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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.
May 2024 Wrap Up
I read some really great books this month! Yayy! I managed to read 18 books, but only 3 of them were from my May TBR intentions. I got very, very sidetracked! I don’t expect to follow my TBR to the letter, of course, but I’d like to try to rein it in just a little so that I’m actually reading towards my challenges and goals!
My May 2024 TBR Intentions
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTeirnan
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
I should probably rethink this section and do a “Notable Books of the Month” rather than a favorite, because I don’t think I could ever just choose one!
The Blade Itself and Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie were amazing! I meant to binge through to the third book and write a collective review for the series in May, but I just only finished reading the final book in the series, Last Argument of Kings, today! So I guess it’ll be a June review.
Funny Story was another favorite, maybe my favorite Emily Henry so far! It was hilarious and made me laugh out loud so many times!
Carrie Soto is Back is also a favorite. I love TJR’s books, and I think Malibu Rising and this book is at the top of my favorite TJR books!
2024 Bookish Books Challenge – 5/10 – Started at 4/10 at the beginning of the month. Only read one bookish book this month.
2024 Audiobook Challenge – 40/75 – Started at 25/30 at the beginning of the month, hit my target at 40/30. Now upping my challenge to 75+ audiobooks!
2024 Library Love Reading Challenge – 56/60 – Started at 43/36 at the beginning of the month. Only four more to go to hit my target. It’s the highest level of the challenge, so I’ll probably keep going after that but consider the challenge accomplished.
The Classics Club – 3/10 – Started at 2/10 at the beginning of the month. Read one classic book this month!
June 2024 TBR Intentions
I’m trying to be good and focus on the books I meant to read and/or that count towards my reading challenges and goals, but there are several books listed here that had been scheduled as buddy reads and bookclubs’ BOTM, so I’m just going to do my best!
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Nina the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
I’m most excited for the Dragonlance Chronicles because I’ve been wanting to reread them for ages, but I’m excited about the other books too!
How was your month in May? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful June with lots of great books!
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 I Was Super Excited to Get My Hands on but Still Haven’t Read
There have been so many books I was super excited about but ended up not reading. These are some of the ones I’m still excited about and still want to read as soon as possible, but haven’t yet for some reason or other.
Top Ten Books I Was Super Excited to Get My Hands on but Still Haven’t Read
The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan – I love Stephen P. Kiernan’s books and I’m really excited to read this one too, but his books are the kind that require savoring and that means I have to find the right time and mental head space to read them.
Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane – Mhairi’s books are categorized under romance, but they’re not quick, fun and silly romances. They tend to highlight serious real life issues as well and I love that about them, so I want to be fully present when I read this.
The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin – I loved the two previous books I’ve read by MM, and I know I’ll love this too. They’re just pretty heavy because of the subject matter, but they’re also hopeful and heartwarming, and I’m looking forward to reading this soon.
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder – I think the thing holding me back with this one is that there are at least six books in the series and I’m just scared of starting a new series when there are so many I haven’t finished yet.
Shark Heart by Emily Habeck – Nothing holding me back with this one, I just haven’t gotten to it yet.
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan – Another one in the queue I intend to get to really soon!
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson – And this one too! I meant to read this and the above book this month, but I had other time obligations!
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – I’ve got a planned buddy read for this series in June, and I’m anxiously awaiting it! It’s a reread for me, but it’s been a while and I’m excited to revisit the nostalgia!
Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie – I very recently finished the first two books in this series and I would’ve immediately started the next one, except my book buddies want me to wait for them. They’re supposed to have the book in a couple of weeks, but if they take longer than that, all bets are off!
The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent – I was so excited about this and I still am, but I haven’t gotten around to it. Soon!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these 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.
April 2024 Wrap Up
I finished 16 books this month and there were a lot of really good ones! A couple of them were books I started months ago and just happened to finish this month (The Count of Monte Cristo and Blitz). There were a couple of poetry, graphic novels, and short books.
I managed to finished four of my intended TBR, and there was one DNF, but overall I’m happy because I finished the ones with deadlines (book clubs/buddy reads/readalongs) and I can read the others later.
My April 2024 TBR Intentions
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal (DNF)
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
Oh I don’t like this game anymore! I cannot choose one, there were so many amazing books this month! I’m gonna cheat and go with multiple books; The Way Forward, Bookshops & Bonedust, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Kite Runner!
