Password-protected posts contain heavy spoilers and are there to prevent accidental spoiling. They can each individually be accessed with the password "SPOILME(#of the post)". That means if the post is numbered #0000, the password is SPOILME0000 - SPOILME all in caps, no space in between.
Enter at your own risk. And have fun!
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
April 2025 Wrap Up
I’m posting April’s wrap up a little late, it turned into quite a hectic month for me and I have so much to catch up on with the blog! I didn’t finish as many books as I wanted either; I overcommitted to too many buddy reads in the last few months and I have learned my lesson! I’m making good progress in finishing the ones I’ve committed to though, and I’m a lot more careful about signing up for more. I’m also missing a lot of books I want to read that aren’t buddy reads, so I’m excited to make space for them as well. Still, I love buddy reads and I can’t give them up completely. If only everyone else wanted to read the books I want to read at the same time I want to read them! 😂
My April 2025 TBR Intentions
Five out of six of my TBR intentions aren’t bad. And the only reason I didn’t get to Stoner is because the library hold is still 3 weeks out at the time of this writing. I’m probably going to defer it to later since I already missed the deadline for the buddy read, but I’m still very much interested in reading it eventually.
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
The Terror was weird and a little trippy, but I was surprised by how invested I got into the characters and what happens to them. It’s a fictionalized account of real events, but I’m not very familiar with the history of the expedition so it was interesting trying to figure out what was real and what was made up.
I watched the adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere with Keri Washington and Reese Witherspoon and loved it, and it was nice to read the book and see that the show stayed quite true to the story. I got a lot out of the book, some of the nuances of the rich and privileged’s thinking processes were quite jarring to see on the page, but so incredibly well-written.
Sunshine was a reread. This is the third time I’m reading it and I’m still loving it! There were definitely some things I didn’t notice the first couple of times that I noticed now. The relationship stuff were… questionable, in that I’m curious as to the kind of relationship Rae actually has with the people in her life, but the story was amazing nevertheless.
May 2025 TBR Intentions
These are some of the books I’m planning to read in May. I read fewer books in April than usual and I’m definitely hoping to read more than five in May, but these are the priorities and after that, I’ll see where my mood takes me!
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (The Wayfarers #4) by Becky Chambers
Children of Ruin (Children of Time #2) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Every Tool’s a Hammer by Adam Savage
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
Rose Madder by Stephen King
How was your month in April? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful May with lots of great books!
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
February 2025 Wrap Up
February was a little better. I’m still disorganized but doing better with getting things done and cleaning up the disorganization bit by bit. The first part of February was bad, but things improved later and I’m trying to keep things going on an upward trajectory.
The weather has started to get nicer, and I started running outdoors again! That makes me so happy and gives me a little bit of grounding that I needed. My body is sore because it’s gotten used to being lazy this past winter, but I’ll just do what I can when I can. At the very least, it’s nice to just be outside in the comfortably cool weather.
My February 2025 TBR Intentions
I ended up reading different books because of mood and library loan deadlines! I’ll come back to the ones I haven’t read soon though!
Children of Time and All Systems Red are rereads, but they were necessary because Children of Time is quite complex and I needed to refresh my memory before moving on to the next books. All Systems Red was the chosen BOTM for my in-person bookclub and I had to reread to refresh my memory for discussion as well. I enjoyed them both very much the second time around!
Vicious was a stand out; I had no expectations going in but was very pleasantly surprised. It had me at the edge of my seat and I had to keep reading because I needed to know what happened next.
The Frozen River was another surprise! I had not expected to be excited while reading about events that happened such a long time ago or that it would keep me so worked up that I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep. It’s based on true events and real people, and unfortunately it’s not completely accurate to what really happened, but this version of events was very well-written and satisfying and I loved reading it.
March 2025 TBR Intentions
Most of these are BOTMs and/or buddy reads that have a March deadline. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish all of them, but I’d like to try!
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Terror by Dan Simmons
All The Living and The Dead by Hayley Campbell
How was your month in February What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful March with lots of great books!
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
September 2024 Wrap Up
It was a pretty good reading month! I read from my September TBR, and I finished all my reading challenges except two! I’m not sure that I’ll finish the other two though; they’re both about finishing series, but series that we started before this year, and I’m currently embroiled in new series and I’m not sure what to do! 😅 I can’t resist the shiny new books!
