monthly recap

REWIND: Summer 2019

- Meg

Even though the header says “Monthly Rewind,” this installment will cover June, July, and August’s reading! I want to get in the habit of writing more than just review posts to add some variety and hopefully keep me out of a blogging slump. Now that I’m settled in my new place, I have plans in place to organize myself better, and I already have a Monthly Rewind for September in the drafts! I’ll be adding to it throughout the month so I don’t feel like I have to catch up at everything in the last minute.

Over the summer, I read thirty books! I read nine books in June, and in July, I didn’t read for the first half of the month, but I managed to read and finish twelve books. I read nine in August. Ten books is a month is my average, and I do try to shoot for at least that many. However, if I’m busy or just not feeling reading, I’ve been letting myself not read. I’ve been doing the same with social media over the summer as I realized it’s hard to read, want to read, post, and want to post when there’s a lot going on IRL. I needed to give myself space to adjust to the changes. I’m still adjusting, but I’m finding myself in a better frame of mind to get back in the swing of things with my blog and Instagram!

In June, I read:

  • The Very Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan – Caitlin R. Kiernan 3.5/5
  • The Earl Next Door – Amelia Grey 3/5
  • Rouge – Richard Kirshenbaum 3/5
  • Sky in the Deep – Adrienne Young 4/5
  • The Templars – Dan Jones 3.5/5
  • Jane, Unlimited – Kristin Cashore 3/5
  • Not One of Us: Stories of Aliens on Earth – Neil Clarke 4/5
  • The Mere Wife – Maria Dahvana Headley 5/5
  • Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck 4/5

In July, I read:

  • Off the Grid – Robert B. McCaw 3/5
  • Chaucer’s Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury – Paul Strohm 4/5
  • The Beast’s Heart – Leife Shallcross 4/5
  • Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky 4.5/5
  • The Dragon Lady – Louisa Treger 4/5
  • The Flatshare – Beth O’Leary 4/5
  • Neuromancer – William Gibson 4/5
  • Cold-Hearted Rake – Lisa Kleypas 3.5/5
  • A Memory Called Empire – Arkady Martine 5/5
  • Annihilation – Jeff VanderMeer 5/5
  • A Conspiracy of Truths – Alexandra Rowland 4.5/5
  • Seafire – Natalie C. Parker 4/5

In August, I read:

  • The Duke is But a Dream – Anna Bennett 3/5
  • We Are All Good People Here – Susan Rebecca White 4/5
  • Love at First Like – Hannah Orenstein 4/5
  • To Kill a Kingdom – Alexandra Christo 4/5
  • Authority – Jeff VanderMeer 5/5
  • Meet Me in the Future: Stories – Kameron Hurley 5/5
  • An Enchantment of Ravens – Margaret Rogerson 5/5
  • Savage Appetites – Rachel Monroe 3/5
  • Rogue Most Wanted – Janna MacGregor 3/5

Overall, I’m really pleased with what I read and the variety of what I read. I’ve been really into medieval history lately and I’ve been picking at a few history books over the summer. Reading historical romance has been one of my personal challenges this year because I dismissed the romance genre as a whole without really understanding what it was about, so I’m learning a lot about the history of the genre and what place it has, and honestly, I’m enjoying it! This year I challenged myself to read more classic SF, which I’m failing at because I had a whole challenge set up and then my life kind of did a whole whirlwind change and that fell to the wayside, and more YA because I keep buying it but not reading enough even to marginally keep up with what I’m buying.

What were some of your favorite books you read this summer?

January/February Wrap Up

- Meg

I should have made posts like this at the end of January and at the end of February, but better late than never! I also pretty much failed at blogging during the month of February, so I’m going to do better in March and beyond! Several of the books listed below will have reviews posted later in the month.

I read ten books in January and ten books in February for a total of twenty books read to my yearly goal of 100! Most of the books I read I gave a rating of 3 stars or higher. The few 5 star ratings include Thomas’s The Hate U Give, Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, and Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic.

