Hey, there! It's Olivia-Savannah here from Olivia's Catastrophe and
I know that I recently did an unhaul but I'm gonna be doing another one.
In January I had a bit of an unhaul moment which is where I feel a bit ‘uh’ about all of the books
on my shelf. I just want to unhaul everything and I try my best to hold myself back and not just
unhaul everything but I did do a bit of unhauling that I think is going to be better for my shelves.
And I also read some books in January that I don't think I need to get a- keep a hold on for
a very long time. So let's just do it – let's get right down to the books I'm going to be unhauling.
There's going to be a lot of DNFs because I realised that even though I don't typically DNF,
if you've watched my ‘Let's Talk DNFs’ video you know that I'm not typically a natural DNFer,
but because of the fact that I've got my 2023 TBR challenge going on and because there's a bit of
a competitive element to it I feel more like I'm willing to DNF books. Which is weird that I need
to be given permission for me to feel like I can DNF something and I guess it's something I need to
work through and work on. But yeah, it's been- it's been quite freeing to not enjoy something
and just let it go. So the first one I'm unhauling is this proof copy of The Kingdom of Back by Rena
Barron. So this I misunderstood and I thought it was adult fantasy but it's actually young
adult fantasy and me and young adult fantasy are not really on good terms at the moment. I really
struggle to find a young adult fantasy that I can really enjoy lately and it's just not my genre for
the time being. I don't want to say ever but it- it really hasn't been going down well for me. I
read 200 pages of this so that was a good chunk of the way in. It's a kind of witchy fantasy series
where magic is involved. We're following this main character who doesn't get any magic, but when
children start going missing, she does this kind of like blood magic which is kind of forbidden
and takes away years of your life in exchange to gain magic so that she can be able to help
find the missing children. And it was nice but it was really okay. It was just feeling mediocre
and I'm more likely to DNF something I found if I think it's just going to be a mediocre three-star
rating. I really don't have time for books where I feel indifferent to them and I'm just turning the
pages. I want to either love a book and give it five stars, well actually that's my goal for all
books, but even if I'm not enjoying a book then I can rant about it with someone and discuss it.
But when it's a book where I'm just feeling okay about it, I'm just like: “why am I still reading
this? I'm bored, I'm not taking anything from it, and I'm barely processing the words.” So 200 pages
I decided to call it a day. Then I'm unhauling Memphis by Tara Stringfellow. I've tried to read
this multiple times but I really have been struggling with it. A lot of Black reviewers
on Bookstagram put this as their worst book of the year and also I've seen that the author is
a bit messy on Twitter and online when it comes to targeting and calling out reviewers who didn't
like her book so therefore I'm just going to let this one go. We have The Attic Child by
Lola Joye and it's really strange because I speed read the first 200 to about 250 pages of this in
December and then I couldn't bring it with me over Christmas because it was too big and I had limited
suitcase space because I was going home and then I came back and I- I had no interest in continuing.
So this one is a historical fiction book but it's also set in the present day. And in the
historical past we’re following this little boy who's from Africa and he's brought to the U.K.
and separated from his family and separated from his parents to go and live with this white man
who shows him off to all these people and it's got the like colonialist undertones to it. And
then in the present day we're following this girl who I believe has been trapped in an attic in her
childhood and now she's out of that and she's realised the person who trapped her is now dead,
the attic is now empty, and she kind of goes back and connects to this little boy who used to live
in the attic. So there's those two timelines going on and I hadn't really gotten to the point where
the storylines had fused all that much. Even though it had been 200 pages in they were still
kind of just in the throes of discovering the fact of who that boy was in the attic. But also for him
he was kind of just like: “actually I don't like being in Britain,” and that's as far as I got. But
I was just feeling very like ‘mmm’ about it. It was like: Mmm, I'm enjoying it but I don't love
it but I don't hate it and I'm just reading it. And it's actually massive. It's, uh, it's over
400 pages for sure. Yeah, it's over 400 pages. And so I think I'm gonna give this one to my grandma,
I think this is something my grandma will read and enjoy. Then we have Toffee by Sarah Crossan.
I read this one in January and I thought it was just okay. It wasn't my favourite novel in verse,
it wasn't my least favourite novel in verse. And as I mentioned many times in- on my channel
before, when it comes to keeping books, I try to keep only four or five stars. And even then, just
ones that I really, really love. I've got a lot of books, I've got a lot of books, and so I need to
be selective about the ones that I'm keeping in my home. So a similar story is happening for Lanny by
Max Porter. I was a bit disappointed in this and so I don't need to keep it. I just thought it was
a mediocre read and I don't actually think I want to be trying any more Max Porter in the future.
