Books I read in April!: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Persepolis, Riverkeep, Public Library, Lumberjanes

What this blog post isn't really late what are you on about?? Here are the books I read in April! I listened to Minding Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? on Audible, continued my Marjane Satrapi season with Persepolis, super enjoyed reading a review copy of Martin Stewart's Riverkeep (the full review of which you can read by clicking here), got Public Library by Ali Smith from my local public library, and also caved and bought Lumberjanes part 2!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

I have a thing for listening to the audiobook's of funny ladies. In fact I'll do a blog post on that soon as I have pretty much exclusively listened to the audiobooks of funny ladies! This is funny lady Mindy Kaling's first book, and follows a similar pattern to the other funny lady books (funny lady funny lady funny lady), offering part memoir/part advice book. I just really love finding out how successful women like Mindy Kaling have mapped out their careers and it is especially entertaining when they are the narrator. I feel very comforted to know Mindy was a nanny whilst she was trying to break into comedy, as I'm currently nannying while trying to get other stuffs going! Read/listen to this if you enjoy the likes of Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, watched and loved The Office (US), and want to know how to make it in the biz or to feel like you know some insider gossip.

Persepolis

I caved and bought a copy of Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel Persepolis after having watched the film a few times, and having enjoyed her other books in previous months too. This edition includes both previously published volumes The Story of Childhood and The Story of a Return. I just really love Marjane's narrative style, her wit and humour shine through even when she is retelling the horrors of war and her separation from her family. Persepolis follows the story of her childhood in Tehran during the overthrow of the Shah, the Islamic Revolution and the war with Iraq, and then her time spent in Austria as a teenager after she was sent there to school for her own safety. If you've seen the film, I definitely recommend reading the graphic novel. There are so many extra little details and scenes that really make it worthwhile. Now Marjane Satrapi just needs to write some more books so the season can continue!

Riverkeep

I was super pleased to receive a review copy of debut author Martin Stewart's Riverkeep. The cover of the proof copy lists things like The Wizard of Oz, Ursula Le Guin, Patrick Ness, so obviously I was pretty excited to read it too.



Read my full review here! Please! I mean only if you want to. Clicky click. 

Public Library and Other Stories

I am very pleased to say I got Ali Smith's Public Library and Other Stories out from my local library. I really enjoy reading short stories, there's something about just spending a short time with a character and getting a snapshot of their story that I really like. As well as being a collection of short stories related to books and reading and the impact of these on our lives and homes, it is also a call to action to save our public library, which are under threat from funding cuts and closures across the UK. So, get out to your public library and join the cause by taking this book out! 

Lumberjanes , Vol. 2: Friendship to the Max

I read and super enjoyed the first volume of Lumberjanes some time last year and ended up caving and buying volume 2 this month (I cave and buy books pretty often have you noticed?). The story of Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley at Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady-Types continues in this volume, with even more mysteries and myths to discover and solve. Also there are raptors. Totally action packed and fun, full of colour and humour, if you haven't read any Lumberjanes yet then you really, really should. The third bind up volume is out now so I definitely smell another book purchase on the horizon... I'm just trying to support my local shops leave me alone!!

I'll try to be more on time with my May reads, I really will! So far this month I have read, Bullet Catcher by Joaquin Lowe, Sea Lovers by Valerie Martin, The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig, and also listened to another funny lady's audio book, Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body by Sara Pascoe! Gonna try to squeeze in another novel and a graphic novel too by the end of the month. Don't forget to go read my full review of Riverkeep!

I received a copy of Riverkeep from Penguin in return for an honest review. I really like it I promise! 

Review! Riverkeep by Martin Stewart

I was super pleased to receive a review copy of debut author Martin Stewart's Riverkeep. The cover of the proof copy lists things like The Wizard of Oz, Ursula Le Guin, Patrick Ness, so obviously I was pretty excited to read it too. 

The story follows fifteen-year-old Wulliam, who is about to inherit his father's role as Riverkeep, which involves tending to the river's ice in winter and a lot of fishing out corpses too. A dark spirit possesses his father one night, which sets Wulliam on a journey away from his one know corner of the river, to row down the river's mouth and hopefully find a cure in the belly of a giant sea creature called the mormorach. 

