The Terror of Knowing

Hola all! You may have noticed a slight lack of posts in the last fortnight or so. Truth be told, I’ve been feeling a little unmotivated to blog. The combination of going away on holiday (and needing to organise things before then), hitting something of a (dare I say it) reading slump, and trying to feel more organised generally at work after returning from holiday has meant that I’ve not hugely been feeling the desire to blog. And, as anyone who has experienced something of a rough patch will know, once you start sliding down that slippery slope, the climb back up (and the perfunctory posts you have to write to catch up to present) seems all the more difficult.

Still, I’m finally feeling like I have maybe a modicum of motivation to write something of what I’ve been up to whilst I’ve been mostly incommunicado on here, so I’ve decided to do a Currently, I’m… post, which might well be something of a rarity for this blog.

Currently, I’m reading… 

Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

This isn’t going to be an easy confession but here goes: guys, I’m not loving this book. I started this when I was on holiday in Spain last week because I was lucky enough to be granted an eARC by the publisher. However, I don’t know whether I’ve just not been paying enough attention, or I’ve been too distracted by general holiday things, or I’ve just read it too sporadically, but I don’t really feel like I’m into the story… and I’m 50% of the way through so… that’s not exactly the most glowing review, is it? I’m SO torn on what to do about this – do I persevere, do I give up, do I restart reading it? Every review I’ve seen has been gushing and glowing so I’m quite sure I’m in the minority here which makes me think its my problem, not the book’s, but I still find myself in quite the dilemma.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Because I haven’t been hugely loving Kingdom of Souls, I’ve found myself in what could perhaps be described as a reading slump. I read a wonderful book at the start of my holiday (The Ten Thousand Doors of January, omg read it please, you won’t regret it) and since then everything else has felt not quite what I wanted. I’m not sure if I’ve ever truly felt like I was in a reading slump – I can pretty easily pick myself back up after reading an amazing and a terrible book alike and move onto the next novel – but I was beginning to suspect at the back end of this week that I was verging on a slump. So, I did what all good readers do – I decided to revisit a classic that I knew I would love when I was reading it. The Harry Potter books will forever be the comfort reads, the palette cleansers, the ones you read by default when you don’t know what it is you’re in the mood for, and thank god for that. I’m really enjoying this re-read (the first time reading my newly purchased paperbacks!) and, even after so many reads, it’s still astounding to me that I manage to find new delights in different turns of phrase or jokes here and there that I didn’t focus on the previous times I’ve read it. Truly, it’s the gift that keeps on giving!

Currently, I’m listening to… 

Lover by Taylor Swift

So it turns out that without realising it, in the past few years, I’ve become quite the TSwift fan and I’m not even a tiny bit ashamed about it – I can’t help it, her music just makes me smile so who cares? Naturally, along with what felt like the entire Internet, once that Lover album dropped on XX September, I tuned in via Spotify. And I’ve been pretty much listening to nothing else since then. Favourite tracks at the moment (though, let’s face it. they change daily) are Paper Rings, I Think He Knows, Cruel Summer, and London Boy. (I’m trash, I know. But the way she sing-screams “he looks up grinning like a devil” is A++++)

My Dad Wrote A Porno 

This is a very, very recent addition to what I’m listening to lately, as of this morning in fact. Housemate Liz and I realised we had yet to catch up with the shenanigans unfolding at Steele’s Pots and Pans. The furore over the new season starting on Monday made us both realised we hadn’t even finished listening to season 3 so we really do need to rectify that asap. The thing is, we haven’t been on many car journeys together lately and that’s when we get most of out Porno time in, so we’ll have to try to listen to it elsewhere, I think, and catch up, stat. I just love it, it’s so ridiculous, and so much fun and it still makes my stomach ache with laughter.

Currently, I’m watching

Peaky Blinders

Peaky Blinders is back, everyone, in case you didn’t get the memo. Series 5 has been overwhelming so far – the first couple of episodes have been phenomenal and more than a little bit tense. Everything feels very ramped up and there have been more than a few occasions already when I’ve had to wince and turn away from the screen because of whatever the Shelby lads were getting up to. Aunt Pol remains my favourite, Michael remains (in my opinion) a waste of space, and Tommy Shelby is still simultaneously someone I would like to shake and hug all at once. Also, Sam Claflin’s depiction of Oswald Mosley is making my skin crawl… so I suppose he’s succeeding in portraying that fascist character quite well then?

That’s about all for now, folks. I’m really hoping that writing this blog post will make me feel like I’ve partly caught you up on this blog and that I can now draw a line under my (kind of) absence and get back to business as usual. We shall see, eh? In the meantime, please do comment below and let me know what you’ve been reading, listening to, or watching lately because I could always use more recommendations to add to my list.

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