2024 Bookish Books Challenge – 4/10 – Started at 3/10 at the beginning of the month. Only read one bookish book this month.
2024 Audiobook Challenge – 25/30 – Started at 16/30 at the beginning of the month. Now I have 5 more to go to hit my target.
2024 Library Love Reading Challenge – 43/60 – Started at 27/36 at the beginning of the month. Since I’ve hit 43, and achieved my original goal of 36 books, I have decided to level up to 60+ books!
The Classics Club – 2/10 – It’s 50 books in 5 years, so I’m aiming for 10 this year.
May 2024 TBR Intentions
I’ve already started on The Blade Itself, and Sea of Tranquility is for my in-person book club for May. Hopefully I’m able to finish as many of the other books as possible.
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTeirnan
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
I’ve been anticipating some of them since the beginning of the year and I’m excited to get to them as soon as I can!
How was your month in April? What were your most memorable moments? I hope you have a wonderful May with lots of great books!
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 Unread Books on My Shelves I Want to Read Soon.
The keywords here are “books I want to read soon”. I have a whole lot of unread books on my shelves that go back a long way, but a lot of the books I want to read soon are relatively new to the TBR just because I like bright, shiny, new things. I will try to list the older ones though. I’m also not adding books I want to reread soon because technically they’re not unread.
Top Ten Unread Books on My Shelves I Want to Read Soon
Dracula by Bram Stoker – This has probably been on my TBR longest out of the other books on this list but then again I have a lot of classics on the TBR that I mean to read one day. I started listening to this on audio a couple of years ago, but had to stop because it got scary when I was listening to it to sleep.
The Glass Château by Stephen P. Kiernan – This book was only published last year, but it feels like it’s been on my TBR for a long time because I’d been waiting for it since the author announced it two years ago. I was so excited for it but it’s a year later and I still haven’t read it! I need to remedy that!
Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane – Same story as above. It was only published last year, but I’d been waiting for it and I really want to read it soon.
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder – This has been on my TBR for years and years and years, and I don’t know why I haven’t gotten to it! I mean to start it this year. For sure!
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson – I only added this to the TBR late last year, I think, or early this year. So it’s really new, but it’s one of the really shiny and new-to-me books I want to read soon.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara – This has been on my TBR for 4-5 years? I want to read it but kept putting it off because I haven’t felt emotionally strong enough for the dark subject matter. I feel like I’m ready now.
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens – Another classic that’s been on the TBR for ages, but I want to read it soon because Demon Copperhead is apparently based off of it, and I want to read that soon too!
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver – I heard so many good things about this book and I’m really excited for it. I added it to the TBR last year, so it’s relatively new too.
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint – I think I added this one to the TBR three years ago on a mythology binge. I still really want to read it sooner rather than later.
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna – Added last year and really want to read it very soon! It sounds really fun and many people have said good things about it.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these 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.
March 2024 Wrap Up
I only read eight books this month, which isn’t bad at all, but last month I read a whole bunch so I had expected better for this month. I also had a couple of reading slumps, and I was reading a few really dense and thick books. I felt like I was slogging through molasses. Hopefully April will be better!
My March 2024 TBR Intentions
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherworlds by Heather Fawcett
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo. The Sparrow was really amazing too and I’d say technically, it’s a better book than The Fox Wife, but it was a much more difficult read emotionally and so for that reason I enjoyed The Fox Wife more.
I still want to read the books I didn’t get to in March, so I’m bringing them forward. I don’t think I’ll be able to finish all of these in April, but who knows. I should also probably add some nonfiction and classics in there for my reading challenges, but I figure since there are more diverse authors on this list, I could potentially knock out a few for my Diversity reading challenge, and then catch up to the other challenges later.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
I’m looking forward to all of these!
How was your month in March? What were your most memorable moments? I hope you have a wonderful April with lots of great books!
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 Movies/TV Shows That Would Have Made Amazing Books
I can’t think of very many ideas for today’s topic, so from now on I’m going to go with books in alphabetical order every time I need an easy go-to topic, an idea I’m stealing from Pam @ Read! Bake! Create! I think it’s genius!
So here are the Top Ten Books on my TBR beginning with A. These are all books I intend to read, hopefully soon, but definitely eventually.
Top Ten Books Beginning with A
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – I actually got about 30% into this audiobook but stopped because I was getting confused with the names and characters and wanted to switch over to a printed copy. I’m not sure if I’ll pick up where I left off or start over again. Or maybe I should just keep going with the audiobook and not worry about getting all the details right.
