May is one of my favourite months of the year — it would quite possibly be the favourite, actually, if it wasn’t for the fact that we normally go on holiday in July, and any month with a holiday in it is always going to be better than one without, as far as I’m concerned. So July, you’re the real favourite. Sorry, May.
It might only be the second-favourite, however, but May in Scotland tends to be one of the warmer months of the year: it’s often more reliable than the actual summer in terms of sunshine, and although we haven’t had the heatwave the rest of the UK has been enjoying (or not enjoying, as the case may be), we have had quite a few nice days, which went some way towards making up for the fact that the world seemed to be in danger of ending at any second, what with the hantavirus, and ebola, and… just everything, really. Did anyone else have the sudden revelation that they’re still actually quite traumatized from the pandemic this month, or was that just me?
(On second thoughts, maybe don’t bother answering that…)
Closer to home, meanwhile, we had quite a few school holidays, plus a handful of social events to navigate, so I feel like I never quite managed to get into the routine I desperately need in order to be productive: in fact, I’ve felt like I was just treading water for most of the month, really, so this post will probably be even less exciting than usual, unfortunately. I’ve never been one to let that stop me rambling on, though, so here’s a quick look at my May…
Watching:
Ghosts
Ghosts is about a young couple who move into a haunted house, and then one of them discovers she can communicate with the ghosts who live there. That’s pretty much my ideal plot right there, so I’ve no idea why I hadn’t watched it before now, but suffice it to say I made up for it by binging all five seasons, and then feeling oddly bereft once it was done. It’s ridiculous and OTT in the way that only a comedy about dead people can be, but it very quickly became a real ‘comfort’ watch for me, which is exactly what I needed this month.
The Other Bennet Sister
As a fully paid-up Jane Austen fangirl, I will watch anything with her name even tangentially attached to it, so The Other Bennet Sister, which imagines what life would’ve been like for Mary Bennet, the ‘forgotten’ sister, was always going to be on my list.
I really enjoyed this, although it did leave me feeling like someone should one day write Mrs Bennet’s side of the story, and … wait! Maybe it should be me? Should I be the one to tell Mrs Bennet’s story?!
Outlander
I will admit that I haven’t enjoyed the last few seasons of Outlander as much as some of the others (the series vastly over-estimated my interest in men fighting, tbh), but the finale more than made up for it, and, once again, left me feeling quite bereft when it was over. I’ve actually never read the books it’s based on, having discovered it through the TV series, but maybe I should?
Reading:
Because we’ve been so busy with other stuff, I only managed to read two books this month, and one of them was Wuthering Heights, which I’ve read multiple times before, but decided to re-read after visiting the Bronte parsonage back in March. The other one was A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston (which I actually wish I’d read first, because it would’ve been a nice little palette cleanser after the relentless darkness of Wuthering Heights...) and it’s about a woman who mysteriously finds herself in the fictional setting of her favourite romance book series. This is the second Ashley Posten book I’ve read (the first being The Seven Year Itch), but I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Also, remember this?
Well, well, what do we have here?
Look, I cracked, OK? Because it turned out that £17.99 paperback was some kind of super-special one, and once it sold out, Amazon revealed the REAL paperbacks wouldn’t be out until next April. Well, I obviously couldn’t wait that long, so here we are…
I just started this a couple of days ago and am only about halfway through (I’m actually not a slow reader, but lack of time forces me to be one…), so I’ll save my thoughts on it for another time, but I will say I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far and not really getting why it’s had so much criticism, although I’ll reserve my final judgement for once I’ve actually finished.
I will also say that it’s really annoying me having to prop up a gigantic hardback when I’m reading in bed at night, though, so I stand by what I said here:
I will die on this hill.
Listening:
Would it surprise any of you to know I’ve mostly been listening to Noah Kahan’s, The Great Divide? Nope, didn’t think so…
Writing:
As you might know, I finished the first draft of my second book for Black & White at the start of the month, and nervously sent it off to my agent for her feedback. I was all kinds of terrified waiting to hear back from her, because this book was my difficult second novel, and writing it was like pulling teeth at times, so I genuinely had no idea if it was any good or not. Happily, though, Kate got back to me this week to say she really enjoyed it, and she had only a few small suggestions for changes before we submit it to the publisher, so that was a huge relief.
It still has to go through numerous edits, of course (including the all-important structural edit), so there’s still a long way to go with this one, but I feel like it’s over the first hurdle now, so I’m a little less stressed about it.