Q1 Goal Review and Favourites

At the start of the year, I decided that, instead of New Year’s Resolutions, I would plan and set goals for the first quarter and then review and update accordingly. After the chaos of last year, there seemed little sense in making goals for the whole year, although I did have three broad themes to weave their way throughout.

So, I went ahead and made some specific goals for Q1. And, after a month and a half, I stopped tracking them. Logging my reading against specific targets took the fun out of it and really proved to me that targeted, number-specific goals for things that should be fun and enjoyable just don’t work for me.

That being said, I do think I did reasonably well at meeting the broader goals despite the odd threat of a reading slump and moving away from specific targets. I read 4 non-fiction books (or rather listened to them, for some reason non-fiction works better in audio format for me) with quite disparate topics (dark web, economics, tidying). I read 10 books by authors who are a different demographic to me (not including those by white middle-aged men), 11 books with a non-white lead, and 12 with LGBTQ representation. A large number had a focus on character friendships and a majority had a non-cis male lead.

These broad themes are going to continue into Q2 where I am planning to take a more relaxed approach to the goals – keeping them in mind but no specific targets to take the fun away.  The main goal is to try and read print every day – I do find I tend to listen more to audiobooks when I am busy, but I miss the written word. Even if I just read a small number of pages, it’ll be worth it if just to get back in the habit. I’ve already managed to finish three hardbacks in a row, which I haven’t done in a while, so going well so far.

In terms of Q1 favourites, well, see below:

Favourite Book: Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

• Everything about these books just worked for me, from the themes to the general vibe, the plot to the characters. They are incredibly weird (necromancers in space for starters!) and off-kilter, but I really connected with them and could not stop thinking about them. I rarely read books in a series back-to-back but this was a case where I couldn’t help myself. And, on finding out the third book wasn’t out for another year, I ended up just sat staring at a wall not really knowing what to do or read next for a while…

Favourite T.V. Show: Wandavision

• Another weird but wonderful creation. I thoroughly enjoyed the set-up of this series, from the start of odd sitcom-esque episodes to the more Marvel elements towards the end. I love the Scarlet Witch character and seeing her finally come into her own after such little screen-time in previous MCU films was a delight. I was engrossed in every episode and it was painful waiting a week for the next one. Even if the finale contained one of the biggest disappointments I’ve experienced with the MCU, it was still worth the watch and I would definitely watch it again.

Favourite Movie: Emma

• Such a short list to choose from and the victor is my first movie of the year. This is the newest adaptation of Emma and I just really enjoy the movie, from the production quality, the costume, the acting, so much of it is brilliant. The slightly quirky style just worked really well for me and this is definitely one of my favourite feel-good, cosy watches.  

Hopefully I’ll have more favourites to talk about in Q2, especially now things are starting to open up more and there is more to do. If you have any particular favourites from the start of the year or agree with my selections above, let me know in the comments, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

Still Alice: Film vs Book

Still Alice, the film, has finally come out in the UK and, after reading the book, I finally got to go and see it. Since I have not written a review for the book yet, I thought I would combine the two and do a comparison, incorporating the review as I did so.

The book, written by Lisa Genova, follows a linguistics professor, Alice, as she learns that she has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and must cope as it slowly progresses and changes her life forever. The book reads well. It is not complicated, instead telling the story in language that one can slip into, allowing for a focus on the characters and emotion of the book. It is written from Alice’s perspective, so you get a first-hand account of the deterioration of her mind, as well as seeing how her family reacts to the disease. I really enjoyed reading the book. I thought it effective and emotional. There were, however, parts that could have been expanded upon more, with more consequences or depth, as there were a couple of loose ends.

The film follows the same plot as the book and follows it quite closely. As it an adaption of the book, limited to only a couple of hours, it did have to cut out a number of scenes and subplots. However, I think it cut out too much. The film focuses on Alice – we got to know her very well and see the deterioration in clear, emotional detail. By focusing on Alice, we do lose a lot of the other characters. It would have been interesting to see how Alice’s situation affected those around her. This was touched upon, but only slightly with very little depth. You don’t really get a sense of who Alice is before the disease hits which is disappointing as, not only does the film start off quite slowly, it limits how much you can see of the character behind her memory deficits. That being said, I did think the film was emotional and there were some really powerful scenes.

Overall, I thought that the book was a lot better than the film – it captured more of Alice and those around her, while the film seemed to focus more on Alzheimer’s disease than anything else. I can see why Julianne Moore won an Oscar – her performance was incredible, but the rest of the film was a little bit lacking. It needed a bit more depth for me to fully enjoy.

Book Rating: 4/5

Film Rating: 3/5