Books & movies - January 2020

The first month of the roaring 20s has come to an end! January has been crazy hectic and I feel like I've crammed half a year into 31 lovely days. I've been working heaps, grinding through a summer school paper, and trying to make the most of the sunshine with awesome festivals and catch ups with good friends. I've also been making progress with my 2020 reading challenge so here are some great reads from this month (and also a movie because I had to talk about it somewhere and this seems as good a place as any). 

Mythos - Stephen Fry (Book)

I was really hoping I would love Mythos because the Greek mythology nerd inside me wants any and all content I'll offer her. I'm happy to say that Mythos largely lived up to the hype and I had a great time reading it! Some stories were definitely more interesting than others but on the whole I think it's quite a witty collection of some of my favourite Greek myths (Fry's rendition of Eros and Psyche was a personal highlight) - a great book to kick the year off with.

Little Women - Greta Gerwig (Film)

I cannot remember the last time I've cried through a film like this. I think my eyes were dry for a grand total of ten minutes. I took my little sisters to go watch Little Women and it was an amazing time. My aunt first gifted me an abridged copy of Little Women for my birthday (I think I was 9) and I had a great time reading it. The copy I had included little pictures every chapter and I really enjoyed colouring them in (Meg and Jo had pink and purple hair respectively in my imagination). I liked Little Women and Good Wives as a kid but I never bought the unabridged version of the former. I also hadn't watched any of the film adaptations. Watching the 2019 film hit close to home in a way the book couldn't have when I was younger. Jo March still resonates with me as deeply as she did at the age of 9 but now I actually understand why. Just wow, what an excellent film. I will be thinking about this movie for a long time. And yes I'm in love with Timothée Chalamet now but that's nobody's business.

Saving Francesca - Melina Marchetta (Book)

Wow. Reading this book transported me back to my high school days and had me wondering where my perfect YA novel boy was hiding. I started this book at 11pm on the 13th of January thinking I would read a chapter or two before cracking into assignments but one thing led to another and it was suddenly 2.30am on the 14th and I had finished a book but not started any of my course work. I still think I made great choices, and this was an awesome read.

Starry Eyes - Jean Bennett (Book)

I also finished this book in a day - it's nice to get back in the groove of reading and find books that interest me enough to keep me turning the pages until I'm done. Not a particularly profound read but definitely heaps of fun. I kinda want to go camping now...

Save the Date - Morgan Matson (Book)

This book was easy to read but I didn't really enjoy it? I didn't have a bad time reading it, and I did want to finish it, it just didn't particularly stand out among this month's reads.

The Waves - Virginia Woolf (Book)

This short novel was pure poetry. It took me about 30 pages to understand the narrative style but after that each new passage was lyrical and felt like a true insight into different people. I really enjoyed this.

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour - Morgan Matson (Book)

I want to go on a road trip RIGHT NOW thanks! Another easy read from Matson, I preferred this to Save the Date.

Since You've Been Gone - Morgan Matson (Book)

Clearly going through a Morgan Matson phase (actually just requested all of her books from the library and they showed up at the same time). This is probably my favourite Matson novel I've read so far (two to go). Made me yearn for a reckless summer of making memories, doing more and thinking less.

So that's what I churned through in January. It's been weird for me to spend more time reading than I have on Netflix this month but it's also reminded me of the pure joy of reading a new book (and falling in love with new characters). Will be exciting to keep the momentum going as the year goes on!

Blogging in my 20s

This blog is a time capsule from my high school years. The last post is from 2014. I was 15, in year 12. A lot has changed since then - I'm 20 and done with my third year of university. I think I should feel embarrassed about this perfect preservation of my naive teen years on the internet for everyone to see, but I can't bring myself to delete any of these posts either. This is meant to be a year of radical vulnerability for me (my resolutions this decade tend towards prioritising my emotional well-being) and I think it's special to have the words I wrote five years ago guarded like this where I can always look back to them.

I think being able to look back at my past is something that's really important to me. I've tried to keep a diary through the last few years because the fear of forgetting my youth and the people and moments that were important to me and made me laugh or cry or just feel something - that fear is paralysing sometimes. It centres me when I can pick an old journal out of my shoebox of memories and transport myself to a moment in my past. It's humbling to read about the problems I thought would end me three years ago only to recognise that I've persisted. I'm still here.

I guess this post is just a verbose way of saying that I'm going to blog my 20s (my age and the decade). Sometimes it'll be book reviews, sometimes life reviews, sometimes just recounts of dumb things I've done that make me smile so big my heart could burst. It feels like the years go by faster and faster every year and all I want is to hold on to these moments while they're still here. So, hello 2020, I hope we'll be good friends, but even if we aren't, I hope the story is still worth telling.