first post of the year — looking into the next one.

(Well, I guess I'm a mess when it comes to any social media platform and I'll just need to accept this about myself.)

So this year I've read the most within the past few years, and I'm really quite proud of it; so maybe I should recap this year before I make my aesthetically pleasing grid of books for next year.

I'd say favorites, but I realized the most meaningful or impactful would be best: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, Territory of Light by Yoko Tsushima, Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain, All We Know of Pleasure: Poetic Erotica by Women edited by Enid Shomer, Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin, "A Gentle Creature" by Dostoevsky, and The Girl from the Other Side, vol. 6 by Nagabe.

Wonderful Rereads: Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermentov, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

Book which made me create a "Can't be Bothered" Shelf on Goodreads: Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. (It is very hard for me to loathe a piece of fiction more than this one, I couldn't even "hate-read" my way through it..).

So! For 2020, I'm upping my reading goal to 30 (because I nearly reached it this year!); I want to start making use of the public library (literally right up the street); I want to incorporate some non-fiction and my kindle reads into my routine; with a new job, I'd like to read more contemporary and modern authors as well (this year has been a little classic heavy, which was to be kind of expected..). So here we go!

 

(There are more in mind, but this old computer of mine is giving me a physical headache, and we all know how I feel about the uselessness and pure redundancy of headaches). So for now, that's a handful of what I'm hoping to get to this new year. I'm going to finish my peach wine and get my yoga exercises in before I'm too tired to be bothered. Buh bye for now. x

Love, Lizzie. x

I won't let the spooky times go

I haven't posted much at all this year, but I felt like writing about some bookish things I've been thinking and feeling ever since Halloween, so here I am!

We didn't get to celebrate Halloween the way we usually do --I mostly just had a car ride in a cutesy summery-french-river-picnic-inspired witch outfit and a naked face and then ended the day with Jack and ginger ale, but it was what it was. So when Halloween ended and November came in and everyone with their peppermints and their reds and greens --I refused to let go of the spooky autumn vibe that I felt I hadn't really had the time to enjoy (it also didn't help that I had just finished watching the new season of Castlevania on Netflix, and it made me feel a little nostalgic and inspired).

So! Of course I had to research Gothic literature, and I've got myself a lineup of things to read to keep the creepy cold feeling alive! There are some novels and some short stories, and even some poetry, I think..but these are the tales that appealed to me, and so here is my November mood reading/tbr:

The desire to pick up Carmilla is 100% inspired by Castlevania, and looking into it, the story is older than Dracula, so of course I have to read it. And then Dracula is going to be a reread, but I was skimming through it earlier this spring (a friend was writing a paper on it), and there's so much more in it than I remember, so this is the perfect time to venture and rediscover. And the last novel is Radcliffe's The Italian, which I am picking up simply because there may be a villainous religious man and a love story, I don't know.

The list of short stories & poems consists of:

• A Terrible Vengeance, by Gogol
• Viy, by Gogol
• "Demon" by Lermontov
• "The Bridegroom" by Pushkin
• The Queen of Spades, by Pushkin

This list also encourages me to give Gogol another chance --he's always described to me as a surrealist who writes about class differences (which doesn't appeal to me much) --but if you sell him to me as a fantastic & Gothic type of writer, then maybe that will hit me much harder, yes?

And seeing Lermontov's name, I wonder if I ought to include a reread of A Hero of Our Time. That has a strange atmosphere to it as well.

On a completely different note, there's another novel, Putney, that has caught my eye that seems to be Nabokov-inspired, but it focuses mostly on a person's agency, which interests me. So if I end up purchasing it, I may use it as a little breather from all the Gothic lit (Also, the colors on the cover are just perfect?).


Although, I should also still try to find comfy-cozy reads for Christmas, too..It's all a mess, really..

Okay, well I suppose that's it for now, I don't know when the next time I'll write (this old laptop is actually really terrible to write with now..), but I'll try to find the patience for it again sometime soon, I hope! Bye. x

Love, Lizzie. x

Kissing the new year, hello --but first, goodbyes

I feel like there's too much to write about 2017, so I think I'm just gonna keep it anchored on books for a good chunk of this post.

I read 24 books last year, which meant I reached my goodreads reading challenge!

(Most of my reads were graphic novels, though, which will play into my reading goals for this year..).

So here are the books that stuck with me through the year, the ones that my head kept thinking about and the ones that taught me something (whether that thing was a lesson or a feeling).

We have The Bell Jar, 1Q84, Lolita, and The Girl from the Other Side vol. 1.

I could only come up with four "favorites" (if we want to call them that) for the year, but I'm still really proud of it --considering I haven't been able to read much since 2014/15.

But I have a couple goals! Obviously in list form:

• Reading goal of 22 books this year, but still aiming for 2 books a month if I can (I felt a little pressured last year and I don't want this to be an anxiety-inducing hobby)
• Read more women authors (I have a habit of gravitating towards older, white men)
• Read more novels vs. graphic novels (but still get my graphic novel fix)
• Find more modern day authors to love, instead of just the classics
• Have some rereads this year! Some books are way overdue for a revisit :)
• Post more bookish things on insta!
• And give audiobooks a go

It's a bit of a list, but I've already got two books under my belt this year and it's just the first week of January! My first read (and reread) was Peter Pan, and it's the best way to start a year, I think.

2018 is going to be full of change, and I can only hope for happiness :)

Well that's it for now, goodbye and good luck. x

Love, Lizzie.