On the eve of my favourite sporting competition (Wimbledon) I’m here to talk about how competitive reading needs to calm down- again. Recently I watched a video about pushing yourself to read challenging books and (no shade to the creator who I think is genuinely trying to make a helpful video) I was struck once again with how much pressure there is in the reading space right now.
Now, obviously, I am not against reading for self-improvement or reading complex literature (I went to uni twice to study literature after all 😉). But I did cringe a little when the creator described how he was taking lessons from gym culture. Because, while I (shockingly) am not a complete couch potato, reading as a sport runs counter to my views as a reader. Reading is not something I want to “power through”, it’s not a muscle I want to stretch and it’s not something I want to need stamina for- in fact quite the opposite.
Reading for me is something that calms my brain and eases the nervous system. Maybe this is because I’ve currently been experiencing waves of burnout, but I have to concur with the video from cari can read that we need to find ways of bringing back pleasure in reading. By all means, if reading competitively gets you going, go ahead- however I’m beginning to find these discussions exhausting. Personally, with all the chaos of everyday life, I feel like the last thing we need in the reading space is more pressure and more judgement.
Which brings me onto the example of Mrs Dalloway, which was used in the video, as something you can (and even should) push through- even if you don’t like it. To me, this couldn’t have been a more perfect example of when you don’t need to force yourself to like a book! By sheer coincidence, I’d only just finished rereading this novel and had found my opinions hadn’t changed on the reread. Simply put, I am not someone who gets on with stream of consciousness, so while I like Woolf on a line level, I have never been able to enjoy her books as a whole. And that’s OK! For me, this is a classic case of differences in style. Some people enjoy the chaos of stream of consciousness and for others (like me) it turns your brain to soup. It’s a bit like the Hemmingway-Fitzgerald divide- you can love one and not the other- or you can enjoy both! It’s simply a preference. There is no reason to force yourself to like something (even something well-written) if it isn’t to your taste. It does not say anything about your intellect- in the same way that you can support whatever football team you want (though clearly Gunners are THE CHAMPIONS 😉). And you do not need to feel like you have to keep going with something you hate because it’ll make you sound impressive to have read it.
Of course, if you want to suffer through a book you do not like, that’s your prerogative. And regardless, I do recommend taking notes- or even write in books if you so choose! But never feel afraid to DNF. Because life’s too short and no one is testing you (unless of course you are literally being tested- as I was the first time I read Woolf 😉).
And that’s all for now! How do you feel about competitive reading? Do you power through books you dislike? Let me know in the comments!
***Received from Netgalley in exchange for review- but all thoughts are my own… I swear this book didn’t possess me… I hope!!***
What a banging thriller! Though it quietly creeps up on you, this is the kind of book that will have you locked-in reading from the moment you crack that first page!
Under a mysterious shroud, we enter the Vale of Health in Hampstead. Leaning into the uncanny, Jewell introduces us to a place that even Londoners may have never set foot in. A hidden London, tucked away, which hums with contradictions. Somewhere that is both familiar and unfamiliar, cosy and discomfiting, the house exudes an unnerving energy. Set back from the bustle of the city, this place buzzes with silence. The garden vacillates between luscious and unkempt at times, a telling symbol for those who dwell inside.
This creepy atmosphere extends to the inhabitants. With her characteristic weirdness, Jewell gets deep into the psyche of this (on the surface) picture-perfect family. They all play their parts so precisely- yet while they project familial bliss, something smells off. Behind jovial (clown) masks, they conceal their sinister secrets and traumatic truths.
As we peel back the rotten layers that wallpaper this domestic thriller, the story will start to make you squirm. There’s a seedy reality behind the polished exterior. My only quibble is that I was a tad disarmed by the way the reveal was executed and felt it lacked a little believability. Nonetheless, the twist did catch me unawares and the narrative forces the reader to root themselves inside the trauma of the victims. Once I bore the full weight of everything that had happened, I was left unbalanced by the impact.
In some ways a reflective and personal angle, the novel allows you to learn more about the people behind the story, rather than just walking you through the mystery. Utilising a full cast to excellent effect, the connections and characters are expertly portrayed. I have to give a special mention to our heroine, who is the kind of shiny, middle-aged lady that I love to read about. Flawed, but bright and a dog lover (!!!) Jane had me cheering her on every step of the way!
