Reading wrap-up + Favourites // January 2018

Hello, beautiful people!

Like many people, I felt like January was quite a long month, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The first three weeks of it were very stressful for sure, because it was the end of the first semester at uni and I had a big group project to work on, but in the end, I am quite proud of what I achieved. January was also the month I grew even more as a reader and went to the movies way too many times. It was the month where I was glad to be able to count on my friends, but also the month I was happy to be on my own. I'm actually ending the month on a new friendship blooming, and even though I don't want to get too excited, I'm very happy about that. I'm so ready for February, because there are so many amazing things I'm looking forward to, but in the meantime, let's recap January.

  

W H A T  I  R E A D 

• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, 4/5 stars 
• A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (reread), 5/5 stars
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, 3.5/5 stars
• The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, 3/5 stars
• The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley, 4/5 stars
• Star Wars, The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Forster, 4/5 stars
• Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones, 4.5/5 stars
• Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente, 3/5 stars
• The Law of Moses by Amy Harmon, 3.75/5 stars
• The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore, 4/5 stars

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My reading year started very well, because I did it, I finally read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy and I am very proud of myself for that. I didn't really read classics this month except for this one, but I'll definitely fix that in February, for January was a month of historical fiction, books set in Russia, Star Wars and not rating any book 5 stars apparently (rereads don't count in such situations). However, the best book I read this month was Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones, it was absolutely amazing and you can read my review here (it comes out next Tuesday!).

F A V O U R I T E  B L O G  P O S T S

I decided to add a new category to my wrap-ups, to share what I loved reading on the blogosphere each month. January was definitely the month I went back to reading a lot of blogs, and I intend to pursue that in February. I don't have a lot of posts to share for January, because I decided to start this category recently, but I'll share more next month!

• Clara @ The Bookworm of Notre Dame explained why she speaks in English on social media while she's French and I 100% agree with everything she said.
• Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books explained why she doesn't (really) do TBRs (and I feel less along considering the small physical TBR that I have).
• Cait @ Paper Fury got to hold ARCs of her book, it's so amazing, she so deserves it and I can't wait to read it, I've followed her blog for so long!!
• Hayley @ Twirling Pages talked about celebrating the Asian characters in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (here's another reason why I love this movie). Once again, representation matters.

(One of those times I rewatched The Last Jedi, ft my best friend's fingers)

F A V O U R I T E S 

MOVIES // The unlimited movie card 

I'm not someone who watches a lot of movies, but considering the number of times I went to the movie theatre in December, I wondered whether getting an unlimited movie card, that I would pay for each month, would be worth it. At some point, I realised that the card cost less than going to the movies twice a month on a week-end, so I got one and oh, how happy I am about that! I got one with my friend Clara and we're planning on seeing so many movies in the next couple of months, this is so exciting. It gave me the possibility to rewatch The Last Jedi countless times (just kidding, I'm still counting, but I can't confess the number at this point), to watch Pitch Perfect 3, The Greatest Showman and Darkest Hour without thinking twice about it. I'm allowing myself to watch so many movies now, I am sure 2018 will be rich in movies and that investment was worth it.

  

DRINK // Ricola Herbal Infusion 'Goodnight' 

I am prone to insomnia and always struggles to fall asleep, because my brain rarely ever wants to shut up. I've been trying to find a solution and it's not easy, but my best friend made me discover an infusion from Ricola, a Swiss brand, called 'goodnight'and it's been helping me to fall asleep a bit faster on some nights. It is made of orange blossom, rose, lavender and honey, quite a few ingredients that I love. I can't count the number of nights where I made myself a cup of it and drank it while reading, it definitely helps me, even though I'm trying not to do that every night, or it wouldn't work as well anymore.

  

TV SHOW // One Day at a Time (Netflix)

I started watching One Day at a Time last year, when the first season was released, and it quickly became one of my favourite TV shows ever. The second season was released a week ago and you can bet that I watched it in three days (but then, it only has thirteen episodes). I will write a blog post about it soon, but it's a diverse, topical and important TV show. It follows the Alvarez family, with Penelope, a single mother and veteran army who works as a nurse, who raises her two children Elena and Alex, with the help of her Cuban mother, Lydia. In two seasons (twenty-six episodes totals!), it covered coming out, racism, gender identity, mental health, homophobia, immigration and so much more. I can't praise it enough and I made it my goal to convince as many people as possible to watch it (I convinced a fifth person yesterday!!), so please, do yourself a favour and watch it.

FOOD // Grilled cheese sandwich 

It's going to seem very random that I discovered I loved grilled cheese sandwiches in January, but I have to confess that I'm not a cheese person. *hides in a corner, because is a French girl* Anyway, I actually somehow like melted cheese, because I'm full of contradictions. As the main thing I eat at dinner when I'm on my own is... soup (Clara, I see you rolling your eyes from here), I always need to eat something on the side and alas, I can't eat avocado toasts all the time. I tried grilled cheese at some point and now I'm a fan, I need all of it, please and thank you. It was a very random paragraph, but I needed to share my love for grilled cheese, that is all.

BOOKS // My e-reader Lisbeth*

E-readers and I go way back, because I've been using them since 2014. When I joined bookstagram at the beginning of last year, my second e-reader didn't work anymore and I started buying physical copies of way more books than I used to (my bank account wasn't that happy, but I'd rather eat pasta and buy books actually). However, I finally got a new e-reader a few months ago and the passion of our relationship was reignited in January. I know there are a lot of people who can't read on e-readers, but I adore them. I can read and eat at the same time, I can read with all the lights out at night and put it on the side when I fall asleep and it's easier in public transportation. I've also gotten several e-ARCs recently, so of course I'm reading them there and it's been wonderful. I've had a lot of thoughts on book buying lately and what I wanted my future bookshelves to look like, and that's why I know I'll slowly be going back to my e-reader more andmore (also, I don't really like having a large physical TBR, but that's a topic for another day).

*yes, I give names to my e-readers/laptops/phones

  

I hope you had an amazing month in January, tell me all your favourite things! 

  

Lots of love, 

Lucie