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint – It’s been on my TBR since a Greek mythology binge a few years ago. I’d love to finally read it some time really soon!
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan – I’ve read this, but not the other books in the series. And I read it long enough ago that I don’t remember a thing and have to reread before diving into the next books.
All That’s Left to Say by Emery Lord – I’ve read a few of Emery Lord’s books and enjoyed them, so I really want to read this one too.
Accidentally Amy by Lynn Painter – I’ve heard so many good things about this author but haven’t read a single book by her. I thinking I have to remedy this and also possibly use it for the 52 Book Club Prompt 25: An author “everyone” has read except me.
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal – Another author I’ve heard good things about, and another possibility for the same prompt.
A Theory of Haunting by Sarah Monette – So this books sounds really scary and satisfyingly creepy, and for some reason I feel the need to give myself some sleepless nights.
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells – The second book in the Murderbot series. I read the first and loved it and I wanna read the rest of it!
A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross – The second book in the Elements of Cadence series. I read the first one and I really want to know what happens next.
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid – I love fairy tales and tales about faes. How can I resist?
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these 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 2024 Wrap Up
I had a pretty good reading month. I read 19 books, which is a lot more than my usual, but 11 of them were novellas/middle-grade/graphic novels so I got through them fast. I’m also very happy that I managed to read/cross-out several of my February TBR intentions, although I’m a bit disappointed because the two books I dnf’d were meant to count towards my Diversity Reading Challenge goal, and obviously they can’t count anymore. I also had a couple of books on the list meant to count towards my Nonfiction Reading Challenge, but I didn’t get to those either.
Fortunately, I did manage to read other books that counted towards those goals, so I’m not too disappointed! Here’s my February TBR list to recap, and then below are the books I actually read for February.
My February 2024 TBR Intentions
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherworlds by Heather Fawcett
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
The Way Forward by Yung Pueblo
Children of Virtue and Vengence by Tomi Adeyemi (DNF)
Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien (DNF)
Books Read in February 2024
All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen and Jory John
I cannot decide on one because I loved them both so much, so I’ll have to make it a tie and award the title to both Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, and The Storyteller by Dave Grohl.
On The Blog
I didn’t write a lot of posts this month on the blog, other than book reviews (linked above) and Top Ten Tuesday posts.
I’ll do this every month as a sort of sticky-note to help remind me of the books I want to get to sooner rather than later. I don’t expect to stick to the list exactly, but it’s a great reminder for when I get distracted by new and shiny books!
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (it’s my bookclub’s BOTM)
Fairy Tale by Stephen King (I’ve read it, but there’s a readalong happening in March!)
A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross (I’ve already started it)
A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross (because it’s the sequel)
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo (I’ve been anticipating it the most and I just got the book from the library!)
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree (because I loved Legends & Lattes)
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherworlds by Heather Fawcett (because I loved Encyclopedia of Faeries)
Hmm… It looks like this list is more reactionary based on urgency, timing, and excitement, but that’s okay for now. I’ll do better after I finish the ones I’m excited about!
How was your month in February? What were your most memorable 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.
January 2024 Wrap Up
I read 11 books in January, which I’m both happy and worried about. Happy because I can’t seem to separate my sense of accomplishment from reading quantity vs quality, and I love that I read more than I normally do in a month. Worried because my goal this year was to read more slowly, savor the books, and remember more details, and I’ve found myself rushing a bit towards the later part of the month. I need to remind myself to read slow!
And be more mindful in book choices as well. I have a lot of books I mean to read this year, but I keep adding more and more new books to the TBR and some I’m just too excited about to wait! Which is fine, but I’d like to try to read some of the books that have been on my shelves forever.
Oooh, tough choice. Reeaalllyy tough choice. I’m going with The September House by Carissa Orlando, but only by a hair. Holly by Stephen King is a close second.
On The Blog
In addition to the reviews I’ve written for books read in January. Here are some of my other notable posts in January.
This is a sort of TBR list for February 2024. I’m sure I won’t be able to stick to it exactly, but these are the books I anticipate I’ll be reading in February because of release dates, where I am on the library waitlists, being next in a series I’m reading, and other random reasons. It will also help remind me to stick to reading the books I initially wanted to read!