It took me stupidly long to get the Wizard of Oz connection, but essentially Wull picks up fellow travellers along the way, each on their own journeys, with their own problems to solve and wisdom to share. I got a really cold and dark and gloomy vibe from this book, with hints of scary unknown magic and terrifying creatures all alone the banks of this icy river. I admit for the first few chapters I was suddenly aware of and then annoyed about the lack of female characters, but this resolves itself pretty quickly and I really felt for Wull and his desperation to complete his journey and exasperation at his fellow travellers. 

I can really see a Silvain Chomet animation of this, as Belleville Rendezvous and The Illusionist have similar gloomy, grimy moments, and warm camaraderie moments too. I think the texture of Chomet's animations would really suit this story. 

Definitely worth a read if you like stories with some journeying in them! I'd love to see spin off with Mix as the main character so fingers crossed this world gets expanded.

I received a copy of Riverkeep from Penguin Books in return for an honest review. I really liked it I promise! 

Books I read in March!: Rebel of the Sands, Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, A Gathering of Shadows

I read and marked like a zillion essays and dissertations in March so my reading brain was very tired, but I did manage to read three whole books! I also read some graphic novels and you can read my round up of the ones I read in February and March in their very own dedicated post. The few books I did manage to read were the wonderful Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton, Ayisha Malik's Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, which I loved, and much anticipated sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic- A Gathering of Shadows, by V.E. Schwab. 

Rebel of the Sands

I may have initially judged this book by its beautiful shiny cover, but the contents were no disappointment. Set in a desert land with magical sand beasts and a Rebel Prince uprising against the king, Amani Al'Hiza is determined to leave her tiny dead-end town and head for the bright lights of the big city. Our heroine is particularly skilled with guns, and can definitely fend for herself, although it helps that she can pass for a boy. The world building is brilliant- I had amazing imagery in my head of this Middle Eastern meets cowboy Western land, especially appreciating the train scenes, there's just something about a desert train that I really love. Romance, adventure, mythology, and gun-slinging are all woven together beautifully, in what I was very pleased to learn is the first part of a trilogy. Follow Alwyn on social media too, she's great! 

Sofia Khan is Not Obliged 

I took the recommendation of Leena Norms in her Fresh Reads video, and I regret nothing! I loved this book. It was so much fun and I learned so much about British Muslim culture. Sofia Khan has just broken up with her boyfriend, due to his unwillingness to move out of his parents house after their potential future marriage. Discussing her dating experiences at work, as a publicist at a London publishing house, her boss convinces her to write a Muslim dating book. This book is essentially that, a British Muslim dating book. Full of wit and humour, balancing religion and relationships, marriage-obsessed relatives, racists on the tube, praying at work, writing her book,  and joining a Muslim dating site, Sofia's story is extremely entertaining and engaging. 

A Gathering of Shadows

A Gathering of Shadows is the much anticipated sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic, and I was very excited to see what would happen next after the very fast paced first book. This sequel takes place four months after the events of book one, and spans several months too, so we get a real feel for the wider world. Lila is the more central protagonist this time and she has essentially become a pirate and it's great. She has also been practicing magic under the tuition of her ship's captain, Alucard Emery, and learning as much as she can about Red London. Back in the city itself, Kell and Rhy are under much closer protection after both almost dying to defeat the Dane twins in White London, with Prince Rhy busy planning the massive international event, The Element Games, to be hosted in the city, and Kell essentially just pining after Lila. I really enjoyed the book, it was a great sequel, picking up the pace from the first book, and continuing this great pacing throughout. I loved Lila's new pirating life, and oh! that amazing opening scene. The bustling crowds of the Games really reminded me of the Quidditch World Cup, so that obviously sat very favourably with me. There was an effort throughout to remind the reader of details and events from the first book, which I found to be very elegantly executed and helpful, and that certainly isn't an easy thing to pull off. I found the chapter lengths to be perfect too; there is really just an overall brilliant attention to detail throughout. An amazing sequel- so excited for part three!


I'm currently reading Riverkeep, so far so good, and I have such a big tbr pile right now it's a little overwhelming but as far as problems go, it really could be worse! I just got a copy of The Girl From Everywhere from Hot Key Books and I have a sneaky feeling it's going to jump to the top of the pile...!

