Today, March 1, 2022, marks the 6th anniversary of fairybookmother.net! Thank you so much for following along! Even though I’m not as consistent as I would like to be, a lot has happened in the last couple of years, and I’m proud of myself for sticking with something, even sporadically, for as long as I have.
I started a new book journal in 2022, and that generally makes me more excited for the reading year ahead! I’m planning on a post about my spreads and what I plan to do with it in the upcoming weeks. I’m also trying to focus more on spending less, using my library more, and utilizing Edelweiss to help 1) curb the spending on new books that I know I’ll read once and 2) read new things and hopefully be able to share my thoughts about new and upcoming reads with you!
These Bookends posts also seem to function better for me when they’re done every two months because for some reason I can’t seem to get them done on time monthly.
I also finally got my things delivered! Long story short, the moving company I booked is shady, packed up my things in May, and I finally got them to deliver on February 27. Eight months later. I still have to go through everything, I have to buy some new bookshelves, but I’m excited to have my collection back because there have been a few things I would have been really sad to lose. It’s also a little overwhelming because I have so many books.
CURRENTLY READING
This weekend I am going to tab out place markers in The Big Book of Science Fiction to finish it by the end of April. I finished all of the books I had started in February and all of my current reads (aside from BBSF), so these three are ones I’m starting right away. One Italian Summer was sent to me by Atria (thank you!), and I remember devouring/enjoying In Five Years, so I hope this has the same effect. The cover also has gold foil on it, making it super pretty. Tripping Arcadia is a new release in the gothic fiction vein that’s gaining popularity, especially since Crimson Peak and Mexican Gothic. I’m already thinking of making a gothic-themed post in the near future! Now that the second book’s out, it’s time for me to finally start House of Earth and Blood. I’m not always into contemporary/urban fantasy, so we’ll see how I like this one!
📚 bookshelf pick | 📓 physical review copy | 📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook | 💞 reread
📚 The Big Book of Science Fiction – edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
📓 One Italian Summer – Rebecca Serle (thank you, Atria!)
📓 Tripping Arcadia – Kit Mayquist (thank you, Dutton!)
📚 Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood – Sarah J. Maas
FINISHED READING
I read 11 books in January! it was a pretty good reading month with a few duds. I didn’t particularly enjoy Lady Jenny’s Christmas Portrait because I thought it could have functioned better as a novella with the same arguments/drama cycles happening multiple times throughout the book. I also didn’t care for All I Want at all. The premise was intriguing, but it fell flat and the last chapter ruined everything for me. Donut Fall in Love was a super adorable romcom that I keep thinking about, All About Love was a reread after bell hooks’s passing, Sex Cult Nun was a page-turner and I couldn’t put it down. Chan’s The School for Good Mothers was creepy and immediate, much in the vein of a tomorrow dystopia.
