#changes @Megabooks

I think I‘ve put more thought into what I read - when I know I‘m gonna be telling ppl what I‘ve read and why, I‘m more inclined to choose things I‘m gonna want to talk and post about, rather than ‘well this is here I‘ll read it‘.

Ive also been feeling more enthusiasm for books, just being more obsessed with them the way I was when I was younger. The excitement here is so contagious. That‘s my fave thing

Starting Good Omens before the tv show starts! Left it a bit late but hopefully can get through it.

It‘s amazing and should be a good distraction from the British EU election results. I‘ve been not thinking about them since voting but that‘s starting to crack a bit now and I‘m starting to get frightened. It‘s just a bit much on top of not having a PM and Trump arriving in a week. I‘m gonna stay buried in Good Omens and face the news tomorrow.

I loved this! More than I was expecting if I‘m honest. Philosophically fascinating, but it didn‘t feel like a philosophy book unconvincingly dressed up as a novel, which is what I was afraid of. Thoughtful, abstract but not pretentious, surprisingly light at times, not at all the stereotype of a ‘very serious french philosopher‘ I might have expected. I‘m fascinated by existentialism now and definitely want to read more

#bookfitnesschallenge #bfc @wanderinglynn

Good fitness progress yesterday! Book progress not as good, im really bogged down in The Magus, im not enjoying it but I know when I don‘t finish books I get book-slump-y and it can take weeks to recover so I want to push through. It‘s hard to find motivation to listen to it tho I know from experience what‘s best in this situation is to just summon some grit

#bookfitnesschallenge #bfc @wanderinglynn

Another good walking day yesterday! I walked from the globe to Covent Garden rather than take the tube and then Covent Garden back to Victoria after my play - more steps and less £££ is a good thing all around!

Very odd play last night but I did really like it! One of Ibsen‘s least performed plays in a new adaptation. Very political, eerie, sad, with a weird ending it took my mum and I about 40 mins to talk through afterwards, but I do recommend it. Beautiful set design, haunting important subject matter, and Hayley Atwell live was every bit as good as I hoped!

Starting the bank holiday off right!

James Baldwin cementing my opinion that he‘s on of the greatest writers ever. Maybe I slightly prefer his fiction to his nonfiction but that‘s a tiny nitpick with a phenomenal book. He makes quite dry, specific topics deeply emotional and powerful. His writing about his relationship with his father and his experiences in Paris will stay with me forever. I want to read every word he‘s ever written.

#bookfitnesschallenge week 2 totals! 78 points right now!

Proud! Just 1 gym trip this week but as it‘ll average out to over 2 per week for the challenge I‘m chill with it being 1 this week.

Thank you so much to everyone doing the challenge and making it fun. Having this to focus on while my country collapses around me (even more than before!) is so helpful. Pray for the UK 😞 god only knows who we‘ll end up with next

@wanderinglynn

Yesterday‘s progress for #bookfitnesschallenge #bfc @wanderinglynn

I‘m feeling good and motivated thinking about the sun and it being nearly summer, all the things I‘m looking forward to, worse when I see the news and have to think or talk about how we might not have a prime minister by the end of the day - good times for me personally, stressful times to be alive in general. Trying to keep focusing on just ploughing on not spending any money

“Alison was always female. She never, like so many English girls, betrayed her gender”

An oxford boy who‘s too intellectual to apply for jobs and earn money, puts no effort into chasing women (all of whom he despises) but is mysteriously a sex god, and who thinks he has a divine right to write poetry on the Mediterranean for a living, observes the woman next to him in bed.

Oh John Fowles I can FEEL how few ppl wanted to date you at school

Astonishingly good! Gorgeous, painful windswept moors, kinda Wuthering Heights vibes, it picked me up and carried me away and made me remember how much I love Hardy. I loved how the Celtic past hung over the place so heavily, I loved how quietly mystical the world was. Hardy‘s weather is one of my favourite literary characters for sure.

