Fuelled by Fiction: It's Monday December 14th, Whatcha Reading?

Hey friends. It's been a little while since we've chatted. The thing is, life has gotten a little too real over the last few weeks. Without going into too much detail, I am newly cat-less and newly single. This kind of led to lots of chocolate eating and Jessica Jones binging. Not a lot of reading was getting done. That turned into a reading slump. I really wanted to be un-slumped, but for whatever reason, I couldn't bring myself to actually care about any book characters or their lives. So, thinking about books and talking about books was kind of totally bumming me out.

I didn't consciously decide to take a little break from blogging; it just kind of worked out that way. And it's been kind of great. Instead of putting pressure on myself to write X amount of posts, or read X amount of books, I just went with the flow. I still engaged on social media, but in a more detached way. It was a relief really, because I didn't have room in my brain for anything more than what was already there.

Now, however, I am emerging from my slump and am trying to engage with the world again. Things are a bit different now. There's not really any getting around that. However, I'm not going to hide from the things I love or the people I love! I've starting reading again (wee!) and have started leaving my house for more than just work :P I’ve been hanging out with friends and making new ones.

Things are evening out, so to speak. I’ve read a few books in the last week or so, and have missed talking about them with you lot! So, for all intents and purposes, I’m back!

The first thing I read in attempt to get me out of the slump was Brave Enough by Cheryl Strayed. I wasn’t able to get into any of the novels I had tried, so when this beauty showed up at my door from Penguin Random House Canada, I thought I would give it a shot. Brave Enough is a collection of nuggets of wisdom Strayed has imparted throughout her writing career. I sat down and read it in one sitting, flagging all my favourite quotes!

Reading and enjoying Brave Enough gave me the confidence to pick up a graphic novel/comic. I read the second volume of Lumberjanes. I really enjoyed it! I loved getting back into the crazy antics of Jo, April, Mal, Molly, and Ripley.

Wanting to get into a novel, I decided to read one on a serious topic. I picked up What We Saw from the library. In this YA novel, the author delves into the issue of consent and rape culture. Because of the subject matter, it was impossible not to care.

What We Saw got me back into the swing of things. At this point, it was December and I thought, why not? Let’s read some Christmas books to get into the spirit. I haven’t read many holiday books so while a little hesitant, I was also excited some good ol’ romance and Christmas cheer! I picked up Winter Street and Winter Stroll both by Elin Hildebrand, and am now reading Christmas at Tiffany’s by Karen Swan. This last one isn’t really all that Christmasy. I am enjoying it though! I’m almost halfway through!