Hey everyone! Hope you’re all cozying up indoors to stay safe from the virus. 😷 The situation’s getting worse here, but I’m trying to make the most of the time (and take the edge off my anxiety) by catching up on reading and blogging. Here’s a round-up of my bookish updates this week:
Posts This Week
- February 2020 Wrap-up (Wednesday)
- My TBR from the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 Longlist (Thursday)
- Book Review: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (Friday)
Books I Finished This Week
Books I’m Currently Reading
Posts I Loved This Week
- Since I’ll be going through the longlist for the Women’s Prize, I’ve also been reading a number of thoughtful reviews from the bloggers here. Here’s Naty’s review of How We Disappeared; Callum’s review of A Thousand Ships and Girl; and Hannah’s review of Actress.
- On the fantasy/sci-fi front, here’s Asha’s well-balanced review of The Rage of Dragons; Zaneta’s review of The Poppy War; and Kyra’s review of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.
- Some listicles: Marija’s list of March 2020 releases with pretty covers, which definitely contributed to my ever-growing TBR; and Hannah’s post on “Your Coronavirus Reading List: Pandemic Fiction to Read under Quarantine!” which made me laugh and also put a couple more books on my radar. Finally, here’s a list of bad-ass heroines in romance novels by The Smut Report, my go-to site for anything romance.
Some Non-Bookish Things
Podcasts I Listened to This Week:
Soundtrack of the Week:
Ever since both my brother and I started working from home this week, he’s had this song on loop. He was sad that this was forever going to remind him of COVID, and I have to agree. It’s a shame because I’ve come to really like it.
Life Updates
- COVID-19 updates. Things have really escalated here ever since my post last Wednesday, when I last talked about the virus. It turns out that the Philippines doesn’t have a lot of cases because we weren’t f*cking testing in the first place. Now that our government has gotten ahold of more kits, our number of cases has risen from about 10 to 140, and all the local government units are scrambling to impose lockdowns and curfews. Despite these measures, though, our health system itself is so ill-equipped for this that it’s ridiculous—for God’s sake, the hospital staff don’t even have masks!!!—and a number of frontline workers are already being sent home for testing positive for the virus. It makes me really angry and anxious, and I can barely concentrate on anything else, since I can’t do anything about it but stay put. I hope our government can pull themselves together soon. Please keep us in your thoughts, along with all the other countries affected.
- Workout updates. In other news… since the 21K race and the Spartan Sprint I’ve signed up for this year have both been cancelled, and since I’ll be staying home for a month, I’m faced with the challenge of putting together a new indoor bodyweight routine. I’m looking at a couple of YouTube videos, but suggestions are welcome!
Well, that’s it for my week. How was yours? How’re you and your family in the midst of the pandemic? Let me know in the comments. 🙂
Gil Reads Books 
Thank you so much for featuring my review! Did you enjoy This is how you lose the time war? I’m seeing it everywhere now. I hope you stay safe and sane during these crazy times!
Ah, to be honest, it was a 3-star read for me. You’re welcome! 🙂 The concept was clever and the writing was good, but there were too many things left unexplained, and the romance wasn’t too believable. 😦 Sad because I was so sure I would like it. I’ll be posting a review next week, if you’re interested. You too, stay safe!!!
I’m looking forward to the review, as I’ve heard a lot of mixed things.
Thank you! I’ll look forward to your thoughts on it as well if you do get around to reading it!
Thank you so much for sharing my reviews! I’m loving following everyone’s thoughts on the longlist as well – just the distraction we all need right now!
Yes, especially since we’re encouraged to spend more time indoors. Hope you stay safe!
Same to you! 😊
Thank you for linking to my review!
I am a bit distracted at the moment, so I haven’t really made much of a dent in my unread WP books but I love following everybody’s thoughts!
You’re welcome! That’s understandable, take your time. There’s still around a month and you’ve been off to a good start ☺️ Hope you stay safe and sane during the outbreak 🙂
Oh no, wishing you health and safety in the Philippines! This is such a crazy time. I’m very grateful for the ongoing Women’s Prize as a means of distraction, and looking forward to reading more of your thoughts on the books (as well as finally digging into them myself! 🙂 ) I hope you’re enjoying Queenie!
I know!! I hope you’re well over there. I really am looking forward to reading everyone’s thoughts on the WP, and I hope the prize still goes on despite all this. 🙂