Dear Paris: The Paris Letters Collection by Janice Macleod - Book Review

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of books written about life in Paris, but blogger Janice Macleod's beautiful book of illustrated letters from Paris stands out. Macleod has been creating watercolor chronicles of her time in France paired with letters addressed to her friend Aine for years, so it is no surprise that this collection is so lovely.

Macleod creates a romantic image of Paris, but it's not the glamorous image of romance that you expect. Instead, it's a softer kind of romance. She wanders through the city noticing the small details, like sitting at a cafe or the statues in a park. 

I'll be honest that Paris is not my favorite place to visit in France. Despite the wealth of historical significance that the city holds, I find that the crowds make me anxious, and I would rather enjoy French culture in smaller cities. However, reading Macleod's letters makes me want to go live in Paris and spend my days just the way that she spends hers.

As you read each letter, you do truly feel as if you are reading a letter from your adventurous, but relatable, friend. The friend that you feel comfortable with even when you haven't seen them in ages.

I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this book.

With travel being restricted for over a year for most people, this book is a wonderful escape. Let me know in the comments below or on Instagram what books you have been reading that have sparked your wanderlust.

I received a digital ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Project Read the World: January and February Update

I just went to look for my January update, and it turns out that I never published a January update. Which is surprising to me, but here we are. I suppose that this is for the best because I chose two super-long books to attempt to read for February. I was unsuccessful in finishing the second of those, so this update would be a little short if I weren't able to include both months.

Here are the books that I've read by international authors in the past two months.

January Books: 2

February Books: 1

Total Books: 18/195

The Books

Finland - Moomin: The Complete Tove Janesson Comic Strip, Volume 1 by Tove Janesson

For those who, like me until recently, have never heard of the Moomins, the Moomins are adorable trolls who live in Moominvalley and have a wide variety of adventures. This particular volume contains the comic strip that was published in British newspapers, but the original books are classic children's books in Finland. 

These comics are mostly warm and fuzzy (with a few random, strange plotlines thrown in). The main character's biggest desire is to "live in peace, plant potatoes and dream." So relatable. This particular book was a nice change of pace from the other books that I've been reading for this challenge, and I loved it.

I don't have kids, but if I did, I would plan on buying some of Janesson's books for them. In fact, I might just go ahead and buy them anyway.

Japan - Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada

Two months after reading this book, I still have no idea what to think about it. Like the title suggests, the book is actually the memoir of a polar bear, or more correctly, the memoir of three generations of polar bears.

Yes, it was interesting to read the thoughts of three polar bears living in a human world, but I couldn't find the threads of the story. I understood what was happening (I think). I did not understand the point though.

Was there social commentary that I was missing? Maybe. 

I don't know.

Georgia - The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili

I saw others raving about this book on #bookstagram and neglected to realize that it was 944 pages long. Potentially because I was reading it as an ebook, so I didn't notice until I thought that I had gotten pretty far only to see that I had barely made a dent in the book.

No major complaints though. This book might have slowed down my progress in February, but it was enjoyable. I'm not picking the smallest books in order to race through all of the countries.

The Eighth Life is another epic family drama. This seems to be a recurring theme in my books for this challenge. In this particular case, I enjoyed the transitions from generation to generation. Once I began meeting the characters I couldn't stop reading. The flow from one generation to another included more tragic events that I would have liked, but I loved seeing how the younger generations reacted to the older ones and knowing more about the characters than they knew about each other.

It's a beautiful read. Even at 944 pages.

What's Next

I'm slowly making my way through A Suitable Boy as my read for India. It's another very long book, this time I have a paperback copy so I can see how little progress I am making.

I already finished The Name of the Rose as my read for Italy, so assuming that I don't space out about writing an update for March, I'll have plenty of thoughts to share. 

I don't have plans to try to add any more books than those for this challenge in March. I made a TBR for March that I am trying my best to stick to. We're already fairly far through the month, and I'm not reading as much as I had thought that I would, so we'll see what happens.

Like always, if you have suggestions for what I should read next, leave a comment below or on Instagram.

Feel free to follow along on Instagram or on Goodreads for more frequent updates. If I start to get overwhelmed with updating here, I'm more likely to still keep updating on those two sites.

February TBR Review + March TBR List

If you read my February TBR, then you'll notice that several of the books in this photo are the same. That's because while I did read a lot of my TBR in February, I didn't finish most of the longer books.

