Bookends

BOOKENDS: January and February 2022

- Meg

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.

BOOKENDS: October, November, December 2021

- Meg

Let’s just say 2021 was a year and carry on.

CURRENTLY READING

I am still picking through The Big Book of Science Fiction but this will be finished this year. I have a plan. 👀

📚 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 (38%)

FINISHED READING

I read 12 books in October, 7 books in November, and 8 books in December.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

⌛️ A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – Holly Jackson (4/5 stars)
🎧 The King of Crows – Libba Bray (4/5 stars)
📓 A Spindle Splintered – Alix E. Harrow (5/5 stars)
💾 Because Internet – Gretchen McCulloch (3.5/5 stars)
📱 My Heart is a Chainsaw – Stephen Graham Jones (DNF)
💾 Gild – Raven Kennedy (3/5 stars)
💾 The Lady From the Black Lagoon – Mallory O’Meara (3.5/5 stars)
⌛️ These Hollow Vows – Lexi Ryan (4/5 stars)
⌛️ Matrix – Lauren Groff (4/5 stars)
📓 Yours Cruelly, Elvira – Cassandra Peterson (4/5 stars)
💾 Glint – Raven Kennedy (3/5 stars)
⌛️ A Tip for the Hangman – Allison Epstein (5/5 stars)

📚 The Ex Hex – Erin Sterling (4/5 stars)
📱 What Moves the Dead – T. Kingfisher (5/5 stars)
⌛️ House of Salt and Sorrows – Erin A. Craig (4/5 stars)
📚 Ninth House – Leigh Bardugo (2/5 stars)
📱 Nothing But Blackened Teeth – Cassandra Khaw (3.5/5 stars)
⌛️ The Wolf and the Woodsman – Ava Reid (3.5/5 stars)
⌛️ Witch Hat Atelier, vol 1 – Kamoma Shirahama (4/5 stars)

📚 The Duke Goes Down – Sophie Jordan (2/5 stars)
⌛️ The Heroine with 1001 Faces – Maria Tatar (2.5/5 stars)
⌛️ The Last Thing He Told Me – Laura Dave (3/5 stars)
💾 Gleam – Raven Kennedy (3/5 stars)
⌛️ Kingdom of the Wicked – Kerri Maniscalco (DNF)
📚💞 Zel – Donna Jo Napoli (5/5 stars)
⌛️ Medieval Bodies – Jack Hartnell (4.5/5 stars)
💾💞 Sabriel – Garth Nix (5/5 stars)

ON THE HORIZON

I will be updating this for January’s reads to keep things more organized!

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

 

WHAT I ACQUIRED

I will be updating this for January’s reads to keep things more organized!

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

 

ON SCREEN

I will be doing 2021 recaps of each of these in the upcoming weeks!

GAMING:

TV:

MOVIES:

PERSONAL

Let’s just say I am glad 2021 is over.

 

BOOKENDS: June, July, August, & September 2021

- Meg

I fell off the entire book internet thing because work has been so much busier than I expected, and it’s hard to get motivated about books when a majority of my books are still in limbo because I cannot get a hold of my moving company to actually set a date. However, now that work has evened out a little bit and I’m reading a lot of new things, I’m more motivated to post again. I have also made the decision to pivot mostly to library reads and digital reading to save money! It’s definitely easy to get caught up in the consumerism side of blogging/bookstagram, and to me it should be about the reading rather than the accumulation of shiny things.