Feminist Orchestra: I Call Myself A Feminist- Edited by Victoria Pope, Rachel Holmes, Amy Annette, Alice Stride, Martha Mosse.

The first book for March in Jean (BookishThoughts)'s book club, The Feminist Orchestra, is I Call Myself A Feminist: The view from twenty-five women under thirty. An edited collection of essays, written by women under thirty, this book offers various perspectives from women on their reasons for calling themselves feminists. There is plenty of discussion going on the thread on the Goodreads page where everyone one seems to be coming to a similar consensus.

One common comment is on the feeling that some of the chapters could go a little more in depth than they do. Depth was a bit of an issue for me in some of the essays. Some of them almost felt like first drafts... and this was all the more obvious next to the stand out chapters, where I became really aware of the difference in quality of writing. However I'm willing to chalk this up to an earnest attempt to get multiple voices of women under 30. Not meaning to imply younger writers are not good writers, but more that in some cases this will have perhaps been their 3rd essay on feminism and not their 100th.

It's also maybe a taste thing. I was really drawn to the more stylised or topic specific essays like Naomi Mitchison's 'A Typical Engineer', which focussed on feminism in the male dominated engineering industry, and Alice Stride's 'This is NOT a feminist rant: the language of silencing women' , which looked at the all too persuasive 'sexist whisper', and 'My journey to feminism' by Louise O'Neill, which had a similar outline to other chapters, but was full of O'Neill's clever wit, sarcasm and humour. In these essays the author's personal voice or writing style really strongly showed through, and I preferred these in contrast to the almost schooly personal statement vibes I got from a few.

The effort to include non-white and non-cis and non-straight feminist voices, however was so great to see. I felt like my claims of intersectional-feminism were bolstered by these diverse stories. Maysa Haque's 'Islam is my feminism and feminism is my Islam' was so interesting, and I always appreciate some cat love. '"Roti kamana": stories of survival' by Samira Shackle was equal parts immensely illuminating and horrifying. And the words of Meltem Avcii in her essay 'Why I call myself a feminist' were seriously powerful.

So I have finished with the feeling that I could probably manage to get my teeth into some more advanced/academic feminist writing, which is an exciting thought as I'd quite like to have a bookshelf full of feminist books that I've actually read AND understood. 

This month it's Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, which I plan to read in a much more timely manner than I did with this one!

Graphic Novels of Feb and March: In Real Life, Skim, Embroideries, Fun Home, Chicken With Plums

This year I'm counting graphic novels in my reading challenge because they totally count and as I read 5 over February and March I thought I'd round em up here in this very post. It turns out my local library has a pretty good collection so I've been working my way through that!

In Real Life

I picked up this beautiful graphic novel by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang on my birthday. As usual I was drawn in by its beautiful illustrations but the story was worth staying for. Anda is a high school student who loves online gaming, specifically the massively-multiplayer role-playing game Coarsegold Online. Anda is REALLY GOOD at this game, and is part of a all-girl guild. Real life and online life collide as Anda makes friends within the game with another kid in playing in China. I loved the art, I loved the story. I feel like it has a really strong moral heart within it. Also the physical copy is a beauty. The colours are wow!

Skim
I found Skim in the library, and was drawn in by the authors Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki who also wrote This One Summer, which I read last year. I also remember reading excerpts of this in my Sequential Narrative class in Toronto. So I was happy to finally read this story of Kimberly Keiko Cameron, nicknamed 'Skim', a wannabe Wiccan at high school in the early 90s. There's a suicide storyline, when a classmates' boyfriend kills himself, and the school becomes obsessed with spotting depression in its students. Skim is secretly meeting her English teacher Ms. Archer during all this, while also figuring out her friendship with her best friend, finding dates for the formal, and generally navigating teenage life. A really nice coming of age story, encompassing all the complications of high school. Has the same kind of thoughtful nostalgia as This One Summer .

