February was a high anxiety month & I read 44 books... | February Reading Wrap Up

[@jonnie7891]

It’s so unfair to be judged for reading a lot of books and I wish some people would get over it. This is my favorite hobby and I have a job with a very high commute and an abnormally high amount of downtime so that enables me to read more than normal.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Yes! There’s so much variation

[@jeannasmith5093]

I handle my anxiety by going walking, going to a bookstore, or sometimes I go to the movies by myself with a bag of popcorn and a drink. On Monday's and Wednesday I do aqua Aerobics. After that class, I come home and take a nice bubble bath 🛀. Just do what makes you calm and at peace.

[@lexi8445]

I appreciate you mentioning that reading too much is a sign of mental distress. It's the same for me and when I say that online I get pushback from people saying that reading a lot isn't a problem. It is *for me* so it's nice to see another I can relate to. That said, I cannot wait to get my hands on Lone Women. It's on its way to me now!

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Thanks for sharing! Yeah it’s absolutely a valid thing.

[@brandim1230]

Writing my feelings out.. helps sometimes I also try to remember to write down something good that happened that day even if it was bad and there was just a little good. Because I went through a difficult time four or five years ago.. and the doctor told me to write a gratitude journal. Also I love spending time with my fur sister Sadie 🐶 I love to listen to music as well 🎧 I like to walk outside a little bit. Good luck with your reading in March. Hope it's a much better month for you. 💚💛🧡

[@kelciilou980]

💚💚💚💚💚. Im exactly the same with my reading and mental health, last year was my first year online in book communities, I got a few comments about how high my reading was and it felt awkward that I dont see those high numbers as a positive thing but more a huge red flag to check in with my mental health😅 . Id rather have the better mental health and the lower numbers. This year one of my goals is to reduce my reading amount but what that actually means is try and work on my mental health 😊. I really hope this month is a better mental health month for you 💚.

[@CatApocalypse]

When I have an anxiety/depression flare up, or even just regular stress, it gets hard to focus and be able to read. Partly why I haven't read very much so far this year, since we've been in the process of buying a house haha

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Oh wow! That is intense. And yeah, I think that’s also a common reaction

[@sweeteliz]

February was a tough month for me also ... and yes, I read more than usual. My favorite thing to do was to skip out of work around 4pm and crawl into bed with a book for 2 hrs. So much comfort in a warm blanket and a good book! I turn to mysteries when I need brain candy --- they've been my escape since childhood.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

I'm sorry it was a difficult month! It seems like it was for a lot of people. And yes! So much comfort in escaping to a good book.

[@sweeteliz]

@@BeautifullyBookishBethany same-- back at you! Hoping for a better month for both of us ... and at the very least, a bunch of great books! 🥰

[@needleshooksandbooks1332]

I am also one that uses books to help me cope, but for me it's to cope with my chronic pain condition. It got a lot worse in late 2020 and that is when my reading sky rocketed. If I don't have books to occupy my mind then I wouldn't be able to focus on anything but the pain. At one point I was averaging over 3 books a day. I've been able to scale back since I started working remotely and that has helped me manage my pain better...but now I average around 2 books a day. Whatever works.

[@blueberrygirl_reads4762]

I also anxiety read right now. Read and sleep are my curent coping strategys, maby not THE best but Good enogh right now.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

It definitely could be worse

[@buriedinbooks3847]

I read more when anxious too!! I almost doubled my normal reading in 2020 and I felt similarly to you. Proud of how many books I read but also realizing that it wasn’t really coming from a good place.

[@thefairylibrarian3282]

So sorry to hear that your mental health was so bad. I hope March will treat you better 🤍

[@PopTheButterfly]

omg The Last Tale of the Flower Bride. I needdddddd. Also great job!!!

[@ashtonreads]

I've been resisting BOTM for years but I finally caved and signed up for a subscription this month so I could get a copy of Lone Women. I'm so glad to hear that you loved it and am even more excited for it now!

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Yay!! I hope you enjoy it!

