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Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
School Starts This Week!
I had my orientation last week and I’m excited and anxious as hell. Honestly, I wish I was too cool for school, but I’m feeling very, very uncool right now! 😂
In some ways, I feel like I’m ready and overprepared, in other ways, I feel so unprepared it’s not even funny. Also, I’m fully aware that I’m being really annoying now with all the school talk and how excited I am, but give it a few weeks and I’ll probably start complaining about school then! Hopefully not though!
Yeah, I don’t have much to share other than about going back to school. It’s my whole personality right now! Thank goodness I do have some books to talk about too!
The Books
Books I read last week:
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins – This is a reread. I resisted reading this for a long time because I just didn’t feel a need for more books in the THG world, but a friend talked it up and I was pleasantly surprised that I ended up liking it. Reading it the second time now, I’m seeing more of the details I missed before and I love it even more now!
Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa – I don’t usually like “slice of life” novels, but this was my online bookclub’s BOTM, and it was relatively short, so I decided to give it a chance. I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t bad and I liked it well enough.
Books I’m reading:
S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst – I haven’t touched it since the week before! I haven’t had time to immerse myself but I don’t want to leave it too long, otherwise I’ll have to start over.
Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – The second book in the Dragonlance Chronicles I’m working through. I’m about 45% in.
I will try to get some reading in for S. I’m also hoping to finish Dragons of Winter Night early in the week so I can start Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab.
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Non-Bookish Freebie
Taking the opportunity with today’s topic to post pictures of my cats! We lost Loki (the white-ish one) a few months ago, but he’s not forgotten and he’s still a very important part of the three MeowsCateers. Some of the pictures aren’t the best quality but I hope their cuteness comes through!
The Three MeowsCateers
Basking on the windowsill
Staring into your soul
Dozing cats
Nom-noms
Cuddle pile
Do you have any pets? Share stories about them in the comments! I’d love to hear them!
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
School On My Mind
I’m ramping up preparations for school. We have an online “orientation” course that I’ve been working through these last few days that I haven’t finished yet. I’ve been organizing my notebooks and getting my textbooks, and kind of going overboard with colored highlighters and tabs – I am well aware I’m being a little extra but I love the idea of aesthetic notes! I’m pretty sure when the time comes for taking notes, all aesthetics will go out the window though!
I also had a wonderful Saturday spent with a friend who used to go to the school I’m going to. She offered to take me on a tour of her favorite spots on campus, which was really fun, and then we went for lunch after, which was really fun too! I think I’m ready for school…? 😅
The Books
Books I read last week:
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang – I am shooketh by this book! I didn’t expect it to be so hard-hitting but yeah, it’s incredible and gave me so much to think about. Now I’m even more excited to read The Sword of Kaigen.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – I just finished this today. I actually just read this last year and was supposed to read the rest of the series as well, but never got to them, so I’m rereading this to refresh my memory before getting to the next books.
Books I’m reading:
S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst – I had never heard of this book until my bookclub started reading it, but it’s essentially a book within a book; the book in question is basically a “prop” of sorts, it’s a fake book that exists for this story. It’s got annotations on the margins made to look like two characters communicating with each other, there are papers, articles, letters, and more stuffed within the pages of the fake book. I’ve just finished the intro and not yet even gotten to the first chapter yet. I’m anticipating that this will take me longer to finish than a regular book!
It’s the last week I have to read the books with an August deadline; two BOTMs with two bookclubs – Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa, and The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. I could possibly do the first because it’s shorter but I don’t think I’ll be able to finish The Power of Myth since it requires more focus. We shall see.
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books with a High Page Count
I did a previous TTT topic with Chonky Books, but I’ve read a few more chonkers since then and thought I’d add them here. Not all of them are the most chonky books in the world, some are only about 600+ pages, and where there are series, I featured the first book in the series even though the later books are chonkier. I’ll state them in the descriptions though.