It's just not the writing style for me and writing style is a big part of any reading journey. I am
also unhauling Wahala by Nikki May obviously. I read this in January, I didn't like it at all,
and the strong dislike I have for it means that I don't want to keep it. I don't think it was good
representation, I thought the storyline was really trashy, the characters were immature,
the ending came out of nowhere, and just I had to suspend my disbelief so much of that ending that
I couldn't believe it. So all in all, even though the cover is so gorgeous and I just love the title
Wahala which means trouble, I just think it wasn't for me. The package is so good, the premise is so
good, but the execution was not so good. I'm also unhauling two Jeanette Winterson books
so I'm unhauling Frankissstein and I’m unhauling Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette
Winterson. So I started reading this which is her memoir and I DNF’d it. And her memoir sounds like
it's going to be impactful because it's about what it's like to grow up as a queer woman in this very
like religious and her mother is a certain way that kind of makes it harder for her to be herself
and it seems like a bit of a toxic relationship there. And it sounds like it's going to be a very
impactful story but I just was not vibing with Jeanette Winterson's writing style. And I've
previously read a Jeanette Winterson book. I think it was called Weight. I think I read it in January
last year as well. And I didn't like it and I thought: “maybe I should try her non-fiction.”
But now having read one of her fiction and one of her non-fiction, I see that my issue is with her
writing style and not with the stories that she's telling. And so therefore I thought I would DNF it
and pass it along to someone who might appreciate getting to see her story more and a similar story
is going for Frankissstein. I didn't even try to read this one. And I really wanted to hold
on to it and read it because I love the story of Frankenstein and thought it would be very good to
read a retelling. And it sounds like it's sci-fi and it's got like transness as a theme in this.
But if I don't like the writing style, then it's not going to be a win-win situation if I don't
like the writing style so I'm just gonna pass it along. Because I read a slew of three star books
in one go I kind of went into the unhaul crises of: why do I have three star predictions on my
TBR shelf? Why do I have books on my shelf that I want to try and read but I don't actually think
are going to be new favourites? I think they're just going to be probably either mediocre, or
they could pleasantly surprise me, but more likely than not mediocre. And so I was like: “any three
star books, I need to get rid of them, they can't stay on my shelf,” so one of them was Daughter of
Darkness by Katharine and Elizabeth Corr. This is a three-star prediction for me so I'm unhauling it
from my TBR shelf. I got this one for free along with other books in a giveaway but I wanted to
try it. But also I just need to accept I'm kind of in denial about the fact that young adult fantasy
has not been working for me lately and I need to get over the denial that young adult fantasy
is not working for me and just not keep any, just don't keep any. So therefore I need to let this go
with a cold heart. And so similar stories going for The Ivory Key which is by Akshaya Raman.
Young adult fantasy, I think it's just going to be mediocre for me. I need to let them go instead
of giving them tries. I'm unhauling The Forevers by Chris Whitaker which is interesting because I
thought this was contemporary but I looked into it more and it's more so that there's three days
until the end of the world and these ‘till the end of the world’ young adult contemporary books,
they never work for me for some reason they don't. I've read quite a few over the years.
I remember reading like We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach which takes me back to my blogging days.
But these kind of books don't tend to work for me and that's the reason why I'm unhauling them. It's
not to do with this particular book, it's just that I've read many within a similar vein and
they never quite hit it for me, they never hit it. Boyfriends by Michael Pedersen. This is a
memoir and it's talking about his friendship with his friend. But also his friend is now deceased
and so it's just about like him talking about that friendship. And his writing style was so
beautiful, this is a DNF, but his writing style was so beautiful. It was lovely and it was like
reading magic and drinking in the words. But he was not really saying anything like he wasn't
saying anything. I was just like: “this is nice, but like, come on. Let's get to it,
let's get to the- let's get to the good bit. Let's get to the point of me picking this up.” So while
it was nice to read about this friendship and everything, it didn't- I thought it was going
to focus more on the grief aspect. And I'm not saying that you need to write your grief and
traumatic experiences of sadness for me to read, but I'm saying that's what I will pick up rather
than what this gives me. So I felt like it was just not as neatly aligned as it needed to be.
