Tag: reading goals

Top Ten Tuesday | Bookish Goals for 2026

Posted January 19, 2026 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 36 Comments

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 Bookish Goals for 2026

I have to admit that I wasn’t the most intentional reader in 2025. I read a lot of amazing books, happily, but I feel like I was very checked out and going on automatic for most of the year. I joined too many buddy reads, went along with what other people wanted to read most of the time, rushed through reading deadlines, and was not intentional at all with my reading life.

The pro is that I did discover a lot of really good books from other readers, but the con is that I felt rushed and constantly chasing deadlines, and ended up putting a lot of my own TBRs and reading goals aside. I feel like I need to find the right balance so that I can enjoy the best of both worlds, so I’m going back to some of my basic goals this year.

Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2026

  1. Read more non-fiction – This is a repeat of my bookish goals from a couple of years ago because I didn’t do well with this last year. I do often read and enjoy non-fiction, but I’ve had some specific titles on my TBR for ages that I haven’t gotten to because they require me to pay more attention and I haven’t been very focused lately.
  2. Read more physical books – In the last couple of years, I’ve been reading a lot more books on digital and audio format, which is completely fine and valid, and very helpful for when I have to do chores but still want to read! But I miss physical books sometimes, being able to flip through them especially with fantasy books that have maps and character lists and so on. I’ve also neglected a lot of the physical books I already have on my shelves, so this is part of my next goal as well.
  3. Prioritize the older books from my TBR – I get very easily distracted by all the shiny new books that everyone else recommends, but I have a few books featured on my TBR lists since I started my blog that I still haven’t read yet and it’s getting embarrassing! I’m not going to pretend that I won’t get distracted by new books, but I want to at least try to read some books that have been on my TBR the longest.
  4. Finish series I start – If I start a series that I like and there are multiple books out already, I’d like to read them all back to back if possible so that I don’t forget and have to reread again. Obviously, I still have unfinished series from before that I’m going to try prioritize the ones that already have all their books out.
  5. DNF books more decisively – In relation to the above, I also need to make a decision after reading the first book in the series if it’s good enough for me to continue reading the rest of them. I have such a backlog because I can’t decide. I also need to be able to DNF standalone books sooner.
  6. Keep a book journal – Not an aesthetic book journal, I tried that before and couldn’t keep up. I bought a cheap daily planner that I’m not planning on decorating at all, and I plan to write very messy, spoiler-y notes about the books I read as I’m reading them.
  7. Stay on top of my book reviews – The reviews themselves don’t take a lot of time individually, but I tend to accumulate a whole bunch of them because I procrastinate about writing them, and then they add up and get overwhelming and I procrastinate some more. I feel like if I just write them as I finish each book, it would be much easier!
  8. Be more present with my book blog – For most of 2025, I’ve felt disconnected with my blogging and like I’m constantly rushing and catching up with everything. I really want to change that and go back to feeling the fun and enjoyment I had when I first started blogging. This relates with other non-bookish goals and how I want to reorganize other parts of my life so that I have more time and energy for things I love.
  9. Participate more in the book community – There have been so many bloghops, booktags, other fun stuff I’ve been wanting to participate in, people whose blogs I love reading and connecting with, and I’m hoping that I can do more of them this year!
  10. Reactivate my bookstagram account – This is not a priority and I don’t intend to do this immediately. I feel like I’m already not keeping up well enough with my blog so I definitely don’t need a bookstagram account to keep up with too. I’m only doing this if I feel like I can manage both, and my goal is to possibly get there before the end of the year.

I’m very hopeful for a more active presence on the blog in 2026! What are your bookish goals this year?

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Sunday Post | 28 September 2025

Posted September 27, 2025 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 22 Comments

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 am also linking up with Deb @ Readerbuzz for The Sunday Salon.

The Universe Works in Mysterious Ways

It was another challenging week for me but overall I think it was good in many ways. One of the things I was most stoked about was that I got Brené Brown’s new book, Strong Ground, the day it released!

I am a huge fan of her works but I didn’t even know she had a book coming out and only found out about it the night before as I was going to bed. The next day, I was looking into where I could get the book and how much it cost, and apparently it was selling for $31.50 (plus tax) at a bookstore near me. And guess what? I just happened to have a giftcard for that bookstore that I had been holding on to for about two years (because I hardly buy physical books anymore) and it had exactly $31.50 left on it!!

