AUGUST WRAP-UP AND SEPTEMBER TBR
- Yves
- Aug 29, 2020
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 29, 2020
Hello! I hope you’ve been enjoying life and doing as well as you can be in whatever situation you’re in. It’s been an odd week for me, partly because yesterday Wix got up my ass and decided to delete the entire draft of this post, so YAY. But it's fixed! Neat! A day late, but we're here!
I’ve found a lot of comfort recently in planning out the next month, insofar as you can plan anything in 2020. I start my final year of university at the end of September, which is also when I’m planning to give this new draft of THE WILLOW PRINCE to some of my beta readers. That means the next few weeks are going to be hectic and full of new challenges, which is exciting! In the spirit of change, this week we’re looking at a wrap-up of what I read in August as well as my September TBR. I’m hoping to make this a feature of the last Friday of every month—if you want to stick around for that, you can always sign up to receive a notification in your inbox every time I post to the blog. Stick your email into the box at the bottom of the page!
So, if you’re all ready: let’s take a look at what Yves read in August 2020!
What I Read in August
FIVE STAR
★★★★★
I adored this book! It’s divided into different sections that follow twelve characters through a hundred-year period. I loved the non-linear narrative and how everything linked seamlessly together. If you’re looking for something that represents a diversity of experiences in an elegantly-written narrative, I would definitely consider picking this up.
Okay so I technically haven’t read this from cover-to-cover, as it also includes the Middle English Stanzaic Morte Arthur. I’ll probably read that eventually, but I focused on the Alliterative Morte Arthure instead. It is a full text in itself, so that’s why I’ve put it here! Regardless: excellent translation, the glossing was easy-to-use, and it’s available online for free. Super useful, especially as I can’t get to a library at the moment.
★★★★★
I’m not going to rant about this book again, but my full review is here and you should check it out. I loved this book and it made me want to re-read Romeo and Juliet, aka my least-favourite Shakespeare play.
★★★★★
I went into this poetry collection with zero expectations and came out with tears on my face. Definitely one to pick up if you’re a poetry fan, or even if you’re not. Very readable, really enjoyable, and one I’ll consider grabbing a paper copy of to pop on my shelf.
FOUR STAR
★★★★ I put my full review of this one on Goodreads, so you can check that out if you’re interested. All in all, a great start to a MG fantasy series.
★★★★
I got this from my library’s e-book app and, while I struggled to read it on my phone (ouch) I enjoyed it a lot! I wish it was a series—it felt like it had all the set-up of one, but then when I searched it’s apparently a standalone. That was quite disappointing, but I imagine it’s nothing to do with the author—it seemed like it was intended as part of a series, but perhaps the rest didn’t sell? Whatever the case, a great book that I probably would have enjoyed more had I realised it wasn’t the first part of a series!
THREE STAR
No three stars this month, interesting!!!
TWO STAR
★★
I just didn’t connect with this book. It felt like a first draft. I found it quite disappointing because it actually had a lot of potential! It just needed a really good polish, and possibly some character work.
★★
Another one I just couldn’t get into. It felt very much like a white author who’s really into Japan trying to tell a Japanese legend-inspired story. It came off as very superficial and the use of romanized Japanese on literally every page made me want to hurl. I was between a one and two star on this one, so we’ll call it 1.5.
ONE STAR
Nothing this month, thankfully!
DNFs
I ended up DNFing this because of the lack of content warnings. TW for extremely graphic depictions of eating disorders in the first couple pages, which I couldn’t get past. Yikes.
I am absolutely going to go back to this one eventually. I picked it up after I’d already read a string of YA contemporaries, which I usually don’t read that often, and in the end my fantasy cravings won out so I put this down. I read a lot of contemporary during the college term when I need something light and fluffy to get me out of the essay hole, so I’m sure I’ll return to this one in the next few months!
CURRENTLY READING
I’m really enjoying this so far! I’m just about 30% in and taking it slow. I love the humour in this, even though the plot feels a little confusing. Regardless, I honestly don’t think the plot matters that much (at least at this point). I know the world, I know the characters, and I’m having a great time reading. What more could I want?
30% read. It took me a while to get into this one, and I’m still not sure about it, but I’m willing to keep pushing with it. I don’t care for the characters very much but honestly I’m hoping for a chaos revenge narrative to take off full-force soon.
This book is for uni and I’m hoping to get through it before mid-September. It’s a collection of different essays on medieval gender and sexuality, and so far I’m enjoying it.
SEPTEMBER TBR
I’m taking a break in September! A break from writing and studying, that is. I want to take a week or two away from my dissertation/uni readings before I start classes so I can refresh my brain (and bingewatch some TV—Amazon Prime UK recs appreciated). I probably won’t be pushing myself to read a lot in that time, but I have a couple books I’m looking forward to getting into anyway. I may or may not read these but hopefully I get through a couple!
I’ve heard so many good things about this, and I really can’t wait to find out what it’s all about.
I’ve had this on my TBR for the last couple of months, sitting on my Kindle, so hopefully I’ll be in the mood to read it in September!
Just destroy my heart, why don’t you. I’m ready for the pain.
I won this in a giveaway (thank you SJ!!!) and I’M SO EXCITED. Definitely one of my most anticipated reads of the whole year!
Woooo more queer medieval studies! This book comes highly recommended.
A re-read! I finally purchased a physical copy after borrowing this from my library and loving it a couple years ago. I have a special blog post planned for this one.
Another highly-recommended book I’ve been seeing around a lot. I figured I’d pick it up and give it a try. I have no idea what to expect, but I hope I like it.
Another one of my most anticipated books of the year. I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy this, especially as we move into another school year!
This one’s from my university reading list and pairs with a story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Orpheus and Eurydice. I’m looking forward to doing some reading on and around this one.
Again, university. This is preparation for a class I’m taking on medieval manuscripts, which makes my heart pound pretty embarrassingly.
So that’s it! I have a lot to do this upcoming month, but I hope it turns out to be restful and pleasant and nice. I hope it can be that for you too!
If you like the look of any of these books, check them out on Goodreads! Every title is linked for you above. And, as always, if you enjoyed this post please consider supporting me on Ko-fi. I'm currently a) a student and b) unemployed because of COVID-19, so this is my only source of income right now. Any contributions are much appreciated and they start at only €3! SOCIALS: Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/yvesdonlon Goodreads: goodreads.com/yvesdonlon Twitter: twitter.com/yveshwinter Goodbye and good luck, Yves
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