By the end of this, I felt like I’d been put through the wringer emotionally. The horror of all the wild revelations took resident in my mind and haunted me for the rest of the day. At the same time, I was moved by the unconventional family bonds that served as a mirror image for the supposedly ideal family. Oddly heartwarming, Jewell was really on form with It Could Have Been Her. So, what are you waiting for: it could be you reading this tantalising thriller!
Rating: 4½/5 bananas
So, have you read Jewell’s new thriller? Do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!
Apparently, people shouldn’t complain about politics in books, because “there has always been politics in books”. This is becoming an increasingly popular comeback (alongside: it’s anti-intellectual to criticise books for their politics and who would have a problem with *my* politics anyway? My opponents are all bigots!) As someone who has frequently complained about politics in books, I’ve decided to clarify: your politics are dumb and they are ruining books. There, I said it.
That is not to say I am afraid to address this argument head-on. We can absolutely discuss whether there’s always been politics in books. The first problem we have is the assumption that those of us complaining mean ALL books ALL THE TIME (I’d hate to find myself on the wrong side of Orwell: “The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude”). Clearly, if you look at my backlist, it is not the case that I object to all politics in books (and the same logic can be applied to many others in my shoes). Even when it comes to politics I disagree with- though I stand by the fact most writers cannot say they have the standard of writing of a John Steinbeck or Alix E Harrow to get away with writing propagandistic books. The second and more pressing problem is we have very different definitions of politics. For me, it makes the most sense to define political affairs as “competition between competing interest groups or individuals for power and leadership” (Merriam Webster) or “a power struggle between groups of people” (British Academy). Evidently, I believe there are limits to what can and cannot be defined as political. However, if you use the somewhat abused quote “the personal is political” (Carol Hanisch) or worse “everything is politics” (Mann) then suddenly politics becomes an all-encompassing beast that you cannot escape. If everything is political, then, sure, every social interaction, human experience or even animal interactions can be read through this lens. And, in that way, we cannot escape modern politics, even if it is not an inherently political book. AT THE SAME TIME, we are being told not to believe the evidence of our own eyes if we complain about an increase of politics in books.
Which is why I am not convinced this argument is being made in good faith. Particularly as many will follow this up by complaining that modern books are dismissed as “woke” without proper critique… ignoring countless examples of very thorough critique (say what you like about anti-woke Star Wars fans, for instance, but you can’t say they didn’t explain their views!). This is made worse by the fact the same people pretend “woke” has no substantive meaning, even though they invented this concept after the term “social justice warrior” started being used by their opponents… one can only guess what they will shapeshift into next. Defensiveness aside (I mean, I can’t judge, I’m being defensive right now 😉) I think we all use lazy shorthand sometimes- which does not mean the critique is invalid- yet unfortunately shows that discussion has become far too polarised.
All we can agree on is that this is a dead-end discussion. It is, after all, a waste of time to get into the weeds over whether something constitutes art, when we could be asking: is it good art? I, and others like me, should never have been arguing whether politics should be there in the first place. The question has always been: do the arguments have merit? And therein lies the real issue. To use a more concrete example: is a throwaway line from Austen about colonialism really the same as orange man bad?
Yeah laugh it up… but all us orangutans are *offended*
Obviously, I can’t discuss every. single. stupid thing that has ever seen publication… that’s why you have to follow along 😉 However, having been in the reviewing game for years, I do have plenty of instances to draw on. My go to example is often the “war is bad” idea, frequently touted as profound in books likeA Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Not only is this a vacuous, unnuanced and nonsensical position, but it’s also a clear example of moral relativism. If you draw on actual historical accounts, like Women in Berlin, you’ll see the outcome of losing a war is an ugly business. The idea that you can decide not to act when a marauding band of men turn up at your borders is naïve at best (which seems to be the current stance on WW1, even if you’re living in France and the Germans are quite literally invading… suffice to say I’m not a fan of this rewriting of history to suit highly-sensitive modern sensibilities). Nevertheless, the moral relativist view does not see an inherent value to standing up to violence and therefore can make (what is in fact a moral judgement) that engaging with war in the first place is a bad idea.