I wanted to give an update on how making my first monthly TBR went. Overall, I think that I enjoyed having a monthly TBR, at least for right now. I'm going to continue doing one for March as well. 

In my head, my list of books to read on Goodreads will slowly decrease as I read through them, and then, I'll go back to picking up random books to read. I don't know if that's realistic though because despite reading so many books in February, my Goodreads want to read list still grew. 

It's fine. March is three days longer than February, so clearly, I'll read more, right?

Here's what I thought of the books from my TBR in February as well as the books I read in February that weren't on my TBR.

On the February TBR

The Women in Black by Madeleine St. John

Like I had hoped, this book was a light, fun read. Reading The Women in Black felt like watching Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (which I completely recommend).

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

I hadn't realized how much of a narrative this book would be, but it was exactly what I needed. May's experience with difficult times is relatable, and she doesn't do that thing that some writers do where she appears to have magically fixed all of her problems by the end of the book and tells you that you can do the same if you do exactly what she has done. This is a book that I'll return to in the future.

Cast in Silence by Michelle Sagara

Every single time I finish a book in this series, I'm excited to see what happens next. Fantasy fans will love this series.

The Courbet Connection by Estelle Ryan

Same thoughts as above except that this is a mystery, not fantasy.

Black Coffee by Agatha Christie

This book is a novelization of a play, and that fact is extremely obvious as you read it. The plot and characters were all Agatha Christie, but the actual writing style is clearly not her. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing.

The Toll by Neal Shusterman

I haven't even touched this book. It's going on my March TBR though because I am so close to being finished with the series.

The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor

Haven't touched this one either. I've owned it for two years though and want to read it, so it's going on the March TBR, too.

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

I'm so close to finishing this one that I'm counting it for February still. I will never stop being in awe of what Jacqueline Woodson is able to do with words. 

Dear Paris by Janice MacLeod

This book was exactly what I wanted it to be - a beautiful collection of letters about Paris. I immediately want to go to Paris and spend days taking long walks around the city. My full review should be up sometime next week.

Sixteen Scandals by Sophie Jordan

Another book that I didn't even touch. I will be reading it sometime between now and May when it is published because I absolutely want to review this Regency-era YA novel.

The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili

This book was so long! I'd like to say that it is the reason that I didn't finish all the books on my February TBR, but I managed to read a few books that weren't on the TBR so that is not entirely true. I thought that I had enough of rambling, depressing family sagas, but once I started reading I couldn't stop. There will be a longer review of this book in my Project Read the World Update later this week.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

There was no way I was going to finish both this book and The Eighth Life. I made progress, but this book is also very long. I am enjoying the drama so far though. I just wonder how it's going to continue for so many pages. 

The Non-TBR Books

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

I liked the plot of this book - a high school hockey team near Salem mysteriously begins a winning season for the first time in years after a ritual involving an Emilio Estevez notebook. The book is set during the end of the 1980s so it has a very nostalgic feeling that I loved. However, there was a plot point involving a student-teacher relationship that made me feel so uncomfortable. I enjoyed most of the book, but I might not have read it had I known that that particular plot point would keep coming up over and over.

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

I will obviously never spend months hiking over 2,000 miles, but I am so intrigued by people who attempt it. Bryson originally planned to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail but quickly realized that he and his hiking partner would only be able to manage a section of it, which still took them weeks to complete. I don't know why I love reading about this, but I do.

A Woman's Garden: Grow Beautiful Plants and Make Useful Things by Tanya Anderson

This was a book that I requested to read and review from Netgalley, and I'm so glad that I did. Since I'm currently obsessed with the idea of gardening, I've been reading all the gardening books that I can get (I don't count all of those as books I've read because some of them I only flip through rather than actually read) and this was so different from those other books. I loved all of the ideas and the profiles on a variety of gardeners. I read a digital copy of the book, but it's one that I will consider buying in the future in order to have a physical copy.

Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World by Brooke McAlary

I find the concept of slow living interesting (kind of like I find minimalist interesting, but I am much more likely to have a slow living lifestyle than a minimalist lifestyle). McAlary's narrative about how slowing down has impacted her life was inspiring. Her writing style is good at keeping your attention. The second half of the book was not quite as good as the first, but overall, the book was worth reading.

March TBR List

In an effort to keep this post from doubling in length, I'm just going to list out the books that I am putting on my TBR for March with a short comment included. I decided to include all of the books that I didn't finish from the February TBR. I'm sure that I will still end up reading books that aren't on my TBR because I still am going to basically read whatever I want despite having a list.

