Mid Year Check In Tag | Let’s talk about my reading year so far 

I really enjoyed “I’m a Fan” by Sheena Patel! And I would say my biggest surprise was “How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water” by Angie Cruz. I listened to it on audio on a whim when I was home sick and decided to borrow it from my library. It is just fantastic! The narration really brings the story to life. And I will not dwell on the negative categories as I want people to find their next great read!

Hi Jack! Thank you for the lovely and funny video, I laughed out loud at your answer about the fictional crush 😂 This year I haven't had the best luck in choosing books for myself, except for a 5-star read (Music of the Ghosts), the rest of them have been mostly 3/3.5, not so bad but not so great either. But just yesterday I found out that one of my favourite authors Niall Williams has a new book out in the autumn so (maybe a bit unwisely) I'm pinning all of my hopes on it being mind-blowing and saving my reading year 😅 Have a lovely rest of the week!!!

1. I reread all of the Narnia books this year. I borrowed them from my dad, an early set of editions from 1960's, in maybe the first translation to swedish. It's the one he read to me as a child. So, for me so far the best book is seven books and they are all rereads. 2. The best sequal has to be a swedish author, Camilla Davidsson and her book "Under samma himmel", which trabslates into "Beneath the same sky" but I don't know if the book is translated into Swedish. I lent it from the library and within 100 pages I needed to buy it instead so I could annotate and interact. It's a feelgood book, which is a gengre that i don't know if it exists outside of Sweden. It's often got some light romance as a base, maybe an antique store or a bookshop as a background. Very lighthearted (even if accidents happen or grief is a big part of it), predictable, something you might like to read if you are going through your own personal hell and just need things to have a happy ending. I haven't read many sequals this year yet, but this is the best of the few (if I don't pick Narnia again or any other rereads). 3. I don't know if I have any new releases on my TBR. I am getting back into reading and is focusing on just enjoying what I find in the library or in thrift stores. Well, maybe "The T in LGBT" by Jamie Raines counts. It's in my shopping cart at a swedish book store webshop I just haven't clicked "buy" yet. 😂 4. I am bad at keeping up with what is gonna be released, unfortunately. 🙈 5. Biggest dissapointment this year for me so far was A court of thorns and roses by Sarah J Maas. I gave it 2 stars. I liked the plot but I didn't like the prose, how it was written so i won't be continuing the series. 6. Biggest surprise of the year so far is Floating hotel by Grace Curtis which i am reading right now. It's so cozy I just wanna live in it. I am savouring it, reading a chapter at the time and it is on my wish list for books I want to buy. 7. Favourite new author, hm.. it's between two, Richard Osman and Jesse Sutanto. I have to read more books from each to decide. I have two more books of Richard Osmans at home and I have one from Jesse Sutanto on reserve at the library that I will hopefully read in August when it is my turn. 8. Newest fictional crush... I am also over the age of 30 😅 and so far I don't think I got one. A character has to be veeery special for me to crush on them. I can admire them, look up to them, be intrigued or inspired... but no crush right now I think. 9. Newest favourite character... same answer there I think. I do try to pick a character from every book I read that I liked, so if I were to go on that then it is Rime from "Odinsbarn" by Siri Pettersen. It is the first book in a Norweigan Fantasy series and it is the male protaganist. 10. A book that made me cry this year, a lot of them, a book doesn't get that high of a rating from me if I don't cry at least once. 11. A book that made me happy this year is "Vera Wong's unsolicited advice for murderers" by Jesse Q Sutanto. I cried and laughed so much. I really enjoyed how it was written and the characters in it. 12. I have NO fancy editions. At all. That I know of. Maybe somewhere in the boxes from childhood. 13. What I need to read before the end of the year: I would like to read The honey witch (don't remember the author) and Matthew Perrys biography. I started to read it from the library but it was so good and his humour shone thorugh, so I had to stop like 1/3rd into it and wait to read the rest until I have my own copy. Sorry for the answer being a novel in itself. Thank you for for sharing, a pleasure to watch as always.

Love that jumper. That colour looks so good on you x

i found this hard too when i filmed my mid year check in

Sorry, my favourite book so far is a Norwegian one, which is translated into German, but not into English (yet) unfortunately. Don't listen to me, but I dnf'd Martyr. But it is not a bad book by any means. And also sorry to read on IG that you are not doing well. I feel you.