CURRENTLY READING

I am in between books, and realized I actually did bring The Big Book of Science Fiction with me! I haven’t read anything from it yet, and I’ve been focusing on review copies and library reads. I am in between other books too, as I like to read 3-4 books at a time aside from the anthology. I’ve been venturing into the horror genre a little bit more, and I’m enjoying it, although I generally read them during the day so I don’t keep myself up too late at night. 👀

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

📱 My Heart is a Chainsaw – Stephen Graham Jones (15%, thank you Gallery/Saga Press!)
📓 Yours Cruelly, Elvira – Cassandra Peterson (33%; thank you, Hachette Books!)
📚 The Big Book of Science Fiction – edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (32%)

FINISHED READING

I read 10 books in June, 11 books in July, 7 books in August, and 9 books in September.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

📱 Cool for the Summer – Dahlia Adler (Thank you, Wednesday Books!)
🎧 The Diviners – Libba Bray
📚 Beach Read – Emily Henry
⌛️ The Helm of Midnight – Marina J. Lostetter
⌛️ The Siren – Katherine St. John
📓 Chosen Ones – Veronica Roth (Thank you, Mariner Books!)
📚 Dick Fight Island – Reibun Ike
⌛️ Bring Me Their Hearts – Sara Wolf
📚 The Beautiful Ones – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
⌛️ Crying in H-Mart – Michelle Zauner

📓 One Last Stop – Casey McQuiston (Thank you, St. Martin’s Griffin!)
🎧 Lair of Dreams – Libba Bray
⌛️ A Master of Djinn – P. Djélì Clark
📓 The Queer Principles of Kit Webb – Cat Sebastian (Thank you, Avon!)
⌛️ Piranesi – Susanna Clarke
⌛️ Minor Feelings – Cathy Park Hong
⌛️ We Were Liars  – E. Lockhart
📓 The Agitators – Dorothy Wickenden (Thank you, Scribner Books!)
💾 Ice Planet Barbarians – Ruby Dixon
📚 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – Anonymous
🎧 Before the Devil Breaks You – Libba Bray

📓 Earth’s Wild Music – Kathleen Dean Moore (Thank you, Counterpoint Press!)
📓 Faultlines – Emily Itami (Thank you, Custom House!)
📚 The Rakess – Scarlett Peckham
📚 Mythology – Edith Hamilton
⌛️ The World Gives Way – Marissa Levien
📚 The Outside – Ada Hoffmann
💞 Beauty Sleep – Cameron Dokey

💞 Before Midnight – Cameron Dokey
⌛️ Revelations – Mary Sharratt
⌛️ Ring Shout – P. Djélì Clark
⌛️ Tender is the Flesh – Agustina Bazterrica
⌛️ Black Water Sister – Zen Cho
⌛️ The Warrior Knight and the Widow – Ella Matthews
📓 The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina – Zoraida Cordova (Thank you, Atria Books!)
📚 Lessons in French – Laura Kinsale
💞 Sirena – Donna Jo Napoli

 

ON THE HORIZON

I recently updated my Edelweiss information, and now I have access to a lot of e-arcs. I tried not to go download happy, but three of these (The Ex Hex, Sea of Tranquility, and What Moves the Dead) are among my most anticipated. And for What Moves the Dead, as soon as I heard it was an Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” retelling, immediately shot to the top of the list and I was so excited to see it already posted as an e-arc. All of these fit an eerie, spooky vibe for spooky szn 👻👻👻.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

📚 The Death of Jane Lawrence – Caitlin Starling
📚 Velvet Was the Night – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
📱 The Ex Hex – Erin Sterling (Thank you, Avon!)
📱 Sea of Tranquility – Emily St. John Mandel (Thank you, Knopf!)
📱 What Moves the Dead – T. Kingfisher (Thank you, Tor Nightfire!)

WHAT I ACQUIRED

It’s definitely time to get back into reading YA fantasy, because omg, so many good titles are out/coming out.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

📚 Iron Widow – Xiran Jay Zhao
📚 Six Crimson Cranes – Elizabeth Lim
📚 Vespertine – Margaret Rogerson
📱Jade Fire Gold – June CL Tan
📱The Keeper of Night – Kylie Lee Baker

ON SCREEN

GAMING: I bought the HD rerelease of Skyward Sword, and I think the next Switch game I’m getting is Graveyard Keeper.

TV: I’ve watched most of Shadow of Bone, I really enjoyed Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki so far seems like a treat!

