What I've Been Reading Recently- Winter Edition 2021| Carenza Bramwell

How are we already two months into 2021? Time is going so quickly! I've had a really strong start to the year with the books I've been reading. Over the last two months, I've read 14 books. I'm hoping that the rest of my reading year stays as strong. I'll be sharing the books I've read in January and February.

January

I read eight books in January, which I'm very happy with. I had quite a diverse reading month, reading from a wide range of genres and a whole spectrum of ratings. 

The Angry Tide by Winston Graham

I have been reading the Poldark books on and off since 2018, with one of my goals for 2021 to catch up on the books I own. This was the last one that I did and I decided to make it my first read of 2021. I miss the shortness of the first three books, but still enjoyed my time with this one. As this is the seventh book in the series, I can't talk too much about the plot without it being a spoiler. I am a big fan of the TV show and I know it's a crime in the book community to admit it, but there were aspects of the TV show that I preferred. A solid first read of the year, I gave it 4/5 stars.

Working on a Song- Lyrics of Hadestown by Anais Mitchell    

This was a Christmas present as I was a big fan of the musical. I didn't even know there was a book about this show. As the title suggests, this is the lyrics of Hadestown. However, it shows the final version and then talks about how it changed between each of the major productions. I am a big fan of "behind the scenes books", as I call them. I love learning about the creative process behind things I like and this was an interesting insight into a musical I adore. I also gave it 4/5 stars.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

After seeing rave reviews about Where the Crawdads Sing, I picked up a copy in October and finally got around to reading. Just before I started reading it, I was made aware of it's problematic content. I did let that taint my experience, however I think this book just wasn't for me. I do have a full review, which you can read here. My two main qualms with this book were the romance and the ending. Both just didn't sit well with me. That being said, I did enjoy the middle of this book. In the end, I gave it 3/5 stars and have decided I won't be keeping my copy. 

How Should One Read a Book? by Virginia Woolf

I saw this floating around bookstagram around Christmas time and as I had some Waterstones vouchers, decided to get it. I had only read one other Virginia Woolf book and I did not like it. However, this was an enjoyable and short book. A non-fiction book about how you should read books you enjoy, it's something a lot of readers will enjoy. It was a short, easy and fun read. I can see myself rereading it at various points in my life. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

I had been wanting to read this for years and finally bought a copy in October. It's one of those books you see in charity shops all the time. I loved this book. I have a full review with all my thoughts, which you can read here. Each twist and turn was amazing. The characters were an interesting bunch, especially as you couldn't trust or like any of them. I had been interested in picking up Tartt's other books, however I've seen some blog posts/tweets floating around saying that the Goldfinch has some racist undertones and that doesn't sit well with me. I think I'll just stick to enjoying this one. I gave it 5/5 stars.  

Women&Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard

Back to non-fiction, I decided to read this book. Mary Beard is a well-known academic in the UK and I'd had this on my TBR since the summer. A short read about feminism. It showed the link between well known myths and feminism, showing how some of the things that happened are still happening today. This will make you think and then make you angry. I am interested in reading more about feminism after reading this. I gave it 4/5 stars.

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

This was a book I bought with my Christmas money after seeing BooksNest rave about it. I read the description and it sounded like something I would enjoy. I was sadly wrong. I really struggled with the protagonist, I just didn't like her. However, my main problem with this book was that there was no plot. I did think it did a wonderful job creating atmosphere, but it sacrificed the plot a lot. I also felt that some of the academic terms went over my head at times. This book just really ended up not being for me. I gave it 2/5 stars.

Moulin Rouge by Baz Lurhman 

My final read of January was another non-fiction book and this was about one of my favourite films, Moulin Rouge. It had been a very long time since I watched the film and so I rewatched it. I then read this book, which is all about the behind the scenes process for making this film. It was an interesting insight into Lurhman's creative process and all that went into making this wonderful film. The last third was a series of behind the scenes photos from three different photographers, which was a nice touch. If you are a fan of the film, I'd recommend trying to get ahold of this book. I gave it 4/5 stars.

