Another week has flown by, and I’m still puzzled as to what I should be doing about my blog – because I want to change something up, but I’m not sure what. I’m also still struggling with the part where I draft reviews and posts, but just can’t finish them. This mental fatigue is annoying! Is it just an end of the year thing? I can’t find my motivation. Where is it?
A GIF of a woman in a 1950’s celebrity-looking event, glancing and looking for someone far away
Anyway, I have at least had a good week of reading. Not too many accomplishments, but I feel like they don’t motivate me as much anymore anyway. I’ve found a really fun chick lit series though! And I’m going to share it with you. Other than that, I’m reading like 10 books at a time again, and it’s because I’m so unmotivated and can’t concentrate. They’re all good, but it’s grating me a little. I just want to have a direction again!
~ What I’ve Been Reading ~
I’ve been reading Myth, and it’s such a wonderful book – a true gem in the rough! I got it back in the day for free on some promotion, and that let me underestimate it – completely undeservedly. I left it for years (well, maybe A year), and when I just started reading it a few weeks back, I had forgotten everything about it. And I believe that is often the best way to go into reading a new book. I don’t know what I expected – something fantasy, something mythical and copy paste, perhaps? I couldn’t have been more wrong. The book is so incredibly unique, so well-written, and most surprisingly – incredibly dark in places. Dark and deep, and it makes you think about all that is wrong with the world – the hatred of communities other than yours or beliefs different than yours, unbridled violence and anger. The fantasy world is built so well as well – it’s both realistic and magical, fantastical – I just can’t tell you! It retains enough of our world, but also has enough random magic to be completely otherwordly. I know I am absolutely enjoying this book, and I can recommend it with all my heart!
[ Goodreads ]
I’ve also just finished reading The Four Women, and it had such a shocking ending. I know it’s quite an obscure book, but I keep wanting to throw all these spoilers at you guys, and just discuss, discuss! The moral decisions in this book are so layered, and there can be so many ways to interpret who was manipulating whom, who was lying to whom, whose fault it is. It’s such a dark book of despair and premonition, but with such an interesting and unexpected plot, at least for little old gullible me. I wish we could discuss it! Is there anyone who’s read this one?
[ Goodreads ]
And then I said I found an awesome chick lit. Well, here it is! It’s sooooo much fun, it’s legit SO funny! A very light read, and a quick one, but one that will make you laugh a lot. It’s basically a cross between Legally Blonde (Reese Witherspoon learns to be a lawyer and prove that you can be one even if you’re not the stereotype. The story fits, even down to the gay doggie!) and, if you remember it, Private Benjamin (Goldie Hawn gets to much in the mud, trying to become an army woman and prove herself.) I don’t know about you, but I have a thing for Reese Witherspoon, and even though I’ve always been considered unattractive and low maintenance and pretty girls have only ever bullied me, for some reason I can relate to her character trying to fit in a world that’s completely alien to her like character in Legally Blonde. Which is perhaps why I gobbled this book up as well – plus, like I said. INCREDIBLY FUNNY. There are a lot of reviews going around for this one where they complain about the character being wishy washy or that nobody decides to become a policewoman overnight, but you know what? It’s chick lit, dude. It’s for the laughs. It’s for the light reading. It’s not for literary dissection. So if you want to enjoy your evening, grab a cup of tea and actually a free copy of Cocoa and Chanel (it’s free on the author’s website!) and settle in. I can recommend it 100% and can’t wait till I delve into part 2, which is already downloaded and waiting for me.