Then you get other ways that ideas run in circles. I’ve dedicated posts to books that make no sense and you can bet there are political books among them, however I will gladly go into a few cases now. Starting with the harmless, yet inherently stupid Starielbooks, where, in the name of gender equality, Queens and Ladies have been erased, instead making a woman a Lord (also, her mother literally becomes her father, because becoming a man is the only way for a woman to ever hold power- that’s not sexist at all 😅). Next we move into the farcical, for the gender-bending, navel-gazing luvvies, you have Our Infinite Fates. Praised for its “gender fluidity”, this makes the point that the main character does not feel like either gender and that the body is just a vessel- which ironically is the exact same argument that us “biological determinists” make 😉. Throw Our Dark Duet into the mix, with its grammatically incorrect pronouns, and you’ll have a classic case of swallowing the Judith Butler “I’m too smart to be logical” koolaid. Obviously, this is inherently confusing for us normies who do not spend our lives obsessing over gender (but will inevitably be accused by gender-fanatics of being obsessed if we dare to comment on their nonsense). Yet where the danger really lies is in disgusting books like Mad Honey, where magical thinking gets you out of lying to a romantic partner about your biological sex, because according to their logic, it’s okay to lie if you’re trans (BTW if you are reading these books as gospel, you should be aware that this is a criminal offence). Even more horrifyingly, you have Every Day, lauded as a magnificent LGBT book, despite being built around the concept of body-snatching for non-consensual entanglements.
To go along with any one of these baffling premises, you really do need to be in the CURRENT POLITICS IS KING CLUB. To an outsider, these woke narratives are about as interesting as a medieval morality play (no shade if that’s your jam 😉). Which brings me onto the Marxism of it all. Get annoyed with me all you like, however, it is evident this is the idea that underpins so much of this bad writing. And I know, since the internet is a place where nuance comes to die, I can already here the furious tapping of keys “…capitalist shill… something something… how dare you…” (I’ve had enough posts specifically criticising consumerism that set people off because I also criticised communism). Sorry if I’ve read too many books like Gulag Archipelagoand Wild Swansand In Order to Live to think your representation of Marxist characters is cool, Sally Rooney. Shoving this into your book is the weirdest kind of “representation matters”, because you are shilling for a murderous ideology that has been disproven countless times. Oh, wait, I forgot, despite hero-worshipping murderers like Stalin, Che Guevara and Chairman Mao, you think the only reason communism didn’t work is because it hasn’t been implemented properly (despite the inherent flaws in the Communist Manifesto) and *you* are the only one, THE ULTIMATE SAVIOUR, who can implement communism better than all your heroes combined. Yeah, I’m not buying what you’re not selling. I’ve been inoculated by too much actual knowledge to fall for propaganda shrieking at me to eat the rich.
Cannibalism aside, I imagine this post is pointless because it’s not going to convince anyone to leave the cult of woke. In fact, I’ll be impressed if anyone who truly disagrees with me made it this far. Bonus points if you can see past the buzzwords and realise that we may agree or disagree on points across the political aisle, whilst still seeing each other as human (or monkey as the case may be 😉). Unfortunately, too many of us are having two very different arguments and talking at cross-purposes. Though I cannot get others to see reason, I can state my own case. Over here, I’m fighting for the soul of literature, for meaning to actually mean something and for ideas that make sense. I am against the nonsensical moralising of modern books. I know this is a reactionary response- only I am tired of the trashy books dressed up as profound. I do not want to live in a world where power and politics takes over every aspect of life. I’ve got to stand up for what I believe in- and that’s good art, good stories and good concepts. So, I will continue pointing out if your opinions are dumb. I will not bend the knee to faux-intellectualism. Commend brute ugliness all you want- true art will always win.
“Truth is beauty, beauty truth. That is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.”
References:
Hanisch, Carol. “The Personal is Political.” Notes from the Second Year: Women’s Liberation. Eds. Firestone, Shulasmith and Anne Koedt. New York: Radical Feminism, 1970.
Mann, Thomas. The Magic Mountain. 1924. Translated by H. T. Lowe-Porter, Vintage Books, 1992.
Orwell, George. “Why I Write.” Gangrel, Summer 1946.
And that’s all for now! Have I gone too far? Or are you as sick of modern politics in books as I am? Let me know in the comments!
