As I mentioned in my previous wrap up post, I’m starting 2018 with a newborn baby, which is all kinds of wonderful, but also tiring! So yes, my reading rate has slowed down, although for once I prefer my kindle to an actual book, as you can easily read it while holding a baby and while sitting in the dark, feeding at 3am. So I still managed to get through a few books this month, three on my kindle, making Olive Kitteridge my only paperback read of January! So, onto my reviews:
- The Black Painting by Neil Olsen – review here
- Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton – review here
- The Cactus by Sarah Haywood – review here
- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout – review here
I also had a little think about my 2018 reading goals, one of which was to read more non-fiction and as my first non-fiction (and 5/5 rated) read of the year, Everything I Know About Love was just fantastic. Dolly Alderton’s memoir explores her mindset towards love (all different kinds) at different stages in her life. It was such a witty, funny, friendly book and a great way to start my year. The Cactus was also an easy-to-read, funny tale of Susan Green. A woman with a very autonomous view on life, until life takes things out of her control. I really enjoyed Olive Kitteridge (although did prefer a previous Stout novel I read – My Name is Lucy Barton) and really am in awe of Elizabeth Strout’s writing abilities. The Black Painting would sadly be my least favourite read of the month, on paper it had all the elements of a great story, but just didn’t live up to my expectations.
So, onto February and I’m going to try and hit another of my 2018 reading goals – to read more classics. The Handmaid’s Tale is a book I really feel I should have had in my life by now, so that’s definitely on my February TBR list. I’m leaving the rest of the month pretty open and will see how awake I am / what takes my fancy! Also – I have the next instalment in my author interview series coming up, which I am very excited to share with you, so keep an eye out for that!
Books on the 7:47 