MOVIES: I have seen so many since settling in because with my Regal Unlimited card, it’s an easy, relatively inexpensive thing to do. The Green Knight and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

PERSONAL

Nothing exciting to report as I’m still waiting to hear back regarding my stuff from the movers, and that’s been an adventure.

 

BOOKENDS: March 2021

- Meg

We’ll see how much of these I continue to do on time in the coming months because I’m moving back east, and these next two months are going to be so hectic with everything to do with moving! I did read much more than I thought I did in March for a total finished book page number being 4,446!

CURRENTLY READING

I am still reading A People’s History of the United States and The Big Book of Science Fiction, but I have been making some progress!! I am also rereading The Lord of the Rings series for all the nostalgic reasons, and I’m about a third of the way through. I had been saving it for reading at work, but I get too distracted on breaks to focus sometimes, so it’s getting moved to rotate into my bedside stack. I’m also reading two review copies, The Agitators and I’m Waiting For You and Other Stories.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook  |  💞 reread

📚 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien (15%)
📓 The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought For Abolition and Women’s Rights – Dorothy Wickenden (6%; thank you, Scribner Books!)
📓 I’m Waiting For You and Other Stories – Kim Bo-Young (18%; thank you, Harper Voyager!)
📚 A People’s History of the United States – Howard Zinn (60%)
📚 The Big Book of Science Fiction – edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (32%)

FINISHED READING

I read twelve books in March! I for sure thought I was around the seven or eight mark, so I made a point to finish reading Simmer Down before the month ended. When I went to round up everything, I was pleasantly surprised! I’ve been making an effort to focus on reading, and I read a lot from my library this month too! But I’ve also realized I need to focus on the books I actually bought, because most of the books I read this month were library books or review copies…

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook  |  💞 reread

📚 A Court of Silver Flames – Sarah J. Maas (5/5 stars)
📓 In Five Years – Rebecca Serle (4/5 stars, thank you Atria!)
⌛️ The Curious History of Sex – Kate Lister (4/5 stars)
📚 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – Suzanne Collins (3.5/5 stars)
⌛️ The Ex Talk – Rachel Lynn Solomon (3.5/5 stars)
📓 Eleanor in the Village – Jan Jarboe Russell (4/5 stars, thank you Scribner!)
📓 The Paris Library – Janet Skeslien Charles (4/5 stars, thank you Atria!)
⌛️ The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides (4/5 stars)
📓 Amelia Unabridged – Ashley Schumacher (4.5/5 stars, thank you Wednesday Books!)
📱 Siri, Who Am I? – Sam Tschida (2.75/5 stars, thank you Quirk Books!)
📓 Your Time to Thrive – Marina Khidekel (3.5/5 stars, thank you Hachette Books!)
📚 Simmer Down – Sarah Smith (3.5/5 stars)

ON THE HORIZON

I only read one of my March TBR books, and that’s okay! I like the process of it, and once I get settled in my new place, I’m going to be utilizing it a little bit more and probably in a less structured way, but these are things I want to read in the very near future because I want to actually read the things I buy and try to stay on top of the review copies I’ve been sent in the last couple of months! I’ve been doing pretty okay with that in 2021, but I definitely have room for improvement.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook  |  💞 reread

📚 Walk the Wild With Me – Rachel Atwood
📚 Yellow Jessamine – Caitlin Starling
📚 Cherry – Nico Walker
📱 The Ladies of the Secret Circus – Constance Sayers
📚 The Wolf of Oren-Yaro – K.S. Villoso

WHAT I ACQUIRED

I am FOR REAL purchasing less from here on out!If I do not, please feel free to admonish me gently.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook  |  💞 reread