And Alan Rickman‘s voice 💖💖💖 it was quite emotional listening to him

#bookfitnesschallenge #bfc @wanderinglynn

Right now my fitness motivation is this exact hill! I went to Alicante with my friends in March and I was so unfit trying to climb this hill, I got laughed at and I realised how unfit I was and felt pretty humiliated. I joined a gym three days after I got back from that trip and decided I couldn‘t be that unit again. In a month I go back to Alicante with my bf‘s family and you bet I‘m climbing it again!

Cool idea @laurenslibrary ! #thursdaysurvey

1. My travel plans, being able to walk and spend time outside whenever I want, warm evenings and socialising outdoors, summer fashion... lots of things!

2. Greta Thunberg‘s book and Naomi Klein‘s new release in September!

3. Are Pimms and fruity ciders snacks...?

4. 37 Celsius 😰😰😰 praying it doesn‘t get that hot this year

5. @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego @Caterina and anyone interested!

#bookfitnesschallenge #bfc #wanderinglynn

Okay fitness day yesterday! It was a bit of a fight to get the steps in - I had to walk my bf to the train station and back unnecessarily - but I managed it. Maybe I‘m feeling a bit unmotivated but that‘s probably as I had to get up super early to vote in the European elections and this is not gonna be a fun few days to live in Britain...

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting! I wasn‘t expecting to enjoy it at all but I‘m glad I read it. Surprisingly readable (even with all the redactions) and I feel I took in a lot of information that I‘ve been able to understand and explain to people rather than it just washing over me. The US legal system seems so different to the UK‘s so this was good background for understanding how hard it actually is to get rid of a president.

Calling all London littens who booked to come to the Thousand Splendid Suns play tomorrow! Should we arrange meeting up there?

Unfortunately I can‘t remember who‘s coming! @Mitch if you remember could you tag??

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

1. On impulse really but I always have a mental list of books I need or want to get to soon

2. Yes! My commute is a three hour round trip on the train and walking at both ends. I couldn‘t do it without audiobooks.

3. The news mainly. The world keeps doing crazy shit and I know it‘s bad to compulsively keep up but I can‘t stop

4. Coffee and chocolate for ever

5. @FashionableObserver 😘

#bookfitnesschallenge #bfc @wanderinglynn

Just a very quick gym trip yesterday but the important thing is I managed to go and I got a decent amount of steps in! I had to watch the most awful party political broadcast on the big TVs in the gym before the European elections tomorrow 😞 it was a factor in leaving the gym early. Brexit gets its grubby hands everywhere.

Was I the only person in the gym listening to the mueller report? Probably...

Celestial bodies won the man booker international!

This wasn‘t one of my top picks, but it was a very good book and it wasn‘t one that I DIDN‘T want to win. Overall, I‘m pretty pleased. Hearing the author and translator speak yesterday made me more positively disposed towards the book, and I‘m pleased that an Omani woman‘s novel about women‘s lives in Oman has been recognised by the British ‘establishment‘. I‘m counting this as good news!

So glad I read this! Not as difficult to read as I was expecting. Clear, powerful, fascinating, I‘d love to read it again in more detail and make some notes. The audiobook format was a little difficult, it skipped a bit and the end went a bit odd so im not sure how properly I actually finished it, but I really want to get a paper copy and study it properly.

After an unpleasant lunchtime doing increasingly frightening sums with my next month‘s budget, I‘m trying to focus on feeling calm and grateful for things that are going better than my bank balance situation, like getting a short walk in the sun in for my #bookfitnesschallenge and being able to eat my lunch in the sun with a book by one of my all time favourite authors. I might be starting a hard month but at least it‘s reading outdoors weather!

#bookfitnesschallenge #bfc @wanderinglynn

Well missing my train station TWICE helped my steps! I chose walking over the tube again and walked to the South Bank Centre along the river.

Got some bad financial news which is survivable with payday coming up but means I‘ll need be living as cheaply as I can for a couple months 😰lots of walking instead of taking public transport and exercise instead of going out is a silver lining I guess!

Eerie and enjoyable! Beautiful writing, lush but not overwrought. I liked the gothic edge, the characters, and more than anything the landscape. Unforgiving Australian landscape books seem to be my jam! I maybe found the ending a bit unsatisfying, but I wasn‘t really in it for the plot so it wasn‘t enough to demote it from a pick

I don‘t normally post #bookishproblems but today I sailed right through my train station TWICE and added an hour onto my journey home while reading. I‘m such an idiot 🤭 all the extra walking increased my step count for #bookfitnesschallenge I guess

Excited! I didn‘t manage to read the whole shortlist this year as I ran out of money 😞😞😞 but I‘m still thrilled to be here hearing readings from the shortlisted books before the winner is announced!!

