Monthly Wrap Up

The month that was… November 2022

JoBy
14 Comments on The month that was… November 2022

Well, I said last month that I might take a break, and boy did I. My last post before this one (and the only review I posted in November) was on the 9th! 😬 It’s done me the world of good, however, and I am starting to feel that I WANT to blog again, something that’s been sorely lacking for a while now. I’m going to take it easy and not put myself under any pressure to blog when life inevitably gets in the way, but you should start to see a little more activity going forward. Hopefully.

In what may seem like a strange move, I have also deactivated my Twitter account. I’ve found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with the platform, and in particular the ads and algorithms that put content into my feed that I’m not even slightly interested in, as well as the potential for “doom scrolling”, something that I’ve found myself increasingly guilty of in recent times. It may be something that I regret but in this deactivation period (you have 30 days of deactivation before your account is gone completely) I’ve certainly felt happier. My phone battery has been lasting longer as well… I have to admit, however, that it never occurred to me that my absence would be noticed, much less worried about, until the lovely Kelly over at From Belgium with Book Love dropped me a note to check I was ok. So, I’m fine (and sorry if I did worry anyone!), just fed up with Twitter and its algorithms.

I am giving Mastodon a try as an alternative, although it feels quite alien to me at the moment. If you also decide to abandon tweeting for tooting (I’m aware it’s not referred to as tooting any more, I just really like the term) or just branch out as any sensible person might do, come on over and find me @tiny_ickle_jo@mastodon.martin-benson.com

While I’ve not been blogging and tweeting, I have at least been reading, and managed 8 books this month, including The Secret History which is one of those books that I’ve always felt I should read but never quite got around to. And I really enjoyed it. It felt like a relatively large book going in, but I raced through it in no time at all. I also attended the Hay Winter Weekend which I thoroughly enjoyed. You can see my (surprisingly modest!) book haul below.

Books Read and Reviewed

  • Read in November:
    • The Will by Rebecca Reid
    • Devotion by Hannah Kent
    • Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body by Sara Pascoe
    • The Phlebotomist by Chris Panatier
    • Sirens by Joseph Knox
    • The Secret History by Donna Tartt
    • From the Wreck by Jane Rawson
    • Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore

Favourite Books This Month

Incoming!

I’ve not received any books for review this month, but I did purchase 9:

And I picked up another 3 at the Hay Winter Weekend:

TBR Watch

It could certainly be worse after a trip to Hay-on-Wye with its many (many!) bookshops!

  • Books out = 8 read + 2 DNFs* = 10
  • Books in = 0 ARCs + 9 purchases + 3 from Hay = 12
  • Gives a slight increase of 2 in my TBR!

*I may come back to some of the DNFs at a later date, but for now they have been removed from my TBR.

14 comments

  1. Glad to hear your online silence was a choice as was a bit worried when you disappeared from Twitter. Also glad you’re feeling better about blogging as I missed your book thoughts. Having said that, you are right to do what is right for you 🙂

    1. Thank you, Jackie – I think that I really did need to step away completely for a while to fully reset. Hopefully something of a return to normal now, albeit (probably) without Twitter x

  2. Glad to have you back and that you found you actually want to blog again! You really had Emma and me worried, especially with the Twitter thing, but obviously you shouldn’t stay on a platform that doesn’t bring you joy in any way. Looks a nice new haul, happy reading 😊

    1. Oh Kelly – I’m so sorry! It really never occurred to me that anyone would notice – I guess I’m not quite as under the radar as I thought! Thanks so much for checking in though – really did appreciate it 😊

  3. Welcome back. Glad to hear that pressing the pause button on blogging worked for you – the last thing you want is for blogging to feel like a chore. I’m frustrated with the Twitter algorithm too – it seems to have stoped showing me updates from a lot of people I follow.

    1. Thank you, and yes – it’s been a massive help. I hope I’m wrong about Twitter, but I think the experience will only get worse.

  4. Good to see you back, Jo 🙂 I have an account on Mastodon too…just in case. I’ll look you up.

  5. Glad you enjoyed your break jo, it’s lovely to see this post! I’m on Mastodon as well and have just followed you. It’s very different to Twitter, I haven’t got my head around it either. 😂 I’ll miss you on Twitter but totally understand why you’ve left. x

    1. Thank you, Nicki! It’s actually feeling quite good to be getting back into blogging now, which I’m taking as a good sign! x

  6. I disappear from social media sometimes but not more than 2 days but I agree with you, not many will notice we are not around if we stop using it. It’s great you enjoyed your break and had great time reading without distraction.

    1. I have small breaks before, but never quite so extended. I think it’s nice to know that people do notice – and you would be missed, too x

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