Embroideries
The beginning of my Marjane Satrapi season. I had recently rewatched the Persepolis film (of which I now have a book copy and will read soon!), and spotted Embroideries in the library. This is such a funny and truthful little book. It's only a hundred or so pages, but there is so much good stuff packed in there! Over an afternoon of tea drinking, we learn of the love stories and sex lives of several generations of Iranian women in Majane's family. Her grandmother, mother, aunts, neighbours, cousins, all have stories from their various marriages and romances. I absolutely love Marjane Satrapi's humorous narrative style and her artwork is just great, capturing the personalities of each character in simple ink. 10/10 definitely read this! If anything. it's super enlightening!


Fun Home
I listened to Fun Home being discussed on the SRSLY podcast and then, once again, spotted it in the library. I'd been looking out for Alison Bechdel work, so I was very pleased to find it. This is a longun, with Bechdel looking back over her childhood at her relationship with her father, who died when she was in college. His death came just a few weeks after she came out as a lesbian to her parents, at which time her dad also came out as gay. Bechdel looks back over events in her childhood to unravel the mysteries of her father and their relationship and come to terms with his death I guess. This was a really interesting graphic memoir, mostly set in the family's funeral home business. Thoughtful, unapologetic storytelling and detailed artwork. Definitely wroth reading.


Chicken With Plums
Continuing Marjane Satrapi season, the library also had Chicken With Plums! Set in November 1955, Nasser Ali Khan is a celebrated tar player, and Marjane Satrapi's great-uncle. The story takes place over the eight days leading to his death, after he has given up on life due to the breaking of his beloved tar. Satrapi tells stories of his past and of his childrens' futures too, again with the same humour and wit she is known for. Offering glimpses into Iranian culture pre-1950s, and handling issues of death, love, life, and music with humour and grace. Also now I want to eat chicken with plums mmmm.





Any graphic novel recommendations are most welcome! Lemme know!

Books I read in February: The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School, How Hard Can Love Be?, The Marvels, The Sleeping Prince

These be the novels I read in February! I also read some real nice graphic novels, which I reckon I'll talk about in a separate post! Yippee! Kim Newman's The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School was lent to me and then I bought my own copy because I liked it so much! How Hard Can Love Be? by Holly Bourne was so much fun, definitely lived up to her previous work which I have loved. She just really does teenage voices well. The Marvels by Brian Selznick is a beautiful big heavy shiny book full of illustrations and I really enjoyed the format. And Melinda Salisbury's The Sleeping Prince, a much anticipated sequel, did not disappoint!

The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School

Ooh I right enjoyed this! Set in a boarding school for students with special gifts, the daughters of criminal masterminds and outlaws, and famous bug scientists. Amy Thomsett is sent by her mother after her gift for floating has become too strange for her to deal with. With her new friends Amy sets up The Moth Club after the mysterious Hooded Conspiracy abducts a girl from their dormitory. The mystery deepens as a serious case of mass-hysteria, mass-hypnoses completely overtakes the school. I was hooked pretty quickly and loved the way this novel unfolded. I found there to be some weird pace-slowing exposition of characters in a few key places. Also there were SO MANY NAMES to remember, with each student at any time being referred to by their first, second, or nickname, or by their house. This problem probably could've been solved if I had found the big list of students listed by year and house in the back... None of this dampened my enjoyment though. If you enjoy dreary coastal boarding schools, beating up bullies, moth species, female friendships, and superheroes in wartime, then this book is for you. 

How Hard Can Love Be?

The much anticipated second book in the Normal Series. I loved Am I Normal Yet? and Holly Bourne's previous book The Manifesto on How to be Interesting. This one follows Amber, as she leaves the Spinster Club for the summer to spend a few months in California with her mum and her mum's husband, at their summer camp. There's the usual strong feminist discussion throughout, with Amber skyping back home to Evie and Lottie, and with her new camp friends. Amber navigates the summer with said fellow camp councillor friends, trying to figure out her relationship with her emotionally distant and recovering alcoholic mother. There's also a very handsome prom king boy called Kyle who is showing a lot of interest in Amber, much to her befuddlement. So a whole load of issues to tackle all with Holly Bourne's signature humour and wit. Loved it! Not sure what ground the third in the Normal Series will cover, I mean surely that's everything now? Maybe pubes? Not enough Spinster Club pube chat yet for sure. 