[@marzipan9]

Lol I read Missing Clarissa and Long Stretch of Bad Days BACK TO BACK with the Mindy McGinnis first so yeah, Clarissa did not stack up very well to Long Stretch. Loved Long Stretch and Mindy McGinnis will be talking at my library this weekend and I’m suuuuuper excited!

[@pareenapadiyar]

Haha the title 😂 story of my life. Last 2 weeks were tough for me as well and I read 6 books 😅

[@RunwrightReads]

Yay for reading a lot but I hope this is a better month for you all around. Sending you lots of love 😍

[@bee5624]

this was me in january. the amount of romance audiobooks i listened to that month, it's almost a travesty. that and romance dramas. i just didn't want to think and romance is perfect for that.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Seriously!! 😅

[@KristinKravesBooks]

The Mead Mishaps series has quickly become a favourite. So much fun! I also preferred the romance in the second one. Can't wait for the next one coming out in April!

[@asdfghjklasdfghjkl321]

I've been in a massive reading slump at the moment. Like I've reading Bloodmarked, and it's taken me a month to read 100 pages, not because it's bad but because of my mental health 🙃 So bold of you to assume I'm coping and not waiting for my therapist to set up my psychologist appointment 😝

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Lol! I hope things get better though. That's difficult and I think a lot of people had a rough February.

[@WildeBookGarden]

okay, putting Nerd Crush on my list. I get SO ANNOYED every time I see adult reviewers panning a book for being written properly for its demographic 🙄 a soapbox I'm also familiar with! lol SO HAPPY you loved The Girl Who Drank the Moon! can't wait to watch the whole vlog. this was the perfect length to watch while untangling yarn 😂 hope March is a much better mental health month for you! as discussed, I'm definitely in the same boat when it comes to reading as a coping mechanism!

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Yes!! It’s so frustrating. And yeah, I think reading is what works for some of us.

[@laurenschnoebelen3740]

Oh man, I felt this deep in my soul. Battling escapism reading to copy with anxiety is something I’m constantly dealing with too. February was not that great of month for me either. I binged the entire Savagelands series on audio in like 7 days. I feel you and hope March is smoother!

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Thank you!! I hope March is better for you too.

[@Melissabella]

When my anxiety is raging, the last thing I can do is read. I would give anything to be able to get lost in a book, but I just can't do it. I envy you that coping skill, although I hope you don't need it this month! Thank you for this video. A lot of the books sound delightful.

[@theexhaustedflamingo]

I’ve had some family drama this past month so I’ve been dealing with depression as well as anxiety. I’ve hit a smut slump as well. Half of my reading each month is usually smut so 🤷🏻‍♀️ If you have any proper romance recs I have hit my next non smut era it looks like.

[@booksvsmovies]

February was a mentally taxing month for me so I binged a lot of TV. I got through 3 seasons of TV in a week and my favourite was the new remake of Interview with a Vampire. I was so completely enthralled by the show that I'm now I'm getting to the book and really enjoying it.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

I think it was rough for a lot of people! Glad to hear you’re enjoying shows though.

[@AwkwardBookworm]

I got a copy of take the lead! So excited to read!

[@greenonionbabey]

I picked Lone Women for my botm and I'm so excited to get it!! The fact you didn't want to say much bodes so well to me lmao, I love books you have to just read for yourself. Also it turns out I'm also an anxious reader because I've been the busiest I've ever been in my entire life since January w/ my final semester of college and a new job, & I've already read 33 books this year. Last year I read like 52.... which was also A LOT for me. This year will probably be the most I've read since like middle school (fingers crossed I don't slump really badly as soon as I'm not busy and stressed all the time lol...) I also feel kinda silly because I'm using my college library atm and like no one checks out fiction for fun reading so I'm going up to the counter with a stack of 5 books every week like.... yes really.... I don't know how I have time either 😭

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Thanks for sharing! Yeah, I think it can sometimes be how people cope

[@MollyPrewittWeasley]

I've noticed Scibd being a lot better lately too!

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

So much better!

[@AbigailGrayse]

I wish they’d fix some of their audio issues though. Whenever I connect to my car it goes sideways.