[ Goodreads ]
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Other than that, this is a photo of The Splendors And Miseries Of Courtesans by Honoré de Balzac. Which was just such a beautiful edition in the library, I could not resist (so call me vain.) It’s a tough read though, because it’s riddled with all these mentions of things that were relevant in France more than 100 years ago, and I just can’t relate at all. It’s also that flowery language… And the racism. Oh, the racism of older classic reads. It’s truly despicable. But I’m determined to finish the book because I’m curious about the story the author’s telling – of how a destitute, yet beautiful woman’s life did not belong to her, of how women’s lives didn’t belong to them even if they were in better circumstances. And also loads and loads of cons and swindlers. I doubt I’ll give it a good rating (the literary snob in me has died a long time ago), but I want to see the story through till the end. And those beautiful stained pages are helping, I gotta say.
[ Goodreads ]
~ What You’ve Been Talking About ~
Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recommends scifi and fantasy books with no romance (yay!)
Michelle @ The Unfinished Bookshelf gushes about Dumplin’ the movie and how body positive and needed it is right now
Camilla @ Reader in the Attic lists all the things that are needed for a good reading session in the wintry season
Meaghan @ The Words Gremlin talks about books she’d kill to see as TV shows
Avid Reader Diary posts current Amazon book deals
Amber @ The Literary Phoenix talks about ways to log (and keep) your book reviews
Bookish Species shares a blog design 101 post for beginners on WordPress
Dhruv Singhal posts a not so favorable review of Crimes of Grindelwald, the movie (with maybe mild spoilers)
Fanna @ Fannatality offers a 25% discount on beta reads and is hosting a contest for a free beta read!
Clo @ Book Dragons 24/7 wants to support book bloggers (herself included) and is setting up a little fund for it
Jane @ Janepedia talks about the Gutenberg editor and ableism
Trang @ Bookidote talks about the bookish things we should really give less f*cks about (and she’s right!)
The Orangutan Librarian recommends books everyone hates (yes, that’s what I meant!)
Gayathri @ Elgee Writes talks about how she picks her next read
Sam @ Fictionally Sam talks about how to make life easier for yourself if you’re a mood blogger
Drew @ The Tattooed Book Geek shares two posts (one and two) with hilariously inappropriate book covers
Grab the Lapels asks the question: should a book always teach you some kind of lesson?
Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books talks about how to avoid the book hype
New Lune shares 10 blogging tasks you can do from your phone
~ What I’ve Been Talking About ~
Last week I posted State of the ARC and invited you all to link up. Sorry if I haven’t visited your State yet! Life has been busy. But I hope you are happy with your accomplishments and you stats, because the end of the year is approaching. One more month left to complete that bingo!
And on #bookstagram this week – a new exciting haul and a long awaited review:
~ What I’ll Talk About Next Week~
Next week I have a review I’m super excited about! It’s one of my absolute favorites this year. Such a moving book – a book I’ve talked about on a few of my posts already – List of 13. Please come by on the 13th to read all of my thoughts about it:
~ What I’ve Been Hauling ~
So how has your week been? And what are you reading? What did you haul?
As usual, I’m linking up with the Sunday post meme at Kimba’s book blog and Stacking The Shelves over at Tynga’s Reviews.
I’m Evelina and I try to blog about books that matter, with a bit of fun there too! Disability and equality will be topics you see a lot, but there’s also a lot of scifi, fantasy and… GIFs. I’m also the proud founder of #ARCsAnonymous.
How you feel about your blog is how I often feel about my life. I want to change something when things get monotonous, but I don’t know what lol. I’m loving the cover for Myth, and you’ve made it sound so good! Thanks for sharing my post 🙂
LOL good comparison 😀 although I wish I felt like that about life – my feelings about life are often much darker than about my blog :/ (sorry if I’m being weird!) and I think you’d like Myth 🙂 it’s a story that truly pulls you in.
Just got my free copy of cocoa and Chanel and I’m excited to read it cause of what you said. I’m in a bit of a reading slump so I hope it helps.