📚 bookshelf pick | 📓 physical review copy | 📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook | 💞 reread
⌛️ Witch Hat Atelier, vol 2 – Kamome Shirahama (4/5 stars)
⌛️ Donut Fall in Love – Jackie Lau (4/5 stars)
⌛️ Lady Jenny’s Christmas Portrait – Grace Burrowes (2/5 stars)
⌛️ All About Love – bell hooks (4/5 stars)
⌛️ Sex Cult Nun – Faith Jones (4/5 stars)
📓 All I Want – Darcey Bell (1.5/5 stars)
📓 The Book of Mother – Violaine Huisman (3/5 stars)
⌛️ The Light Ages – Seb Falk (4/5 stars)
📱 The School for Good Mothers – Jessamine Chan (4/5 stars)
📚 Velvet Was the Night – Silvia Moreno-Garcia (3.5/5 stars)
📓 Spidertouch – Alex Thomson (3.5/5 stars)
I read 8 books in February! I wanted to read a little bit more romance than I did, but the highlight of the three I read was definitely an ARC of Emily Henry’s Book Lovers. It was weird reading Station Eleven again in the midst of a pandemic, but I still enjoyed it! I hadn’t realized until reading Sea of Tranquility that Station Eleven, The Glass Hotel, and Sea of Tranquility are loosely connected, referencing each other. The Latinist
📚 bookshelf pick | 📓 physical review copy | 📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook | 💞 reread
📱 Book Lovers – Emily Henry (5/5 stars)
📚💞 Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel (4.5/5 stars)
📚 Iron Widow – Xiran Jay Zhao (4.5/5 stars)
⌛️ Pahua and the Soul Stealer – Lori M. Lee (4/5 stars)
📚 Knight of Desire – Margaret Mallory (3/5 stars)
📱 Sea of Tranquility – Emily St. John Mandel (5/5 stars)
⌛️ The Latinist – Mark Prins (4/5 stars)
⌛️ Wicked Intentions – Elizabeth Hoyt (3/5 stars)
ON THE HORIZON
I got Laura Thompson’s Heiresses from the publisher from a request because I love reading about women in these magnificently wealthy families. Now that I’ve finished reading Station Eleven and watched the show and read Sea of Tranquility, it’s time to revisit The Glass Hotel, especially after learning that all three of these are interconnected, however loosely. And I want to be immersed in her writing. I want to go read some more of Mandel’s backlist after reading The Glass Hotel. I have been putting off starting the High Republic era in Star Wars fiction, but I am ready to make the jump, especially with so many works out already. I have also desperately missed reading Star Wars adventures. Nightshift is set in late-90s London, and something about the premise (and cover) keeps drawing me to this, so it’s time I give in and read it.
📚 bookshelf pick | 📓 physical review copy | 📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook | 💞 reread
📓 Heiresses: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies – Laura Thompson (thank you, St. Martin’s Press!)
📓 The Magnolia Palace – Fiona Davis (thank you, Dutton!)
📚💞 The Glass Hotel – Emily St. John Mandel
📚 Star Wars The High Republic: Light of the Jedi – Charles Soule
📱 Night Shift – Kiare Ladner (thank you, Mariner!)
WHAT I ACQUIRED
I bought House of Sky and Breath on release day, and I also picked up a physical copy of Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey. I have it on my Kindle, but this is something I want to read in a physical form. I downloaded The Atlas Six, The Library of the Dead, and We Were Dreamers recently because I’m in the mood for some fantasy and Simu Liu’s memoir piqued my interest!
📚 bookshelf pick | 📓 physical review copy | 📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook | 💞 reread
📚 Crescent City: House of Sky and Breath – Sarah J. Maas
📱 The Atlas Six – Olivie Blake (thank you, Tor!)
📱 The Library of the Dead – T.L. Huchu (thank you, Tor!)
📚 The Odyssey – Homer, trans. Emily Wilson
📱 We Were Dreamers – Simu Liu (thank you, William Morrow)
ON SCREEN
GAMING: I’m playing my first otome game, Café Enchanté, and I’m a few chapters in now and really enjoying it. I bought Pokémon Arceus, but I want to finish Café Enchanté first. I’m also surprised that Game Freak/Nintendo are coming out with another Pokémon game this fall!! I have also been playing World of Warcraft on and off, and this new patch seems interesting with more/new things to do than the dailies I’ve been doing for a while. I don’t necessarily raid aside from LFR, but the last two raid sequences have been not all that fun for me.
TV: I’ve watched Station Eleven and enjoyed the differences between book and show, I rewatched all of New Girl but the later seasons were more annoying than I remembered them being. I am currently watching The Book of Boba Fett and The Gilded Age, and The Gilded Age is only making me want to rewatch Downton Abbey from the beginning.
MOVIES: Uncharted was a lot of fun, and I’m very excited about The Batman.
PERSONAL
Let’s just say I am glad 2021 is over! 2022 has already been chaos, but all things considered, I’m here, I’m alive, and that’s what matters.