[@TheDarshana9]

Front Desk was in my kid’s 5th grade homeschool curriculum. She enjoyed it but she was 11.

[@ruplayinggame3080]

As usual, because of seasonal depression and also anxiety, February SUCKED. I read like 20 things and also had a lot of great reads! On the one hand, I am upset that I spent so much time watching KZbin, on the other, I'm like: I could get reader burn out if I just pump them out, but I've been obsessing about how long my tbr is (not the physical one, cause I mostly do e-books), but a lot of books I want to read, and I just want to read non stop so I feel like I am making a dent in the list (then I watch a video like yours and I add like 5 things and I'm like: I give up!). But 2023 was my best reading year ever and this year I've already read a third of last year's entire number! I used to get slumps because of anxiety, but now books have become a coping mechanism for me again. I read romances when anxiety, but also horror works! It feels like a great container for the accumulated tension I have in my body, just putting it into a scary/ tense/ anxious story.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Oh I can see that with horror! I hope March is better for you.

[@ruplayinggame3080]

@@BeautifullyBookishBethany Hope you have a much calmer and peaceful March as well!

[@bookswithvero]

I would recommend Band Sinister by KJ Charles if you're looking to read something else from her. I literally could not wipe the smile off my face while I was reading that book. The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting is also great!

[@krispy.reading]

If you watch Alien and don’t end up liking it, please watching the sequel Aliens. It is more entertaining than its predecessor. Ripley & Newt ❤ I’m currently working my way through the Alien & Predator movies. I’m excited for Feed the Silence. It seems weird but I’m totally into the wolf aspect. Although, I haven’t experienced that author’s writing.

[@cleg78]

I have an anxiety disorder too, thank you for being open about things, I can’t read or sleep and struggle to function. It wasn’t helped as I tried to read The Gleanings which is a book that I can safely say I regard it as a nothing book and so not necessary and I disregard it from The Arc of the Scythe series. My opinion which may not match with everyone else’s. It hit me for the rest of the month and it was dire. Congratulations on the 44 books, wow. I hope you are feeling better in yourself and that your anxiety has calmed down now x

[@Jane42.]

Also love the middle aged mom as MC! That would make a great recommendation video. I just started The Keepers Six on your recommendation and love it so far.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

That might be fun! Glad you’re enjoying Keeper’s Six

[@andrewf7732]

I also really enjoyed The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi and gave it 4.5 stars. I have The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen on hold from the library and now I'm looking forward to it even more after your review. And after hearing so many great things about Lone Women, I'll have to check that one out. Very outside my comfort zone but willing to give well received books a chance outside my normal genre.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

I hope you enjoy them!

[@booksandbordercollies]

Absolutely loved Lone Women by Victor LaValle! Sorry that you had an anxious month but holy cow you got through so many books! Congrats!

[@heabooktubes]

Kimberly Lemming is so fun.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

So fun!

[@joinbookland]

I loved The Changeling by Victor Lavalle. I'm really looking forward to Lone Women!

[@karinlarson1133]

Omg. I’m going to need to get Lone Women now. I somehow didn’t make the connection that it’s the same author right away. I loved the changeling when I read it.

[@joinbookland]

@@karinlarson1133 So good!!

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

I need to read that one!

[@reneeelich4893]

You beat me by two books! Though I did suffer through all of Missing Clarissa, so that felt like three books. It got so much worse with tense choices and point of view at the end, it was very much like Hide if you've read that.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Oof! Missing Clarissa was rough

[@jessicastraw6593]

I’m listening to the audio of Adventures of Amina Al Sirafi right now and I’m enjoying it very much. I DNFd Last Tale of the Flower Bride. It was a lot darker than I thought it would be. And I just didn’t care about the characters.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Oh yeah it’s very dark, so that’s fair.

[@JesseJaneReads]

You should definitely watch Alien and Aliens. Classics!

[@VanessaMarieBooks]

I wish I could read a ton when I have anxiety or depression, but unfortunately, that's the LAST THING I want to do. My anxiety/depression will lead to a reading slump and all I want to do is numb out in front of the TV.