February

As February is a shorter month and was quite a busy month, so I only managed to read six books, which is quite good, but like the over ambitious person I am, I was hoping to read more. 

The Poppy War by R.F Kuang

This is such a beloved and hyped book in the book community, and rightly so. I hadn't read a fantasy in a while and was really in the mood for one, so I picked this up. Rin was an amazing character, I absolutely adored her journey. This was an epic fantasy. It was exactly the fantasy I was looking for. There was some quite dark content at times, this is a book about war, so I would be aware of that before going in. I am very excited to continue this series at some point in the year. I gave this 4/5 stars.

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

I had a lot of problems with this book. This was something I thought I'd enjoy and bought it with my Christmas money. I have a full review of this book, which you can read here. The marketing of this book really made it out to be a fun and fluffy book, when in fact this is actually quite a dark, social commentary. This has a lot of disturbing, triggering content such as child abuse, sexual abuse, rape of a child, murder and cannibalism. I felt sick while reading a certain part of this book. I can see what this author was trying to do, however I just did not like this book. I gave it 2/5 stars. 

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

My first YA book of the year! I had forgotten how fun YA can be and thankfully this reminded me. I had wanted to read this for a while and am so glad I finally picked it up. It had a bit of a rocky start, but improved in the middle. I didn't like the ending, however I enjoyed the rest. This did a really good job of tackling LGBT+ issues in the Latino community. I would read from Aiden Thomas again as they're a really good reader. This is the perfect book for Halloween. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

Flake by Matthew Dooley

This year, my family and I did a small family Valentine's Day, with Flake being my present. I had mentioned it to my dad as it's a graphic novel set in the same part of the UK that we all grew up in. I loved this book. It had a wonderful story and some very pretty graphics. The humour actually made me laugh out-loud and I don't do that very often. It's really gotten me in the graphic novel mood. I gave it 4.5/5 stars.  

How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are by various authors

I have owned this book since 2015 and I finally finished it. I had read almost a half in 2015 and then gave up for some reason. This book is much more suited to me as a twenty year old, rather than a fifteen year old. While it's not a lifestyle I see myself living, it is one I enjoyed reading about. I would read more lifestyle books in the future. I gave it 4/5 stars.

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

My final book of February was to reread Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare. Chain of Iron is already out by the time this post goes live and I felt I needed a recap of the first book. I do have a full review from last year, which you can read here. I was very happy to be back with these characters and in this world. I'm still not sure where this one stands in my overall ranking, but that will be determined by the remaining books in the series. I obviously gave it 5/5 stars.

That concludes my wrap up for the winter months. What did you read this winter?

Carenza :)x  

October 2019 Wrap Up| CarenzaOnBooks

Another month done, another monthly reading wrap up. October was a very stressful and busy month for me, meaning I didn't get as much reading done as I wanted to. I only read 5 books, 2 audiobooks and 3 physical books. I've been a bit under the weather and truthfully, I haven't been reading a lot of books that I've been excited about. I think I might be in a bit of a reading slump but hopefully I'll break it soon and be back to my old reading self. 

Sadie by Courtney Summers

My first audiobook of the month. I had heard nothing but good things about this particular audiobook and it did not disappoint. To read my full review click here. I was hooked from beginning to end and I was so sad when it ended. I think I listened to it in about five days. I would love to read/listen to more books like this as it's like nothing else I've read. 5/5 stars from me.

Let's Call It a Doomsday by Katie Henry

I had read Katie Henry's debut novel earlier this year and I had really enjoyed it. Sadly, the consensus is that her first book is better than her second one. I just found I didn't care for the characters as much as I did in Heretics Anonymous. I also felt that the love story was very forced and came out of the blue. The mental health rep in this book was great and I did enjoy the fact that it was centred around a friendship between two girls. Sadly, the rest of the book just wasn't for me. 3/5 stars.