I love eerie magic realist short stories. I loved how raw and quietly frightening they were, and how small vignettes sketched in fascinating characters and bizarre worlds. Great book to follow You Know You Want This - a similar tone but more tender and melancholy than monstrous. I also recommend for fans of LGBT relationships being seamlessly included in non-romance fiction. At least - gender was a little confusing sometimes but I think so!

Another really good deep dive into a specific climate issue. This was just the right amount political, historical, philosophical and scientific and I‘ve learned a lot of quite complicated stuff that I think I‘ll actually remember! Recommend to anyone interested in climate change looking to be better informed! It covered New York, Florida, Louisiana, the Marshall Islands, Venice, the Netherlands and London.

#bookfitnesschallenge #bfc @wanderinglynn

Total: 59

My boyfriend and I went for one of our mammoth London walks and I think this might be my all time step record. He commented that I could go faster, barely got out of breath and needed fewer breaks than before. I started trying to get fit around three months ago when I got a bit humiliated on a group holiday not being able to climb something, and look at my stamina now!

I can just drink up this wonderful modernism forever 💖💖💖

The prose felt totally effortless but also like 0.0001% of writers could write like this. So few books say this much so well, in so few words.

Finally managed to visit Pages of Hackney after so many people told me I had to go! It‘s in a slightly difficult bit of London for me to get to but I‘m glad I made the effort. This is the most wonderful little jewel of an independent bookshop with big sections for travel, life writing, essays, nature writing. If only I had more money...

Yesterday‘s progress: #bookfitnesschallenge #bfc @wanderinglynn

I was visiting a friend in oxford yesterday and was super busy but managed to get a decent amount of steps in and a lot of listening on the train. Quite a good day! Won‘t be able to go to gym for a few days unfortunately as I‘m so busy, but maybe on Tuesday. Finding ways to fit fitness into busy life/commuting/socialising is A Lot but hopefully ill manage it!

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

1. Tagged book (amazing one on adapting cities to rising sea levels due to climate change) and Passing by Nella Larsen, which is just as good as everyone says!

2. Native Son by James Baldwin and The Sea The Sea by Iris Murdoch are my library ebook loans that expire first

3. Probably To All The Boys I Loved Before but not sure? I haven‘t seen a lot of movies recently

No pretty handwriting as I forgot to do this yesterday and now I‘m on train 🤷‍♀️

Lots of walking! I walked from work to the theatre in the evening rather than get the tube again, which felt food even though it was raining. I‘m getting very food at the route between the globe and Covent Garden despite my terrible sense of direction! No books finished and no gym as I was so busy, but still proud

@wanderinglynn #bookfitnesschallenge #bfc

Be warned this isn‘t fiction like the rest of the canongate myths series (my fave recent series?? Love it so much!) as I assumed it would be. It‘s a beautifully written theological look at Samson and Delilah, teasing out so much meaning and power from the smallest sections of the original story and language and how it‘s been interpreted by Jewish scholars. I know so little about Judaism but this was fascinating!

I loved this a lot! I love books that take a very specific aspect of environmentalism and dive deep into it. I feel I get now how good small scale, ethical food that we appreciate fully can be. It‘s wonderful to not just be outraged about factory farming and industrial food stuff, but to actually appreciate what we can aim for and what nourishing ourselves can be like. Definitely recommend to any frustrated environmentalists

Got to drop in here yesterday. One of my fave bookshops in the whole wide London

Lunchtime reading date with Nella Larsen! I‘m not very far through this one but I‘m so glad I‘m reading it so soon after Clarice Lispector - it‘s very different but it‘s fitting into my grand plan to redeem modernism for myself from Hemingway and his Awful Lad Crew. This prose gives me life

#bookfitnesschallenge #bfc @wanderinglynn

Seriously proud of my first week of the challenge! My days have been very up and down, just about meeting step target some days and smashing it others. I‘m also way ahead on gym trips and audiobooks, which makes me think I should have set more challenging goals!