MEMOIRS

  • The Princess Diarist – Carrie Fisher
  • Spaceman – Mike Massimino

YOUNG ADULT

  • Caraval – Stephanie Garber
  • Heartless – Marissa Meyer
  • The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
  • Martians Abroad – Carrie Vaughn

ADULT FICTION

  • Swimming Lessons – Claire Fuller
  • Our Endless Numbered Days – Claire Fuller
  • Human Acts – Han Kang

MYSTERY

  • The White Cottage Mystery – Margery Allingham
  • The Cuckoo’s Calling – Robert Galbraith
  • A Perilous Undertaking – Deanna Raybourn

SF/FANTASY

  • A Darker Shade of Magic – V.E. Schwab
  • The Bear and the Nightingale – Katherine Arden
  • The Best American SF/F 2017 – ed. John Joseph Adams & Karen Joy Fowler
  • The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin

CLASSICS

  • Passing – Nella Larsen

MYTHOLOGY

  • Norse Mythology – Neil Gaiman

DNF

  • Carve the Mark – Veronica Roth

Monthly Rewind: February

- Meg

rewind

February was so quick and so full of activities! I did manage to read quite a bit and I’m now in the process of writing and adding the reviews. I’m using a new plug in that makes it so easy to add in all of the information! I’m working on updating the older posts with the new system, so if you see any weirdness, please let me know!

GENERAL BLOG UPDATES

I’m working on incorporating all of the old reviews into the new plug in, and it’s already keeping things incredibly organized. Some of the pages might look wonky in the process of it all, and I’m going to be working on some of the information pages as well to get it even more organized!

BOOKS READ 

DNF

BOOKS ACQUIRED

I am trying to curb my acquisitions, spend less, use my library more, and read what I own, so I’m pleased with this list. I’m still waiting on the two giveaways I won from Goodreads, so if those don’t arrive by this weekend, I’m going to drop both a line!

  • Stars Above – Marissa Meyer (purchased)
  • The Lady of the Camillas – Alexandre Dumas fils (purchased)
  • After Alice – Gregory Maguire (library, Edelweiss)
  • The Diviners – Libba Bray (library, audiobook)
  • War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy (purchased)
  • Moby-Dick – Herman Melville (purchased)
  • The New York Stories of Edith Wharton – Edith Wharton (purchased)
  • Shylock is My Name – Howard Jacobson (Blogging for Books)
  • The Aeronaut’s Windlass (The Cinder Spires #1) – Jim Butcher (library)
  • Passenger – Alexandra Bracken (library, Netgalley)
  • Uprooted – Naomi Novik (library)
  • Assassin’s Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy #1) – Robin Hobb (purchased)
  • The Quick – Lauren Owen (purchased)
  • The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller (purchased)

March’s review will be posted at the beginning of April! This month has already flown by too!

Monthly Rewind: January

- Meg

rewind

January was a weird and busy month! I moved back in with best friends in their new house, I am on the hunt for an additional job to support myself while I finish out this semester as an adjunct English professor, and I’m seriously loving that I can see the library from my front door. I did manage to read six books (and didn’t finish one). Now that I feel more established, I think I’ll be posting these once a month, and next month’s will hopefully be less sparse. So here’s January’s recap!

GENERAL BLOG UPDATES

Even though I technically implemented it in February, the blog has a little bit of a facelift! It was looking a little plain and impersonal, so it was time for a change. There’s a main blog header, and three headers for the three main styles of posts I’ll be writing. I might get fancier later.

BOOKS READ 

I’ve posted a review for one of these, I want to write a proper review for Truthwitch, and I think I’ll post a mini-review recap in a few days for the rest of them.

  • The Crimson Petal and the White – Michel Faber (owned)
  • The Bad Beginning – Lemony Snicket (owned)
  • The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight – Jennifer E. Smith (Netgalley)
  • Moth and Spark – Anne Leonard (owned)
  • The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories – Michel Faber (library)
  • Truthwitch – Susan Dennard (library)

DNF

I usually try to finish all of the books I read, but this one I had to stop about 60% of the way through. I’ll post more about it in that mini-review recap.

  • The Good Luck of Right Now – Matthew Quick

BOOKS ACQUIRED

I am trying to curb my acquisitions, spend less, use my library more, and read what I own, so I’m pleased with this list. I’m still waiting on the two giveaways I won from Goodreads, so if those don’t arrive by this weekend, I’m going to drop both a line!

  • 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas – Marie-Helene Bertino (Blogging for Books)
  • The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories – Michel Faber (library)
  • Truthwitch – Susan Dennard (library)
  • The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah (library)
  • The Dressmaker – Rosalie Ham (library)
  • Eleanor – Jason Gurley (library)
  • We That Are Left – Clare Clark (library)
  • Far From the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy (purchased)
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Alan Dean Foster (purchased)

That’s all for this month. I’m planning on making this short, leap-yeared February a full one!