I’m a huge fan of chonkers because you get more time with the story and characters, and you get to live in that world a little longer. What chonkers have you read and loved?
Top Ten More Chonkers
11/22/63 by Stephen King – 849 pages. It’s like I can’t do a TTT without having at least one SK book on the list. But to be fair, it actually did come in at 10th place when I went through my most recent chonkers read (that wasn’t already featured or part of a series)! It’s time travel, historical fiction, and such an adventure!
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – 671 pages. This one felt like a fever dream. I enjoyed the reading experience but I didn’t connect to the characters and I don’t think it’s one that will stay with me. There’s a lot of philosophizing and justification, which makes sense for the topic, but I couldn’t agree with the characters’ points.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – 771 pages. I loved this one. It had David Copperfield/Demon Copperhead vibes, and I love how immersive it is. It’s a coming-of-age story and we see the protagonist as a young child up to adulthood. His best friend is also one of the most interesting and exasperating characters I’ve read!
Super Powereds by Drew Hayes – 814 pages. This one was such a pleasant surprise and it has become one of my favorite series! A group of super powered young adults going to a super powered school; it’s so smart and action-packed, and there’s also such a strong found family element to the story. How could I resist? There are four books and the first one is 814 pages, the next three are 822 pages, 1104 pages, and a whopping 1981 pages, respectively!
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson – 1007 pages. I’ve finished up to Book 3, and the next two books are on my immediate TBR. I’m enjoying it so far but I need to read them faster because I’m forgetting details the longer I’m taking to read them. Books 2 and 3 are 1088 pages and 1248 pages, respectively.
The Terror by Dan Simmons – 835 pages. This one was so good! It has a slow start but the tension just kept building and building. It’s based on the real-life expedition that failed, but there are some fantastical elements in this story.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky – 608 pages. I’ve read this and the second book with 597 pages. There is a third book but I haven’t read it yet. It’s about humans colonizing other planets, and somehow creating intelligent life in other species through some kind of nanovirus. It’s very interesting to see the evolution of these species throughout thousands and thousands of years, and I love how much more evolved they become than even humans!
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville – 710 pages. This one lives in my mind rent-free. I love the world-building, the different alien species we see living together, and I love how the pursuit of science and art is presented here. It is also extremely gut-wrenching and devastating, and I’m still not over it.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo – 1463 pages. I loved the experience of reading this one as well, even the parts where the author goes on long tangents on things that are not necessarily directly related to the story! I don’t like the characters as people, but I think they are really interesting as characters and I love that they stayed true to the title of their story!
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – 964 pages. This book has been on my TBR for ages and now that I’ve finally read it I can say that Tolstoy is a genius and I am enthralled by his writing! To be clear, I hate Anna Karenina as a character, and I got so tired of her by the time I was halfway through the story, and I also didn’t much like the other characters so there was nothing to keep me invested. But somehow, Tolstoy did! He is a master at character study and like them or not, the characters and their thought processes and behaviors kept me interested! I’m looking forward to reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
Low Battery
I was not as productive last week as the week before, I must have used up all my superhuman capabilities the week before. I did get in a couple of runs, and one of them was even for 8km! Which is probably what exhausted me for the rest of the week. I also didn’t get very much sleep these last couple of days, so the energy is low.
I continued with decluttering and organizing my workspace but I didn’t get as much done as I wanted and I am now seeing just how much clutter I’ve accumulated. I have a hard time throwing stuff out because I always feel like I might need them someday, but I have to learn to do this if I don’t want to be featured in one of those hoarders documentaries one day. Universe, give me strength!
On my watchlist: We just finished watching All the Light We Cannot See on Netflix and it’s really good. I haven’t read the book yet, so I don’t know how it compares, but I love the casting with Hugh Laurie and Mark Ruffalo, and the other actors were amazing too! I can see why the book is popular if the movie is already affecting me like this. I do have the physical book on my shelf and it’s been staring accusingly at me for a while now, so maybe I should read it soon!
