become far and few. I typically reserve it for favourites of mine, books by Cassandra Clare and the Harry Potter series. Recently, I reread the first Noughts and Crosses book for the first time since I was fourteen. I had watched the TV show adaptation and wanted to refresh my memory on it. Rereading it got me thinking about rereads in general. 

Why Is It So Comforting?

As a reader, I am always looking for new worlds and stories to consume. I am always ploughing through books just so I can start the next. Yet, when I do reread old favourites, it is an oddly comforting experience. It's like crawling into bed after a long day. Returning to familiar worlds, yet still being shocked by the twists and turns. To put it simply, it's nice to be in worlds you know and with characters you love. 

Finding the Balance Between Old and New

In an ideal world, I would be able to read as many new books as possible while having time to return to favourites. However, in the real world there simply isn't enough time to read all the unread books on my TBR, especially if I'm giving up that time to reread books. Something I plan on doing more in the future, is rereading books so I can continue with the series I have started. I would like to tackle more of the series on my TBR and my problem is that I have read the first book, but have never made an effort to continue. There, I would find the perfect balance, between old and new books. 

Those are some of my thoughts on rereading books. What are your thoughts on rereading books?

Carenza :) x 

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo Book Review| Carenza Bramwell

Title- If I Was Your Girl
Author- Meredith Russo
Series- N/A
Published- 2016
Page Count- 293
Publishing House- Usbourne Publishing
Rating- 3/5 stars

About the Author

MEREDITH RUSSO was born, raised, and lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She is a mother to a wonderful four year old, a cat with an attitude problem, and a few dozen trans people around the globe. Her star sign is Aries and one of her birth arcana is the Tower, so naturally she is a disaster.

Her debut novel, If I Was Your Girl, won the Stonewall Award in 2016, as well as honors for the Walter Dean Myers Diversity Award and the Lambda Literary Award. She has also contributed to Radical Hope, Meet Cute, (Don't) Call Me Crazy, and the New York Times. The best place to keep up to date on her current work is Patreon, where she publishes one short story, one novel chapter, and small multimedia side projects every month. Her next major novel, Birthday, is set for release in April 2019.

You definitely, absolutely should not be shy about contacting her, even if it's just to talk. She's always open to new opportunities and chances to speak with new people.

Taken from Meredith's website.

Plot

Amanda Hardy is the new girl at school. Like everyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is holding back. Even from Grant, the guy she's falling in love with. Amanda has a secret. At her old school, she used to be called Andrew. And secrets always have a way of getting out. A book about loving yourself and being loved for who you really are.

Taken from Goodreads.

Opinions

I had picked up If I Was Your Girl back in 2017 as a part of the diversity bingo challenge that was floating around, but for some reason I never picked it up at the time. I am now trying to tackle my TBR pile as much as I can and this was one of two unread contemporary books I had, so I decided to read it. Going into it, I knew it was an own voices novel about a trans girl written by a trans author. I really enjoy reading own voices books, especially as they capture their stories so well. 

I flew through this book, reading it over two days. I am a big fan of easy to read books and this one was no exception. I enjoyed my time reading it. The story was fun, while tackling some of the heavier issues such as gender dysmorphia and suicide. It found a nice balance between the sweet and serious in this book.

That being said, I did feel that to story was underdeveloped. You could really tell that it was a debut novel. As a writer and someone who is doing a degree in Creative Writing, I felt that this book didn't follow the golden rule of "show don't tell". We were very much told everything rather than shown it. This is something I've become hyper-aware of since I started studying writing myself, but I'm always able to pick up when something isn't quite right in a book. Personally, I would have benefited from more backstory. We got some backstory, especially for Amanda, but the rest of the characters didn't have quite the same level of detail. 

I think that because of the writing style, this book suffered in the character development department. All the characters felt a bit 2D to me and none of them were really fleshed out properly. I couldn't connect to a single one of them. They were also supposed to be between the ages of 17-19, but none of them felt it. They came across much younger than they were written. 

I hate to be overtly negative, especially as I did enjoy this book, it just ended not being 100% for me. I did learn a lot about the trans community and experience, something I had never really thought about before as a cis gendered person. I have made the decision to donate my copy as I feel someone else will benefit from it more than me, but I'm still glad I decided to take the time to read it.

Carenza :) x  

Tackling my TBR| Carenza Bramwell

At the time of writing this post, I have just under 60 TBR books on my bookshelves. I will say that this is not my entire unread TBR as in December my family and I moved into a new house. We've been slowly moving in and sorting things out, but our process has been halted due to lockdown. I am very fortunate to have this many unread books on my bookshelves. 