My September 2024 TBR Intentions
I read all the books in my September TBR Intentions! Woot! I was kind of conservative with it with only five books on the list, and I do have more motivation when they are buddy reads and BOTMs, but still!
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Cujo by Stephen King
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I’m just realizing that all of them are darker-themed and there were several other dark books I read in September too. Setting up my intentions for next month, I’m going to try to get in more balance for the light and the dark. I know ahead of time there are some horror stuff coming because October is Halloween season, but I can definitely add more fun stuff to my book diet too!
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky I’m very proud of having finished this chonker! I’m not sure that I liked it, but at least I finished it!
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah This was amazing and might be my favorite book this month! I love listening to Trevor Noah’s stories and I love his humor and wisdom.
Cujo by Stephen King This is a reread, and I think I got a lot more out of it this time around than I did the first time. I love the buildup of the story, and I love the insight we get into such different characters in the book. Stephen King is truly a master at his craft.
It’s October and that means Halloween, and guess what? My irl bookclub’s BOTM is Pet Sematary by Stephen King. And my online bookclub’s BOTM is The Shining by Stephen King! I’m not complaining, because I love Stephen King!
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
The Shining by Stephen King
Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
Never Whistle at Night by various authors
The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
I Fell in Love With Hope by Lancali
I’ve got so many books I hope to read this October, some have been on my TBR for ages. Let’s hope I can get to them all!
How was your month in September? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful October with lots of great 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.
It’s Cool, That’s What I Tell ‘Em
Last week was cooler and we’ve started getting out the sweaters! This week is going to be more of the same. I’m really looking forward to autumn!
On the running front; I only went a couple of times this past week, but in my defense, it was mostly because husband and I went on a hike on Sunday and my muscles were sore for a couple of days! I made up for it by doing extra yoga exercises later in the week though! We’re planning to hike again this weekend if we can.
Other than that, I’ve been mostly just moaning and groaning about my sore muscles while totally exploiting them as the reason I can’t do anything except sit around and read my books! Bonus: school has officially started so I have more time to laze about in secret while husband is at work. 😂
All the happy things:
Now that the weather is cooler, we’ve been enjoying more delicious soups! I made hot and sour soup on Monday, and the husband made bak kut teh on Thursday.
I love my husband very much, but I also really enjoy having the house all to myself more often now while he’s at work!
I’m really happy about that hike, even with the sore muscles. I want to do more!
The book community with all the buddy reads is making me really happy. I’ve been there for about a month now and getting to know the people there better. It’s been really fun and welcoming, and I’m also having such wonderful discussions about the books we read.
The Books
Books I read last week:
The Girl from Rawblood by Catriona Ward – I love the vibes, but I hated the audiobook production! I’ve heard a lot about this author and wanted to try her books, but I think next time I’ll stick to a print copy.
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman – This was an unexpected favorite. It’s very speculative and I both love and hate the uncertainty. I feel it’s a great philosophical exploration though and it’s really giving me lots to think about.
The Girl from the Other Side Volume 8 by Nagabe – Continuing with the series. I think this is one of my favorite volumes out of the ones I’ve read so far!
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah – This was so good! I love Trevor Noah and now I think I love him more. I love the way he tells his stories; they are so eloquent, funny, and emotional all at once!
Book(s) I’m reading:
Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare – I needed something light and romantic for a palate cleanser. I feel like I’ve been reading a lot of heavy books recently. And now that it’s close to Halloween season, there are darker books to come!
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig – Apparently this book has been talked about a lot in social media spaces, but I haven’t heard of it before. I signed up for the buddy read blind and I’ve only just started reading.
I’m almost finished with Goddess of the Hunt, and then I’ll be able to focus on One Dark Window. I’ve got a lot of darker reads in the queue but I might end up reading a few romances in between just to lighten the mood.
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden sex worker, can offer the chance of redemption.
I’d been wanting to read more classics, hence the reason I joined The Classics Club, and I’d been wanting to read Dostoevsky, and this happened to be one of the buddy reads in my online bookclub, so it all worked out and made me read a book I would’ve otherwise kept putting off.
The Quotes
“To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.”
“Existence alone had never been enough for him; he had always wanted more. Perhaps it was only from the force of his desires that he had regarded himself as a man to whom more was permitted than to others.”
“The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.”
“What do you think, would not one tiny crime be wiped out by thousands of good deeds?”