We need to talk about the heroine problem currently plaguing modern books. Though I’ve been complaining about the issue of Mary Sues in stories for years now, the advent of romantasy has only seemed to have made the situation so much worse. Female characters are frequently depicted as impossibly strong, overpowered and practically perfect in every way…. which is supremely dull to read about!
Despite endless complaints online, authors just do not seem to be getting the memo that #GirlBoss do not make for compelling characters. So often when I pick up a romantasy book, I’m DNFing on the basis of seeing yet another boringly perfect character. Whether they are an actual god (like in Heavenly Bodies) or genius levels of smart (often without proof like in Modern Divination), we’re supposed to be thrilled by yet another depiction of a girl kicking it up a gear.
Too often authors are mistaking competence for growth. Increased confidence in your abilities is a stand-in for any complex development. Often the arcs aren’t just static, they are all about going backwards (aka returning to a state of innocent self-belief that you had before THE MAN told you you’re not good enough). With characters like Mulan from the remake, Captain Marvel and even Elsa from Frozen the message is *don’t change, you were perfect all along*.
Which brings me onto Jemima Puddleduck. I don’t know what this says about me, but Jemima was always my favourite Beatrix Potter story. On one level, she’s a very stupid duck and her tale is told for laughs. However, when you delve deeper, the narrative is actually quite the personal tragedy. She is a flawed and foolish character, who brings about her own destruction with her cluelessness, and suffers before she can be allowed to have her happy ending. Perhaps it was this pathos that made me fall for this tale- because in this simple story there is a lesson for us all: we need to be allowed to fail a few times, before we can learn to fly. Characters do not need to be perfect or tremendously competent for us to fall for them. In fact, it is often weaknesses that make them so compelling.
When I think of great characters, I often look to the ones who break apart and come back together. That is the real reason we admire the Katniss Everdeens of the world (who I have seen mistakenly labelled a Mary Sue). It is not her skill with a bow that we find so admirable- but the way she fights for what she believes in, even when she has been shattered by trauma. It is not the strength we admire- but grit in the face of loss.
So, this is what I would like to see in my fiction from now on. Not the airbrushed version of women that Hollywood and now romantasy seem to be pushing. Let’s bring back real characters in literature. Let’s allow women to be human (or ducks, as the case may be).
What do you think? Are you tired of the strong woman trope? Do you want to see more Jemima Puddleducks in stories? Let me know in the comments!
Today I have a very special review I’ve been saving up. Knowing that my sister the Monkey Baby is just as big a fan of Laini Taylor as I am, I knew this review wouldn’t be complete without her thoughts! So today we’re both here to tell you about this very special re-release of Laini Taylor’s debut (*spoiler alert* we both loved it!!)
Monkey Baby: Ohio amigos and bonjourno Americanos!
With her signature lyrical style, Laini Taylor instantly captivated me with this fantastical faerie story. Though I was initially worried I wouldn’t love this as much as her other adored series, I was quickly proven wrong and found this sublime tale something to savour.
Monkey Baby: I had no doubt I would love it but I was proven wrong, I don’t love it, I adore it!!!! It’s every fairytale cupcake dream you could ever wish for and more!
Oh and the world building was simply *MAGICAL*! It’s like Laini Taylor spilled wild imagination onto the page!! The attention to detail- like the little foxlick- was just *chef’s kiss*. And after the recent spate of faerie books, I’m not even a faerie gal, but I LOVED this! Although I know you feel differently about faeries…
Monkey Baby: I’m obsessed with fairies, I think in another life I was a fairy, maybe a monkey baby fairy who knows. But what I do know is Laini must have met them because she brings them to life in the most exquisitely, beautiful, captivating way! The characters are so charming Poppy and Magpie I believe I’ve met them
Using alternating perspectives for the chapters, I felt a deeper connection with the characters and saw the full scope of the story. I was reminded this was technically an older style of fantasy- and I have to say it was a real treat to be so fully immersed in the narrative. Plotwise, this was a proper story, full of heart and sweet relationships. I flew through this- and now I hunger for more!
Monkey Baby: I’m desperate for more, I savoured every word so much it’s inscribed in my soul now. The plot went to unexpected places and the magic is so intriguing, there’s so many directions this tale could take off and I want to be there for the flight! Thank you to the best sister who gifted me this extraordinary fairytale 💖
Well then, I think it’s clear we have to give this book ALL THE BANANAS!!!
