May wrap-up

Books

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
Tom Phillips’ Humans: A Brief History of How We F**ked It All Up
Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Obviously not my best reading month, but also not the worst.

Shows

Stranger Things
Never Have I Ever
The Man in the High Castle
Sanditon
Normal People
James May: our man in Japan
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Really enjoyed Never Have I Ever and Mrs Maisel (and yes, it took me 2 full seasons to realize that the people behind Mrs Maisel are the same ones that created Gilmore Girls). Looking forward to season 4 of the show!

The other shows were also all good, but I have to say that Sidney Parker in Sanditon is a fucking jerk and I at no point did he win me back over on his side. (Also doesn’t help that the actor playing him make me cringe. He looks mean.)

Movies

None!

Workouts

Slowly but steady. Still doing Home Strength, but not very often (1-2 times a week). Better than nothing!

2020 TBR (Q1 follow-up)

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
De Indische Romans by Helkla S. Haasse
Der Kleine Prinz by Antoine de Saint-Expery (German version)
En Officer & Spion by Robert Harris
Educated by Tara Westover
The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer
Feminist Fight Club by Jessica Bennett
The Five: The untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
The Fish Can Sing by Halldór Laxness
From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Himmel und Hölle by Alice Munro (German version of Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage)
Honeysuckle & Pain (The Familiar #3) by Mark Z. Danielewski
Humans – A Brief History of How We Fucked It All Up by Tom Phillips
Illiaden by Homer (Swedish version)
Independent People by Halldór Laxness
Ink (Skin Books #1) by Alice Broadway
Journey to Portugal by José Saramago
Jesus was Cesar by Francesco Carotta
Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson & Lauren Miracle
Love and Friendship by Jane Austen
Matthildur by Roald Dahl (Icelandic version)
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
Odysseen by Homer (Swedish version)
Omgiven av Idioter by Thomas Eriksson
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
On the Shortness of Life by Seneca
Paradise Reclaimed by Halldór Laxness
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Revolution Song by Russell Shorto
Samlade Dikter by Edith Södergran
The Sealwoman’s Gift by Sally Magnusson
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
The State of Africa by Martin Meredith
The Toll (Arc of a Scythe #3) by Neal Shusterman
Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

January: The Fish Can Sing
February: An Officer & Spy, Ink
March: On the Come Up

March Wrap-up

Books

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck
Jenny Colgan’s Christmas at Little Beach Street… (Little Beach Street Bakery #3)
Angie Thomas’ On the Come Up
Johanna Mos Svarta änkan

Meh. The first book was not as good as her others. The one by Angie Thomas was not as good as The Hate U Give. The one by Johanna Mo was not as good as the previous ones. And the one by Jenny Colgan is the least nice in that series. So yeah.

Shows

Merlin
På Spåret
Bäst i Test
Star Trek: Picard
After Life
Jills Veranda
Downton Abbey
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Valhalla Murders
Unorthodox
Miranda
Agents of SHIELD
Mars

Yeah, this is social distancing while working from home (and having been sick). Favorites are Unorthodox and Miranda. (Although, to be fair, I’ve only watched 1 episode of After Life. I’m sure I’ll love it.)

Movies

The Post
Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis
Life of the Party
Game Night
The Intern
MIB International
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers: Infinity Wars
Avengers: Endgame
The Christmas Cottage
Where’d you go, Bernadette?
Downsizing
Mary Queen of Scots

Yep. Favorites: Game Night & (surprisingly) The Intern. Worst were Men in Black: International & The Christmas Cottage.

Workouts

I did some Gateway to Gains, and then the gyms closed and then I was sick. And that was March. Let’s hope April will be better.

February summary

Books

Halldór Laxness’ The Fish Can Sing
Brandon Sanderson Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archives #2)
Brandon Sanderson Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive #2.5)
Johanne Hildebrandt Idun (Sagan om Valhalla #2)
Robert Harris An Officer and a Spy
Alice Broadway Ink (Skin Books #1)
Jenny Colgan Det lilla bageriet på stranden (Little Beach Street Bakery #1)
Jenny Colgan Sommar i det lilla… (Little Beach Street Bakery #2)

Oh, wow. I had to double check if this was correct as it seems like so many books. But it is. 3 of them are re-reads, and 3 I may have read when having nothing to do at work. (Handy with Bookbeat on my phone…)
And Brandon Sanderson is my by far favorite fantasy author. It was a re-read of Words of Radiance, and it was still as great!

Shows

Nobody’s Looking
Fake or Fortune
Ragnarok
Merlin
Wisting
The Good Place
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel
A Confession
Jills veranda

Ragnarok was great, and I’m really enjoying  the Marvelous Mrs Maisel so far. Turning Norwegian detective Wisting into a TV-show was done pretty nicely I think (as in, remained true enough to the books).

Movies

Cargo
Shaun of the Dead
Dolly Parton: Here I am
Now More Than Ever: the History of Chicago
Last Christmas

Cargo! I’d had it on my list for quite a while, after seeing a short film version of it. Martin Freeman is great as always, and it’s zombies without being too scary. Thumbs up!