The Narrator(s)
Will Poulter. I was very pleasantly surprised by his narration. I loved that his narration was so clear and easily understandable, and I was surprised with his voices for the characters. It was really easy to listen to because of his narration. And I say this after sampling a couple of other narrators for this book.
My Thoughts
I had been intimidated by this book for ages and thought it would be difficult to get through, but it’s surprisingly easy – maybe because I listened on audiobook with Will Poulter narrating, but whatever helps is good, right? I did get confused with the names and nicknames, as is normal for Russian literature and fantasy novels with made-up names and places, but I was mostly able to follow along with the story and characters. I did have to refer occasionally to the physical book to clear some of the confusion though.
As for the story itself, I have to say that I don’t really connect to the characters and their motivations. A lot of it didn’t make sense to me; why they do the things they did, why they talked so much and did so little, a lot of things happened in their head and in conversations. There were a lot of thinking, and wondering, and existential crises.
However, there were discussions in the buddy read for this book that helped me understand some things better in regards to how the story relates to the beliefs and values of the time and place, and while I’m still not sure that I like the book, I can absolutely see why it’s considered a masterpiece. I also intend to reread this book again because I’m sure that I’ll get more out of it every time I read it, so maybe I’ll have more to say next time.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. 4 stars because I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook, participating in the discussions for the book, and because I think it’s really well-written despite my disconnect to the characters.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
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.
One Book Finished, Five New Books Added to the TBR
The Neverending TBR, amirite? Now it’s worse because last week I finished 3 buddy reads, and signed up for… I lost count, but it’s a lot more buddy reads. A lot. I’m told that it’s normal to get addicted because I’m new to the group and there are so many attractive buddy reads happening, but once I get my sea legs, I’ll probably slow down. 🤞
On the plus side, I’ve managed to finally finish a couple of books that have been on my TBR for ages because of the buddy reads! I also managed to work on a crochet WIP that had been untouched for weeks but finally finished since I’ve been spending more time listening to audiobooks.
All the happy things:
I finally went and ordered my new glasses. I had been putting it off since April. They should be here in about two weeks.
I also put in my Hobonichi order for next year. This was my first year using it and I love it so I’m sticking to it for next year too!
We had KFC last week! We only get it once a month for health reasons, but it’s a treat every time!
Still making those blueberry milkshakes and absolutely loving them!
Husband and I are rewatching Chuck and really enjoying it!
The Books
Books I read last week:
After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I love TJR and I think she’s a master at writing about relationships. This one is about marriage, and it’s narrated by Julia Whelan, so of course, I got on it!
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield – I had heard so much about this and had been wanting to read it for a while. It became a buddy read, so I suddenly had the motivation to finally read it.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn – I read this before and forgot. It became a buddy read and I got excited about it, so I signed up and really enjoyed it because I forgot how it ended too.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky – It’s been on my TBR for ages but I’ve always felt daunted by it. I finally read it, because it was a buddy read and because there’s a Will Poulter narration for the free audiobook on Audible. It wasn’t as daunting as I expected, but I did get easily confused with the names, especially since I was on audio.
Book(s) I’m reading:
The Girl from Rawblood by Catriona Ward – I’ve heard a lot about Catriona Ward and got curious. This happened to also be buddy read so I thought why not try, but the reviews are quite polarizing so I’m not sure if I’ll end up finishing. I’m only about 15% in.
Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep-sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah is not the same. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has brought part of it back with her, onto dry land and into their home.
Moving through something that only resembles normal life, Miri comes to realize that the life that they had before might be gone. Though Leah is still there, Miri can feel the woman she loves slipping from her grasp.
Our Wives Under The Sea is the debut novel from Julia Armfield, the critically acclaimed author of Salt Slow. It’s a story of falling in love, loss, grief, and what life there is in the deep deep sea.
The Reason
This has been on my TBR forever! I’ve heard so much about it and it intrigued me because the plot sounds a little like an old favorite book of mine, The Season of Passage by Christopher Pike. I finally read it because it was a buddy read and that gives me motivation!
The Quotes
“I used to think there was such a thing as emptiness, that there were places in the world one could go and be alone. This, I think, is still true, but the error in my reasoning was to assume that alone was somewhere you could go, rather than somewhere you had to be left.”
“I want to explain her in a way that would make you love her, but the problem with this is that loving is something we all do alone and through different sets of eyes.”
“To know the ocean, I have always felt, is to recognize the teeth it keeps half hidden.”