It was just so serendipitous and I was like, the Universe wants me to have this book!

And then later the same day, I found out that there was a 2-for-1 sale on Audible, and one of the books on the sale was Book 5 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series! I had just finished Book 4 and was going to get Book 5 anyway, and now I get another free book out of it – Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, which has been on my TBR for a long time!

This hardly ever happens to me, and then twice in one day! Perhaps the Universe was making up for the other challenging things that happened last week (that we won’t talk about right now), but hey, I’ll take it! I’ll always be grateful for the good things, no matter how small, and I try to focus on the positive when I can.

Speaking of positive, good things; thank you so much to all of you who took the time to listen to our music that I shared here last week! We’ve gotten some great feedback and we’re really excited to get better and share more music with you!

I’ve added the widget to the sidebar for easy access and visibility, because of course, I’m never gonna shut up about it now. 😂 But truly, I’m just happy to be able to share something I love with you.

The Books

Books I read last week:

  1. The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman – There were a couple of reveals in this book that shook me, and that ending, omg! These books just keep getting better and better. I was going to stop at this book and take a break from the series because I had other book obligations, but I couldn’t stop after that ending, so I just kept reading!

Books I’m reading:

  1. The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman – Currently 4 hours into a 23-hour book. We haven’t gotten into the juicy stuff yet, but there’s been some funny and heartwarming scenes already.
  2. Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman – I’m 4.5 hours into this 14-hour book. It’s my in-person bookclub’s botm and we were supposed to meet today (Saturday), but many of us couldn’t make it last minute so we’ve postponed the discussion to next week, which gives me more time to finish!

Last Week on The Blog

Just the TTT. I’ve only been reading Dungeon Crawler Carl, so the only book reviews I need to write are all Dungeon Crawler Carl books! I haven’t decided if I’ll write them all after I finish all the existing books, or if I should get started on each one soon!

This Week

Library due dates! I need to finish A Sorceress Comes to Call this week if I don’t want to go back on the queue and wait until it’s my turn again! But also, to be honest, I feel like I don’t have the bandwidth for focusing on new storylines at the moment, and being on a DCC binge helps because I’m already familiar with the world.

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Sunday Post | 31 August 2025

Posted August 30, 2025 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 23 Comments

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:

  1. 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!
  2. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

Last Week on The Blog

This Week

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!

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Sunday Post | 24 August 2025

Posted August 23, 2025 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 18 Comments

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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:

  1. 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!

Last Week on The Blog

This Week

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!

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Sunday Post | 17 August 2025

Posted August 16, 2025 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 20 Comments

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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:

  1. 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.

Last Week on The Blog

Trying to stay on top of my reviews!

This Week

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!

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Sunday Post | 10 August 2025

Posted August 9, 2025 by Haze in Sunday Post, Weekly Book Memes / 12 Comments

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:

  1. 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!
  2. 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!
  3. 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:

  1. 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.

This Week

I haven’t gotten started on any of the books on my August TBR yet. After I finish The Keeper of Hidden Books, I’ll get started on them, I promise!

How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!

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Monthly Wrap Up | December 2024

Posted January 2, 2025 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 2 Comments

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.

December 2024 Wrap Up

Happy New Year 2025, everyone!!

I’ve been so frazzled and disorganized these last couple of months that I haven’t been very present on the blog at all, or in other areas of my life. Things haven’t settled down yet and I’m still catching up but I’m trying to be a little more organized. I’m also cutting down on reading challenges this year because I got so overwhelmed last year with more than ten of them!

At this point, I’m still just trying to catch up, so I don’t have a complete picture of my goals and plans yet, but I’ll get there eventually! Thank you for being patient with me!

My December 2024 TBR Intentions

Well, the good news is that I read 5 out of 7 of the books on my TBR in December! Yayy!

  1. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
  2. In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren
  3. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  4. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
  5. The Outsider by Stephen King
  6. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
  7. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Books Read in December 2024

  1. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
  2. Bloody Acquisitions (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 3) by Drew Hayes
  3. The Fangs of Freelance (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 4) by Drew Hayes
  4. Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
  5. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
  6. Deadly Assessments (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 5) by Drew Hayes
  7. The Outsider by Stephen King
  8. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
  9. Undeading Bells (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 6) by Drew Hayes
  10. In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren
  11. Out of House and Home (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 7) by Drew Hayes
  12. Posthumous Education (Fred, the Vampire Accountant Book 8) by Drew Hayes
  13. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

Notable Books This Month

I ended up spending most of the month reading Drew Hayes’ Fred, the Vampire Accountant series! They were so fun and enjoyable, and I really loved reading about Fred and his friends. I’m a huge fan of found family stories, and Hayes really has a talent for writing interesting characters. I was so sad when I finished the last one, but I found out there’s going to be a Book 9, so I’m eagerly waiting for its release!

