January Wrap-Up

This wrap-up is coming to you a bit late because of my really fun case of the flu. Or a bad cold. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but I do know that it sucks. I’ve been spending most of my days in bed since Monday and I haven’t been able to do much. I also sound a bit like a dying seal when I talk, so that’s attractive.

Anyway, my January hasn’t been very eventful. I didn’t really do anything interesting that’s worth writing down. I did manage to stick to my 2017 resolutions and I went running a couple of times, and I managed to journal again, which was great.

My mental health, on the other hand, hasn’t been great. It’s been greatly affected by everything that’s going on in the world at the moment, which I think a lot of people struggle with. This is also the reason why I haven’t written a lot of blogposts in January. My thoughts were a mess, and I couldn’t form a coherent sentence. I hope February will be better.

Goodreads says I’ve read 14 books, but I’m not entirely sure if this is true. A lot of these books are poetry collections, novella’s, comics, and even issues of a comic. And does a 25 page comic count as a book? I’m not sure. And that is a whole discussion for another time, so I’m just going to list the things I’ve read this month.

We Carry the Sky by McKayla Robbin (★★★★★/5 stars) – A very beautiful, empowering and feminist poetry collection by one of my now auto-buy poetesses (is that even a word?).
Finding Your Feet by Cass Lennox (★★★★/5 stars) – A romance between a biracial trans man and a girl who identifies as asexual, with a lot of dancing.
The Melody of You and Me by M. Hollis (★★★★★/5 stars) – A bookstore romance between a pansexual girl and a lesbian Filipino girl. ADORABLE and I want everyone to read this.
The Trouble With Women by Jacky Fleming (★★★/5 stars) – Interesting, but there was something that didn’t feel right to me.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis (★★★★/5 stars) – I love the Narnia books, so combining that with a journey over sea = great. A bit problematic, though.

Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World by Kelly Jensen (★★★★★/5 stars) – Amazing book full of essays, comics and list about feminism. I wish this was required reading.
If the Dress Fits by Carla de Guzman (★★★★★/5 stars) – GREAT romance between a fat girl and a very hunky vet set in the Philippines. Includes lots of yummy food.
God Smites and Other Muslim Girl Problems by Ishara Deen (★★★★/5 stars) – A Muslim Nancy Drew. Great main character, and engaging mystery.
Goldie Vance Vol. 1 by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams (★★★★/5 stars)  – Another Nancy Drew kind of story, but in comic form. Great characters + cute retro setting.
The Backstagers Issues #1-#4 by James Tynion IV and Rian Sygh (★★★★★/5 stars) – Incredibly fun and cute comic with a very diverse cast of characters, amazing world and a wonderful art style.

As you can see, January was an incredibly good reading month for me. I’ve only got one book that I rated below 4 stars! I really hope I’ll be able to keep this up the rest of the year.

I’m currently reading 3 things. The first thing is a graphic novel called The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui about a family’s journey from war-torn Vietnam. It’s very good so far, but it’s very hard to read as well, which is why I have to put it down sometimes. The second thing I’m reading is a poetry collection called salt. by Nayyirah Waheed, and it’s absolutely brilliant. I kind of want to speed through it, because I want to devour their words, but I really want to take some time after every poem to really think about it. The third thing I’m reading is Dreadnought by April Daniels, which is about a transgender superhero. I only started it this morning and I’m only a couple of chapters in, so I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.

That’s it for this month! Now, tell me, what is the best book you’ve read in January?

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