As a reader, it is my goal to be always tackling my TBR, but since lockdown started, I have been making more of a dedicated effort to read my growing pile of unread books. In this post I thought I would share some of my thoughts on this process as a way to inspire other readers to tackle our TBR piles. 

How I'm Doing It

A big question, is how am I tackling my TBR pile? I used to be someone who would make TBR lists and stick to them religiously. However, I found that didn't work for me and I haven't done it for many years. In the recent months, particularly since lockdown started, I have started to make mini TBR lists.

I started this process by handwriting a list of all my unread books in my creative journal and grouping them together by genre. It made it easy if I was looking for something in particular to read. It also meant once I had read a book, I could have the satisfaction of ticking off the book from that list. I also have a digital copy on my Goodreads account, partly for ease of moving them between my TBR list to my "read" list. It is a daunting process to handwrite out all the unread books you own, but I would strongly recommend it. It helps you visualise which books you haven't read and which genres you have most unread books in. 

As I mentioned, I've started to make these mini TBR lists. I have monthly divider pages, in which I plan my goals for that month. At the top of this page, I have started to pick five books from a wide range of genres that I have to read that month. I chose five as that's typically how many books I read a month. Five books is an achievable amount in my life and it meant that if I completed it, I could read other books as well. I tried to pick books from a wide range of genres to expand my reading and tackle more areas of my TBR. I've always found that by reading one particular genre, I get tired of that genre and want to read something else. This means that I am always excited for my next read.

Since doing this, I have noticed that I am reading more books. I haven't had the best reading year for me due to various reasons, but I've always found that during the summer months, when I have a bit more time on my hands, I read books quicker. So far in May, I have completed almost seven books, which is really good for me. 

What Have I Learnt From Doing This?

The ravenclaw in me cannot escape the need to learn, and so, I thought I'd share with you what I've learnt from doing this. I've learnt that there are genres that I naturally gravitate towards (fantasy and contemporary) and ones I tend to avoid (dystopian, sci-fi, classics etc). I am very much a creature of habit and I don't really like to leave that comfort zone. 

I have a lot of unread books from when I first joined the book community in 2016 and felt that I had to catch up on all the hyped up books. Some of them I have enjoyed, others not so much. I feel guilty for not having read them, especially after hearing about them for years. 

As a reader, my bookshelves should "define me". You should be able to see what sort of books I love to read. However, I don't feel that they reflect me and my interests that well. Tackling my TBR will make it easier for me to have a more treasured book collection.

One thing I have learnt, but was unsurprised to see is that I am terrible at finishing series. I have a lot of first books in a series but have never gotten around to reading the rest. I also have a few where I have one or two books unread in that series, but it's been years since I picked up the rest of the books and have forgotten. I'm not the biggest fan of rereading books, something I used to do a lot when I was a young reader. I want to get better at finishing series.

So those were some of my thoughts on my TBR and how I've been tackling it. What are your thoughts on your own TBR piles?

Carenza :) x 

Creator vs Content- Book Topic Discussion| Carenza Bramwell

Something I have wanted to make a post about for a while is the discussion between Creator vs Content. I've always found it interesting to distinguish the creator from the content. This topic has been cropping up more and more in the bookish community and I thought I'd share some of my opinions on it.  

What Do I Mean "Creator vs Content"?

In a nutshell I mean the link between the creator (author etc) and the content (book etc). Is it possible to separate the two? Can you enjoy someone's work while having different opinions on them?

Can You Like Someone's Work But Not Them?

It's a difficult question to answer, but I would say yes, you don't have to "like" someone to enjoy what they've made. It can be difficult to separate them from their work, but it shouldn't stop you from liking what they've done. Some examples of this include JK Rowling and the Harry Potter series. In the last year or so, JK Rowling has been accused of supporting a transphobic individual on Twitter and faced heavy backlash for doing so. Many people in the book and harry potter communities were very upset by this. Whether she intended to do this or not, it severally damaged her reputation. She has since continued to Tweet in support of transphobic content. Personally, I will not support anyone who says anything harmful towards others in any capacity. However, the Harry Potter books are still some of my most beloved and treasured. I will adore them forever. I no longer "like" JK Rowling as an individual, but I still enjoy her content as it is absorbed into my life.

Another example of creator vs content is Mackenzi Lee and her recent controversy. Since the publication of The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue in 2018, a book I loved, she has been accused of several things. Something I didn't spot at the time of reading GGTVAV, was the racist undertones in the book. There was some outcry over this at the time and Lee apologised for her writing. Then with the release of her upcoming book, The Madness Blooms, she was once again accused. This time of being transphobic and misgendering one of her characters for the sake of the plot and shock value. Again, she apologised and the blurb has been rewritten. However, in her most recent controversy, she made no formal apology and joked about the issue. Through the bookstore she works at, she signed and personalised books by authors of colour without their permission. It was a poor choice on her half and has lead to many in the book community refusing to buy her books. I was planning on reading her upcoming books, but have decided that I cannot do that after what she has done. I still enjoyed the books I'v read from her, but what she did was wrong and hurtful.