1. The Toll by Neal Shusterman - Moved from the February TBR

2. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor - Moved from the February TBR

3. Sixteen Scandals by Sophie Jordan - Moved from the February TBR

4. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth - Moved from the February TBR

5. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - Recommended by a friend

6. Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan - Saw on bookstagram and had to read it

7. The Name of the Rose by Uberto Eco - It's supposed to be a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery. So obviously, I have to give it a read.

8. The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow - The title and the cover got me on this one. 

9. The Death of Expertise by Tom Nichols - I don't remember where I heard about this one, but it's on my Goodreads want to read list.

10. Psalms by C.H. Spurgeon - I've been wanting to read Spurgeon for a while. I accidentally borrowed the 2nd volume of a 7 volume commentary on Psalms from the library rather than the 1st volume, but that's fine. If I like it, I'll get the first one and work my way through all of them.

What are you planning to read in March? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram.

Garden Goals for Spring

Today I'm going to switch gears for a little bit. In my head, I had planned to write mostly about books and travel on this blog. I've been able to write about books without any problem, but with the current state of the world, travel isn't happening all that much at the moment.

So, I'd like to spend a little time talking about plants instead. This isn't going to become a gardening blog (most likely), but this year, instead of being excited about a spring break trip, I'm excited about working in the backyard.

Since we made an offer on our house last February, I've been reading all the gardening books, saving a million things on Pinterest, and scrolling through every garden-related hashtag on Instagram. I'm even signed up for an online class in gardening for beginners through our local library that takes place on Saturday. 

I made a small attempt at container gardening last spring because it was difficult to get supplies at first and we were in the process of moving during the beginning of a pandemic. A few things went well - I loved the variety of eggplant that I tried, the rosemary bush is still doing well in its container and will be repotted to a larger one in a few weeks, the catnip was so much fun to have on the front porch. Other things did not go well, but I'm just planning to adjust in those areas this year.

I have very extensive plans for the garden/landscaping around the house. I also know that there's no way that everything will possibly look the way that I want it to when it's only our second year at our home. Especially given that my experience as a gardener is only slightly less limited than my budget. I've narrowed down my long-term plans to the areas that I can realistically try this year. 

My overall goal for the garden is for it to be both beautiful and useful. I want the front porch and backyard to be where we spend all of our time when the weather is good. 

Here are the specific goals that I have for our garden adventure in 2021.

Set up one raised bed and reuse the containers that I used last year for everything else. I already have a kit that my mom gave me to make a raised bed. Now that we know the areas of the backyard that get the best sun, I feel comfortable putting this in place. I might want more raised beds in the future, but I don't want to make my main garden area so big that I can't take care of it since I'm still new to this. Plus, I already have the containers that I used last year so there is no reason not to put them to use again.

Set up a compost bin. I've actually already completed this goal. I thought that I was going to have to buy a fancy contraption because there is no way we could just have an open compost pile in our backyard. We have already had one rat problem. I cannot handle another. Thanks to Pinterest, I realized that I could buy a metal trashcan, poke holes in the bottom, and use that as my compost bin. It will take some time to be able to use the compost in the garden, but I like the idea of being able to improve the soil in my garden while at the same time keeping some waste out of the landfill.

Plant blueberry bushes. We grew up with an abundance of blueberry bushes, so this is not optional because I do not know what to do in the summer without blueberries to put in basically everything. In the future, I'd like to add more bushes and trees that provide edible fruit because even though they take time to establish, the rewards of a tree or bush in comparison to the amount of care it requires are much greater than the time/reward ratio of most vegetables. Blueberries are the ones that I want the most, so that's what we'll start with first.

Grow strawberries. While I will be trying out some new plants in the garden (I already ordered seeds so that I'll be ready), strawberries are the ones that I'm most excited about. This summer I want to try an everbearing variety. Ideally, I'll be able to plant the runners that the plant sends out to replace the original plant. I'm really trying to focus on things that could be part of my garden for a long time this year.

Create a cut flower garden area. I love the idea of having a section of flowers that are planted purely so that I can cut flowers and bring them inside. The first time that I toured the Eudora Welty House in Jackson, we saw the cut flower garden there, and it's been in my mind that I was absolutely going to do that whenever I got my own house. I have a packet of zinnias and half of a packet of "grandmother's cut flower garden mix seeds" leftover from the previous year. I planted those in the front bed last year, but I'm going to put them in the backyard this year so that I can cut as many of them as I want.

