Monthly Wrap-Up | February 2019
February, I am sorry to see most of you go, but March, I’m really excited to see you. I’m looking forward to spring, more sunshine, and hopefully a better reading and blogging record.
Books I Read
1. Georgiana Darcy: A Sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by Alice Isakova – I wrote a book review for this novel, which I thought was fine. The characters were great, and Alice Isakova did a great job of incorporating details (and the occasional quote) that readers of Pride and Prejudice could appreciate while making the novel a work of its own – you don’t need to read Jane Austen’s novel to read this one [if you enjoy 19th century English literature]. You can read my thoughts on the drawbacks of Georgiana Darcy here.
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2. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison – This is the first Toni Morrison novel I have read, and I can still feel the emotion she put into every word, sentence, and chapter. I was not expecting 160 pages to be enough to effectively convey the impact and consequences of the various experiences, encounters, relationships, and truths within the story – I was wrong.
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3. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll – I finished Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland last month, which was enjoyable despite my severe dislike for Alice. However, Through the Looking Glass features more of what I did not like about its predecessor: Alice. It has whimsy and imaginative qualities, but somehow it has a much slower pace and more of Alice’s thoughts which I cannot stand (can I repeat this point enough?). So I decided to DNF it – my first for the year.
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4. The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo – The first half of this novel was wholly enjoyable. The supernatural, superstitious, and historical elements were expertly written and immersive. The following quarter of the novel was a little less enjoyable but still interesting, but by the last quarter it felt like the story had gone on for a little too long, and the neatly tied up loose ends were a little disappointing. I like that there are two main storylines, and then one or two side storylines within those, but again, by the end of the novel an elimination of one of those side storylines deflated the narrative a little bit – it feels like it wasn’t really necessary at all. Regardless, I did enjoy most of the book, so I will be seeking out more of Yangsze Choo’s work.
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I had hoped to finish The Good Immigrant by now – it was published here in the US a couple of weeks ago and I’ve had a copy from NetGalley on my phone for months – but I haven’t been able to read more than one essay at a time. I’m much better at handling reality through fiction – in a way that’s the only place societal and political conflict has occurred in my everyday life – so my slow pace isn’t about not liking the collection, it’s about the negative effects of only handling societal and political reality through fiction is having on my privileged self. Basically I’m taking time to reflect on each account (I’m about halfway through the collection).
In Other News…
I’ve come to the conclusion that I will never have a consistent blog schedule. My goal for improving my time management (in all areas of my life) seems further away somehow, but there’s nothing like a fresh month to give it another go. Flood the comments with optimism please, I could use some extra!
Finally, I’m still taking submissions for From Your Bookshelf – you can get the details here – and I am not taking book review requests until further notice. I need to get back on the read all the books I own train before I take on any more additional reading.
This conclusion is a bit mediocre, but I am excited to start a full-length month and am looking forward to spring and more sunshine. What are you looking forward to in March?
Happy reading!
-Kelsey
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8 Comments
Kristina
Wow, i’ve never heard of any of thoses books youve read before!
Of course having a blog schedule is good, but not having one is better than to give your reader some expectations to when look for your posts.. to end up actually not posting everything, eh? I wish you goodluck for this month! Xx
Also- I gotta think of that bookshelf post if I have something to say about that, mmh..
Kelsey
Yes, please do think about it! 🙂 You’re right about the schedule – not having one is working fine in terms of lovely people like you still visit my blog and chat with me. I would really like to bring more order to my blogging, and trying out a schedule feels like the best way to do that. Thank you for the well wishes! I hope you have a great month too!
Kaleena @ Reader Voracious
There’s nothing wrong with not having a blogging schedule! While it works for me and is liberating, I know that for others it causes anxiety and stress. I am confident that you will be able to tackle time management though! I set aside specific times of the day for certain tasks and that helps Happy reading this month!
Kelsey
Thank you Kaleena! I’ve already been 100% better with writing down at least three things a day I need to get done for my blog – from drafting a post to blog hopping for an hour or so to editing SEO on old posts (etc.). If I accomplish at least two of those things I consider it a success – paired with starting yoga, March is off to a calm and focused start. 😊 Happy reading to you too!
Kaleena @ Reader Voracious
Ooh that is a GREAT idea and I am glad that is working for you!!!
Janet Givens
There are two Through the Looking Glass novels? Lewis Carrol and CS Lewis are two different authors in very different times, though both are Brits. I imagine CS Lewis (who did the Narnia series) could have added a creative twist to the classic Lewis Carrol tale. Btw, I learned a bit more about C S Lewis (played by Anthony Hopkins) in the movie Shadowlands.
Kelsey
WOW thank you for catching that! I think the Narnia re-read I started at the end of February had something to do with this slip; yikes! 🙃 And I do agree that C.S. Lewis could have added some excellent magic to the story.
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