Reading A Book A Day 📚 _ 7 Books in 7 Days Challenge!

Do you guys ever think, hmm, I think I should read a bit more? Well, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. This week, I've decided to challenge myself to see if I could read a book every single day. The only two criteria are, number one, that this needs to be a new book to me. I need to not have read it before. And number two, I need to average out at least 200 pages per day. I've not picked out all the books for this week yet because between me and my three flatmates, I think we have upward of 50 books in the house, most of which I've not read. So I'm going to play it by ear. But it's really important to me that it's a good mix of genres, that there's a bit of fiction and nonfiction thrown in there, and that the authors are quite diverse. My first book is Normal People by Sally Rooney. I have heard such good things about it that I figured it would be the perfect way to kick off this challenge. Wish me luck. Before we move on to today's read, I want to briefly talk to you about this book because I really enjoyed it. Its author is called Sally Rooney, and this is Sally's first novel. And honestly, you could not tell. Like, this is so beautifully written. The prose feels so personal whilst at the same time staying really true to the setting, which in this case is Ireland. You really feel like you are on this emotional journey with the two main characters, Conall and Marianne. And I am someone who maybe has a tendency to not poke my emotions that much. If I'm feeling really raw, I'm not going to be listening to sad music or watching sad films to, like, draw that out of myself. I'm going to be just trying to move on with my life. And this, in a way, I think was very healthy for me because it forced me to look back at these kind of trickier times in everyone's lives. Puberty, going through high school, failed romances. So yeah, Normal People, a great book, very worthy of all these incredible awards that it's won. And I have linked it in the description below if you want to buy it. Today's book is very different. It's a lot more ancient, for one. It is The Tale of Troy. Now, Troy will always have a bit of a special place in my life, primarily because it is part of my surname. My dad is literally Mr. Trojan. It's either the computer virus, the condoms, or the horse. And we're going Trojan horse with this one. Today, I actually left it quite late because I had loads of emails to deal with and stuff like that. So let's see how I get on. But I'm going to go over to the terrace and, yeah, learn something new. Such a nice day for this. It's so sunny. Check this out. I didn't manage to finish the book yesterday, so I'm catching up this morning and then gonna start on the third one. Day three and we're already behind. I finished reading The Tale of Troy. And I have to say, it brought back many memories of watching Troy for the first time when it came out. What is that, like 10, 15 years ago? Makes me feel old. And yeah, I did enjoy this book, but I found it kind of difficult to read because there's so many different Greek deities and different characters. And as you're reading, if you're like me, you're going to want to pick up your phone and Google them and figure out what their backstories were. And that pretty much like quadruples the amount of time that you spend reading this. But it was a good book and I would recommend it if you're into Greek mythology. Our next book, I would recommend to literally everyone. It's called Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race. Reading fiction versus reading nonfiction and especially more academic texts like this one with history and different events is a lot harder and just generally takes a lot longer. So let's see how I get on. Day four and I am still not done with yesterday's book. It is a really, really important read and I have been taking my time reading it. And also yesterday just ended up being quite busy. And I mean, frankly, reading a book a day is quite an undertaking. So if you have other things on, it isn't always that feasible. So trying to catch up on this and read at least half of another one today. I don't know. I wanted to get it on camera that I'm reading. Still. You told me you were just going to pretend you were just going to read the first page and the last page and then read a summary on the internet. I didn't say that. That's what you told me yesterday. You're winding me up. It's winding me up. Okay, stop filming. You're annoying. 9.30pm and I'm still not done with my book from yesterday. I have finished my book from Wednesday. Got my next book right here. But before I start reading it, I wanted to read you a quote from the book I just finished because I thought it was very topical right now. If you're disgusted by what you see and if you feel the fire coursing through your veins, then it's up to you. You don't have to be the leader of the global movement or household name. It can be as small scale as chipping away at the power relations in your workplace. It doesn't matter what it is as long as you're doing something. I just thought that was really powerful. Book number four. I wanted to keep it diverse. This one is by a Black female author. It has 400 pages, which means this is a terrible idea. But I've been excited about this book for a really long time. My flatmates read it and said it was amazing. So let's see if it was right. Okay. I am really enjoying this book, you guys. It's so beautifully written. It's got so many interesting characters and I'm just on page 78. But one thing just occurred to me. Isn't it funny how you can read a book this long? It's over 400 pages in a few hours where it must have taken the author just so long to come up with this beautiful story. I mean, beautiful and harrowing in this case. Yeah, it's kind of crazy how much effort goes into producing these works of art. Then you consume it so quickly and then poof, that's it. You probably never come back to it again. My thought of the day. Finished it. All 417 pages of it. And this, I have to say, has been one of my favorite books that I've read this entire year alongside Circe by Madeline Miller, which I loved. But yeah, this book is excellent. Buy it. My next book, I'm not going to be able to show you physically because it's one I ordered off Kindle. It's called The Adult Orphan Club and it's written by Flora Baker. She's a really talented travel writer and blogger. It's a memoir of sorts. Both of Flora's parents passed away and she writes about grief and dealing with that enormous loss. So I'm really, really excited to read it. I think it's going to be a bit of a harrowing read, but knowing Flora, it's going to be beautifully written and I'm sure it's going to be really insightful. The Adult Orphan Club is a book I'd highly recommend to anyone dealing with grief and loss. I found the memoir parts very interesting and then there's also a practical guide, which is more relevant if that's something you're currently going through. But regardless, I think it's a great book on the topic. And I have chosen my next one. It's right here. But look, it looks deceptively thick. Like Tom, he looks deceptively thick. Okay, it is a cookbook in part, but the first 200 pages are kind of a guideline on how to cook, how to combine ingredients and stuff like that. This is making me so hungry. Okay, I'm nearly done with the Salmon Nostrad book and obviously I've learned a lot about cooking. So I went into the kitchen and I... No, I'm literally having a plate full of hummus because guys, reading seven books in seven days, not a great idea. Takes a lot of time. So I made this disgusting beige dinner for myself. I'm done and it's midnight and this is book number six, not number seven. So I've decided that I'm gonna read through the night because tomorrow is Monday morning and that's when I started. Here are the paper books I've read so far, but I've decided to read one on the Kindle app on my phone now because I'm gonna turn the lights out and read in bed. I'm falling asleep. This is bad. Hey, you. Yeah, you. A quick question for you. How many books have you read this week? Because I have read seven. I feel like we started off somewhat cool there and then just... Yeah, no, that's fine. This week, I have read a grand total of 1640 pages, which averages out to 234 pages per day. Just gonna double check my math. Yep. Aside from feeling incredibly smug, I also feel like I gained so much knowledge this week, you guys. It isn't a challenge that would be easily done by somebody who's in full-time employment. I'm very lucky to be self-employed, so I had the luxury of devoting a lot of time to this. However, it is a good idea to push yourself with your reading habits. Try and read 20 pages before you go to bed every day this week and see how you feel by the end of it. Before I let you go, I just quickly wanted to show off my cool new t-shirt. If you buy one of these, you will be supporting the NHS. That's the National Health Service here in the UK who have done an incredible job of supporting all of us through this epidemic. So thank you, NHS. The link is in the description below, so check it out if you'd like to buy one. And otherwise, see you next Friday. Bye.