Save seeds from at least one plant (probably the zinnias). Our public library has a seed library where you borrow seeds, plant them, and then save some of the seeds to bring back in the fall. I love this idea, but I am too nervous to borrow seeds because what if I mess up? So I'm going to try saving seeds first this year and then potentially using the seed library next year. 

There's so much more that I'd like to do with our outdoor space at our home, and there are some things that I have planned that aren't necessarily one of my "goals." I have a rough diagram of what I want to do this year. All of my plans are modest. I'd like to get carried away, but I want to make sure that I only have as much as I can manage. Part of the excitement of gardening is knowing that I can be creative and experiment with different things. Some things will work this year, and others won't. Which is ok.

With the snow currently falling outside, spring seems far away, but I know it will be here soon. Like I said earlier, I don't intend to turn this into a gardening blog. I do think that it will be fun to share a few bits and pieces of us turning our house into a home as we settle in here, so there will be future updates on how things are going. Hopefully including lots of pretty flower photos if the cut flower garden works for me.

February TBR

Except for the quarantine TBR that I made back in March and then completely abandoned (I've still only read 3 of the books almost a year later), I've never really made TBR lists. I generally just read whatever I'm in the mood for. That being said, I thought that it might be fun to make a February TBR just to change things up. I don't know that this will actually affect my reading in any way, but there aren't all that many new things going on in my life thanks to COVID so here we are.

This list is probably overly ambitious, but I accidentally borrowed too many books from the library and I have a stack of books that my husband got me for Christmas that I haven't read yet. February has started off with cold weather which makes it perfect for reading because I don't want to do anything except sit underneath blankets all day.

Here's what I'll be planning to read this month.

The Women in Black by Madeleine St. John

Part of the reason that I have an overabundance of library books is because I found NPR's Best Books of 2020 list and proceeded to request way too many of them. The Women in Black is set in an Australian department store in the 1950s. Beyond that I don't know what happens plot-wise, but that alone was enough to spark my interest. It looks like a light read, and I'm excited to try it.

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

I'll just let the subtitle explain why this book is currently on my TBR. Unless I get caught up in some fictional read, this is probably the book that I'll start reading today.

Cast in Silence by Michelle Sagara

This book is in one of the series that I'm hoping to finish in 2021. The Chronicles of Elantra is an engaging fantasy series, and I'm glad that I decided to pick back up reading it. I love the characters. I am excited to see how they evolve in this next installment.

The Courbet Connection by Estelle Ryan

Another book from one of the series I plan to finish in 2021. I love that this murder mystery series is set in France and deals with the art world. These books are quick reads, but it is so fun to get carried away into the plot. *I actually read this book between the 1st of February and when I published this post. This particular book seemed to take a darker turn than the previous books. I'm already invested now though.*

Black Coffee by Agatha Christie

I'm slowly making my way through Agatha Christie's novels. I just have a list of the Hercules Poirot books that I'm working through at the moment, and this was the next one on the list. Black Coffee is actually an adaptation of a play written by Agatha Christie which means that it might not be what I would expect from one of her normal novels. If it turns out that I don't get wrapped up in the plot, I'll put this book aside and not pressure myself to finish it.

The Toll by Neal Shusterman

The first book in Scythe completely drew me in. However, the second book in the trilogy seemed to be more disturbing and the ending was completely unsatisfying. Kind of like the ending of the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie where you don't understand why it needed to end right there. I'm avoiding reviews and spoilers for this final book in the series and hoping that it pulls me back into the story the way that the first book did.

The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor

This gorgeous book has been sitting on my shelf for the past two years. I keep holding on to it and not starting it. I have enjoyed everything that I've read by Flannery O'Connor in the past. I had a vague plan of reading one short story a day, but there are 31 stories in here so I'll have to do some adjusting. Or I might take another two years to finish it. Who knows?

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

Once I heard Jacqueline Woodson speak at the Mississippi Literary Festival, and she was amazing to listen to. So far, I've only read her books written for children, but I'm excited to begin reading her books written for adults. I remember her talking about a book that she had just written at the time that deals with memories of childhood friends, and I think that Another Brooklyn is the book that she was talking about. I'm looking forward to this one.

