Disliked Meh Okay Good Loved!

• "The Palliative Society" - Han Byung Chul : an essay on the importance of pain and the current loss of its meaning
• "Una storia dei diritti delle donne" - Facchi, Giolo: university reading about the evolution of feminism and the conquering of women's rights, with a focus on italy
• "Red, white and royal blue" - Casey McQuinston: a sweet and lighthearted story about the son of the US president and an English prince
• "Autoboyography" - Christina Lauren: a boy falls in love with a boy in the Mormon community. Can religion and queer love co-exist? A very delicate story on this subject!
• "White nights" - Dostoevsky: a short classic about a lonely dreamer that falls in love with a girl, though it's unrequited. Hope, vulnerability and heartbreak
• "A weak heart" - Dostoevsky: an exploration of how intense emotions, even positive ones, can be so overwhelming to the point of breaking an entire person
• "Stupid Cupid" - Maeve Black: Cupid (who for some reason doesn't believe in love) has a physical relationship with a half monster-half dragon, who also happens to be (get ready for it) in line of succession to become the next Santa Claus. Take a moment to let that sink in. Okay. They slowly fall in love. Terrible, terrible read.
  The plot? Awful. The writing? Appalling. The typos? Very much present. But I know people like it (it has around 4 stars on goodreads), so to each their own (though I will judge you forever. Just kidding. Maybe.)
• "Don't die alone, Lucas Cook!" - George Lester: Lucas is a teenage boy with a crush on one of his classmates. Not being very confident, he decides to use some dating tips to try and get his love interest to notice him. The premise is very nice, and the books delvs into topics like parental death and grief. Despite having liked the first half of the book, the second part was messy and disappointing. You can read my review on the storygraph
• "Invisible cities" - Italo Calvino: a collection of short descriptions of made-up cities, which are actually a reflection of real life ones. A book about meaning, memory, names, interpretations. Definitely a remarkable work, but maybe not what I needed in this moment. I think it's one of those books you appreciate more during specific times of your life! Still, great.
• "The Road" - Cormac McCarthy: incredible post-apocalyptic novel about a man and his son trying their best to survive what remains of the world. While I felt like the ending was a bit rushed, this book comforted me a lot, despite its dark themes. Beautiful read.
• "Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade" - Kurt Vonnegut: a classic novel about war, its atrocities, its senseless violence, but also a novel about time, life, mental health. It gave me a lot to think about. It was recommended to me personally by a teacher years ago: she told me to read it when I felt ready, and I guess I did now. Great read. Be careful though: I was almost giving up on this book after a scene with animal cruelty, so you might want to be ready for it, or skip the passage entirely.

Ebooks or physical books?

Let's talk sustainability!

-A single paperback book produces from 1kg to 7,5 kg of CO₂, depending on size, type of paper, type of ink. The average is around 2,7 kg of CO₂*. That is equivalent to driving 7 miles (or 10 kilometres) with an average car.
-Printing a book requires hundreds of liters of water
-As books are usually printed before they're sold, many books remain unsold and wasted

-Manufacturing an e-reader produces around 168 kg CO₂, equivalent to 417 miles (or 670 kilometres) with an average car. Numbers vary depending on the brand and materials used**.
-If you charge your e-reader every 3 weeks, that produces around 3 kg CO₂ in a year.
-The emissions for hosting and downloading books is almost zero.

So.. what's the more sustainable option?

It depends on how much you read.
If you read more than 14 books a years, e-reading will be more sustainable and produce less CO₂.
If you read less than that, paperbacks will be the more sustainable choice for you, especially if you borrow them or buy them second-hand.

Note that textbooks tend to produce more CO2 because of the type of paper used, and obviously that bigger books produce more waste, so take these numbers as an average, and evaluate what could be the better option for yourself!

Studies: 1; 2