And that’s all for now! Have you read this book- either in the past or with the re-release? Let me know in the comments!
Hello all! Erm, I don’t really know how to explain what happened in the last month, except to say I feel like I’ve been hit by a freight train (but also, I swear I’m alright, just a little sore from a few too many trips to the doctor 😅). Short of using the medium of dance, I can’t actually do the madness of this month justice, so I’ll leave it up to your imagination.
Annnnd the saddest thing of all: my reading has suffered. I swear I haven’t had a reading slump this bad in, well, ever?! Look at this sad (supportive) dog face:
Luckily there were a few positives, like going to the Lord of the Rings screenings at the Royal Albert Hall…
I also went to see some controversial comedy- here’s one of the least offensive jokes I could find 😉
And I guess I have time to talk about a few books too:
The In Between- surprisingly for a memoir written by a hospice nurse, this is a reassuring book about death, which can teach us so much about life. Affirming in the best possible way, this book makes you feel like you’re surrounded by love. I also personally appreciated that the author seamlessly wove in her own backstory, explaining her road to the profession and how it affected her private life. Still, though this book did manage to make me teary, I had some reservations. Notably, my hesitation around the authenticity of the book comes from the fact that she’s an internet personality and I’ve been burned before by extraordinary claims in supposed autobiographies (I don’t think I’m ever getting over the Salt Path debacle). If we’re taking this at face value, then, yes, this is a strong read. And I’m always open to hearing advice like eat the cake 😉
Rating: 4/5 bananas
The Name Game– I don’t know what people are playing at rating this Beth O’Leary book so low, because I frickin adored it! So full of love and joy and hope, this is the epitome of the cliché when one door closes, another door opens. And honestly, I don’t know if this is a case of finding the right book at exactly the right time, but I needed a little of this in my life right now! On top of that the concept of two Charlie Joneses turning up for a job on a tiny island, having to compete for the place and then falling for each other is a GREAT CONCEPT! For me, when Beth O’Leary goes a little off the rails with her ideas, you get the best results! Also, Charlie was an excellent character (with an excellent name 😉 my dog is always happy to see more Charlies in a book!!) Even better, the way the flashbacks added to the narrative were on point and I loved the twist (which I only half guessed, so I guess I got played!). All in all, this book was the perfect remedy to life chaos. The only problem was that this didn’t help with my slump at all because I only wanted to read more books like this and couldn’t find anything to match the vibes!!!
Rating: 5/5 bananas
What Lies in the Woods– it seems rom coms and thrillers were what I needed to get me out of my funk, because Beth O’Leary and Kate Alice Marshall successfully cured me of my reading slump. Intertwined with mythology, this was a deliberately dark story about three girls that lied. Only, one of those girls, our narrator, actually suffered a huge trauma and the other two are traumatised by what happened. While the mythological twist to the story does not actually run very deep, I did appreciate the psychological bend to this thriller. With a thoughtful look at victims and victimhood, this was a surprisingly sensitive horror story. Rather than glorying in blood and guts and violence, here the gore serves a purpose. Even if it was sufficiently easy to guess many of the twists, this sufficiently tampered with my expectations and led me down a tangled path. The search for the truth reminded me of real-life cold cases and the gripping pain of trying to solve them. I particularly liked the false trails and misdirection, as I lost myself in the narrative weeds. My only major gripe with this was when it entered the last act, I had to suspend my disbelief about survival rates. Overall, this was exactly what a sultry summer thriller should be: murky, mysterious and murder-filled.
Rating: 4/5 bananas
Leaf by Niggle– to me, this rings very much of allegory. But I don’t personally have any gripe with that and I did think highly of this Tolkien’s short tale. Highly readable, this flowed like a leaf caught in a breath of air, floating easily into my mind’s eye. Yet, above all, this seemed like a window into Tolkien’s own mind, glimpsing at his philosophy more than anything else. As I read, I soaked up the story, drinking in a simple and refreshing narrative to quench a thirsty soul.