I also forced my husband to watch K-Pop Demon Hunters with me! I don’t care that it’s girly and cheesy and cute, it’s also really good! The music is so catchy! I’ve been hearing “Golden” all over social media and had no idea that it came from this show, but once I realized, I was like, I must watch the show! And maybe my husband and I are not its target audience, but I loved it! My husband maybe liked it. But I loved it!
The Books
Books I read last week:
The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin – It’s been on my TBR for a while so I’m glad I finally read it! Unfortunately, I didn’t like it as much as the author’s other books, but it was still really good.
The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins – Once I started the first book, it was hard to stop, so I just breezed through them all. It still never fails to get me in the feels. There were so many incredible scenes in the books that just hit me and I cry like a baby.
Books I’m reading:
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang – From the author of The Sword of Kaigen, which I haven’t read but have heard a lot about! I’ve only just started but I’m sure I’ll want to read The Sword of Kaigen after.
I’m feeling a little rebellious this week and don’t feel like reading my “assigned” books (that I listed for my August TBR). We’ll see where my mood takes me this week!
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books Guaranteed to Put an End to Your Book Slump
I was having a hard time with this week’s topic because I feel like it’s so subjective depending on each person’s taste in books, so I decided to go with the alphabetical prompts and my next one was Books Beginning with D. While putting the list together, I realized that almost all of these are books that would get me out of a slump, so for what it’s worth, if your reading tastes are anything like mine, this might be a two-fer for both topics!
Top Ten Books Beginning with D
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – If you like high fantasy, Dungeons & Dragons, or role-playing games, you probably already know about the Dragonlance books. I’ve been trying to reread this series for a while and need to make time for them!
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – One of the most well-known TJR books. I highly recommend listening to this one on audio because of the full-cast production.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – I’ve read the first two books and I am hooked! I’m trying to get my hands on the rest of the books. It’s LitRPG with the funnest characters and storylines.
Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning – One of my favorite low fantasy series, I read up to Book 9 and still can’t get enough. It’s so well-written with characters I love and it’s so easy to get completely invested in the world.
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster – A short and sweet classic. Also full of nostalgia for me, so it’s guaranteed to get me out of any reading slump.
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch – A sci-fi thriller that pulls you in from the first page. It’s an incredible read and gives you lots to think about, but even better, a lot of feelings to feel.
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black – I love a lot of Holly Black’s books, and this one is about the fae and changelings. I love how you get something really unexpected with this book.
Daughters of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor – The lore and world-building in this series is amazing. It’s been a while since I read it so I feel like I need a reread, but I remember the impression it made on me, and I remember feeling awed by it all.
Duma Key by Stephen King – Another one I don’t remember but I rated it 5 stars when I read it, and honestly, I can’t go wrong when it comes to Stephen King.
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown – A non-fiction that never fails to make me feel more grounded whenever I feel like I need it. If I’m in a slump because of mental-health reasons, Brene Brown instantly makes me feel better.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
Superhuman!
Last week I was very responsible. I caught up with almost all my book reviews, updated my reading challenges, did some journaling, got a lot of cleaning and reorganizing done, ran a couple of 5ks, and did some meal planning ahead of time. Am I even human?!
I am proud of me but now I’m not sure if I can ever perform at this level ever again!
It’s not all work and no play though. I read some really good books too, and watched a couple of scary movies – I don’t know why we chose scary movies, it just turned out that way.
On my watchlist: We watched The Monkey and Nosferatu, and they were both really creepy but The Monkey had a little more levity than Nosferatu. I enjoy a little bit of morbid humor sometimes. The Monkey is an adaptation of a Stephen King story and we all know I love Stephen King.
Nosferatu has got an amazing cast and the acting from every one of them was superb. It was so intense, I couldn’t stand it, I had to take breaks in between. If you like horror, I highly recommend both these movies!