“When something bad is actually happening, it’s easy to underreact, because a part of you is wired to assume it isn’t real. When you stop underreacting, the horror is unique because it is, unfortunately, endless.”
My Thoughts
This is a gorgeous book with so many quotable quotes. It’s beautifully written, so lyrical and emotional. It’s not what I initially expected, but I did end up loving it, especially since it was a buddy read and reading everyone else’s thoughts added a lot to my own reading experience.
It’s listed as horror and I expected some tangible sea monster kind of story, but some of the other readers mentioned the horror of losing a loved one, or watching as bad things happen and there’s nothing you can do about it. I loved that take on it. I also love that the book was divided into sections corresponding to the zones of the ocean, and the deeper you go into the zones, the deeper you go into uncharted territory of the mind as well.
It’s so haunting and beautiful, and I’m glad I finally read it.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
I finished the challenge relatively early in the month, so I tried to make a dent in my other reading challenges and I managed to complete my Classics challenge as well! Technically, The Classics Club challenge is reading 50 classics in 5 years, so I just decided to read 10 classics a year (which I just completed), but if I wanted to do more, I could! We’ll see.
My August 2024 TBR Intentions
My TBR Intentions for August was to knock out the 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge, and I did that! I had five more prompts to go, which were:
13. An academic thriller
17. Nominated for the Booker Prize
37. Palindrome on the cover
42. Author debut in the second half of 2024
48. The word “secret” in the title
And the books I planned for them were as listed below, but subject to change as long as they fit the prompts:
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu MandannaThe Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I managed to finish the challenge, and the only book I switched out was The Secret Garden for The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. I still want to read it eventually but I was happy to read The Secret Garden too. I’m so happy the challenge is done!
I loved The Women, Oryx and Crake, and Children of Time, but the highlights for me this month were the rereads.
Daddy-Long-Legs, and the Anne of Green Gables series were some of my favorite childhood books and I just love all the memories and vibes they brought back.
11/22/63 is also a reread, even though it’s more recent, but it’s such a great story and I love it so much more this time around because I think I got more out of it.
The Classics Club – 10/10 – Started at 4/10 at the beginning of the month. Read 6 classics this month! Challenge completed!
September 2024 TBR Intentions
Most of these are buddy reads I signed up for and bookclub books. The ones with end-of-September deadlines will take priority but I think I can finish most of them, even if I interperse them with other reads in between. I find I do a lot better sticking to my TBR intentions when I have buddy reads and deadlines, so let’s do this!
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Cujo by Stephen King
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
How was your month in August? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful September with lots of great 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.
I Need Some Sleep
This past week wasn’t a very good week for my runs. I only ran once!! Once!! The first half of the week I had a cold, and then I got better and went on that one run, then that night I had trouble sleeping and wasn’t able to wake up early the next day for my run. And it just happened that I had other stuff happening this week; my in-person bookclub meeting on Saturday, and as of this writing Sunday hasn’t happened yet, but I’m definitely planning to go on my run if I have anything to say about it!
Insomnia is the worst though. Having a cold is bad, but as long as I can sleep, it’s not too bad. Not being able to sleep is very bad. I don’t like it. Me brain no work when no sleep. 😭
In any case, both because of the cold and insomnia, I wasn’t very productive last week, but I did manage to read a lot of books at least.
All the happy things:
I found more great books at the Little Free Library near me; Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, and All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Don’t worry, I made sure to put many books back too!
This week we made blueberry milkshakes and I like them even more than last week’s avocado milkshakes!
I’m up to date on my reviews again! No mean feat!
Had a fun bookclub meeting with my bookclub friends! We had so much fun!
I completed several buddy reads, and signed up for a couple more. 😅
The Books
Books I read last week:
The Girl from the Other Side Volumes 4-7 by Nagabe – I’m enjoying this series. The story moves quite quickly but we don’t get a lot of concrete answers and each volume ends on a cliffhanger, which is so frustrating, but I’m still invested so far.
Prose and Cons by Amanda Flower – The best things about it are still the cat, the crow, the magical books and bookstore. Funny enough, I love the secondary characters but I find the MC a little annoying.
Murders and Metaphors by Amanda Flower – I still enjoyed this one but I’m starting to get more annoyed so I decided this will be the last one I’m reading for now. Quitting while I’m ahead.
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris – This was my in-person bookclub’s BOTM and we had such a fun time talking and laughing about the stories the author shares in the book. We all agree we love the way he tells stories about the people in his life, and I’m sure I’ll read more from him!