Angels in America by Tony Kushner

This was a re-read, but I listened to the new audiobook production. If you've been following my blog for a while then you'll know that my favourite play of all time is Angels in America and they recently adapted it for the audiobook format. It was a recording using the Broadway cast, which is predominantly the cast I saw. It was amazing being able to relive the experience over again and it was still as brilliant as when I saw it. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud at certain points. The only thing that made me sad was that they cut one of the best lines in the play for no reason and I was so upset about it. Still gets 5/5 stars.

Under the Net by Iris Murdoch

I wanted to branch out and read something outside of my comfort zone, however this ended up being too far out of my comfort zone and I did not like it. I just couldn't get into it. I honestly don't know why I spent ages reading the whole thing and didn't DNF it. Maybe at some point later in my life I would enjoy this book, but I just didn't like it this time around. 2/5 stars for me.

Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin

Now we come to one, if not my favourite, book of the year. I adored Serpent and Dove and I am dying while waiting for the sequel. The characters. The story. The setting. Just everything about this book was great. I haven't read a book like that in ages and haven't had an experience where I literally cannot stop thinking about it and am having to stop myself from reading it again straight away. Obviously 5/5 stars from me. It is the best. Please read it.     

July Wrap Up| CarenzaOnBooks

It's crazy to think we're now 3/4 of the way through the year! Where has 2017 gone? Before getting into this post, I want to apologies for my absence from social media since my last post. In all truthfulness, I didn't feel like posting. I felt that the amount I was posting was too much, so I decided to have a bit of a social detox and I am happy that I did it. I was feeling very stressed and down because I was putting so much pressure on myself to post frequently.

But enough of that, July was a decent reading month. I managed to read five books in July and I'm proud of that. I recently changed my Goodreads reading challenge from 75 to 60 books because I know I'm not going to get to read 75 books because I'm so busy. I read a wide range of books in July and loved almost all of them.

The first book I read was a audio book of Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. I got the audio book through the Overdrive app and listened to it over several days. I gave it 4/5 stars. It was really interesting reading a book set in World War Two that had real influences from the war. I'm yet to delve into the world of Historical Fiction and this was a nice introduction. I loved that it was told from four different perspectives and each character had their own narrator, making it easier to know which character you were listening. The only reason I docked a star was because the beginning was a bit slow and it took me a while to make the connections between the characters.

I then read Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu. I got a finished early copy from the Zoella Book Club in WH Smiths. I gave it 5/5 stars. I loved this book so much, so much so that I am contemplating giving it a higher rating on my 2017 favourites over Lord of Shadows. It was so nice to read a YA book about feminism and reading it made me feel so empowered. I am going to write a full review at some point soon, so keep an eye out for that. It isn't out in the UK till September, but you can get it in WH Smith before then.

Next I read a book for my local Waterstones book club and that was Days Without End by Sebastian Barry. I gave this 2/5 stars. In all truthfulness, I have absolutely no clue what happens in this book. I found it very hard to follow the narrative and the writing style made it impossible for me to understand who was speaking. It was interesting learning about the American Civil War, but apart from that, I did not enjoy this book.

I read The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury in one day. I gave it 4/5 stars as it was a super quick read and it was just a fun book. I don't think I've taken anything profound away from it and I've read similar books before, but it was nice reading a book so quickly that was just for fun. I'll pick up the next two books eventually, but for now I am happy that I've finally read The Sin Eater's Daughter.

The final book I read in July is a part of a reread I'm starting and that is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I have listened to the Harry Potter books on audio book (the Stephen Fry version) so many times, I could quote them in my sleep. But I can't remember the last time I picked them up in physical format. I read it in two days, I obviously gave it 5/5 stars. I actually finished it on July 31st. As this post goes up, I'm currently reading Goblet of Fire.

So that concludes my wrap up for July, I can already tell August is going to be a good reading month as I've already read two books. I still have loads of books I want to finish before I go back to college though.
Carenza x