The Marvels

On a very different note, I got this beautiful shiny gold book for Christmas and was super intrigued to see how the balance between illustration and text would read. A story of shipwrecked theatrical sailors in 1766 leads in pictures to a story of several generations of sons working and performing in a London theatre. The illustrated story stops with a fire at the theatre and we pick up in 1990s London, with a schoolboy named Joseph who runs away from boarding school to his uncle's bizarre historical townhouse, where he slowly begins to unravel the mysteries of Billy Marvel and his theatrical descendants. The unfolding of the mystery was very enjoyable and seeing the relationship between uncle and nephew grow was rather lovely. It got me right in the heart. And the real stories it's based on were very interesting too. This beautiful book is definitely not style over substance. 

The Sleeping Prince

The Sleeping Prince is the sequel to The Sin Eater's Daughter, which I read in March last year actually. I've been very organised and gone back to have a look at that review, in which I say it felt very much like the first act in a bigger story. The Sleeping Prince certainly proves this, really widening out understanding of the kingdom. I also was hoping for more movement in the form of travel, and um, TICK, so much of this story takes place on the road, exploring different towns, and it definitely fulfils my wish of more depth of understanding of the rest of the kingdom, after seeing it through Twylla's very insular world. The sequel in fact takes place from the perspective of an entirely different female protagonist. Errin, an apothecary, who is the sister of the guard Lief from book one, is living in poverty with her ailing mother in a rundown town. Mysteries and mythologies are all getting untangled from real history in this book, as a war is beginning following the waking of the titular sleeping prince. Errin seeks help from the mysterious Silas to find a cure for her mother and after a lengthy period of suffering in the horrible run down town, takes to the road to take matters in to her own hands. A strong sequel I think! And I am verrrrry much looking forward to the next book where I'm hoping we'll see more of Errin and Twylla's worlds colliding.

Look out for a post on the graphic novels In Real Life, Skim, and Embroideries!

Top 6 Podcasts by Women

Within the last year I have become an avid podcast listener. I think I started by listening to people I liked being interviewed on The Nerdist (over that now), started listening to Comedy Bang Bang religiously, and after Serial became obsessed with This American Life, delving right into the archives. I spent my summer last year walking around the city listening to funny and interesting podcasts and now most corners have a little audio memory that pops up when I walk by. As a nerdfighter I listen to Dear Hank & John every week, and had a fling with Gilmore Guys for a while too. I listened to all the Adam and Joe Show archives I could find, and then super enjoyed Adam Buxton's podcast last year too. But today I specifically want to talk about the podcasts I love that are by women. I made a conscious shift in my listening to find more female voices as a lot of the popular podcasts ruling the roost, and the ones I devote a lot of time too, are male led. This was not a fruitless effort and I am continuing to find funny, entertaining, inspiring podcasts by women all the time. In fact I found a whole bunch more when I was looking at other 'top female podcast' lists in prep for this post. So here are my Top 6 Podcasts By Women, and not just FOR women, I reckon most of these should have universal appeal. In no particular order, here they are:

1- The History Chicks

Hosted by Beckett Graham and Susan Vollenweider, this podcast focusses on the oft-ignored women of history. I recommend episode 60: Four Inventors for a taste of what the tone of the podcast is like. Normally it is one woman from history per episode, so have a scroll through to find some of your favourites.

The History Chicks- Episode 60: Four Inventors









2- SRSLY

Hosted by Caroline Crampton and Anna Leszkiewicz of the New Statesman, SRSLY covers all things pop culture in music, film, tv, books, internet. I recommend episode 29: The One Where They Take it Seriously, a special episode on Friends, which is a little different from their usual episodes but very fun in their in depth analysis of the series. Their special episode on Harry Potter is just as fun. Usual episodes cover current pop culture phenomenon, which is also fun!

3- Call Your Girlfriend

Hosted by Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow, this podcast covers pop culture and politics and everything in between and encourages my new favourite girl-love thing, Shine Theory. I recommend episode 42: Twitter Ninja, which covers the all-lady congress during the DC snowstorm, menstruation and marijuana, and Kanye's Twitter rants. 

