how's my reading been going so far this year? let's chat! // mid-year freakout tag 2024

hello all and welcome or welcome back!! today's video is going to be one where I'm talking about how my reading year has been going so far and answering some questions on the ones that stood out to me (for good/bad reasons).
If you're interested in following me on Storygraph, the link will be further down in the description :)
tell me about a book/books that have stood out to you so far this year? or better yet, go ahead and answer some of the tag questions yourself in the comments if you so choose!
[Books Mentioned]
-Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury by Drew Gilpin Faust
Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton
The Perfect Crimes of Marion. Hayes / The Queer Principles of Kitt Webb by Cat Sebastion
Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing
Body Phobia: The Western Roots of Our Fear of Difference by Dianna E. Anderson
Prater Violet by Christopher Isherwood
Fireworks: Nine Profane Tales by Angela Carter
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou by Hitoshi Ashinano
Julia Hungry by Hannah Louise Poston (‪@HannahLouisePoston‬)
Budapest Diary: In Search of the Motherbook by Susan Ruben Suleman
Lote by Sheila von Reinhold
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Blackouts by Justin Torres
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
The Plauge by Albert Camus
The Employees by Olga Ravn
Embers by Sandor Marai
Dreaming in French by Alice Kaufman
Speak, Memory by Vladamire Nabakov
[Tag Questions]
Best book you've read so far this year?
Best sequel you've read so far this year?
New releases you haven't read yet but want to?
Most anticipated release for the second half of the year?
Biggest disappointment?
Biggest surprise?
New favorite author (debut or new to you)?
Newest fictional crush?
New favorite character?
Book that made you cry?
Book that made you happy?
Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year?
What books do you want to read by the end of the year?
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[@Bryndisdaugtherofgunnar]

You are talking about so many interesting books that I've not read. I do own My brilliant friend and hope to get to it this year. Loved listening to you talk about these books :)

[@paperbackstacksss]

Ahhh, so glad you enjoyed! ☺

[@mioselee]

Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton is such a precious book for me, too, as a solitary person going through depression. Mary Oliver's works are deeply comforting in that sense as well. I really enjoyed Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich this year and currently enjoying Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich. Always waiting for your videos.
💙

[@paperbackstacksss]

Ahhh, thanks so much dear!

[@purplepumpkin6894]

Hi Lillian!
Ooo, a new Olivia Laing...I didn't know this existed so thanks for mentioning this, Lillian. And the Body Phobia book looks like something right up my alley...
Goodness, Taylor Swift pops up everywhere, doesn't she? 😀
I enjoy savoring books as I read them, as I will that tomato sandwich and sweet tea I'm looking forward to enjoying later this summer. 😀 So, in other words, I like to take it slow with my reading. And I'm glad you are, too, Lillian. I appreciate that you have seasonal TBRs rather than monthly ones. I don't keep any stats about my reading, either online or off, and I don't like to think of myself as some kind of machine reading book after book after book as quickly as I possibly can just to check them off a list. Although I feel like I should probably be reading more and faster so I can unhaul some books that I've had laying around, but then again, is having too many books really a problem? 😀
I have three books going at the moment:
Flying my geek flag high here, but I'm almost finished the very first Star Wars novel I've ever read - The Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule, the first book in the Star Wars High Republic series. I don't know what I was expecting from a Star Wars novel, but I love Soule's prose and the ability that reading gives to understand on a deep satisfying level, characters' psychologies and motivations, something that I've only gotten on a superficial level from the movies and TV series. I'm also very pleased and proud to have queer characters included in a Star Wars story, something that hasn't quite yet made it to Star Wars on screen.
Knife by Salman Rushdie - this is a memoir about an attempted murder via stabbing Rushdie survived at a literary festival about two years ago. I was in middle school in 1989 when the death threat regarding The Satanic Verses began. Knife is the first book I'm reading by Rushdie and I can tell already, I'll be reading more, including The Satanic Verses.
And last but not least, because a certain Booktuber I watch has recommended it so often, I'm about halfway through May Sarton's Journal of a Solitude. 😁 I'm very much enjoying the coziness and contemplative nature of it. I can see why it's comforting for a young aspiring author like you, Lillian, and for someone quickly approaching middle-age like myself. (I believe she states that she's 58 at the time of the writing.) There are many lines/paragraphs in it worthy of annotating, but I really resonate with the moment (so far) when she compares her work as an author to that of her gardener who passes away. She also makes a poignant statement about the inability of funerals to adequately memorialize lives, which I think is true and especially true in regards to the hurried and sparsely attended funerals that were held during COVID. (I understand, of course, why this was necessary, but also how hard it is on loved ones to have "annotated" funerals.)