I still enjoyed the books I've read from both these authors, but I am now more reluctant to admit so and to continue supporting them. I will not be getting rid of their books, but I am hesitant to buy new ones from them. Liking their work does not make you a bad person. It can be difficult to separate them from what they've written, but art and artist are two very different things. 

What are your thoughts on creator vs content? Are their more examples of creators and their content that I haven't mentioned?

Carenza :) x   

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell Book Review (Contains Spoilers)| Carenza Bramwell

Title- My Dark Vanessa
Author- Kate Elizabeth Russell
Series- N/A
Published- 2020
Page Count-369 pages
Publishing House- 4th Estate
Rating- 4/5 stars

About the Author

I’m a writer living in Madison, Wisconsin. My debut novel, My Dark Vanessa, is forthcoming from William Morrow (US), 4th Estate (UK), and will be translated into over twenty languages.

Originally from eastern Maine, I earned an MFA from Indiana University and a PhD from the University of Kansas.

you can find me on twitter @GinnyMcCoo
and on instagram @kateelizabethrussell

Taken from Kate's website.

Plot

An era-defining novel about the relationship between a fifteen-year-old girl and her teacher

ALL HE DID WAS FALL IN LOVE WITH ME AND THE WORLD TURNED HIM INTO A MONSTER

Vanessa Wye was fifteen years old when she first had sex with her English teacher. She is now thirty-two and in the storm of allegations against powerful men in 2017, the teacher, Jacob Strane, has just been accused of sexual abuse by another former student. Vanessa is horrified by this news, because she is quite certain that the relationship she had with Strane wasn't abuse. It was love. She's sure of that. Forced to rethink her past, to revisit everything that happened, Vanessa has to redefine the great love story of her life – her great sexual awakening – as rape. Now she must deal with the possibility that she might be a victim, and just one of many. Nuanced, uncomfortable, bold and powerful, and as riveting as it is disturbing, My Dark Vanessa goes straight to the heart of some of the most complex issues our age is grappling with.

Taken from Goodreads.

Opinions 

I picked this book up after seeing emmmabooks rave about it. I've been wanting to read more modern literature and when I saw this on sale for £7 at my local Tesco's, I just had to get it. I went into it expecting more of a psychological element and ended up being surprised by what I read.  

I've been in a bit of reading slump in 2020, due to various reasons, so when I ended up flying through this one and reading it in three days, I was very happy. Normally, I cannot stand first person perspective (for some reason), and when I found out this one was in first person, I was a bit apprehensive. However, I didn't mind it for once and found it easier to read because it was written in the first person perspective. It meant you could connect more with Vanessa as a character. 

I really enjoyed the jumping back and forth between Vanessa's two timelines. It was an interesting comparison into how she felt at the time and how she'd repressed her memories of her relationship with Strane. I have to admit that after a while, the sex scenes between her and Strane became a bit repetitive and gratuitous. I think less would have had a more powerful impact. 

Something I felt would have made this a more powerful novel is that if it had been slightly shorter. As I mentioned above, if there had been less sex scenes, it would have had more of an impact. I also didn't care for the storyline with her and Henry, it felt a bit pointless. It felt as though it was trying to repeat the storyline with Strane. 

I have a feeling that this would make an amazing miniseries, if the right creative team got behind it. It's one I'd really like to see adapted for the screen. Overall, I found My Dark Vanessa to be a powerful and poignant book. I would like to read more from Kate Elizabeth Russell and to read more modern lit tackling heavier topics such as the MeToo movement. 

Carenza :) x  

Chain of Gold Fairyloot Collectors Box Review| Carenza Bramwell

It's been many years since I did a Fairyloot review, but when Fairyloot announced they were doing a Chain of Gold special edition box, I just had to get one. It was an impulse purchase when they released the second batch. 

What is Fairyloot?

Fairyloot is a UK YA book box that sends out monthly boxes with new YA releases and a bunch of bookish goodies. In the past year, they have branched out into special edition boxes for certain releases. For more information, click here.

How Much Did This Box Cost?

This box cost £35 plus postage and taxes. A normal Fairyloot box costs £26 plus postage and taxes. I will say that collectors boxes are much bigger than normal boxes.

