My Week In Books 📚 //summer diaries week 4: finishing Sense and Sensibility at the beach, gushing about heartstopper with friends and finally getting to France!

 Hi Everyone! 

Welcome to my fourth week in books! I hope this week I can finish This Is My Truth and Sense and Sensibility and take you along on a few other bookish things! 

Monday 16th August

It's done...Sense and Sensibility is finally finished and WOW, what a journey! I actually went to the beach today and finished it there which was amazing! I didn't think I would finish it this soon in the week but I did!

As for my thoughts...I loved it! I know in my last Week In Books post, I had a few days when I wasn't loving it so much but I took a break and thinking back on the story, I think there wasn't much going on at that point, which is possibly why I was struggling a bit, but then it picked up again and WOW! What an absolutely compelling ending! I got quite emotional as some very sad things happened but in the end was laughing and smiling at how unexpected the ending was for me! I am now in the process of writing out a full review for it so expect that soon! To think that this was Jane Austen's first completed novel and it has this genius to it, these lines and quotes, these characters and lives that feel so real and yet such a fantasy to the modern day reader...It's just incredible! 

As you will know if you've read my other Week In Books posts, I am annotating it and I think that will be very useful in writing my review and so I can think back on the characters and copy out my favourite quotes! 

Tuesday 17th August

The essay at the back which I read last night was very interesting! Most notably, it's commentary on how this was originally titled 'Elinor and Marianne' and written in letters. It also mentioned the fact that in both Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, the title is two emotions/qualities (or defects) of two characters which I hadn't thought about before.

I got up to the critical essay at the back (but didn't read it) at the beach! 

This morning, I read more of This Is My Truth which I am loving! If you don't know, this is written from the perspective of Amani but also follows Huda. They each have a secret that they are hiding from each other and each have their individual struggles to overcome. But a prank blog is revealing secrets and they fear that theirs could be next...I loved All The Things We Never Said when I read it earlier this year and I am so excited to see what more Yasmin Rahman has! 

Other than that, today I am getting braces so I'm busy with that this afternoon! 

Just before getting my braces we had a walk around town and we went into Oxfam where I found The Return Of The Native by Thomas Hardy in the old Macmillan editions which are apparently really good. I of course bought it! It isn't going to be the first Thomas Hardy that I read but I probably will one day so it's good to have it. 

Wednesday 18th August

I read more of This Is My Truth this morning and I am loving it so much! I'm now on page 160 and it is so immersive and I love how inclusive and diverse it is. It is dealing with so many topics: exam stress, being 'perfect', bullying...It's such a powerful book but so far I think I prefer Yasmin Rahman's other book All The Things We Never Said. 

After getting my braces I need a slower day at home so I'm spending time writing my review of Sense and Sensibility for you all to read soon! 

I have just finished rereading heartstopper volume 4 which I do a lot and I love it so so much, it's the ultimate comfort read and I can't tell you how many times I've read it. I've now recommended it to two friends who love it and I went on a half hour video call with one of them where we basically just talked about it which was so much fun!

I also watched the majority of Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix with my sister which was really nice and now I have a friend round for a sleepover!

Thursday 19th August

Today, I'm just spending time with my friend, talking about books amongst other things! We spent quite a while reading and she's now reading heartstopper! I reread volume 3 last night because she was reading volume 2 and it made me want to read it too! These characters mean so much to me and I'm so happy that I picked this up. Tara and Darcy in particular are so funny and I love them so much! 

I'm still really enjoying This Is My Truth so not much to update there, I'm just taking my time with it! I'm now 226 pages through which I think is about halfway and I'll have lots of time to read tomorrow!

Friday 20th August

Today we spent the whole day traveling to France! I had LOTS of time to read (as predicted) and so finished This Is My Truth which I loved! I still think I prefer All The Things We Never Said but Yasmin Rahman is definitely a new favourite! She has a way with descriptions and language that makes you feel so much like you are in the worlds she creates and that's something I do feel a fair bit but never to the extent of Yasmin Rahman (and Lucy Powrie!) But wow, this was amazing!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Saturday 21st August

Today we just went shopping and did stuff around here, spending time making the most of being in France! It's been so long and I've missed it a lot. I didn't think I would get to France this year but here I am!

I started Knife Edge by Malorie Blackman this morning, which is the sequel to Noughts and Crosses (which I have written a review of a bit lower down). I haven't read much but apparently it is much darker so I'm scared!

Thank you so much for reading this, not that many bookish activities this week but I'm so happy I finished both Sense and Sensibility and This Is My Truth! Next week probably won't have many bookish activities either but I will get some reading done!

Happy reading!

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