Bookish Repose

As this is my first post in this series, I’m including my favourite reads and happenings for October and earlier.

What I’ve Read

The God and the Gumiho: I loved this book! It was inspired by Korean Mythology and reminiscent of K-Drama.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: This was a really interesting look at President Snow before he was President. It makes him a bit more sympathetic and helps the reader understand why he’s the way he is, but without forgiving him for the actions. It is helpful for him to understand his motivations and the experience that have influenced them, without exonerating him for the frankly horrific decisions he makes as an adult in The Hunger Games series. He’s still a bad guy, but he’s not just a random villain now.

Let’s Be Honest: This book is by a British politician, Jess Phillips, who advocates for women and girls who suffer violence and sexual assault by men. She is an incredible advocate and is now in the Government. This book was funny and relatable, and is part of a wider discourse looking at better ways for those in politics and those who aren’t to interact with each other better. Primarily in ways that are down-to-earth and mutually beneficial. I think these conversations are really important to help encourage people to be involved in politics, because politics affects every aspect of our lives so we need to be engaged with our politicians so that they can represent us better.

Weyward: This book was really heavy, but still a good read. It follows three women from different generations of the same family who are dealing with domestic and sexual violence and societal standards. It ties in nature as a way to

A Court of Wings and Ruin: This is the third book in the ACOTAR series and I loved it. It took me a while to get into it, but once I did I had a good time with it!

A Court of Frost and Starlight: This is the fourth book in the ACOTAR series and it was a bit of a breather. It tied up some things and set-up others for future books. What I found valuable was this book was primarily exploring Feyre’s mental state after three books of being the FMC (female main character) in a Sarah J Maas book. It explores ways she is trying to heal, by connecting with other people and exploring hobbies. I appreciated it for that because it helps make Feyre feel just that more real – she can’t just magically be A-ok after all that has happened. The poor woman has things to work through!

Writing Updates

I’m always thinking of writing, but I haven’t been writing recently. I’m making plans and getting myself ready to get back into a good writing habit, including looking for different things that might help.

Tiny Glade

This video game has been great for designing and being able to visualise my world. I love the little animals and animations in it, but I do wish you could design the internals of the buildings as well. It is also really relaxing to play!

Cosy Updates

This blog is all about things that I find cosy or will help me be cosy! These are some things that I’ve done to help with being cosier that don’t fall into the other categories.

Finch App

A friend introduced me to the Finch app, which feels like a self-care tamagotchi. I’ve been trying to get into better habits, and this has been a good way to do it. I’m using the free version and I’m enjoying it a lot. The app sends encouragement notifications throughout the day (and not even stressful ones!) and there are little pets you can collect and level up. You get eggs and can hatch them by tying it to a particular habit (like reading!), which has incentivised me to start reading to be able to get closer to hatching the egg, and has been really helpful for me to get out of my slump!

And it reminds me of Pokémon 🥰

“New” Chair

A great find at a charity shop. I’ve recently finished the big renovations for my study after buying my first home with my partner. I didn’t have a chair and didn’t have plans to get one soon, but stumbled across this one at a charity shop for £45! It’s very comfortable and in great condition!

Crochet

I’ve been getting a lot of migraines, which are decidedly not cosy! To avoid screens but still have something to do, I’ve learned how to crochet. I’m still very much a beginner, but I’ve been loving it and getting to make cosy things!

One of my favourite things is this bowl cosy that is great for hot bowls! This is the video I used to learn the pattern. I’m pretty sure my counts aren’t perfect, but they also don’t need to be, which is another thing I’m enjoying about crochet. You don’t have to be perfect and if you’ve made a mistake and want to fix it, it’s really easy to go back to do so.

Stardew Valley

One of my favourite video games is Stardew Valley. Concerned Ape has recently released a big update on the Switch, so I’ve started a new save to have the meadow farm. This is geared toward raising livestock with some tasty grass for them. I’m still new into this run though, but I love starting with the chickens!

Tig

Lastly, and the most cosy, is that we’ve started fostering an 18 year old cat named Tig! He’s sassy and adorable. He’s not particularly a cuddler, but being able to hang out and play with him has been great!

Cosy Plans for November

We are already half way through November, but this is what I’ve been working toward!

Continuing Series

There are so many books I want to read and series I want to start, but I’m in the middle of some, so I want to focus on finishing these before I jump into more series!

Grishaverse

I’m currently reading Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I’m enjoying it so far, but the main action hasn’t started yet. I’m hoping I’ll start getting through it more quickly!

Writing and Worldbuilding

Reading books on writing. I am an aspiring author and I get a lot out of reading books on writing. I’m currently reading through on Writing and Worldbuilding by Timothy Hickson. It’s really interesting and has some advice I haven’t seen before. I’m aiming to finish the first volume this month! Once I’ve finished the series, I’ll do a review of these.

Book Journal

I’ve been getting back into using my book journal on Goodnotes. I used to use Goodnotes for my book reviews all the time, but when they switched from 5 (which is what I use) to 6, I misunderstood and thought I wouldn’t be able to use it! I’ve recently discovered that I was wrong, so I’ve gone back to using this again. I’ll post a tour of my Goodnotes book journal once I’ve figured out the formatting of it. I’ve also purchased some sticker packs from Etsy and I’ve been really enjoying using them to jazz up my journal!

New Kindle

I had a 2022 Kindle Paperwhite and I usually keep my Kindles until they feel outdated or get too slow. I aim for at least 5 years with one, if not longer. However, I haven’t particularly been getting on with the Paperwhite. There are a lot of aspects that I enjoy, but if just feels awkward to read on because it is so big. So, I’ve done a trade-in and got the Kindle Matcha. This is a more basic version of the Kindle, but I am absolutely loving it! I’ve read so much more on it since it arrived…yesterday.

This is technically a downgrade, but I love the size and the screen is great to read on.

I was worried about having a colour on my Kindle because I’ve only ever had a black Kindle, but I find the colour genuinely calming and it doesn’t distract from the books at all.

Writing Plans

Mslexia Diary

I feel like I need to get more organised in all aspects of my life, but especially with my writing. I need to get back into the habit of writing regularly instead of just thinking about it!

I purchased the Mslexia diary for next year. It looks like it has a lot of writer-specific resources, and I’ve been reading through the resources and advice to get a feel for what to look forward to and plan for.

Thank-you for following me with this post! I’m expecting these posts to be shorter in the future as they’ll only encompass a month!

Do you have plans for the coming month about any plans – reading, writing, or anything! Let me know in the comments 😊