4- With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus

Hosted by actor and improver Lauren Lapkus, a frequent Comedy Bang Bang guest also known for her roles in Orange is the New Black and Jurassic World no less! Lauren Lapkus is the guest and her guest is the host in this improv podcast. I believe the guest brings the character and set up for Lauren to improv along to. I recommend the episode Eliza Skinner: Post-Apodcastlypse, which is a very funny post-apocalypse survivor broadcast. Fun fact: I'm listening to this one right now!

5- Criminal

Hosted by Phoebe Judge, Criminal is a podcast about crime. I found it looking for a true crime podcast to fill the gap after Serial season 1. I recommend episode 35: Pen & Paper, about a courtroom sketch artist. This episode is not particularly creepy or gruesome, just pretty interesting. There are much more crimey episodes for sure. 

6- Funny Lady Film Club

Hosted by Alexandra Fiber & Danielle Gibson, this podcast is pretty much what it says in the title: funny ladies talking about a particular film each episode. I recommend episode 25: Charlies Angels with Tessa Hersh, in which it's discussed whether the 2000 film stands the test of time.

That all folks! Apart from a quick shout out to Black Girls Talking, an awesome podcast that I didn't include in this list because I've only listened to one episode so far!

Enjoy! :) Let me know your recs! 

The Feminist Orchestra Book Club- Jean 'Bookish Thoughts'

Jean Menzies of Bookish Thoughts is launching a feminist book club called The Feminist Orchestra. The plan is to read and discuss one feminist text a month, and Jean has chosen a range of books from novels to non fiction and graphic novels to poetry. All the details are on the Goodreads page, where people are recommending books and will discuss each month's read. I plan to blog about each book on here too! This book club's launch was perfect timing for my resolution to read more feminist literature. It also feels a little bit more accessible than Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf, which has over a hundred thousand members to The Feminist Orchestra's 1000 odd. I feel like more meaningful discussion will be able to take place in this smaller community. The first book is I Call Myself a Feminist: The View from Twenty-Five Women Under Thirty, to read during March.

 Follow along on #FeministOrchestra!

Books I read in January! Short Stories: A Portable Shelter, My True Love Gave to Me, A Winter Book, The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales, Through the Woods

January reading! I made January a month of short stories and yanno what it was fun! I had two Kirsty Logan collections on my list, A Portable Shelter and The Rental Heart, as well as Tove Jansson's A Winter Book, the Christmas YA short story collection, My True Love Gave to Me, edited by Stephanie Perkins, and a graphic novel of short stories, Through the Woods by Emily Carroll. I do like having a theme to my months, but I was super keen to read a whole novel by the end of it!

A Portable Shelter

I've been waiting to read this lovely little boom for absolutely ages. It's set in tiny coastal cottage in the north of Scotland, where Liska and Ruth tell stories to their unborn child, so I was determined to wait to read it until I was up in my family's west coast cottage. Definitely worth the wait! The couple has agreed not to tell their child any lies, and so pregnant Ruth tells the baby stories while Liska is at work, and Liska tells hers while Ruth is asleep. The stories are dark fairytales, with modern selkies and werewolves and ghosts. Stories of love, lies, grief, loss, regret, life, and death. Each story is accompanied by a beautiful illustration by Liz Myhill, which just adds to the overall beauty of the book as an object itself. Definitely get this on your wish list!

My True Love Gave to Me

I read this at the beginning of January for some post-Christmas wintery vibes. Twelve short love stories by twelve great YA authors, including Ally Carter, Holly Black, Laini Taylor, Rainbow Rowell, Matt de la Pena, David Levithan, Stephanie Perkins, Kiersten White, Kelly Link, Jenny Han, Gayle Forman and Myra McEntire. Festive, romantic, quirky, lovely YA stories to warm your heart on a chilly winter's eve! I recommend to YA romance lovers. Stephanie Perkins' story of a girl befriending the Christmas Tree selling boy was just perfect. 