The Books
Books I read last week:
A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman – I ended up getting this book from the library on a “skip the line” basis and I jumped on it because I’d been wanting to read it for a while. So glad I did! I loved it!
The Long Walk by Stephen King – Also a “skip the line” borrow. And a reread, but it’s been a while. I love how so much of King’s books are psychological. I didn’t remember how he managed to write a whole book out of people just walking, but he did it so well and I’m excited to watch the film adaptation coming out soon!
Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca – Erin @ Cracker Crumb Life featured this book in her Top Ten Tuesday Beachy Reads post a couple of weeks ago and I was intrigued! I got the book a couple of days ago and finished it yesterday because it was so good! Thanks for the rec, Erin!
Books I’m reading:
The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin – I had a false start last week and got distracted by several other books that “skipped the line” so I’m trying again this week.
Last Week on The Blog
I finished so many book reviews!! I’m almost all caught up, but I’m reading just a little faster than I’m reviewing and I feel like I need new rules that I can’t start a book until I’m done reviewing the one I just finished! I know I don’t have to take reviewing so seriously and I do sometimes skip them, but it’s important to me to record the books I’ve read somewhere, otherwise I’ll forget them and feel like I need to read them again.
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Genre freebie
I’m going with Stephen King Books that are Not Horror. I’m currently doing a Stephen King Reading Challenge, and although I’ve read several of his books, his catalog is so extensive that I’m not even halfway done yet. I don’t think I’m even a quarter-way done! He also has a lot of books that aren’t explicitly horror, even though he’s most recognized as a horror writer. Below is a list of books he’s written that I wouldn’t categorize as horror.
I haven’t read all of these, but have watched some of the film adaptations so I’m vaguely familiar with the stories, and I’m quite confident they’re mostly non-horror. If you’ve read them and don’t agree, please let me know! If you’re familiar with his works and can name more that aren’t horror, please do!
Top Ten Stephen King Books That Are Not Horror
11/22/63 – One of his best works; I have read this book twice, watched the tv series, loved both and I could probably reread it over and over again! I would categorize this as time-travel historical fiction.
The Green Mile – I’ve read the book and watched the movie, and it’s just heartbreaking drama. If there’s any horror, it’s the horror of human monsters. I cried so much for both the book and movie.
Billy Summers – I’ve only read this once a while ago so I don’t remember a lot, but I remember loving it. It reads more like a crime thriller.
Under the Dome – I read this and watched the tv series a long time ago and don’t remember much either. I mean, the dome phenomena is probably supernatural, but the monsters are only of the human kind.
On Writing – The most obvious non-horror, since it’s his non-fiction memoir. I’ve read this a couple of times and it’s always amazing listening to him talk about writing. It’s so inspiring and it makes me want to be his bff!
Fairy Tale – One of my favorite SK books; it’s like the title says, it’s more like a fairy tale than any horror story. I am enchanted by the book from the first page.
Dolores Claiborne – I watched the movie but haven’t read the book. It’s another one I would categorize as a drama. Kathy Bates acts as the titular character, and she’s amazing as usual. I’m excited to read it eventually.
Joyland – More like a coming-of-age story. SK is really good at those, and I enjoyed this one.
The Body – Also a coming-of-age story, perhaps better known by its movie’s name, Stand By Me. I think most people are familiar with the movie and know that there’s not much horror to it. I haven’t read the book. Hopefully soon.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – A survival story, not horror unless it’s adventure horror? It stays pretty true to real life and there isn’t very many paranormal elements to it except for hallucinations that can be explained in extreme survival conditions. At least, as far as I remember.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
Happy August!
I did very well last week on my fitness! I ran 5k on the treadmill three times last week after months of not running at all. It might just be that I’m feeling a little more motivated coming back to it after so long, but I fully intend on keeping it up as consistently as possible in the next few months. Fingers crossed!