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherworlds by Heather Fawcett
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
The Way Forward by Yung Pueblo
Children of Virtue and Vengence by Tomi Adeyemi
Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien
How was your month in January? What were your most memorable moments? I hope you have a wonderful February with lots of great books!
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 I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t Get To
Oh, the shame!
Not only are there so many books that I meant to read in 2023 but didn’t, some of them go so far back on my TBR list, I don’t even remember what they’re about or if I still want to read them! These are just the few that I most want to read, and I really hope I get to them some time this year!
Top Ten Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t Get To
Top-Bottom, Left-Right:
The Rook by Daniel O’Malley – Well, the whole Checquy series, actually. This is the first book in the series, and I’ve read it a while ago. I meant to reread this and then the rest of the series in 2022, but I didn’t, and then I meant to read it in 2023, but didn’t. The good news is, I got the audiobook last week and have started reading it, finally! So hopefully I’ll actually finish the series this year.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – I keep meaning to read this and the rest of the series too, but this one isn’t my fault. It took a long time to get to me on the waitlist, and I had other books in the queue as well, and didn’t manage to get to it before I had to return it again for the next reader. Let’s hope the timing works out for this year!
Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer – And yet another series I meant to read. I hear great things about it, I just haven’t gotten around to it.
The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan – This is one of my favorite authors and I’ve read all his other books. I was so excited when this book came out last year, and I meant to read it, but I took it for granted and before I knew it, the year ended and it’s still unread!
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang – I loved the first book in this series, and I have this and the next book on my high priority list. The first book was good but a little heavy, and I’m afraid the next books will be too, so I’m procrastinating a bit.
Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller – By all accounts, I think I’d love this book and I keep meaning to read it but I just haven’t picked it up yet.
Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane – I’m not too ashamed of this one because it’s relatively new, but I originally planned to read it as soon as it came out, so I hope I get to it this year.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster – I’ve had this on my physical bookshelf for a couple of years and I keep meaning to read it. It was supposed to be one of the first books I meant to read this year too, but I haven’t gotten to it yet.
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon – I won’t lie, I’m a bit intimidated by the size, but then again I do love big books. I’m not in a hurry to read this, but I do want to try to get to it before the end of 2024.
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder – This series has been on my TBR for years and years and years. I hope to at least read the first book this year!
Did you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Are they worth still keeping on my TBR for 2024?
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 On My Winter 2023-2024 To-Read List. I don’t typically read a lot of Christmas-themed or winter-themed books on purpose. If they happen to be set in winter or at Christmas, that’s fine and I enjoy them, but I don’t seek them out, so my winter TBR are just regular books I want to read. I do love watching a lot of cheesy Christmas-themed movies during the season though!
Below are the books I hope to read this winter. Many are library books that I’m on the waitlist for, and I’m estimating that they’ll be getting to me this winter, so fingers crossed!
Top Ten Books on my Winter 2023-2024 To-Read List
Top-Bottom, Left-Right:
The Switch by Beth O’Leary – I read and loved a couple of her other books but I haven’t gotten around to this one yet.
Holly by Stephen King – I really enjoyed the Mr. Mercedes series where we first got to know Holly, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of her here.
Light Bringer by Pierce Brown – I am stuck in limbo waiting for this one to get to me because it’s Book 6 in the Red Rising series, and I was in pain seeing my beloved characters suffer in Book 5. I need to know what happens next!
Slewfoot by Brom – I don’t actually know what this is about. I just heard a lot of good things about the book and author. I did just recently read a different book by this same author and didn’t like it, so I’m tempering my expectations.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett – It’s the title that got me for this one. I would’ve read it even if it was an actual nonfic encyclopedia. In fact, I’d probably want to read it more if it was a real encyclopedia of faeries!
Watership Down by Richard Adams – This has been on my TBR for ages and ages. It’s one of those books you take for granted because it’s a classic and you know it will always be relevant so you can read it any time.
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid – Not sure if I should be embarrassed to admit that Bookstagram is responsible for this one.
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson – Also this one. What can I say? I’m weak and easily influenced!
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross – I actually have a different book by this author on my TBR, A River Enchanted, but yes, Bookstagram is making me want to read this first. We have already established I’m weak.
The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan – This is one of my favorite authors and I’ve read everything he’s written so far, except this one which is his latest. His books are beautiful and profound and beautiful and lyrical, and did I say beautiful? I cannot recommend him enough.
I am very much looking forward to these books! Have you read any of them? I’d love to hear your thoughts. What books are you excited for this winter?