I‘m gonna up my planned gym trips per week to 2 and increase my audio goal to 30 as I wanna challenge myself!

#friyayintro @howjessreads

1. This book got me through having swine flu, my favourite comic novel ever!

2. Went to a great improv show Monday, broke my treadmill record Wednesday, both great things

3. Chinese? Soo much variety

4. Yep five, I used to see them quite a lot but not so much anymore.

5. Will do! 🥰🥰🥰

I really enjoyed some essays and wasn‘t sure about others, unsure if it‘s a pick or a soso. I adored her writing about Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein, but I‘m not so sure about her bias against computers, which might just be that this is an outdated book and her views have moved on (how will we appreciate beauty when the whole world is on CD-rom??), and her essay on sexuality didn‘t leave a lot of room for bisexuals which always bothers me.

Readable, important, interesting. Yes sometimes you can tell Kaufmann is having to work hard with fewer sources than you might expect from a history book, but it‘s hard to hold it against her when she‘s throwing light on history that‘s been so easily dismissed and forgotten. I found it really eye opening realising how much our ideas of race are so much more recent than we think they are

Art theory, the Thames and a family of geese to look at this lunchtime. After reading Choked yesterday I can‘t stop thinking about all the emissions and litter here even tho the Thames is one of the world‘s cleaner urban rivers (I think). This is a lovely calm place to read but there‘s SO MUCH litter 😞 I might try and come back with a plastic bag and a litter picker if I can borrow one one lunchtime

A great, readable, well researched, up to the minute book on the air pollution and how our economies, industries and city planning conspire against clean air. I was impressed by how global it was - not just London, New York and LA, I learned a lot about the struggle for cleaner air in Delhi, various Chinese cities and the transport policies that have had a great impact so far in Berlin. Great bibliography which will help me find more reading!

#bookfitnesschallenge @wanderinglynn

Another really good day today! I won‘t be able to gym for a while now, I‘ve got plans like the next 5 days unless I manage to squeeze it in on Saturday, which is a pity cause I feel like I‘ve built up a lot of momentum this week. Today was my longest ever run on my highest ever treadmill setting. When I started working out 2 months ago I could do 10 mins on setting 4, today I did 20 mins on setting 8!

The #wondrouswednesday posted by @Eggs inspired me to do a bit more work-inspired reading! Since I started at the globe I‘ve been getting through more Shakespeare plays but I‘ve been really wanting to learn more history and background. Unfortunately I missed the Shakespeare and Race research festival last year which sounded so fascinating but this seems like an important bit of reading to do!

This was fascinating and I really recommend it. I don‘t think I‘ve read a modern politics book from a perspective that downplays Europe and north America so much, and i definitely want to read more! If you‘re interested in international relations and economics and you get usa, Britain, Germany from the news but don‘t know where to start on India, China, turkey, Iran, give this a try! I hope this will@be a great jumping off point for more reading

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

1. I‘ve read more Shakespeare since starting at the globe but I definitely need to do more!

2. I never read self help but my friend got be a Brene Brown book and it was really good.

3. I think it was called The Power of Vulnerability and I definitely recommend it

4. I barely read for pleasure during my 3 year degree, but I did get a lot of pleasure out of course reading so idk if that counts

5. @Caterina 😘

Clarice is the master, there‘s just nothing else to say. This was like the spirit of a medieval mystic in a twentieth century existentialist‘s body and I loved every second of it. Beautiful, original, occasionally shocking (if you‘ve read it you KNOW which bit I‘m talking about 😱🦗), this book was like absolutely nothing else. I plan to buy a paper copy to refer to again, which I‘ve never actually done with a book before

#bookfitnesschallenge update! @wanderinglynn

I truly smashed today. It also involved chocolate but that chocolate is essential walking and workout fuel, and I also ate a bunch of healthy stuff, so I‘m feeling pretty good about my decision making abilities! Means a lot to me to say that as someone who‘s suffered both anorexic and binge eating behaviour in the past, I‘m very proud of myself 🥰

Finished 2 amazing audiobooks today as well!