All The Books I Have Read This Year (So Far) Part 2

In the second quarter of this year, I put my very very old To-Be-Read list as a high priority in the hope that I can actually start buying some new books. A few exceptions snuck in too

Welcome to my quarterly list of everything I am reading at the moment. As an author myself, I have been reluctant to be honest about books on the internet. I am very sensitive to my own reviews and therefore I do not like talking negatively about books when the author could potentially see it and that’s why… this has become a paid feature. If you would like to see what I’m reading, you can become a paid subscriber for just £1.65 a week with an annual subscription and if money’s tight right now, become a free subscriber anyway and you can get a peek at 2 of my reviews out of the 11 in this list. As a free subscriber, you’ll still get an article a week as well as the ability to join in on our Friday Forums so it’s worth joining this community! Hit the button below.

You Could Be So Pretty - Holly Bourne

I got this as an early proof so it is only out in September but trust me, this is worth a preorder. This book was so incredibly powerful and I can’t even tell the most powerful part because it’s on the last page. This book tackles beauty ideals straight on and as much as I equally adore all of Holly’s adult books, I am even more grateful that the younger generation has Holly Bourne in their lives! Especially with so much fatphobia in Young Adult and Middle-Grade books, her books feel like safety because I know when I pick them up, I will be seen, represented and most importantly, not shamed within the pages. She does the exact opposite of that and speaks to all the insecurities we have and how they aren’t born out of nothing. It reminded me of Louise O’Neill’s Only Ever Yours, probably because I had just read it as the book before and with both books, they are just so smart. The book shows how there are no winners when it comes to diet culture and it reminded me of the debate around body positivity vs plastic surgery and how if you are criticising individuals in the name of body positivity, you have missed the point. We need to be attacking the system, not individuals and Holly proves this point brilliantly!

How To Be Alone: If You Want To, And Even If You Don’t By Lane Moore

This book was a recommendation by Sofie Hagen and was one of the many books that sat on my To-Be-Read list. In April this year, I made it a priority to actually try to get my TBR list to zero and I promised myself I wouldn’t buy another book until I did so. I listened to this as an audiobook and I was expecting a self-help book due to the title. In fact, it’s a memoir by a comedian I did not know. It does not take you long to realise that she is a comedian though because she is VERY funny. This book is perfect for anyone who has had a difficult childhood or has a hard relationship with their family for example, this quote:

“There’s a very particular no-mans-land that comes with having alive parents who are technically there, could technically take you in if you really needed somewhere to go, but if you went there you wouldn’t be any safer than anywhere else.” - How To Be Alone, Lane Moore

It really moved me and as any good memoir does, it made me intrigued to find out more about the person writing it once I had finished it.