July was going to be my month of reading and reviewing all the books, as I had two weeks off. Instead, it turned into an unexpected reading slump and blogging hiatus as the heat dialled up and going away meant getting an awful lot of real-world things done ahead of time. Our trip to the Highlands meant we escaped the worst of the heatwave, although sadly we had to come back a day early following a confirmed close contact / self-isolation ping. Pandemics, eh.
stacking the shelves
June means Pride and as I had few rigid reading commitments, I indulged in mood reading focused on queer characters. I immediately dived into space opera, which made me so happy I clearly need to balance my recently fantasy-dominated reading diet back out. I’ve loved my fantasy this year (and my fantasy read this month will make my Best of 2021 lists for sure) …but I’ve missed my spaceships.
May is always a joy because it’s Wyrd and Wonder. I started out with big ambitions, but had to dial back posts and social media activity due to a lingering migraine that bit whenever I spent too much time staring at a screen (dammit). I persevered with tree editions (paper doesn’t glare) for some quiet reading in dim rooms, until my brain shut me down with a reading slump. Tch, I can take a hint brain. Well, sometimes.
April began with a delightful weekend of SFnal novellas for All Systems Read, which left me very focused for both hoovering up my reading list and tackling my review backlog. In other areas, April served up a reality check thanks to my beloved and his sense of humour: turns out some jigsaw puzzles really are absurdly hard and take days. SO MANY DAYS. Consider my patience well and truly tested.
I slid off my review game in March, distracted first by Stardew Valley and then by chopping off part of my thumb one Thursday, which is as painful and inconvenient as it sounds (but thankfully didn’t involve a trip to A&E). The kicker? Not the first time I’ve done it. To that thumb. Sorry, thumb. Luckily, I don’t need 2 thumbs to read…
I will never outgrow my love of snow (as I don’t live in a place where we get much of it) so a cold snap and my birthday delivered much glee this month. As it seems I’m getting too old for that much excitement, the second half of the month was spent mostly exhausted, which was at least a solid excuse to just curl up and read.
I am managing my expectations for 2021, which started with me noticing on New Year’s Day that I had acquired a large and rather painful bruise on my knee: 2020’s final gift. It seems as good a metaphor as any for this year. In case I was hoping for better from 2021, I promptly head-butted a door handle. Yes, ridiculous household accidents are my superpower. At least I remember this one…
Is it over yet? I started 2020 with a heap of work that saw me yoyoing to Dublin (…no complaints, Dublin was fab) then flying home for lockdown. It’s been a year that has been endless and timeless and anxious. And now it’s nearly 2021. I wonder what it has in store for us? I’ll do a full 2020 redux early in the new year, but for now let’s look back at December…
Well that was a MONTH, huh? Time is an illusion in 2020, but I’m pretty sure November has lasted longer than its allotted 30 days (election week alone must have lasted at least that long). But SciFiMonth has been a joy, as always: thank you to everyone who took part and made it such a success!
October began with a holiday in my favourite place (Scotland) and ended with Spooktastic Reads, so fair to say it was a hit from start to finish. However, it included far less reading (and reviewing) than I anticipated – seems I’ve been more burnt out than I really wanted to acknowledge.
September started well with the announcement of our 2020 Subjective Chaos Kind of Award winners, but it has felt like sailing into the wind ever since. To quote Bilbo, I’m feeling like butter spread over too much bread and would like a holiday (although not a permanent holiday). Preferably one with books and a blanket. Strictly no magic rings.
August has historically seen me hit a book slump, but this year I got that out of the way in July. The month started out hot and humid, perfect for finding a cool spot to read rather than doing anything more strenuous – and ended up cool enough to want to snuggle up under a blanket with a book. I set to on Subjective Chaos finalists and ARCs – and discovered the joy of audiobooks on walks and whilst cooking. Why didn’t I ever try this before?
July has been a quiet month in books: the first half flew by with barely any reading thanks to real-world work-related meltdowns – although when I did find some books I could settle in with they were exactly what I needed. The trick was finding the right book to read.
I devoted June to revisiting Dominion of the Fallen and catching up on the works of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which bought me time to catch up on a few overdue reviews and made me as happy as a pig in mud. Which I’ll take, as the world is otherwise an overwhelming trashfire.
May has been a month of Wyrd and Wonder. Outside of that glorious celebration of all things fantasy, I’ve been frustratingly absorbed by work, which is busy and more effort than usual because <gestures wildly> my concentration still isn’t what it usually is. Thankfully, May contained two long weekends when I could decompress with books and baking.
