Jen V’s September Recs
I’m mildly alarmed that it is the end of September, somehow? Christmas chocolate is already on the shelves in my local supermarket and I do not like it. Time! Why do you do this?? It’s stressing me out.
As I spent most of this month working from home, I decided to watch all the Marvel films in chronological narrative order. I’m not entirely sure I’d recommend it, cause it raised a number of questions. For example, the argument that Shield are building weapons in Winter Soldier because seeing aliens in New York made them realise they weren’t alone in the world. But Nick Fury was on a literal spaceship with Captain Marvel in the 90s, sooooo… qué? But we don’t watch these for narrative sense I guess. I used this as a reference for the timeline.
I have just started watching Miracle Workers and I lowkey absolutely love it. It’s so ridiculous but thoroughly enjoyable. Ted Lasso continues to be an absolute light in my life, even if this season is tearing my heart out of my chest a little.
On the music front, I’ve been listening to Planet (i) by Squirrel Flower, which is gloriously atmospheric and nostalgic somehow. And Turn out the lights by Julien Baker - “Appointments” in particular is just my jam at the moment. But I’m still weirdly obsessed with Panic! At The Disco so, y’know, that’s a whole thing.
For those following my battle with the library, I managed to get through the whole stack. Here are this month’s faves:
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green - This is the follow up to An Absolutely Remarkably Thing and I highly recommend both. This one was particularly poignant for me. It honestly just feels like a very important story for the world we currently live in, with all the challenges we face with science denial, social media radicalisation, and just… everything. Speculative fiction at its best.
Heartstopper (series) by Alice Oseman - I devoured all four volumes of this YA graphic novel series in a weekend, and it is just sooooooo sweet. The perfect way to break up some of the serious business reading I’ve been doing. Lovely coming of age, coming out, figuring out who you are story - but volume 4 also straight up broke my heart, so you know, it’s all fun and games until it isn’t.
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab - This is the second in the trilogy. I read the first book (A Darker Shade of Magic) back in January and liked it but wasn’t enamoured with it, but this one! I loved it. The addition of pirates never hurts, let’s be honest. But it’s nice to just fall into a world, and see a story unfold without the burden of having to explain the hows and whys of things. It really gave the characters more room to shine and I adore them all. Love the writing, love the magic, love it all. Got the final instalment on reserve at the library!
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab - Another book that’s basically about writing the story you’re reading, and I’m starting to think maybe this sort of story-within-story thing is kinda my jam. There is a real fluidity to the language in this one–it’s liquid, pulling you along like a river flowing downhill. It feels like a living thing, the words taking on the cadence of your heart. Like the protagonist, it feels both of this world, and not. One of those books where you’re never quite sure how it could possibly be tied up. I guess you could argue that it isn’t actually tied up at all - but I think Addie is just lying to herself.
Also want to give an honourable mention to Tim Te Maro and the Subterranean Heartsick Blues by H.S. Valley, a delightful Kiwi YA novel set in a magic high school with all the best tropes - enemies to lovers, fake boyfriends, mutual pining, accidental magic bonding, snarky friends, a lil bit domestic fluff, a lil bit of crack, and a whole lot of kissing. It’s just silly low stakes fun. If you enjoy fanfics and magic high school shenanigans where the posh one refers to the stubborn one by his last name, you’ll like this.
In other news, now that the gym is open again, I’m back in with a vengeance, getting my treadmill runs in (too windy and rainy outside still, sorry). Feels so good to get those routines going again. I’m also doing all the socialising with my HPST group, book club, and various burger outings with my work mates. My main goal is to get to the cinema soon so I'll hopefully be able to tell you all about that next month.
Stay safe out there, and please get vaxed if you haven’t already!