[@jaimebarajas-hernandez6045]

Moments of high anxiety for me, will cause me to binge read books of high emotional impact. The three days right before Biden came to office I read Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House, Chanel Miller’s Know My Name and Alicia Garza’s The Purpose of Power and I probably had no tears left to cry after those days. The trilogy for Front Desk by Kelly Yang is incredible! Sorry about your mental health I loved hearing about the queer romance!!! (I read four this February!)

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Oh wow! Yeah we really all manage in different ways. Thank you for sharing!

[@takeru2702]

Good video! From japan

[@MeMyshelfAndI]

When I was in 4th grade I got in an argument with my teacher because she said I couldn't be Jewish AND Christian and my mom wrote her the most _scathing_ letter. So I'm not sure what you've heard from other Jews, but English is hard because we don't have separate terms for the ethnicity/culture and for the religion. Yes, they're usually linked but not always. This leads to a lot of confusion. While I no longer consider myself Christian, I could never separate myself from my Jewish heritage. But I've never been religiously Jewish either, so I think that's a difficult category. An example of a book that I really related to (as someone born in the US as a result of the diaspora) was Thistlefoot. However, classifying that book in the religious category is just... incorrect? And I don't think the author is religiously Jewish as well. All that to say-- I don't have the answers and English having one word for two definitions makes things tough. Just want to lend a different point of view.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Yeah I hear what you’re saying. It is hard because it’s a bit of both but doesn’t fit neatly in either. But I understand the concerns with doing it as ethnicity.

[@MeMyshelfAndI]

@@BeautifullyBookishBethany Being a marginalized group will carry a heavy load and have baked in history/slurs/prejudice/etc no matter what. And slotting my people and culture under religion feels... weird. Especially if the author and the text have no connection to religion. To me, it's even weirder than classifying _A Merry Little Meet Cute_ under religion because Christmas is part of the Christian holidays, even if the book is fully secular and just American culture. If that makes sense? All the pogroms and diaspora in _Thistlefoot_ aren't about a religion, or even a cultural holiday, but about identity. Maybe ethnicity isn't the answer, but religion should only apply to religiously Jewish books/authors. I'm not sure where that leaves non-religious Jews, or if they're just untracked. But my mom would likely write another angry letter about Jewish only being considered as a religion, lol. Mirriam-Webster: 1 · a person belonging to a continuation through descent or conversion of the ancient Jewish people ; 2 · one whose religion is Judaism (Sorry if beating a dead horse. This just... is a really hard subject that affects me deeply personally because it's about our cultural identity and calling it religion feels like erasure. I get that different Jews have different backgrounds and battles they've had to fight, so may bring their own different context.🤷)

[@selantrian]

I see a lot of my nerdy Black students get made fun of, even if it is in a joking way, for their interests… so idk if adults can say it “doesn’t happen” anymore… the book community is in many ways NOT representative of my 8th graders & their lived experience. Some things are more mainstream now though, like manga and anime, but cosplay?? fanfiction?? certainly not

[@vanl3n177]

I don't know if I'd be able to read when I'm anxious. It's like losing my taste bud and I just can't get into books. Btw, something a bit weird, at least to me, but in your review of nerd crush, you say the MC is into white things but then list (Asian) manga that made me go "???" Like, it's a minor thing and it is a valid criticism that black nerds are not really accepted into nerdy cultures like (traditionally white) comics or (traditionally Japanese) manga, but I remember being bullied as a kid for liking anime (I'm asian) and with asian things now trending because it's acceptable to white people's palette (and with a lot of things being co-opted) is ... idk it's a moment in your review that bothered me

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

Ahh yeah, I’m sorry that wasn’t more clear. In the book her cousins refer to manga and other things as “white stuff” and she has the same internal response as you. I was trying to signal that with the use of of air quotes but I could have clarified further. It’s more that her cousins view being into those things as being a white interest and tell her she isn’t Black enough. I hope that clears things up and I’m sorry for the confusion!

[@vanl3n177]

@BeautifullyBookishBethany thanks for the clarification! I think I missed the airquotes but I'm glad to know that the book has this kind of nuance