The Box

The first item in the box was a replica of the Mortal Cup made by Team Fairyloot. This is something that crops up in every single Shadowhunter book. The quality is good, although in a few places the paint job is a bit battered. It's a sturdy replica and looks great on my shelf, so much more so than the one I made myself many years ago.

Next was an item that made my jaw drop when I saw it and that is this James and Cordelia Tapestry designed by monolimeart. At first I thought it was a blanket but it is a tapestry and looks amazing hanging by my bed. It features James and Cordelia from their romantic scene in the library. 

A staple of bookish boxes is the beloved bookmark. The bookmark featured in this box was a wooden one, with art on both sides. The illustration of our beloved Cordelia is by niru.sky and the quote is from stellabookishart. I love both sides and have put in my mug of bookmarks as it is too beautiful to use. 

Something I have always wanted but never bought is a book sleeve to protect my books, so when Fairyloot included one in this box I was over the moon. It is very well padded and even has a zip at the top to make sure nothing gets in with your precious book. The side with James on it is designed by one of my favourite bookish artists, Taratjah, and the quote side was designed by noverantale. 

The final item in this box is a stunning art print of the Chain of Gold boys, designed by merwildandco. I adore this print and am searching for where I can display so I can always look at their beautiful faces.

Finally, we have the book in the box. It is in this stunning black edition, which I've been told is very similar to the Waterstones edition. It has sprayed edges with swords on them. It has been completely redesigned for this box and I'm so glad to have this exclusive version from this box. 

Was It Worth It?

I would have to say that it 100% was worth it. The items are unique and ones that I'll actually use. The edition is stunning and it was an affordable price. They have a collectors box for the sequel to Serpent and Dove, Blood and Honey and I am so going to be getting it after the success of this box.

Carenza :) x 

What I've Been Reading Recently- Lockdown Edition| Carenza Bramwell

It's time again to share with you some of the books I've read recently. In total I have ten books to share with you for the months of March and April. Without further ado, here are the books I read in the last couple of months.

March

The first book I completed in March was Sword of Destiny by Andrezj Sapkowski, the second book in the Witcher series. I had read the first one back in January and really enjoyed it. However, this one just didn't do it for me for the most part. Most of the stories were too long and I kept on getting confused. I ended up giving it 3/5 stars.

I then read one of my most anticipated releases of the year, Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare. I have a review for this, which you can read here. Obviously I loved this book with all my heart and I am dying to get back to this world. I gave it 5/5 stars. 

My next read was the fourth and final book in the Charlotte Holmes series, A Question of Holmes by Brittany Cavallaro. I loved the first two books in this series, but the third and fourth ones fell flat for me. I think this one was my least favourite as I didn't enjoy the mystery and the ending just wasn't what I wanted it to be. I gave it 3/5 stars.

Next I picked up a book that I never thought I'd read and that is House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas, the first book in her new adult fantasy series. I had seen everyone raving about it so I decided to pick it up. The pacing was on and off at times, but I loved the characters and it restored my faith in Sarah J Maas to some extent. I will be picking up the sequel. I gave it 4/5 stars.

The last book I read in March was The Beautiful by Renee Adhieh. This was my first ever Renee Adhieh book. I had heard that The Beautiful was the book to bring back vampires, so I was excited. The first half was great, but I didn't care for the second half. I have a full review of this book on my blog, if you want to read that, you can click here. I gave it 3.5/5 stars.

April

My first reread of 2020 was Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman. I loved this series in my early teens and with the recent BBC adaptation I had to pick it up. I was surprised that I still really enjoyed it and I do plan on rereading the rest of the series. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

Another reread for me was Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone by JK Rowling. Over on Instagram, there is a readathon for the Harry Potter series while everyone is stuck inside. As it's been a few years since I read the series, I decided to join in. I obviously gave it 5/5 stars. 

I then read Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. This was one I had seen lots of praise for, so I decided to pick it up. I found this book very difficult to read as I felt at times the world wasn't really explained. I think I would read it again, now that I know what happens. My main complaint with this book was that it could have been a lot shorter. The mystery was dragged out too much. I gave it 3/5 stars. 

Next I picked up My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. I picked this up after seeing Emmmabooks rave about it. I'm trying to read more modern lit and this sounded really interesting. It is about the MeToo movement from the perspective of one of the victims. It could have been a little bit shorter as there was a section towards the end that just didn't make sense, but apart from that I really enjoyed this book. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

April was just the month of rereads for me as I then read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling. I read my illustrated edition for the first time since I got it and loved it. The illustrations are beautiful and I need to get the rest in this series as I only have the first two. I gave it 5/5 stars. 

So that concludes my wrap up for the past two months. I'm hoping to have more time to read in the coming months.

Carenza :) x