[@paperbackstacksss]

Love that you're enjoying Journal of a Solitude!! I've had two of Rushdie's books on my shelf for about 10 years now - yikes! He's one of those authors I feel like I will adore but have been waiting for the right "moment" to pick up one of his books.
Being a "public" reader as it were, it can feel like trying to walk the line between reading a "comfortable amount" of books (not putting too much pressure on myself to hit a certain goal) and wanting to have new books/material to draw on for the channel, and also just being really excited about the books I have on my shelves and wanting to read so many of them at once. It's definitely a balancing act!

[@DogEaredMusings]

Ooh that new Olivia Laing sounds really cool!!

[@paperbackstacksss]

It does!! I hope that I can get my hands on a UK addition, personally :)

[@circleofleaves_zigzag]

- Best book you've read so far this year? Cloud Cuckoo Land (Anthony Doerr), Landmarks (Robert Macfarlane), The Living Mountain (Nan Shepherd).
- Best sequel you've read so far this year? N/A
- New releases you haven't read yet but want to? I had no idea that Olivia Laing had a new book out, so thanks for putting it on my radar, Lillian :-)
- Most anticipated release for the second half of the year? Gliff (Ali Smith) which apparently is the first of two books which are independent but which go together, the second of which is coming out in 2025. As a queer, physically disabled person, I'm also interested in reading Body Phobia which I hadn't heard of, so thanks for mentioning that one too.
- Biggest disappointment? hmmm probably The Bookshop (Penelope Fitzgerald).
- Biggest surprise? That I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of Infinite Gradation (Anne Michaels)
- New favorite author (debut or new to you)? Tarjei Vesaas. Definitely not a new author, and not new to me this year, but I'm currently reading The Boat in the Evening, which is the second book of his I've read. The writing... oh my goodness, it's putting him among my favourite writers. I'm moving slowly through it, feeling all the feelings, re-reading parts, tabbing lots. It's nice to hear you're slowing down and taking your time through reading too, Lillian. I love looking back at my reading year, whether it's displayed on Storygraph or my own documents, not to look at the number of books, but what "kind" of reading year I was having - what themes or authors I found myself leaning into.
- Newest fictional crush? N/A for this year.
- New favorite character? Struggling to think of an answer for that one too!
- Book that made you cry? The Boat in the Evening (Tarjei Vesaas). I'm about two-thirds of the way through and it's made me cry a few times already. Held (Anne Michaels) made me tear up too.
- Book that made you happy? Ember and the Ice Dragons (Heather Fawcett)
- Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year? The Moth Keeper - a sweet graphic novel with beautiful art and a stunning colour palette that hushed my overtired little heart and mind. And a deluxe pop-up edition of The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
- What books do you want to read by the end of the year? So, so many. But I would like to read The Winners (Frederik Backman) which is the third and final book in the Beartown series. There are other books I am more immediately excited to read, but I would like to read that one while the other two - which I read last year - are relatively fresh in my mind. I'm actually in the middle of a record number of books, for me. Years ago I sent a friend a photo of the books I was currently reading at the time. In the photo was a stack of books with bookmarks in them. I had added the note "When you stray from book-monogamy". Some time later I sent them an even larger stack of bookmarked books, with the note "Officially declaring myself polybiblioamorous". Just a word that I made up and I love it.

[@paperbackstacksss]

Thanks for sharing your answers, Jensha! Happy reading :)