Monthly Wrap-Ups

Double Wrap-Up! January and February 2025

Beatrice @ Book for Thought

Well, hello there! It’s been a while since I’ve been on here with updates. The past couple of months have honestly been super busy, even though January felt as though it lasted approximately 500 years and February was gone in a flash. I actually have no idea where the time went… Anyway, I’m back with a double wrap-up today, as I try to condense two months in one post.

Life has been busy. I finally submitted my thesis (yay!) and am getting ready for the final presentation, after which this new academic experience will be complete. It’s been intense but I have grown to love my routine of research and writing, and I’ll probably end up missing it a little bit as I adjust to a new rhythm. But – I am loving having my evenings and weekends back!

I took a few days off as well to rest and relax immediately after submission and headed to Berlin for a long weekend. My last trip there had been in high school, so it’s fair to say a few things have changed since then! I had a lovely time, ate lots, managed to catch a film in the Berlinale Palast on the festival’s final day, and visited some great museums and exhibitions – so overall a very successful trip! I was really pleased that I managed to visit Nan Goldin’s exhibit, This Will Not End Well, at the Neue National-galerie. It’s truly powerful, heart-wrenching and thought-provoking in the best possible way: if you happen to be in Berlin while it’s on, or can catch it in Milan and Paris (where it will head next), I highly recommend it. Leave plenty of time to visit it though: we were in there for over 2 hours! (Also, check trigger warnings if that might be an issue for you, as it deals with some pretty heavy themes).

I also decided to try my hand at alternative hobbies and attended a couple of cooking classes for Vietnamese and Thai cuisine! I love both but don’t really have restaurants for either near where I live, so homemade is the next best thing. This is something that’s quite out of my comfort zone (especially since I didn’t know anyone there!), but I ended up having lots of fun and meeting some lovely people while learning tons of new things. So this is just a little reminder to myself to keep trying out different things as I might be surprised by the results!

I haven’t read quite as much as usual in the past couple of months due to the combination of lack of time + being too tired from researching and writing all day, but I’m still happy with what I did manage! I’m looking forward to having some more reading time in the next couple of months though.

What I read…

What I added to my shelves…

Borrowed

I had a few library holds come in around the same time – as always happens!

  • Tatà by Valérie Perrin
  • The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke
  • We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

For Review

Thanks to the authors, publishers and blog tour organisers for these!

  • Dancing on Knives by Joanne Rush
  • The Woman in the Wallpaper by Lora Jones

Bought

I’ve been quite good at sticking to my resolution not to buy new books until I’ve cleared my TBR a bit more, but I couldn’t resist getting this lovely copy of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen I found at a used bookstore during my trip to Berlin.

What I’m reading…

What I watched…

I’ve been slightly more consistent with film-watching in January than February, but I still saw so many great films! With the Academy Awards coming up, two of the nominees stood out for me, both in the international film category: I’m Still Here and The Seed of the Sacred Fig. They both deal with tough themes (the military dictatorship in Brazil and the regime crackdown on protests in Iran) but are definitely worth watching as they’re some of the best films I’ve seen this year so far.

That’s it for now!
What have you been up to?
Tell me in the comments or leave a link to your wrap-up post so I can visit!

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Published by Beatrice @ Book for Thought

Hi there! My name is Beatrice and I am an Italian bookworm who loves to read in English. I started Book for Thought in 2014 as a space to record my thoughts on books I read and be a part of the wonderful online book community.

5 thoughts on “Double Wrap-Up! January and February 2025”

  2. Congratulations on finishing your thesis. It sounds like you had a wonderful time in Berlin and that it was a well deserved break 🥰 I’m glad you enjoyed the cooking classes to. A couple of years ago I decided I was going to try to do more Chinese or Indian cooking then never got around to it 🙈 maybe I’ll have to try this year instead. Although I’m hoping I can do so at home with library cookbooks. I really couldn’t cope with a class setting.

    It looks like you got to read a lovely mixture of books. How did you find the Midwinter one? I was surprised to learn how short it was so may try to read one of the authors longer novels first but I’m probably putting it on my winter/festive TBR this year.

    I can’t wait to hear what you think of The Woman In The Wallpaper. I’m definitely ordering it into the library later this year.

    Ooh is that the cover of the version of Mansfield Park that you got? If so it’s stunning 🥰 and I’d say you deserved a post thesis book treat anyway.

    Film wise I’ve only seen She Said but I thought it was really good. I meant to watch Wallace & Gromitt but I think I was playing a game with my mum when my dad put it on then never got around to it 😂

    My February highlight was seeing Ghost The Musical on stage. It was fantastic. The effects were so much better than I’d have expected and it had some wonderful songs.

    I hope you have a lovely March 🥰

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    1. Thank you! 🥰 It feels so good to have that done and get some headspace back to focus on other things! And for sure book treats are always deserved 😉

      The Midwinter book was ok for me. It’s very, very short – even though I knew this, I was still surprised by how soon it was over. I think for me it needed a bit more space to really breathe, but it is very atmospheric so would definitely work well to put you in a wintery mood.

      Ooh I didn’t know they’d made a Ghost musical. Sounds great though, and I’m glad you enjoyed it!

      Hope you have a lovely March, too 🥰

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      1. I can imagine 🥰 and yes, books are a treat that is always justified 😅

        That’s good to hear about the atmosphere. I do get where you’re coming from though as when I saw the page count I was stunned. I’ve really enjoyed some very short stories within collections but they’ve also generally tied together or been linked to world’s I know. Guess I’ll just have to wait and see how I find it.

        Maybe it started over here, I’m not sure. But it was fantastic 🥰

        Thank you ❤️

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