I hope you’ll enjoy it 🙂 it’s quite a light read! It should definitely help your reading slump. You should try it with Pocketbook, the app that reads it out loud to you, and just relax and listen to it 🙂
Myth sounds fantastic and I would like to read it. I love it when fantasy is creative and when it tackles real issues. I think that your blog looks so good as it is now. I particularly love the way that you put together your posts with pictures and graphics. With that, I understand the desire to freshen things up if you have been doing something for awhil
Thanks, Brian 🙂 it’s just that I guess I expected something else from my blog (and I can’t say I even know what I expected :D)
Thank you for sharing my post! Hmmm maybe switch up the days you post? Or add in a new type of post maybe see if that helps?
My pleasure 🙂 there are not many days left to switch up xD I post too little is what it is, but I don’t have time or energy to post more. The biggest problem is not when or what to post, but whether I should keep blogging at all…
I understand how you feel about your blog. Every time I want to change something – blog or life wise – I’m never really sure of what I want to change. Why can’t changes be easier?! Anyway, you always discover such great hidden gems. Myth seems so interesting – I love its cover! <3
Happy readings! I hope you enjoy your new books.
Tânia @MyLovelySecret
Exactly! It’s hard coming up with the new ideas. And yes, Myth is very good, I think you would like it 🙂 thank you!
Great post! I got all sorts of ideas for books to read next.
Thank you 🙂
Thanks 🙂
I feel like I get the same way towards the end of the year – lack of motivation and concentration. Fall was a super busy time of the year for me, so blogging was sparse for the past two months. I’m ready to slowly get back into the groove of things. The start of the new year always seems to light a fire under my ass to get my life back on track, fingers crossed this year is the same. I am DYING for Winter of the Witch! It doesn’t release until January 8th here. I was devastated when the… Read more »
I have been like this ever since I came back from my long vacation in August xD fall was super busy for me too. I think it’s the busiest time of the year, in general. I guess we will probably be able to relax in January or February, at least 🙂 I actually am not sure when Winter of the Witch releases, but I think it’s also sometime in January, so I guess I’ll be posting my review at the start of the year 🙂 it has actually just arrived here a last week (mailing to my country takes forever),… Read more »
Great post! I love discovering hidden gems in little-known books! I am also drawn to Coco and Chanel. Thanks for sharing, and here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES
Thanks 🙂
I’m so sorry to hear you’ve been struggling and feeling a bit lost with your blog overall – maybe trying to change one thing, one posting day, trying out something new, changing even one minor design thing or something might revive your motivation? I hope you’ll find what you’d like to change and what doesn’t quite sit well with you soon! x
Thank you so, so much for sharing my post, that means a lot!! <3
I’m kind of limited with what I can change – I can’t change the design at all because everything will fall apart xD I didn’t make the design and I have no idea how to do that coding stuff. It’s mostly a time problem… and the fact that after two years, my blog growth is disappointing, so I don’t know why I’m doing this and if I should go on, cause I feel like it’s a chore now. But I also don’t want to stop blogging! Complicated xD
You know I just clicked that Goodreads link to learn more about Cocoa and Chanel. I love chick lit.
You should just get the free copy and read it 😀
AHHH WINTER OF THE WITCH ARRIVED! I absolutely love that ARC cover for it too ♥ I never would have guessed that Myth was a dark story with such a pretty, pastel-y cover, but now you have me really intrigued. And I definitely think the end of the year can kind of sap motivation and direction, so that might be part of it 🙂 It’s like, there’s so much you still need to do, but you also feel like you need to shift your focus to the next year’s worth of goals and tasks and WOW SO OVERWHELMING. I think… Read more »
I know! I also thought it would be whimsical, maybe… it looks like a pair of animated characters. But the story gets damn dark… I was shocked o.o but it’s really well written, so I can definitely recommend it! I have also let myself go since September but nothing has really figured itself out, so I’m out of hope xD
I love books that are incredibly funny! Sometimes we all just need to laugh to make life better, and books are great for that. Some movies, too! It’s been ages since I’ve seen Legally Blonde, but I also love Reese Witherspoon. There’s just something about her that I can relate to!