Dear Paris by Janice MacLeod

Sometimes I request books from Netgalley to read and review before they are published. When I saw this beautiful collection of letters and sketches written about Paris, I hoped that I would be able to read it early. While I don't necessarily want to live in Paris, I still want to dream about living in Paris. Dear Paris is being published on March 9, 2021, so I should have a book review ready for it by then. I can't wait to get started reading this one!

Sixteen Scandals by Sophie Jordan

This is another advanced copy book that I will be reviewing. It's not going to be published until May 25, 2021, so I may not actually read it in February. But, I put it on this list because I'm excited to read it, and clearly I have no regard for how much time I'll realistically have to read in February. This YA love story takes place in the Regency era which is really all I need to know to be interested in it. The blurb for the book says that fans of My Lady Jane will enjoy this book. Y'all already know that My Lady Jane is one of my favorite YA novels in recent years so I'm expecting good things.

The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili

The Eighth Life kept popping up on bookstagram. Since I was looking for more books to read for my project to read a book from every country, I decided to pick this one up. Every review that I've seen on Instagram has been a good one. I'm a little nervous because the book is nearly 1,000 pages long. If it's as good as it's supposed to be, it will be worth it though.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

When I picked this book up from the library, I realized that I might have made a mistake. I requested this book because it is supposed to be "an epic love story set in India." I thought that it would be perfect for my reading challenge, and it will probably be interesting. The problem is that this book is almost 1500 pages long. That means that between The Eighth Life and A Suitable Boy, I'd have to read about 100 pages a day just to finish those two books by themselves in February. So we'll see what happens here.

***

I think I might be doing TBRs wrong. Am I supposed to have more books than I could possibly read in a month? Please excuse the lack of a conclusion at the end of this post. I've just realized that I should probably be reading right now. 

What are you planning to read in February? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram.

The Book Series I Plan to Finish in 2021

After listening to Tori share the series that she plans to finish in 2021, I decided that I wanted to make an effort to finish (or at least read more of) some of the series that I've started.  

I enjoy reading series because I love returning to familiar characters and settings. Now that I have easy access to so many more books thanks to Nashville's public library system, I've been flitting all over the place when it comes to reading. I have been getting so distracted by shiny, new books and stories that I have started way too many series to keep up with.

When making out my list of series to read, I quickly realized that I would either need to put a few series on hold or up my reading to 200 books a year in 2021. (If I knew how to add it, the laughing crying emoji would go here.) I narrowed my list down to 5 series that I am going to focus on first. I may still read books from other series, but I won't make it a priority to finish any other series this year. 

Genevieve Leonard Series by Estelle Ryan

The main character works as an investigator for an art insurance company and due to her expertise in understanding nonverbal communication, she is asked to help on a case where a young artist has been murdered. I love a good murder mystery and given that this one is set in France, there was no way I could keep from trying out this series.

I enjoy Genevieve's narration and the ensemble that she works with in order to get to the bottom of the mystery has such a great bunch of personalities and characters. There are a total of 14 books to read in this series which would normally be too many to interest me, but I'll happily spend that much time reading about these characters. I've already torn through the first 4 as fast as my holds have arrived from the library.

Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

Gavin, a Nashville baseball player, is struggling with his marriage. His teammates come to his rescue and invite him into their secret romance book club to help him save his relationship. 

The plot is completely unrealistic but so much fun to read. It appears that the next books in the series all focus on different members of the book club, and I am looking forward to being just as delighted to read them. There currently 3 books out now with a 4th one being published this year. 

Red Queen Series by Victoria Aveyard

What kind of list would this be if I didn't have a YA dystopia on it? The book features a divided society, royalty, hidden powers, and romance. 

The first few books were fun to read and I'm far enough in that I'd like to know what happens to the characters. At some point, I read half of the 4th book but had to return it to the library before I finished. There are 5 main books in the series. Even though I'll have to reread all of War Storm, reading 2 books to finish the series is very doable.

Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman

I picked Scythe as one of the best books that I read in 2020. Not surprisingly, this book is another YA dystopia. In this particular story, society has advanced beyond natural death. A group called the Scythes exists as a sort of business-like grim reapers who keep the population in balance.

The first book had such a cliffhanger for a conclusion that I have to keep reading this series. The 3rd book came out in 2019 and is listed as being the final book of the series. That leaves me with a very manageable 2 books to read in order to finish this series.

Chronicles of Elantra by Michelle Sagara

This book is a combination of a world-building fantasy novel and a tv cop show which somehow works perfectly. Children are being found dead with mysterious markings on their bodies. The main character has these same markings. She escapes into the safety of the Hawks, a group responsible for maintaining order in the city.