I also really loved The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson, and I’m completely invested in the story and intend to read the rest of the series.

The Outsider and A Closed and Common Orbit are both rereads, but worth mentioning because they’re both still so good the second time around.

And finally, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was such an eye-opening read. I’m glad I finally got around to reading it, I learned so much and it made me feel so many things. I’m also very curious about the movie and I’ll probably want to watch it sometime soon.

Reading Challenges

I’m going easy on the reading challenges in 2025 because I got a little overzealous last year. These are the ones I’m committing to this year:

  1. The 52 Book Club 2025 Reading Challenge – I’m doing this one again this year because I enjoyed it so much last year!
  2. The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge – My own personal challenge because I’m a fan of SK but have plenty of his books I haven’t read yet. No time limit, and everyone is welcome to join me if you’d like.
  3. The Classics Club – This is a 5-year challenge and I’m on Year 2.
  4. Reading From My TBR Challenge – Also a personal challenge because I figure I should be at least trying to read from my TBR, but I haven’t figured out the parameters yet so I’ll come back to this later.

January 2025 TBR Intentions

I’m just taking it one month at a time. I hope to read these books in January! What about you?

  1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  2. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
  3. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
  4. ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
  5. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  6. Vicious by V.E. Schwab

How was your month in December? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful 2025 with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | November 2024

Posted December 3, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 0 Comments

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.

November 2024 Wrap Up

November was a hectic month for me and I missed several weekly posts and didn’t write a single book review. I also haven’t replied comments here or visited other book blogs. I have so much to catch up on! I’m also feeling a little pressured because there is one more month in 2024 left, and I haven’t read so many of the books I listed on my 2024 tbr, and I don’t think I can.

December is probably going to be another hectic month, and I’m already thinking of all the ways I want to slow down for 2025. Unfortunately, I already committed to some things that will go on into 2025, but I’ll do my best to lock it down!

My November 2024 TBR Intentions

I did relatively well on my November TBR intentions, but The Glass Chateau has been on my TBR the longest out of all the others listed, and it’s the one I don’t think I’ll be able to get to until next year! But let’s just focus on the wins, okay? 😅

  1. Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes
  2. Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes
  3. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
  4. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
  5. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  6. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
  7. The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
  8. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
  9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Books Read in November 2024

  1. Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes
  2. Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes
  3. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
  4. Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
  5. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  6. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
  7. The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
  8. The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes
  9. Undeath and Taxes by Drew Hayes
  10. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
  11. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
  12. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Notable Books This Month

I was super surprised with Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan! I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did, but it was just fun and so enjoyable to read. It’s isekai, apparently (I just learned the term isekai recently!), and I love it!

There were a couple of heavy books this month but because of stuff happening in my personal life, I ended up reading a lot of light and fun books this month because they were all I could do. Specifically I loved:

  • The Super Powered series by Drew Hayes
  • Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
  • Fred, the Vampire Accountant series by Drew Hayes
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman

There are many more books to go in the latter two series and I am so hyped up about them! I had to pause on them because there were other books with deadlines I had to finish, but I’m totally going back to them whenever I can!

Reading Challenges

All done with challenges this year. Time to think of new challenges for next year! I’m going to slow it down and go a little easier on myself next year, hopefully.

December 2024 TBR Intentions

Most of the books listed below are December BOTMs or buddy reads with a December deadline. I also fully intend to continue with the other series I’m reading now; Fred, the Vampire Accountant, and Dungeon Crawler Carl.

  1. The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
  2. In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren
  3. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  4. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
  5. The Outsider by Stephen King
  6. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
  7. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

At this point, there are several books I listed on my TBR since the beginning of the year that I still haven’t gotten to and don’t think I’ll be able to get to before next year. Oh well. There have also been so many books I didn’t intend to read this year, but did and loved, so it totally balances out!

December is the last month of the year; I hope you all reach your reading goals this year, receive all the bookish gifts and wishes you make, and have the most wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

How was your month in November? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful December with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | October 2024

Posted October 31, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 2 Comments

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.

