Catch up & recent reads 📖 Beautiful World Where Are You by Sally Rooney | Claire Fenby

A chatty life update about my new job, plans to leave London and my recent reads including Far from the Madding Crowd and Persuasion. What have you been reading recently? 📖 ✨
Timestamps ⬇️

📖 CATCH UP 📖
0:00 Introduction
0:24 My new job in publishing
2:21 Moving back to Yorkshire?
3:37 Work life balance (or lack thereof)
4:03 Thoughts on booktube
5:38 Pressure to read & Storygraph
📖 RECENT READS 📖
6:29 Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
7:55 Persuasion by Jane Austen
9:41 Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
10:54 Beautiful World Where Are You by Sally Rooney

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[Claire_Fenby]

Please let me know how you are and/or tell me what you’re reading or just leave an emoji to say hi 👋

[dianewalker]

Emma is the funniest and most light hearted. I read it a few times during Covid pandemic. Persuasion isn’t my favorite though Anne puts up with far too much crap from her family. And Wentworth sure took his dang time professing his feelings.

[LazyOverachiever]

One of my favorite aspects of reading is rereading! Reading a book the first time versus years later is always a different experience for me. I've reread books I didn't like to later appreciate and pick out details I didn't notice at first, or in the lesser occasion, picked up an old liked book to question my younger self haha! Either way it's so intetesting to see how you perceive a story based on how you have changed.
Also I love the stand against hustle culture/toxic positivity which seems to be more prevalent in our society. So many of us would benefit from taking care of our mental health and being overall gentle with ourselves.

[RachelBWriter]

Isn't 100% remote just life changing? Something good that came out of the pandemic and for me gives me so much more balance between my day job and my writing. I've been rereading a lot too. I think there is comfort in knowing how books turn out especially in this Tory hellscape. Also obviously will encourage anyone to come back to Yorkshire!!!

[teresak]

Hey Claire! Thanks for sharing your life update! I am also in a period of transition, due to the pandemic I also decided to move to my home town away from the city and start a new job - not sure what helps best to deal with transition, listening to your body and mind about what you really need/want has helped me ❣️

Wish you all the best! About to start The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald xx

[cutestmoonlightt]

Persuasion, oww I love that book is lovely 💛🌻

[janedraycott]

It's lovely to get a chatty life update, it's a reminder that time is passing even though the pandemic seems to have us all stuck in limbo. I'm starting to think about my Autumn reading goals (lots of gothic novels, I think) and all the cosy stuff I'll do alongside them like cooking and baking. Perhaps you could draw up a bucket list of things you want to do before you leave London?

[aoifeb]

I am so jealous of everyone I see who had an ARC of Beautiful World Where Are You! I can’t wait to get my hands on it!! I loved your description of it and Rooneys writing also, I really loved Normal People and always love to see others put my feelings about Rooney into more eloquent sentences than I ever could.

[CarolynsReadingRamblings]

Wonderful video as always Claire :D. I'm very glad that these life changes have worked out and it will be exciting to hear more about the process of leaving London and moving back to York :D. I don't currently have a job but the more I see how happy people are working remotely from home, the more I know that is how I want to work if I can find work that will let me do that. A wonderful list of books! FFMC is my second favorite classic of all time! I really want to read more Hardy because so far I've only read FFMC and Tess and a Christmas short story so I need to read more of his books that are sitting on my shelves. I love Outlander too! About 15 years ago, when I was in high school, I read the first 3 books but then when I went off to college, life got busy and I had other stuff to read for school so I didn't start them again until the show came out a few years back and now I really need to start reading the rest of the series because since then, I've reread the first book twice but not the others. I'm hoping to read books 1-5 and catch up to where the show is before the next season is out, I really love the show and haven't seen seasons 3-5 because I also wanted to catch up with the books first so watching that for the first time after reading the books will be fun :D. Okay sorry for such a chatty comment but thanks for such a lovely video and I'm glad things have been going so well :D.

[GinaStanyerBooks]

Good for you for making a conscious decision about your career path. I’ve been working remotely on a non-corporate path for many years and have been so happy. I hope you settle on a path that makes you happy too.
I’m reading my first Star Trek book right now (for a 5 month “mission” with a few other readers) and just having a blast with it.

[Wolfhailstorm]

Good luck on the move! I'm also similar with the book series and TV show

[shaani]

Thanks for the video, Claire! l completely agree with you on your comments regarding Goodreads. l often found myself comparing myself to the number of books others were reading, their reviews, and my inability to get through as many books. As soon as l just started keeping a 'Book Journal' where l write out all the books l read and any of my personal reviews, l came to appreciate it more, and also in the process, became kinder to myself and my reading journey. I'm glad you spoke about this, as many of us book lovers can get tied up in the numbers and angst that comes with social media and the notion of 'keeping up' and 'reading enough'.

[crayonmythos]

I love thick books as well. The only horrible part is that it hurts more when it ends 😂.

[camillafladberg]

I am a bit older than you, and the only advise I can give is to follow your own heart. Don’t let anyone else(or your own sense of what you SHOULD do) decide your future. Do the thing that makes you happy and get you where you want to go in your life. Good luck😊.

[ileanaaaaa]

Hi Claire, your channel always brings me joy and is good to see that you are doing well and going through changes. That is always the most exciting thing in life I believe. My husband and I also went through major changes at the end of 2020, we moved from Toronto to a small city across the country (Kelowna, BC) and like you, just changing priorities so I totally understand. Our last big trip before COVID was actually to London for two weeks but we also visited for a few days York, Bath and Chawton and we always say that we could totally live in York. So beautiful!

[Wolfhailstorm]

Perfect video to start my day ^^ I'm doing my to do list for work, this morning, so it's nice to have a chatty video from you to listen to meanwhile

[thebookbelle]

So excited for you, Claire! So many exciting updates! x

[WhatVictoriaRead]

This all sounds so positive and I’m glad you’re happy ☺️

[mariat.]

If you haven't, you really should watch the 1995 adaptation starring Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root, it's wonderful!

[ursulaclarke]

I left London after living there for 20 years (left Nov 2009) and I can honestly say I miss London regularly, almost daily and I live in New Zealand which is just beautiful. London gets under your skin, in a good way. Good luck with the move and take care x Currently reading The Humans by Matt Haig for book group.