I hope you have a wonderful reading week!
Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear?
I know! Maybe it’s because her character is so kind and friendly, and is always pushed away by others over stereotypes? I guess most people would be able to relate to that 🙂 and thank you!
For the past couple of months I’ve been struggling with what to do about my blog too so I really hope you will find your answer. I am still not sure about mine, but this month I just feel like blogging so I am going with the flow.
Definitely gonna get that free copy of Cocoa and Chanel!
I guess me and you, we’re mostly using our blogs as social media, aren’t we 🙂 I kind of like it that way though, I have to admit – although I don’t like the stats xD hahah. For what it’s worth, I hope we both keep blogging in some capacity 🙂
And I know you’ll enjoy Cocoa and Chanel!
You sure have some great looking reads. I’m struggling a bit with my blog. Not sure if I want to change things up or not. I hope you sort things out:)
I have to say, I can understand you so well! Why are we all struggling with our blogs right now? So weird. It’s like it’s a global thing, almost 😮
Well enjoy your reading and don’t worry about the rest. Take care of yourself and take a break if you need it. Enjoy your holidays too! Anne – Books of My Heart
Thank you, Anne!
Myth sounds so cool, I am going to have to check it out and I’m so glad you’re enjoying it!
Yes, I think you would enjoy Myth 🙂
I seem to either get blogging done or reading done but never both. And then there’s writing—it’s impossible to fit everything in!
Hahah, you’re right 😀 I think maybe it’s a time and energy issue? We can’t do EVERYTHING! So we get either in a reading slump, or a blogging slump 😀
I hope you find your motivation soon, or just the right spark to get you going again! I go through that too where nothing feels right and I don’t feel like doing any posts lol- it’s almost like a book slump. Ugh. Anyway… Cocoa and Chanel sounds fun!
Hope you have a great week!
Thanks 🙂 yeah, it is like that, kind of. I guess blogging slumps are also a thing, sadly 🙂
Evelina, this post is amazing! Thank you so much for linking up my post. I just finished blog hopping on all the blog posts you’ve included here and I enjoyed reading them all and commenting! I’ve found new book bloggers to follow and chat with through this post. Thank you so much again!
My pleasure 🙂
It’s hard to get changes going even when you know what they should be – which is where I am with my life right now. So even harder when you don’t know… Best of luck with sorting out how you want your blog to go – though for what it’s worth, I really like it the way it is :). Have a good week.
Thanks, SJ 🙂 oh, I’m so glad to hear it! Thank you for the kind words.
I definitely just downloaded Myth based on your recommendation here. I found it was free, so super hyped! I’ll also look into Four Women, it sounds interesting. Thank you also for the list of links, I’ve been so out of the loop with blogs lately so this will help me with blog hopping! Stinks that you’ve been in a bit of a reading slump, I’m right there with you. I’ve just been so busy and exhausted, but I’m glad to see you still post!
Oh, it’s still free! Great to hear. I would love to hear your thoughts – although I’m not done reading it myself yet. Haha, yes, I still post – for now, at least 😀
Oh my god I feel you ! I was So. sluggish. all of November for posting and reading .. it was horrible ! atleast this beggining of December was quite better for me, so YAS!
Yeah, I’m feeling myself getting better at the motivation too. At least at the motivation! I am hoping the posting will come later 😀
I’m sorry to hear that your blogging isn’t rewarding at the moment. It’s so tough to keep going when the mojo isn’t there. Maybe just post a big Christmassy pic for a post now and let yourself have a blogging holiday until January? All refreshed for the New Year!
I actually have review copies that I need to post about! And I feel like if I stopped, I might not come back. So maybe I shouldn’t xD
Ah I’m definitely feeling the end of year fatigue- so relate there!! Myth sounds so good- so curious about it now! Thank you so much for including my post!! ooh I really hope winter of the witch is good!!
Oh, it’s very good so far! 🙂
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