I also did some more back-to-school prep; setting up my student ID, shopping for backpacks (I haven’t found one but I’m doing the research!), academic calendars, stationery, and other miscellanous things. I’m excited about going back to school and I’m making a bigger deal out of it than necessary! One more month to go and I’m counting down the days!
On my watchlist: We watched Deep Cover and it was one of the funnest, most hilarious shows I’ve watched in a while. Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, and Nick Mohammed are three actors I’ve enjoyed, and they have such great chemistry together here. It gave me so much pleasure to watch them and I highly recommend the movie if you want a good laugh.
We also watched Untamed with Eric Bana, Sam Neill, Lily Santiago, and others, and it was really good too. I didn’t like Eric Bana’s character very much, in fact there were a lot of characters whose morals were questionable, but I did love Lily Santiago’s character, and the storytelling really pulled me in.
The Books
Books I read last week:
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – Finished for the nth time and I’m happily surprised that I still love it as much as ever. This is the 4th time I’m reading it in 4 years and I was afraid I might get tired of it, but I didn’t! I’m not going to push it though, I think I’m going to leave it for a couple of years before I reread again.
Revival by Stephen King – This is objectively a good story but I didn’t connect with it as much as I hoped. I’m not sure if it’s because it was overhyped and I went in with overly high expectations, or if I maybe rushed through the book too quickly. To be fair, I do tend to rush through my first time reading exciting books and there are several SK books that I loved more in the rereading.
The Crêpes of Wrath by Sarah Fox – I read it for the punny title and I do enjoy cozy mysteries. This one was okay, I enjoyed it well enough, but I don’t think I’ll be reading the rest of the series.
Books I’m reading:
The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin – I just started it. It’s been on my TBR so long, I’m glad to finally be reading this!
Last Week on The Blog
I spent some time doing admin on the blog! I’ve been leaving the “challenges” section of my book reviews blank because I hadn’t been deliberate about reading books for the challenges, but I finally took a look at them and have updated The 52 Book Club’s 2025 Reading Challenge with books that fit! I’m not done with the updates and the challenges aren’t finished, but I’m glad to see I’m not as far behind as I thought!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Beach/Beachy Reads
Going with a topic I missed again today with the Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2025. A couple of them have already been released since I’m late with the topic, but I’m excited about them and definitely still anticipating when I can read them!
Top Ten Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the Second Half of 2025
No Body No Crime by Tess Sharpe – 15th July. I have enjoyed a few of Tess Sharpe’s books and I’m so excited about this one. I love how she writes her female protagonists and I’m sure I’ll enjoy this one too.
The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst – 15th July. I only just finished reading The Spellshop recently but I loved it and I love that there’s another one! Telling us more about Caz’s mom, no less, and what comes after!
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher – 19th August. I am aware that I haven’t even finished Kingfisher’s other works yet, but this one sounds so good too! I love fairytale retellings, I can’t help it!
The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin – 26th August. Fine, I’ll admit it! I haven’t finished Martin’s other books either, but I’m still really happy to know that there’s going to be more waiting on me.
We Met Like This by Kasie West – 16th September. I read a lot of Kasie West’s books when I was younger and I have maybe aged out of the genre, but I still love her books because it’s the comfort of reading a familiar author whose works make me happy.
Thief of Night by Holly Black – 23rd September. It’s about time the sequel to Book of Night was released! I loved the first book and I’ve been waiting for more!
Cover Story by Mhairi McFarlane – 7th October. Another author whose earlier works I haven’t finished, but you can never have too much of a good thing!
Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree – 11th November. Yayy, more books in the Legends & Lattes universe! You know I’m totally here for it!
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth – 30th September. I’ve read a couple of Sally Hepworth’s books and they are just the kind of mystery/thrillers I enjoy. Some are better than others, but I’m excited about this new one!
The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer – 4th November. The Lunar Chronicles is one of my favorite series and I’m excited to read something else by the author. This one is about a witch who sees ghosts, totally right up my alley! I’m so excited!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