Wordhunter by Stella Sands – I hate this book and I refuse to waste any more time on it so I won’t be writing a review for it. It sounds interesting but the execution is horrible and the writing is juvenile, so don’t fall for it. 1/5 stars.
Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery – Anne and Gilbert; will they, won’t they? Still reading the Anne series and still loving it! In this book, we get Phil, Patty’s Place, Gog and Magog, and all the other good stuff.
Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery – More Anne and Gilbert! In this book, we get Captain Jim and Leslie Moore. I got so invested in Leslie Moore’s story!
Book(s) I’m reading:
After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I’m listening to this on audio narrated by Julia Whelan. I love TJR and I love Whelan, so win-win! I’m about 33% in and it’s quite emotionally intense so far.
It’s a new month and I’m going to do my wrap-up post and write down my TBR intentions list. I have a lot of buddy reads and bookclub books to read, but I’ll toss in a couple of books that fit the rest of my challenges too.
The buddy reads I might be starting this week;
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Cujo by Stephen King
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
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 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.
So Many Buddy Reads
Last week I mentioned that I joined this book community that does a lot of buddy reads. Well, the inevitable happened; I got caught up in the excitement of shiny, new things, and I signed up for so many buddy reads, and now I’m contemplating my life and all my questionable life choices. 😅
Don’t get me wrong, I love buddy reads and buddy reading and book discussions and all that come with reading, but now I just have the added pressure of doing so many within a certain time frame. Which might not even be a bad thing, except I signed up for so. many. chonkers. And I don’t know why I do this to myself!
The chonkers:
11/22/63 by Stephen King (which I managed to finish last week, whew! One down!)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Stand by Stephen King
And these are just the chonkers. I also signed up for several other regular-sized buddy reads!
To be fair, there’s a pretty good timeline for each of the buddy reads and I’m quite sure I can get them done in time. Most of them are books I’ve been wanting to read anyway, and there’s more motivation to read them when they are buddy reads, so I am pretty excited about them but I’m just also nervous!
I’m also going to curb my enthusiasm for all the buddy reads! I’ve slowed down a little now, and I’m sure once the excitement has worn off and I’ve finished some of these buddy reads, we’ll be back to our regularly-scheduled reading. 🤞
All the happy things:
There is a Little Free Library near my neighborhood and I scored some really great books! I’m a Dragonlance fan and I’m so stoked I found Preludes Vol. 1 to 5! Vol. 2 is mismatched but I’m still really happy about finding the books at all!
We’ve been making homemade avocado milkshake and it’s so yummy! I even added some cocoa to it a couple of times and it’s good either way.
I’m up-to-date with my book reviews! I’m very happy and just a little surprised that I managed that again this time.
I made some chili oil and have been putting it in everything! I didn’t choose the spicy life, the spicy life chose me!
A bunny has been visiting my garden and it’s been so lovely to see it lounging around.
The Books
Books I read last week:
Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery – I was surprised with the trajectory of the book series because it’s been a while since I read them. I expected more of Anne and Gilbert but this book focused on Anne being a teacher and her relationships with her young charges. I’m not complaining! I loved it! I’m just also looking forward to more Anne and Gilbert!
If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio – I ended up really disappointed with this one. Perhaps someone who’s more familiar with Shakespeare will enjoy it more, but I personally think that books should be able to stand on their own regardless of their sources of inspiration.
11/22/63 by Stephen King – This a reread, and I remember loving it when I read it the first time, but this time around, it was even better because it was a buddy read and I enjoyed reading other readers’ thoughts about the book!
The Girl from the Other Side Volumes 1-3 by Nagabe – This is a new-to-me manga. The link takes you directly to the website where you can read it for free. I’ve only read up to Vol. 3, which is up to Chapter 15. I’m loving it and really looking forward to reading more!
Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower – I came across this book when looking for bookish books for my reading challenge. This one is a series with a magical bookshop and I’m really enjoying it so far!
Books I’m reading:
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris – I meant to read this last week, but didn’t get around to it. I have to read it this week because it’s for my in-person bookclub and we’re meeting this weekend!
Prose and Cons by Amanda Flower – The second book in the magical bookshop series!
Other than the books I’ve already started, I also plan to continue reading The Girl from the Other Side up to Volume 6 this week. There’s also a buddy read for Solaris by Stanislaw Lem starting this Monday, and it’s relatively short so I can probably finish that too.
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!