Recently I found myself falling out any routine, my once good habits became abandoned - I think the combination of being unwell, lockdown and moving into a new environment got to me, and I found it easy to push aside those little habits and daily routines, unaware of the impact it would have. After a few weeks of feeling all over the place and noticing the toll of that on my mental health, I realised I needed some positive routine back. So once again I've been developing new routines to follow, of the little things which keep my wellness up.

5 Habits for Happiness:

- Journalling:

- Reading:

- Moving your body:

- Going outside:

A hobby which I'm sure is getting many of us through lockdown is reading. so I thought today I'd share some book reviews and let you know what's next on my to-read list.

Normal People by Sally Rooney

 Okay, technically I still haven't finished this one. I know, it was the January books for #chloeharrietsbookclub, so extremely poor effort from me. However, my boyfriend and I decided it would be nice to read together - when we fancy it, we take it in turns to read a chapter aloud to one another, it's lovely... but also takes forever to get through a book. It's only now that we're finally coming towards the end of this, and as expected I really enjoyed it.

The story takes place in a small town in Ireland and follows the relationship between two characters, Marianne and Connell. As go from high school to university, their relationship constantly moving up and down the sliding scale, from a friendship to a romantic relationship over and over. You see their relationship affected by poor communication, social class, environmental changes and more. It feels like a very real modern relationship.

Between each chapter, there's a small-time jumper, usually somewhere around 3 to six months so the narrative moves along quickly, despite being quite circular due to the back and forth of the relationship.

I find the writing style to be simple, making it easy to follow, but there's still a poetic feel to it.

I'm enjoying this book and the characters a lot, I'm excited to finish it.
★★★★☆

The Course of Love by Alain de Botton

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

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 Half-way through 2019, I came up with the idea of #ChloeHarrietsBookClub, I completely loved the idea at first, however, towards the end of the year, for several reasons, it sort of just faded out. I'll be honest, it was a bit all over the place, it even confused me - I couldn't ever decide whether the books were worthy of a full blog review or whether I should keep the conversation going over on my Instagram, or if anyone cared and was bothering to read along... due to the same confusion as me, alongside my lack of promotion and SEO on the blog posts, the answer was probably not. With my approach, it was unlikely I was going to create the little community of book lovers that I'd imagined.  I still, however, love the idea... I'm giving it another go, but this time with fewer books and more reliability. I'll write a full review of each book towards the start of the following month - of course it's also likely I'll open up the conversation on my Instagram stories whilst reading, heck I might even go wild and open up the conversation on my Facebook page (honestly, I haven’t used it for years but I figured it’s time to dust it off and re-enter the world of Facebook). This year #chloeharrietsbookclub will be a lot easier to keep up with, and worth getting involved with.

The Reading List:

September:  Clean by Juno Dawson
Keep your eyes peeled at the end of each month for my reviews, and be sure to follow #chloeharrietsbookclub on Instagram to keep up over there!

Let me know which titles you're most excited for. Happy reading!

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If you read this post you'll know I recently started #chloeharrietsbookclub, now although this will usually mainly exists on my Instagram, I thought for my first two reads, I'd review them on here, as they were also bloody good ones.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Why I choose this book:

A few months back I watched the film version of this story, unaware that it was based on a book and enjoyed it for an easy watch. During some charity shop browsing, I noticed it on the shelf and realised one of the authors is David Levithan who also wrote one of my favourite young adult books Everyday (review here) - that was the confirmation that I needed to read it.

Initial Thoughts:

I loved this book so much more than I expected to. I'm not much of a music person (I'm pretty much the only person in the world who isn't, I know) so with music being a central theme of the book, I wasn't sure if it would be for me - however, I was wrong. Although music is heavily discussed through the books, it's a relatable way, and music is used to emphasise the connection between the characters, the heartbreak they've both faced and the struggles with moving forward.

The Narrative:

It's a young adult read, which follows the story of how Nick and Norah meet and have a pretty significant night together. It begins with Nick seeing his ex-girlfriend in the crowd as his band plays, which leads to him asking a stranger to be his girlfriend for five minutes. His friends then set them up on a date with the girl, Norah. Nick and Norah spend an eventful night together, while they both deal with the repercussions of their previous relationships, their struggles with self-worth, and confusion about how they feel about each other v how they think they should feel about each other. Whilst seeing bands and exploring New York at night time.

Characters:

The book flicks between the first-person perspective of both Nick and Norah. I personally preferred the Nick chapters, as I found them easier to follow, and his character more relatable. Norah's tone of voice felt a little more chaotic, which really worked for her character, but sometimes was a tad more difficult to keep up with, although very clearly reflected some of the inner confliction Norah's character was facing.

Themes: 

Coming of age, unrequited love, music, sex

Favourite Quotes:

"When somebody breaks up with you, their beauty - which you took such satisfaction in - suddenly becomes unfair"

"I slipped into a surreal but true universe where we were over but I wasn't yet over it"

"Our world - don’t you just feel we’re becoming more fragmented? I used to think that when I got older, the world would make so much more sense. But you know what? The older I get, the more confusing it is to me. The more complicated it is. Harder. You’d think we’d be getting better at it. But there’s just more and more chaos. The pieces - they’re everywhere. And nobody knows what to do about it. I find myself grasping, Nick. You know that feeling? That feeling when you just want the right thing to fall into the right place, not only because it’s right, but because it would mean that such a thing is still possible? I want to believe that.” 

“There’s no such thing as ready,” she says. “There’s only willing.” 

"The world is broken. Maybe it isn’t that we’re supposed to find the pieces and put them back together. Maybe we’re the pieces. Maybe, what we’re supposed to do is come together. That’s how we stop the breaking."

"When is the night over? Is it the start of sunrise or the end of it? Is it when you finally go to sleep or simply when you realize that you have to?"

Rating: 

 8 out of 10

Overall:

 Although this book wasn't exactly your traditional epic love story, I completely fell in love with it. I enjoyed both authors writing styles and found it to be both easy to read and completely enchanting.