Rating: 5/5 bananas
Before I go, I have to give a shoutout to Tom Ayling on Youtube, who has not inspired me to read more unusual classics like De Profundis, but who has also sparked an absolute fascination with rare books:
Annnd that’s all for now! Have you read any of these? What did you think of them? Let me know in the comments! And I hope you all had a good month! ❤
Gone are the golden days of YA- and I’m still sad about it. As a librarian, I’ve watched so many teens struggle to find a new book to read and it’s kinda depressing. While there is a concerted effort to get kids into reading, as soon as they hit 12, it seems like educators and publishers just give up. Indeed, Briana on Pages Unbound has also pointed out, where are the splashy YA titles these days? Like Krysta at Pages Unbound says: The Heyday of YA is Over.
Frankly, this didn’t just come out of nowhere. We all saw the YA movement being largely co-opted by adult women a number of years ago. The soul of YA was sacrificed for adult-themed stories. Though this did result in larger profits (for a time) the end result is that teens were pushed out of their own age category. I know I sound like a broken record, saying books like Iron Widow and Court of Thorns and Roses are NOT YA, but teens simply did not want to read books with such mature themes. In my personal experience, many do not do not want to read hypersexualised books- heck most children aren’t even interested in romance!
Of course, it’s not like we can’t read backlist books, but this is a little limiting for children from lower-income backgrounds who exclusively get their books from the library. Libraries are required to update stock regularly, both to get new books in and because of limited space, which means deleting older books. I worked in probably the poorest borough in London and they had a serious problem retaining stock due to space issues, so believe me, I understand the frustration of having to remove books when the statistics tell you that the only copy of a classic book is not being read enough to justify keeping it. The only reason this system worked was because it was part of the Libraries Consortium, giving readers access to virtually all libraries across London. Yet, while this works if you’re an old dude that just wants to read Crime and Punishment, it is much harder for a teenager to find a 2010s YA book to read… especially if they don’t even know what they’re looking for! (and also, realistically, most libraries do not stock books that are 10+ years old, because they also have to follow the same practices).
The only conclusion that I can draw from this is that it’s time for publishers to start choosing books for teens again. Though I don’t think this will solve all the problems (issues in quality control need to be addressed across the board in publishing) I do think that choosing books that belong in the marketing category you are selling would be a start. Mismarketing adult books as YA has failed. It’s time to return to basics and start thinking about what teens want to read- instead of worrying about what will appeal to *everyone*. Because if you try to please everyone, you will please no one.
Beyond this, I do think this logic could be expanded into improving MG. While there are genuinely good MG still being published, it is getting trickier to find them and there has been an issue with aging-up this category as well. I don’t think it’s dying in the same way that YA is, but it’s still on life support. For both categories, there need so be a serious injection of FUN! What can I say? Despite adults shoving more and more messages into stories, Children still just want dragons and drama and adventure (as a children’s librarian now, those are the three most common requests!)
Even though we may have lost the YA of yesteryear, I do believe this can be a good thing for reviving books for teens. It needed to collapse in order for us to build something new. I have hope that publishers can learn lessons from what’s not working and rethink their strategies. Then we may get some truly great books for actual teens again. YA is dead, long live YA!
So, what do you think? Is YA dying or already dead? Do you think it can be revived? Let me know in the comments!
No joke, I am in dire need of a pick me up right now 😅. So, we’re talking about funny picturebooks today!
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates– this book is absolutely hilarious!!!! This might be my favourite, because I like books when people get eaten (I don’t know what that says about me).
The Disgusting Sandwich– children may enjoy how gross this is and the ending made me bark with laughter!
Ten Delicious Teachers– this was not what I expected, in the best possible way. Toying with the counting book structure, this has a seemingly conventional rhythm, whilst having a deliciously enjoyable twist!
This Book is Perfect– I’m really glad that modern books have embraced the concept of FUN, because reading playful and cheeky stories like this bring me so much joy. One could even say they’re perfect 😉
Don’t Push the Button– interactive books are a newer trend and I am absolutely here for it! And I don’t know why, but the reverse psychology works a charm on me 😉
Do Not Open This Book– speaking of which, if you can’t get enough of this kind of book, then you definitely should NOT read this one 😉 You have no idea the terrible things that will happen if you open this book!!
The Book With No Pictures– initially I wasn’t all that sure about this book… and then I read it to children. This one definitely gets a giggle going!
Open Very Carefully: a book with a bite– I love this author’s work (particularly Bad Cat). Her illustrations are so creative and her stories are really droll! And she also has some continuity into her other stories!
Dangerous– completely mad!! And it has an excellent “sequel” in Warning This Book May Contain Rabbits.