📚 The Unbroken – C.L. Clark
📚 A Desolation Called Peace – Arkady Martine
📚 A Rogue to Remember – Emily Sullivan
💾 Bone Crier’s Moon – Kathryn Purdie
💾 Entreat Me – Grace Draven
📚 Legendborn – Tracy Deonn
📚 Rogue Warrior – Margaret Mallory
📚 Rule of Wolves – Leigh Bardugo
💾 Seven Ways to Kill a King – Melissa Wright
📚 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – From a Certain Point of View
📓 The Alien Stars and Other Novellas – Tim Pratt (Thank you, Angry Robot!)
📚 The Black Coast – Mike Brooks
📚 The Bone Shard Daughter – Andrea Stewart
📚 The Conductors – Nicole Glover
💾 The Devil All the Time – Donald Ray Pollock
📚 The Mask of Mirrors – M.A. Carrick
💾 The Unconquerable Sun – Kate Elliott
📚 Waiting for a Scot Like You – Eva Leigh
📓 The Other Black Girl – Zakiya Dalila Harris (Thank you, Atria!)
📓 Composite Creatures – Caroline Hardaker (Thank you, Angry Robot!)

ON SCREEN

GAMING: I got back into Pokemon cards and have been playing the TCG online, and I also finally bought Mario 3D All-Stars!

TV: So, I loved Wandavision, and I’m really excited so far by Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

MOVIES: Godzilla vs Kong is a visual kaiju treat, The Courier is a great cold war spy thriller, Chaos Walking was exactly what I expected it to be, and The Mauritanian is great and infuriating at the same time.

PERSONAL

I am so ready to move, and this week starts the official beginning to clean and sort and pack so I’m not feeling rushed when the time comes. I also had some work done on my car because the steering was acting up, and I’m glad it feels so much safer to drive across country.

BOOKENDS: 2020

- Meg

I have realized since creating the feature “Bookends” that I do not have the mental capacity or energy to do a post every weekend, so my monthly/yearly wrap ups have been renamed to Bookends! I’m not going to change/adjust any of my previous posts, but from here on out, my end of the month/year posts will be filed under this!

CURRENTLY READING

I knew I wasn’t going to finish The Big Book of Science Fiction, but I was hoping to finish A People’s History of the United States and The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem. I am making an effort in January to finish both of those (as well as The Rush’s Edge) so that I at least finish out this month with finishing up the books I read in 2020. It’s a new year, so I need a new start! But the SF one is HUGE and it is kind of fun to pick through and read stories from it every now and then. I do want to read the fantasy ones, so I need to finish this! At this point, I’m not really reading anything new as I just finished my first two books of 2021, so I think I’ll leave this as is until the January post!

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook  |  💞 reread

📚 A People’s History of the United States – Howard Zinn (29%)
📚 The Big Book of Science Fiction – edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (15%)
📚 The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem: From Baudelaire to Anne Carson – edited by Jeremy Noel-Tod (8%)
📓 The Rush’s Edge – Ginger Smith (17%)

FINISHED READING

I read twelve books in December! I really enjoyed the books I read this month, and I think that’s because I leaned into my whims and read what I wanted to read. I did manage two arcs and one published review copy, so I’m pleased with that! I’m trying to use my library more, and three of these were library titles too. I am pleased to be completely caught up (until February) with the ACOTAR series as I’ve had A Court of Wings and Ruin and A Court of Frost and Starlight unread on my shelves for far too long. TBH I think I was just tired of Rhys and Feyre by the middle of book three that I didn’t particularly care (or see a true need) for the novella. I am very excited about Nesta’s continuation, though! 2021 is going to be bringing changes with me, and I am ready for my own ‘tidying festival’ and letting go of a lot of things in my life, including so many of my possessions.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook  |  💞 reread

