Everything I read in May

 In May, I finished reading three books and made progress on a few more books. I read one fiction book and two non-fiction. I read all these books on my Kobo Libra 2, which is no longer available, but you can now get the Kobo Libra Colour instead.

Here is what I read ->

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

I'm not really sure why I wanted to read this. My library had it and it was one that sticks out from my teenage memories. Wintergirls tells the story of Lia, an eighteen-year-old girl living with anorexia. Her best friend, Cassie, who had bulimia, has recently passed away. 

Reading it back as an adult, the books reads much more like a warning sign. But it's a tough one to discuss in terms of its teenage audience. I remember reading it when I was about fourteen, and it felt more like an instruction guide back then. I've been in therapy for over a year now, and I'm trying to connect more to the younger me and everything she felt and experienced. Reading this book helped me do that, and see how much progress I've actually made with my relationship with food, even if I'm not where I want to be yet. 

I think this book is a very raw and fairly realistic representation of living with an eating disorder, but it can, as you might expect, be incredibly triggering, so bear that in mind before reading it yourself. 

Over My Dead Body by Greg Melville

I love cemeteries. I find them so peaceful and quiet. When they are no longer used and left to nature, they become ecological havens, especially in the city. Behind my house is an old mostly-Victorian-era cemetery (pictured left), and during the COVID-19 lockdowns, it became my daily walking spot. I've learned a lot from the cemetery - Victorian burial practices, headstone symbolism, the types of names people had in the past... They hold so much information about people, but I think a lot of people just find them sad and gloomy. 

Over My Dead Body takes the reader on a tour of some of the major cemeteries of the United States throughout its relatively recent history. I love to understand how death and funerary practices are linked to other social and cultural behaviours and this book was a fascinating overview of the history of cemeteries in the USA all the way up to how they are being managed today. 

I like to visit cemeteries when I travel to new places, and my main takeaway from this book is a now much longer travel bucket list! 

I Love Romcoms and I Am a Feminist by Corrina Antrobus

I remember growing up in the 2000s and early 2010s, and loving romcoms, but feeling like I had to keep it a secret. It felt embarrassing to like romcoms, and they weren't really regarded as good films by most people. It was a period of time where the popular flavour of feminism was a rejection of femininity, and I distinctly remember a teacher saying that you couldn't be a feminist and like romcoms. Liking romance just wasn't feminist. 

Well, I think we've started to swing back the other way. Romance books are hugely popular right now, and I'm hoping we will get the romcom revival I've been waiting for (we just don't make them the way we used to). If I'm having a bad day, I watch one of my favourite romcoms. At Christmas, I like to work my way through Netflix's entire festive romance category. I've seen a lot of romcoms, but this book reminded me that there are still a lot I haven't seen. 

I got this book on sale a while back, and finally got around to reading it this month. It's not very long, and each chapter is quite short so it was a nice, quick read for me. Each chapter covers one romcom, discusses the film's importance and finishes with recommendations for similar films. I've now got a long list of romcoms to watch! 

Books in progress

I spent a large chunk of May trying to finish The Master and Margarita. I actually finished it on the second of June, so I'll write about that one at the end of the month. I started Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, which is very short so I will certainly finish it in June. I also started Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, but I'm struggling to get into it. I haven't read Jane Austen before, and I'm finding the language quite different to what I'm used to. I love the gothic and I love satire, so I'm going to carry on as I think once I'm more used to the language, I'll enjoy it more!