In My Life
The weather’s been crazy hot lately which led to a fair bit of lethargy on my part. Temperatures have been hitting 35ºC with little rainfall, making March the driest month in Singapore since 1869 at least. April continued with the heat, so I’ve spent a good deal of my time glued in front of a fan listening to audiobooks. On Friday I did venture into the kitchen to bake though and made challah for the family. By the time I managed to take a photos of it, only about a fifth of the loaf was left. I’ll try to be faster in capturing my next challah.
Recently I also shared some black & white photography, exploring local spaces. Travelling’s great to discover the world but in our wanderlust, we’d do well to remember that our daily surroundings are worth admiring too.
Books Read
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- Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close —1/5 stars [audiobook]
- The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater —2.5/5 stars [audiobook]
On the Blog
Blog Posts
This week over fifty new YA releases hit the shelves and I rounded them up, sorted by genre. I also got creative with my take on this week’s Project 52 theme, New Beginnings.
Book Reviews
The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig received 2.5 stars from me. I was truly on the fence because I liked the influence of legends and myths but wasn’t impressed by the linguistic and cultural oversights.
Around the Blogosphere
Books
- Lili @ Lili’s Reflections identified distracting character names.
- Kaja @ Of Dragons and Hearts weighed the extent to which romance should be realistic.
- Jorelene @ Page Chronicles discussed spoilers in book synopses.
- Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction deconstructed the series dilemma — do you wait for series to be complete or read each book upon it’s release?
- Rachel @ Quite the Novel Idea maintained that diversity matters but that it should be a basic component of fiction. Diversity alone isn’t a reason for her to pick up a book.
- Emily @ Loony Literate asked, has J.K. Rowling lost her magic?.
Reading
- Bec @ Readers in Wonderland noted reasons to reread books.
- Grace @ Mommy Rebel Book Blog considered books she remembered differently.
Readers’ Lives
- Crini @ All About Books outlined why she plans her monthly reads and how these lists work for her.
- Nordie @ Writing About Books shared some horror stories about lending out books. What’re yours?
- Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight thought about things she likes and doesn’t like about series endings.
- Flo @ Flawless Books explained why she reads in English, which is not her native language.
- Angelica @ The Bookish Angle showed her reading journal.
- Shannon @ River City Reading posed a question: Ar the shows yo love similar to your favourite books?
Blogging
- Lyn @ Great Imaginations is balling with book blogging blues.
- Holly @ The Fox’s Hideaway reflected on what makes blogging worth it for her.
- Amanda @ Nellie & Co. explained why it’s a good thing if your blog changes with time. She also demonstrated how to manage blogging with Evernote.
Rating & Reviewing
- Alexandra @ Literary Legionnaire grappled with the complexity of rating systems.
Social Media
- Jessica @ Princessica of Books gave tips on commenting on blogs.
+Amanda @ Nellie & Co. introduced some great features of Latergramme. - Tonyalee @ Lilybloombooks wondered if social media can be too much of a good thing.
Miscellaneous
- Inge @ Bookshelf Reflections made a case for joining The Bookish Games. Go check it out because they’re so much fun! It’s a bookish game of Mafia and the next round will be inspired by Daughter of Smoke and Bone.
- Beth @ Fuelled by Fiction reminded that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. She also linked to relevant articles.
- Tanya @ The Literary Huntress isn’t a fan of remakes and adaptations in books and in general.
The weather doesn’t typically effect my reading though when it rains I constantly want to be curled up with a good book. I’m not very good about reading outside so when its hot I just stick to the cool indoors. I’ve never managed to get on an audiobook kick. I just don’t have the attention span and would probably fall asleep in the middle of them.
Thanks so much for mentioning my post, I’m very glad you enjoyed it and found it useful! I’ll have to check out that discussion on if J.K. Rowling lost her magic.. Very controversial! As for reading, warm weather gets me lethargic as well. It’s kind of a surprise how that is when I read the most books. It’s been pretty cloudy these past couple days which is kind of word since it was super hot less than a week ago..
The weather is getting warmer in London which I’m excited about because it finally feels like we’re itching closer to summer. I’m happy that it’s getting hotter in Singapore too! Your Challah looks delicious!
I’ve recently discovered challah at my local supermarket – I absolutely love having it for breakfast now! I want to learn how to make it, but I’m not sure where to start.
Thank you for linking my discussion post! I love the other posts you linked too. You listed a great variety of posts, and they’re all very interesting. I’ll be sure to check out all of them! :)
Sounds like things are going rather nicely for you Joe, especially the weather. I’m not sure I remember what extreme heat is like living in the UK, but I’m sure you’ve been making the most of it all the same. I’ve gone a little click happy in your link ups, but thank you so much for linking me in it, I appreciate it and it makes me so happy :D