One of my favorite fantasy authors had a short story in a book with several other authors. The prequel to this series appeared in that collection which is what got me started on this series. I've read some reviews that suggest that this series begins too abruptly, but that wasn't a problem for me since I was already familiar with the characters. The author has currently published one book in this series each year for the past 15 years. I've read books 1-3 leaving me with at least 12 more books (probably 13 because it seems as if another one is scheduled to come out this year). That's a large number of books, but I really enjoy the world and the characters that the author has created. I just hope that my library actually has all of those books otherwise I'm about to have to order a lot of books.

Project Read the World: December Update and Year in Review

The first half-year of Project Read the World is complete! I managed to read two more books for the challenge in December bringing my total to 15. 

Each month I've felt a little disappointed that I wasn't reading as many books for the challenge as I had hoped, but seeing the number 15 makes me very satisfied. Even though I'm making my way very slowly through the challenge, I've already expanded my reading so much out of my norm. 

Sweden, Iceland, North Korea, Slovenia, Norway, Haiti, Lebanon, Zambia, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Dominica, Australia, and Mexico

Before beginning this challenge, I had read books by authors from 3 of those countries. I originally said that one of my fears for this challenge is that I would give up before completing it. The goal of reading 195 books (one for each country) is a lot. The fact that I still have 180 to go is daunting, but even if I got discouraged and stopped now (which I'm not planning to do), I'm proud of the progress that I've made in learning a tiny bit more about the world.

December Books: 2

Total Books: 15/195

The Books

Iceland - Miss Iceland by Audur Ava Olafsdottir

Hekla, the protagonist, is named after an active volcano in Iceland. Despite the force that her name implies, Hekla is unable to step outside the expected role for women in Iceland in the 1960s. She moves to Reykjavik to enter what she hopes will be a more stimulating world of writing, but the men around her either see her as just a beauty or as someone who will support their own artistic endeavors. 

She writes under a male pseudonym and hides her writing from her boyfriend who is a poet. The boyfriends and his companions don't realize that the writer they admire is Hekla.

I loved the feel and pace of this novel, and I was fascinated by Hekla. I would have loved to follow more of her story. However, the story seemed to end abruptly. Even though I've been trying to expand my reading horizons, I still want stories to end tidily with a clear conclusion and an easily understood takeaway for the reader. I didn't get that with this book.

Sweden - Willful Disregard by Lena Andersson

I was not prepared for this book. By reading the blurb, you already know that Ester is going to fall for Hugo Rask, a famous artist, whom she gives a lecture on and then meets afterwards. You also know that he is not going to return the intensity of his feelings, but even without learning this before reading, you would still be able to feel within the first few interactions that things just aren't going to go well for the two.

Watching Ester continue to pursue a hopeless relationship with Rask even though she behaves rationally in all other aspects of her life is a trainwreck that you can't stop watching. Ester becomes so worried about losing Rask that she is willing to accept less than the relationship that she wants to have with him.

At times it's difficult to keep reading because her blindness feels relatable. You know that she shouldn't keep trying to make things happen, but at the same time, you've seen enough romantic comedies that you keep hoping that there's something there.

You want to be mad at Rask for not considering Ester's feelings for him, but she has been equally callous in leaving her own partner with little regard for the life that they have built together. Which is one of the things that make you dig deeper into your assumptions about love.

There is a second book about Ester, but I don't have any desire to read it. I'm glad that I read Willful Disregard. I just don't think that I can handle another one like it.

What's Next

I still have two books checked out of the library to read for this challenge - Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawanda and Moomin, Volume One by Tove Jansson. I've had these checked out for a while, so I do actually have to read them soon before they are due back.

I also have several more books saved in my reading list on my library account. As far as I know, I'm not filling in for anyone at work and I'm no longer babysitting in the mornings, so I might actually have more time to read in January than I've had since around October.

There are just so many books that I want to read and not enough time to read them all. I did listen to one audiobook in December, and I've started one already this month. Maybe if I can listen to some of the books I want to read during my long commute three days a week, I will prioritize this reading challenge when I'm ready to read physical books in the afternoon and evening.

Like always, if you have suggestions for what I should read next, leave a comment below or on Instagram.

Feel free to follow along on Instagram or on Goodreads for more frequent updates. If I start to get overwhelmed with updating here, I'm more likely to still keep updating on those two sites.