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…
stacking the shelves
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.
April started with an unexpected honour: I was invited to take part in WiFi SciFi and moderated my first panel! The rest of April has been much less exciting – gardening, baking, and a nostalgic visit to Baldur’s Gate. Sadly, my reading and blogging have slipped as my concentration is poor. I’ll keep trying…
I spent half of March in Dublin (yes, I’ve spent a lot of time in Dublin recently – good food, good craic, and a successful project deployment, hooray) and half of it enjoying my glorious new home office set-up and trying not to panic about the coronapocalypse. About which the less said the better. Stay safe, friends.
I spent half of February in Dublin, saw James McAvoy on stage for my birthday, and read some brilliant books. So really? It’s been a pretty amazing month, whatever the weather.
It’s been a slow start to the year for me in terms of work (at least by comparison), so I’ve had a chance to catch my breath and catch up on reviews. I say catch up – I’ve also done a lot of reading, so the net result feels like treading water, but at least my backlog is more recent…
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish, and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It’s all about books, lists and sharing the love we have of both with our bookish friends. Today we’re celebrating the most recent additions to our shelves!
Until Dave mentioned it on Twitter (thanks Dave), I hadn’t really thought about it being the end of a decade. Yes, this month my head has been stuck under a work rock, then full of head cold, then full of Christmas. I’ll try to get my head around epochs at some point, but for now let’s look back at December…
I don’t like to do things by halves: November was SciFiMonth here on the blog, the final run down to a massive project launch at work, and saw family visiting from overseas at home. It’s been tricky to juggle and I’m finishing the month overtired and unwell – but hey, there are only 24 reading days until Christmas 😉