A Winter Book

This was a reread for me from a few years ago probably. I absolutely love Tove Jansson. The gentle humour and playfulness comes through in each story. From childhood to old age, through the seasons, with the latter half of the book focussing on winter stories. There's such magic and light in her stories, I bet she would have been wonderful to spend time with. I love the story 'Jeremiah' about the geologist living on the island one autumn, and 'Snow' about the strangeness of not being in the city for snowfall. As usual for Sort Of Books' publishing Jansson, the book itself is beautiful, will well chosen photographs from her life throughout. Not just for winter this one- add this beautiful blue book to your wish list for sure!

The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales

More short stories from Kirsty Logan, this one from 2014. Very surreal and dark and wonderful stories. The clockwork heart story is beautiful, the coin-operated boy is weird and wonderful. Magical realism mixes with love and sex and steampunk-esque imagery in these intensely rich short stories. The relationships throughout are beautiful woven. There are currently three copies in the LGBT section at Hillhead Library in Glasgow, so if you happen to live nearby, so check one out! I may have to read this one again, as I have a feeling it'll reveal different things to the reader each time. 

Through the Woods

I picked this up at Fopp just after my birthday for £9 in paperback. I've been eyeing it up since it came out and fiiiiiiinally bought it. I did not regret it as the stories within are so dark, magical, gruesome, and wonderfully told. It has 24,385 ratings on Goodreads, so this book has certainly been well read. I remember reading His Face All Red, the story about the two brothers, online quite a while ago and was definitely intrigues then. There is beautiful artwork throughout, with copious use of blood red for all the gore. Possibly not for the faint of heart. My counting-graphic-novels-as-novels plan for 2016 is going really well so far. I'm so much more drawn to reading them now they count to the dreaded Reading Challenge! I've also been enjoying my local library's collection, which is helping to save the pennies. Definitely get Through the Woods for your collection, it's a beautiful book and will only maybe give you nightmares. 

2015 Reading Roundup and 2016 Reading Goals

In 2015 I managed to read 52 books, yippee! This count includes novels, I didn't include any graphic novels, of which I think I read about 7, but for 2016 I reckon I will include them in the count because they're a kind of novel after all! Same goes for audio books, and non-fiction: all book based reading counts in 2016.

I read a whole lotta YA and a whole lotta 2015 releases, so without further ado, here are some lists of my favourites reads of the year, followed by some reading goals for 2016:

Top 5 Releases of 2015:

1- A Portable Shelter- Kirsty Logan

2- The Wolf Wilder- Katherine Rundell

3- The Big Lie- Julie Mayhew

4- Am I Normal Yet?- Holly Bourne

5- The Sin Eater's Daughter- Melinda Salisbury

My Top 10 of Reads of 2015:

1- Life After Life- Kate Atkinson

2- The Country of Ice Cream Star- Sandra Newman

3- A Darker Shade of Magic- V.E. Schwab

4- Vivian Versus the Apocalypse- Katie Coyle

5- Wild Song- Janis Mackay

6- The Gracekeepers- Kirsty Logan

7- The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks- E. Lockhart

8- Asking For It- Louise O'Neill

9- One- Sarah Crossan

10- The Wolf Wilder- Katherine Rundell

Graphic Novels I read in 2015:

1- Nimona- Noelle Stevenson

2- The Never Weres- Fiona Smyth

3- Lumberjanes- Noelle Stevenaon, Grace Ellis, Brooke A. Allen

4- This One Summer- Mariko Tamaki

5- Anya's Ghost- Vera Brosgol

6- Dungeon Fun- Colin Bell and Neil Slorence

7- Bitter Sweets: Adventure Time- Kate Leth, Zack Sterling, Meredith McClaren

Reading Goals for 2016:

-Read more graphic novels: The seven I read in 2015 listed above were excellent, so in 2016 I'm going to try to read a few more, maybe even once a month. Plus book buying excuse!!

-Read some feminist lit: There are a few feminist books that have been on my wish list for ages and ages and I really should get round to reading them. Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, Men Expain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit, The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, and Laura Bates' Everyday Sexism are all on the list to conquer this year.

-Read more adult fiction: As in not exclusively young adult fiction, not 'adult' in that way you dirty sods. Now I think there are very exciting things happening in young adult fiction, which is why I read so much of it, but a few big fiction books managed to pass me by last year. I'm a 'proper adult' so I reckon I could manage some proper adult fiction.