📚 Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and LA – Eve Babitz (4.5/5 stars)
⌛️ Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies – Tara Schuster (4/5 stars)
📓 One Writer’s Beginnings – Eudora Welty (4.5/5 stars; thank you, Scribner!)
⌛️ Mortal Arts – Anna Lee Huber (4/5 stars)
📱 Ruinsong – Julia Ember (4/5 stars; thank you, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR))
📚 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V.E. Schwab (5/5 stars)
📓 A Princess for Christmas – Jenny Holiday (4/5 stars)
📚 The Little Bookshop on the Seine – Rebecca Raisin (3/5 stars)
📚 The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying-Up – Marie Kondo (4.5/5 stars)
⌛️ Spark Joy – Marie Kondo (4.5/5 stars)
📚 A Court of Frost and Starlight – Sarah J. Maas (3/5 stars)
📚 Ex-Libris: 100+ Books to Read and Reread – Michiko Kakutani (4/5 stars)

 

ON THE HORIZON

All of these are physical copies because I ended up buying Persephone Station with a gift card I had! I had an e-arc, but the more I read about the book, the more I wanted a physical copy for my shelves. Last year, I enjoyed Mike Chen’s A Beginning at the End, so I’m curious to see how this new one stacks up! Doors of Sleep was sent to me by Angry Robot, and I’ve been enjoying their newest titles! Laziness Does Not Exist appealed to me on several different levels, and one of my unofficial 2021 goals is to read more nonfiction of all different sorts. Everyone and their mothers is reading and rereading the Bridgerton series, and I ended up buying the whole series on Thriftbooks before the series was released on Netflix. I’m glad I did now, because it’s impossible to find! The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh sounds like something right up my alley because I always love some further explorations of Pride & Prejudice, especially some of the background characters.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook  |  💞 reread

📚 Persephone Station – Stina Leicht
📓 We Could Be Heroes – Mike Chen (Thank you, Mira!)
📓 Doors of Sleep – Tim Pratt (Thank you, Angry Robot!)
📓 Laziness Does Not Exist – Devon Price, Ph.D. (Thank you, Atria!)
📚 The Duke and I – Julia Quinn
📓 The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh – Molly Greeley (Thank you William Morrow!)

WHAT I ACQUIRED

Me, trying to be on a book buying ban: LOL

I bought too many second-hand romance and fantasy at thrift stores because romance basically got me through some tough times in 2020, but I also need to read the many books I bought last year before I really start doing this thing again… but there’s that meme floating around that book buying and book reading are two completely different hobbies… In addition to the books above in the On the Horizon section, I also bought/received the following. Some were on sale 50% at work, some (like Mrs. Dalloway and The Great Gatsby) were released in editions I collect, some were monthly picks for the store, etc, etc. I really enjoyed the e-arc I read of The Guinevere Deception, so I had to order it in hardcover to match The Camelot Betrayal!

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook  |  💞 reread

📚 Becoming Duchess Goldblatt – Anonymous
📓 Craft in the Real World – Matthew Salesses (Thank you, Catapult!)
📚 Eva Evergreen: Semi-Magical Witch – Julia Abe
📚 Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
📚 Pretty as a Picture – Elizabeth Little
📓 Single and Forced to Mingle – Melissa Croce (Thank you, Atria!)
📚 Star Wars The High Republic: Light of the Jedi – Charles Soule
📚 The Guinevere Deception – Kiersten White
📚 The Camelot Betrayal – Kiersten White
📚 The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
📓 The Mission – David W. Brown (Thank you, Custom House!)
📚 Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor – Ally Carter

ON SCREEN

GAMING: I played Animal Crossing for a bit, but I haven’t had the mental space for a lot of video games this past month. I’ve even been sporadically logging into World of Warcraft, so I don’t have many updates there except for I think I burnt myself out leading up to Shadowlands.

TV: I still have two episodes of The Mandalorian to watch, and then I’m going to finish out Dark and start Bridgerton.

MOVIES: WW84 was disappointing, but I’m seeing it next week in theaters now that they’re open again and maybe that will change it for me..

PERSONAL

I read 118 books in 2020, didn’t finish or even nearly complete any of my challenges, so I decided to go easier on myself in 2021. I’ll have a post coming soon with some goals I want to try to do by the end of the year, but I’m still working on figuring out what those are!

What did you think of your 2020 reading year?