That Bookish Life

I didn’t choose the bookish life………lol idk who I think I’m kidding of course I did 😀 I like big books and I cannot lie. I also like procrastinating, which is why I was just as surprised as anyone else when I actually pulled out all my unreviewed books and finally took the pictures I’ve been putting off.

THESE ARE ALL COMING TO A BLOG NEAR YOU. (EVENTUALLY.)

Anyway. It might not seem like it, but I actually have been reading and even have some reading stats, which I don’t always at this point in the month. I’ve generally been pretty good about reading, but I’ve also been slumping on and off, though according to goodreads I’m still three books ahead of schedule.

Mid-Month Reading Stats

January
4 books finished // 1,470 pages

February
5 books finished // 1,682 pages

Currently Reading

WARNING: Spoilers.

A Clash of Kings
George R.R. Martin
Current rating: 4 stars. I’ve been bingeing the show while reading the books, which is giving me a comprehensive view of the differences between the two. They are enormous. Right now I’m 43% of the way through book 2 and about to start season 4 (which means I just got through the Red Wedding and it was every bit as awful as I remembered it being).

My main takeaway at the moment is that I really love Asha. I loved her in the show (where her name has been changed to Yara to avoid confusion with Osha because apparently TV audiences are dumb? idk) but I love her even more in the book because the show unfortunately cut out a lot of her banter with Theon. Theon himself is exactly as gross as he is in the show and I don’t like him any better than I ever have, but I wasn’t expecting to. I’m also grateful that Jon isn’t as dumb in the book as he is in the show: in the show he keeps getting himself in trouble while tramping around north of the Wall, but in the book he at least has the good sense to keep his mouth shut and his head down in Craster’s Keep.

Now that I’m going through it again, I honestly have no idea where I quit the first time I tried to read A Clash of Kings. There are scenes I recognize, such as the one where Dany first meets the Qartheens in Vaes Tolorro, so I must have got farther than I thought, but other scenes I don’t remember at all, which makes me wonder if I DNF’d early on and then peeked at later chapters. I did look through A Storm of Swords without actually reading it, so it’s entirely possible I did the same with A Clash of Kings. Whatever the case, my reread is going well and I’m pretty sure I’m past the point where I DNF’d, and I’m running into all kinds of things that weren’t in the show, so it’s been pretty exciting.

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration
Isabel Wilkerson
Current rating: 5 stars. I really liked Caste, Wilkerson’s latest book, and so far I like The Warmth of Other Suns even better. Because it follows three main stories rather than using shorter anecdotes, it feels more personal and engaging. I don’t expect to finish this one before March; I normally try to blaze through books to get to the end ASAP, but I want to take my time with Warmth, the better to understand it.

Birthday ‘nanigans

Last weekend was my birthday, and it was actually really nice, COVID notwithstanding. I have a 50-50 track record with birthdays because I tend to vacillate on whether I want to celebrate. This year for some reason I was cool with it and I’m not sure why, but it may have something to do with seizing on any excuse to celebrate during a pandemic.

Day 1

Last year my birthday was pretty quiet because it fell on a Wednesday, but this year it fell on a Friday, which meant a whole weekend of debauchery food and books. To briefly summarize: pizza, Chinese food, book shopping, and mayhem. Oh and also these amazing socks and a screaming goat sent by Meriel who is not allowed to stop being my friend at any point because she knows too much.

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A post shared by Carolyn (@bookycnidaria)

There was also cheesecake. It was a good day.

Day 2

Since we couldn’t have a full-scale joint friends birthday dinner like we normally do, Michaella suggested that the two of us take ourselves off to BN and pick out our own birthday presents. An ice storm got in the way the first time we tried, but luckily we managed to go the next day and I came home two hours later with a book haul that was a little bit large in the same way that rats are a little bit covered in fur.

These were the books Michaella got me.

A few of the others were bought using a gift card from Heather and the rest just hopped into my arms and came along for the ride. Then I decided I really really really wanted These Violent Delights despite months of waffling and ended up dragging Michaella to a second BN specifically in order to find it. I’m excited about all of these books, but I’m really looking forward to Remote Control because the main character is the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death and I am a sucker for Grim Reaper stories.

After picking up the last three I decided we needed to leave before I bought any more books, so we went to Starbucks (because we had gift cards to spend) and my mocha came with a little heart on it. It is also still sitting in the fridge one week later because I keep forgetting to finish it. At this point I’m not really sure if it’s still drinkable. /headdesk

Random Junk

I like taking pictures of my food, so here’s the Greek food we ordered last night, followed by the Queen of Bad Nests being very, very cold. You’re welcome.