-Read some classics: I tried to do this last year, I may have failed. But I want to tackle some classics this year, cos you know, some of them are meant to be good and you know, self improvement. 

One Year of Book Blogging/ Books I read in December: Heap House, The Wolf Wilder, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Hellooo! Long time no blog! No excuses just somehow managed to have a whole January away from blogtown. Oopsie. I started book blogging a year ago in January, mostly to keep track of what I was reading and to encourage me to read more. I hit my 50 book challenge, which I was very pleased about, and have a blog full of posts with my thoughts on those books. I also managed to blog everyday in August, which was a total challenge, but I was super proud of myself for following through. This year I'm gonna keep book blogging, and really really properly try to do some popular culture commentary style blogging, in a bid to keep my essay writing skills up to scratch.  Sticking to the 50 book challenge again, although this year I'm allowing in graphic novels to that count. For some reason last year I decided to keep it strictly to novels, but graphic novels totally count! I intend to keep my eyes peeled for blogging opportunities and collaborations and be super duper active in the book blogging community. Cos if something's worth doing, it's worth doing properly. Hear, hear!

I finished the year off with a relatively small number of reads, but I did start the year off aiming for three books a month so it's perfectly reasonable really. Those books were Heap House by Edward Carey, The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell, annnnnd a reread of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Her Majesty J.K. Rowling. 

Heap House

I really enjoyed this book and despite it taking me ages and ages to read, I really enjoyed being in its world. Heap House is set in a world of rubbish heaps outside London, in a sort of trash based steam punk Victorian alternative history. Heap House is owned by the Iremongers, a family who rule the heaps and all have very close relationships with their 'birth objects', items which have been assigned to them at birth. Clod Iremonger has a special ability to hear these objects speak their own names, and the story unfolds to unravel the meaning behind this mysterious gift. I got very wrapped up in the world following Clod and Lucy Pennant at their opposite ends of the house and social hierarchy. I have books 2 and 3 in this series so I'm looking forward to diving right back into that world. For Lemony Snicket lovers and Steam Punk appreciators.

The Wolf Wilder

I think I might give this it's very own stand alone review because I loooooooved it. I picked up The Wolf Wilder at the Edinburgh Book Festival last year and saved it til the winter months to get in the right cold, dark mood for some Russian wolf based adventuring. The story follows Feodora, who lives with her mother in a very snowy remote part of Russia, where they 'rewild' wolves who have been the fancy pets of fancy people in the cities. The horrible, evil Russian army come and ruin everyone's day, leading to a departure from this beautiful way of life, to one on the run. Feo travels through terrible snow storms with her pack of wolves to seek justice. There are quite a few sad bits (my copy is currently lent out to Katherine, who can't keep reading for fear of more wolf-harm), but I promise there is a happy ending, and it really is an exciting, snowy, wolfy adventure. For lovers of wolves, mother-daughter relationships, and baddies getting poked in the eye. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Wellll of course this is a reread, but I don't think I've read it in several years, possibly even not since my last reread the year it came out. But that can't be true suuuuurely! As it had been so long there were loads of little things I had forget/had been written over by the films in my brain: Harry's birthday at the Burrow with the giant snitch cake; Harry on Polyjuice potion for Bill and Fleur's wedding to look like a random Weasley cousin; the final goodbye between Harry and Dudley; poor Kreacher left behind at Grimmauld Place; Harry mending his own wand, then putting the Elder wand back in Dumbledore's crypt; and ohhhh my that final show down in the great, with Harry firing curses from under the invisibility cloak then appearing to shock everyone, and then the rising sun hitting his and Voldemort's faces after Harry's big monologue where suddenly he understands everything, and then the final spells pow! Ohhh so great. So so great. My heart was facing. It's facing again just thinking about it now. I should probably so start from the beginning again, which I could do with the illustrated Philosopher's Stone I got for Christmas!

Sooo that's all folks, I did start reading My True Love Gave To Me but I finished it in January so it'll appear in my post on that month. January was short stories month and it was raaaather fun. It was my birthday in January too, so I think I'll do a post on the books I got for Christmas/Birthday from people/presents to myself. 

Heap House was sent to me by Hot Key Books in return for an honest review. The freeness of the book in no way affected my opinion.