So I DNF’d it and I'm gonna let it go. Somebody Loves You by Mona Arshi, this is a short book. And
I was thinking about it but when I was unhauling my three star predictions I decided to unhaul this
one because I checked with Goodreads with some of my books and lots of people just found this
to be quite mediocre. And so I thought of those reviews of people I trust I'm also going to find
it mediocre so rather than spend time reading – it's not even long – 154 pages. And I- I thought
about keeping it because it was so short but then I decided: why should I do that? Even 150 pages
of time is 150 pages of time. Filippo, Me and the Cherry Tree. I read this one in January. I liked
it. And I know that Simone is reading a lot of Disabled fiction and non-fiction so that she can
have a large scope of what book representation is like out there for her public speaking that she
does on Disability rights. I- I'm gonna be giving this one to her basically so that's- that's where
that's going, that's why it's being unhauled. I read Why Is Nobody Laughing? which was again,
I read this in January and it was a very good depiction of a lot of really important themes such
as being an immigrant, and being a child of an immigrant, and also mental health representation,
and also Indian Muslim representation. And it was actually- it was- as I said, it was very,
very good in terms of representation. I did think the story was a bit narrow and like claustrophobic
and it could have expanded more. But overall, I thought it was a decent enough read, it's just
not one that I need to keep on my shelves even though I've read it. So yeah, all of- all the
rest of them are ones that I've read. I read The House of Shells in January and I thought it was
a really good middle grade book that balanced the speculative elements with the realist ones and it
was really, really nice. But again, it's one that I don't need to keep on my shelves. I'm happy to
pass this around and let other people read it, it's not my new favourite or anything. A Parcel of
Patterns. Again, these are lots of- these- these are basically just my January reads that I've
decided not to keep anymore. So this is a classic that I read in January and I didn't like it. I
thought it was very, very boring and stale. And even though the cover is lovely, I don't really
feel that drawn to beautiful covers, I'm happy to let them go whether they look nice or not. This
early reader's copy of Ada Rue and the Banished was a good read. I'm glad that I spent a morning
reading this and I also think it's one that can just go out into the world for other children to
enjoy and learn from. I might give this to one of the parents that I know in my life. Grimwood:
Let the Fur Fly! I really, really enjoyed this and I thought it was really funny and I thought
it was really good. But also, I don't need to keep it on my shelves. I had a good time,
I'm not going to go back and read the first one of the series, I'm not going to continue the series.
But also I think a child is going to really appreciate getting to find this and I want to pass
it along. I recommend this one a lot. That I- that this actually depicts growth for me because I gave
this one four stars. And often, if I give a book four stars I usually just be automatically like:
“it can stay on my shelves, I gave it four stars.” There's two books in this unhaul that I gave four
stars that I'm still giving away and I think that shows how much I've grown as an unhauler.
Even though people often watch my channel and they're like: “wow, you unhaul so easily,” it
doesn't always come easily. And then I'm unhauling please make me pretty, I don’t want to die. It
was a good poetry collection, it was solid, it wasn't my favourite and so I'm just gonna pass
it along. And then last but not least, this is the other four star I'm also giving away the
poetry collection I entered without words by Jody Gladding. And I've never been one of these people
but this does not fit neatly on a shelf- its sizes- so actually, never mind I'm keeping it.
No, I'm just gonna keep it. That's it. I changed my mind, I changed my mind. That's fine,
that's fine, you can change your mind. I was thinking about giving it away because it doesn't
fit neatly on the shelf because it's longer than other books so it really sticks out awkwardly but
I did give this one four stars and I did really like this poetry and it was one of the first
times I've been able to enjoy abstract poetry so much. If you watch my January wrap up you see me
talk about it and say that I really liked it so I'm just like: oh, I'm gonna keep it. Okay,
I'm gonna keep it. There you go, you get to stay. Anyway, so actually everything else I unhauled
though so I did unhaul my first four star book. I feel ashamed to change my mind last minute on
camera but there we go. There you have it – that is my unhaul. All these books except for that last
one will be leaving my shelves imminently. Please let me know in the comment section down below:
what was the last book you unhauled or the last book you read and didn't like? Please give this
video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it, hit the subscribe button if you want to see more,
and don't you forget to hit that notification bell to be updated every time I have a new video on my
channel. As you can tell after doing them two months in a row, I do a lot of unhauls so stick
around and see what makes it. You know what they say: onwards and upwards. Excelsior!