January wrap-up

Books

Jørn Lier Horst’s Blindgång (William Wisting #10)
Jørn Lier Horst’s Katharinakoden (Cold Case #1)
Bill Bryson’s The Body: A Guide for Occupants
Jørn Lier Horst’s Det innersta rummet (Cold Case #2)

Well, I read. 1 physical book (Bryson) and 3 on BookBeat. Nothing from my TBR pile.

Shows

The Man in the High Castle
Merlin
Russian Doll
The end of the F***ing World
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
The Umbrella Academy
The Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj

The first 2 episodes of The end of the F***ing World did not have me convinced. As they weren’t very long however, I still kept watching, and by the end of the season I quite enjoyed it. Russian Doll did also not have me convinced until the end of episode 3. If you’re asking why I keep watching shows I’m not that into, I don’t have a good answer for you, but I can report that I’m also not that into Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Movies

The Light Between Oceans
Marriage Story
The Hustle
Yesterday
Jojo Rabbit
Boy
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Hearts Beat Loud
Dog Days

Did I develop a celebrity crush on Taika Waititi and proceed with watching all his movies? Yes, yes I did. My favorite was Boy, but also Hunt for the Wilderpeople has stayed with me. Yesterday was also pretty cute and worth watching.

Workouts

I mean… not much!

Books: 2019 recap, and goals for 2020

In regards to the reading in 2019, I did manage to reach my goal (just), despite not finishing any book in November, and only 1 in December. This lead to this nice track record:

(Also, how tf did I read 78 books in a year? lol)

There were only two books I marked with a star in my excel sheet (yes.), indicating that I finished them thinking they were very good: American War by Omar El Akkad and Unspeakable Things by Laurie Penny.

In addition to those, I have to say that I also fondly remember Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black, Johanna Juneke’s Swedavien as well as Lars Wilderäng’s Stjärnklart. There are also books in the list for which I couldn’t recap *anything* of the story even if my life depended on it, so I guess those made less of an impression.

Despite having announced that I would re-read to my heart’s desire, I ended up only re-reading 2 books, so that was kind of disappointing. New year, new attempt?

I do like the summaries Goodreads provides:

So, for 2020? I’ll go for 52 books again, which might be too steep, but we’ll see. I’ll also try to get further through the TBR pile, and will stick to a majority of female authors (who cares what men have to say?).

Year-end update on the TBR pile

They always say that accountability helps with achieving things, so here we go. I set out 2019 with trying to reduce my TBR pile. My year end verdict is “eeeh”. Could’ve been better, could’ve been worse.

American War by Omar El Akkad
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Bortom Varje Rimligt Tvivel by Malin Persson Giolito
Bottenskrap by Jørn Lier Horst
The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
De Indische Romans by Helkla S. Haasse
Der Kleine Prinz by Antoine de Saint-Expery (German version)
En Officer & Spion by Robert Harris
The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer
Feminist Fight Club by Jessica Bennett
Fjällfolk by Bernhard Nordh
Freja by Johanne Hildebrandt
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Grottmannen by Jørn Lier Horst
Himmel und Hölle by Alice Munro (German version of Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage)
I Marsfjällets skugga by Bernhard Nordh
Illiaden by Homer (Swedish version)
Independent People by Halldor Laxness
Jesus was Cesar by Francesco Carotta
Love and Friendship by Jane Austen
Matthildur by Roald Dahl (Icelandic version)
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
Odysseen by Homer (Swedish version)
On the Shortness of Life by Seneca
Paradise Reclaimed by Halldor Laxness
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Samlade Dikter by Edith Södergran
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Snare by Lilja Sigurdardottir
The State of Africa by Martin Meredith
Stjärnklart by Lars Wilderäng
Unspeakble Things by Laurie Penny
Vinterstängt by Jørn Lier Horst
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom
Äta Kakan och ha den kvar by Kristin Emilsson
1793 by Niklas Natt och Dag

Det står ett rum här och väntar på dig by Ingrid Carlberg
A book with 3 stories by Selma Lagerlöf (can’t find it anywhere to link to)
Nederland. Een objectief zelfportret in 51 voorwerpen by Wim Brands

By month:

January – I got nothing.
February – I got 2 and felt like a fucking champion. (Freja & Snare).
March – Culture Map, Bortom varje rimligt tvivel, American War, Washington Black.

April – I marsfjällets skugga.
May – Äta kakan och ha den kvar & Unspeakable Things, abandoned 1793.
June – Stjärnklart.

July – nada.
August – Grottmannen, Bottenskrap & Vinterstängt.
September – Fjällfolk

All in all:

This actually did help me. Not in that I felt forced to read these books, but it served as a constant reminder that they were there, and that I (at some point) had wanted to read them. I’m still reading a few of the books in the list, but haven’t managed to finish them yet (like Gone with the Wind…)