A riddle that I'm sure plagues everybody who's asked what Slaughterhouse 5 is about: how exactly does one go about describing the plot of Vonnegut's seminal masterpiece without sounding entirely fucking mental? Seriously, try telling anyone you're currently engrossed in an anti-war novel about an American World War 2 soldier/prisoner of war who becomes unstuck in time and eventually gets abducted by aliens, and they'll likely look at you like you've grown a second head. 

Jokes aside, Slaughterhouse 5 is genuinely one of my all time favourite books and I was super pumped when I found out it was on my twentieth century lit course this semester. Maybe I'm biased because I'm firmly of the opinion that Kurt Vonnegut is one of the coolest people to ever exist, and he's definitely on my 'Who would you invite to a dinner party' list, but I definitely think that this is one of the best books of the twentieth century. A weird and wonderful tale about the futility of war, the abstract concept of time and - you read it right earlier - literal aliens, Slaughterhouse 5 is an absolute must-read for any sci-fi fan worth their salt. Definite 10/10. 

First and foremost here I'll say if you don't know who Mike Jeavons is, you're missing out. He creates content over on YouTube which I, personally, think is absolutely hilarious in a dry, sarcastic, deadpan sort of way. I've been a fan of his for a good couple of years now, and he's been talking about writing this novel on his channel for as long as I've been subscribed. Usually, I'm not one to buy into the whole 'YouTuber book' thing because I find they're often pandering, ghostwritten drivel that was produced far too quickly in order to make a bit of cash. But with Mike, I knew it was gonna be different because a) I know for a fact Mike wrote it himself because he's been proving that on his channel for ages and b) since Mike seemingly has a more mature fanbase than those who generally put out books, it has a lot more of an adult theme to it. The premise is this: Chad's webcam gets hacked while he's having a wank, and the video gets leaked to the internet - seemingly by his own brother. All hell breaks loose.

Now, here's where the 'me being a little bit shit' part comes into play. I ordered this on Amazon earlier on in the month and began reading it as soon as I opened the package - and then I realised the sheer amount of work I've had to complete in the latter half of the month and just never got round to finishing it. I'd say I'm currently about 1/4 of the way through, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. It's as hilarious and sarcastic as I'd expect from Mike, and I can only assume it's gonna get better as it comes. It's maybe cheating a little bit to include it in this month's reading round up when I didn't actually read all of it in the month, but I wanted to include it because it's a new release and I want to show my support for one of my favourite content creators (and let's face it, I needed to pad out this post with something). From what I've read so far, the book is a solid 8/10, and I can only see it getting better. 

TOTAL BOOKS READ THIS YEAR: 5.25

PERCENTAGE OF YEARLY GOAL ACHIEVED: 10.5%

This is the only book I read this month that a) was not a part of my required reading for my course and b) I had already read before. Truth be told, Jude is one of my all-time favourite classic novels, and Hardy is up there amongst my favourite authors of all time. I chose this to read after the previous two because I've been feeling under the weather for the past few weeks (hence why I've been so shitty at posting  - apologies for that!), so I wanted to read something that I found easy and enjoyable to read. As with any Hardy book, Jude errs on the side of morose with some scenes being downright upsetting - so if that's not your thing you probably won't like this as much as I do. However, I would, as always, give Jude a 10/10.