Shh We Have a Plan– I really like the simplistic style and artwork for this one. It kinda reminds me of…
I Want My Hat Back– this one is just for me, because Klassen gets me every time!! And it’s such a simple concept: dude just wants his hat back!
There’s Nothing Faster Than a Cheetah– on the silly side, but still quite inventive, this book whizzes by!
The Full Stop That Got Away– this may seem completely bonkers, but let’s be honest, the importance of punctuation is a very serious business indeed.
The Princess and the (Greedy) Pea– I do love a reconstructed fairy tale and this more modern type transforms the story into a listing game… which ends rather unexpectedly. It looks like we’ve moved past postmodern into the absurd! And I can happily devour all the jokey books like this!
Here Be Dragons– ending on a *proper* story, this is the tale of a rather stupid knight, who can’t see what’s under his nose! Children LOVED listening to this story (and yelling at the top of their lungs that the dragon is right behind them!!!)
And that’s all for now! What do you think of these picturebooks? And do you have any funny favourites? Let me know in the comments!
After doing a clear out, I discovered my reading diary from when I was 13:
Shall we take a peek inside at some of the gems I wrote??
Wow! What incredible reviews!! Riveting stuff- so descriptive and enlightening 😉 What do you think? What rating would you give me? Let me know in the comments!
Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to post today, but I told myself I have never missed a blogging anniversary. So, I decided to power through and talk about some big blogging changes in OVER A DECADE since I started blogging.
#1 My views have changed?? Well, not entirely, I’m still going bananas over books (and slipping up on a few banana peels). Still, on reflection, my views can be more nuanced and I have changed my opinion on some books I reviewed way back when.
#2 My taste has changed… and stayed the same. I definitely read more non-fiction (given I didn’t used to touch the stuff), my stats show a decrease in YA year on year and I’ve introduced a lot more talk about picturebooks- but I’m still a fantasy and classics girlie. So, I guess some things never change.
#3 In a similar vein, the advent of AI and other nasty changes have meant I read fewer modern books. At the moment, I’m convinced publishing is on a downward trend. I just hope it can right itself sooner rather than later.
#4 While views are up, comments are down. For me, there seems to be multiple causes. It could be bots. I’m also finding my posts shared more on sites like Youtube, which gives me a boost and for which I am grateful.
#5 Publishers aren’t paying as much attention. Blogging is no longer the hot young thing (I mean, to be fair, it was already aging when I started). But that golden age of attention is long gone, which means publishers aren’t so interested in using our sites for blog tours and are definitely handing out fewer arcs to anyone without a tiktok. Which to my mind is a not a bad thing…
#6 Because I think this has reduced consumerism on the blogosphere. Don’t get me wrong, we all love a bit of book porn and there will always be a place for that type of content. HOWEVER, I am pleased to see more niche hauls and knowing I can go to a handful of people for pictures of book boxes (rather than being flooded with those images).
#7 There’s also less focus on social media– which could be because it’s an older audience. For me, I find myself less active without automatic posting to other sites and frankly the landscape of social media has splintered more in recent years. I do think there’s less connection across platforms than previously.
#8 And, of course, one of the most important changes is how much people have changed. I know I say this every year, yet these posts always make me look back fondly on the people who’ve made blogging what it is!! Big shoutout to a lot of the people who’ve been here from the start: Pages Unbound, Zezee and Bookstooge!! (coincidentally, Briana @Pages Unbound just posted something similar now that they’ve been going for a WHOPPING 15 Years- so go give them some extra love!!)
#9 There are fewer tags. While I don’t rule them out- and I have a few stashed for later- I definitely have less time to engage with that type of content. Which I suppose leads me onto…
#10I’ve slowed down… old age has set in lol. In all seriousness, I’m trying to focus on quality over quantity. I’m spending more time working on thoughtful posts- especially as I struggle to be as active as I once was (creaky bones and all that 😉).
#11 To end on a more positive note, things have gotten a little bit more colourful over here! I added artwork to my blog a number of years ago and I’ve been playing around with it ever since. I’m especially excited about expanding into redbubble and (of course) adding pictures of my dog!!
And that’s all for now!! Have you noticed any other major changes since you started blogging? And how long have you been in the blogging game? Let me know in the comments!
the orang-utan librarian 