October 2024 Wrap Up

October wasn’t a very good reading month for me; I had two DNFs and a few books I wasn’t quite satisfied with. I was in a general funk and sulking about the DNFs and sub-par books, and I spent a little too much time on the DNFs trying to decide if I should finish them or not. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson by now but it’s really not easy to let go! 😭

I did have a few great books though! And I’m choosing to focus on them. I read two Stephen Kings, which are always great! And I’m currently obsessed with the Super Powered series by Drew Hayes.

My October 2024 TBR Intentions

I think I’ve learned my lesson with setting my tbr intentions. The DNFs were kind of demotivating, but I need to learn to move on and focus on the books I loved.

  1. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
  2. The Shining by Stephen King
  3. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
  4. Never Whistle at Night by various authors – DNF
  5. The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
  6. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
  7. I Fell in Love With Hope by Lancali – DNF

Books Read in October 2024

  1. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
  2. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
  3. The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth
  4. Exhalation by Ted Chiang
  5. The Shining by Stephen King
  6. The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 9 by Nagabe
  7. The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 10 by Nagabe
  8. The Girl from the Other Side Vol. 11 by Nagabe
  9. Super Powereds: Year 1 by Drew Hayes
  10. Super Powereds: Year 2 by Drew Hayes
  11. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
  12. The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

Notable Books This Month

Super Powereds by Drew Hayes
This series was the highlight for me this month. Almost every other book I’ve read this month is either horror and/or have heavy themes, and I think this series was just so fun and enjoyable to read. The books are huge, and so many hours on audiobook, but they’re so entertaining and easy to get through. Once again, I have to comment on the amateurish writing because I don’t want to hype it up without giving this heads up, but it’s come to a point that I almost feel the writing is deliberate and becomes part of the fun of reading the books – you can have drinking games out of pointing out how many times the author uses a few particular phrases!

I also had three very good rereads:

  1. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
  2. The Shining by Stephen King
  3. Pet Sematary by Stephen King

I loved the Becky Chambers books the first time I read it and I feel like I got more out of it the second time around, especially reading it as a buddy read and seeing what other people thought about it and what stood out to them. I’m also planning to read the next books in the series again some time soon.

I had also read both Stephen King books some time ago and enjoyed them but it has been decades since I read them and they both hit differently this time. I’m paying more attention to some of the details this time even though I’m sure there’s still a lot I’m missing. I’m definitely noticing Stephen King’s genius a lot more this time.

Reading Challenges

I have finished every challenge I signed up for this year except two:

They are both related to finishing series and even though I don’t have very many to go, I have decided to let go of both these challenges because they no longer resonate. I have been reading many series this year, actually, and even finishing them(!), but they don’t count based on the parameters of these challenges and I realized that these challenges don’t work for what I originally wanted them for and it’s okay to let them go. I’ll be more mindful of the challenges I sign up for next year!

November 2024 TBR Intentions

Definitely wanting to continue with the rest of the Super Powered series, and I’m also looking forward to Dungeon Crawler Carl. It’s good knowing that these two fun series are in there among the other heavier books.

  1. Super Powereds: Year 3 by Drew Hayes
  2. Super Powereds: Year 4 by Drew Hayes
  3. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
  4. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
  5. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  6. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
  7. The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
  8. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
  9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Even though many of these are heavy, I’m still excited to read them. Some of them have been on my TBR for ages!

How was your month in October? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful November with lots of great books!

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Monthly Wrap Up | September 2024

Posted October 1, 2024 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 2 Comments

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!

  1. Perfume by Patrick Suskind
  2. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
  3. Cujo by Stephen King
  4. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
  5. 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!

Books Read in September 2024

  1. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  2. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
  3. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
  4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  5. The Girl from Rawblood by Catriona Ward
  6. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
  7. The Girl from the Other Side Volume 8 by Nagabe
  8. Born A Crime by Trevor Noah
  9. Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare
  10. Surrender of A Siren by Tessa Dare
  11. One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
  12. Cujo by Stephen King
  13. Perfume by Patrick Suskind
  14. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
  15. Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
  16. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
  17. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
  18. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Notable Books This Month

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.

Reading Challenges

October 2024 TBR Intentions

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!

  1. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
  2. The Shining by Stephen King
  3. Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
  4. Never Whistle at Night by various authors
  5. The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan
  6. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
  7. 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!

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