Year To Date: January - June 2018

Hello again!

Wow... Well, I definitely started writing this post before the end of June, but obviously I then forgot all about it, because here we are freshly into August... Oy.

So the plan for this post was to first give a quick summary of the books I read in June, then do a little reminiscing about the books I read during this first half of the year gone by, and then finish off with some goals/TBR list for the rest of the year. So, I might as well continue with that!


June 2018 reads
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi - 4.5 stars
The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro - 5 stars
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling (audio) - reread
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner - 5 stars
Legendary by Stephanie Garber - 5 stars
Relative Happiness by Lesley Crewe - 5 stars
Sold by Patricia McCormick - 3 stars


2018 Part One
So between January and June, I read/finished 41 books on Goodreads. Technically, it's 43 because The Hogwarts Library (Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard) only counts as one on there. We'll keep counting it as one, unless I need more books at the end of the year.;)

Favourites so far:
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris
Relative Happiness by Lesley Crewe

Pleasantly surprised by:
Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly
The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Disappointed by:
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell



2018 Part Two

For July and August, I am participating in a reading challenge called Summer Lovin' Book Camp hosted by the amazing admins of the TBR and Beyond Facebook group. They created a really cool board game where each square had a different genre/theme. I pre-rolled so that I could pick out a list of books ahead of time, and ended up with eleven. The squares I landed on, and the books I (originally) picked out, are below. I think I will write a separate post to discuss my progress with this challenge. Aside from this summer reading challenge, I have a few other books that have been on my shelves for a while that I would like to finally tackle, and Christmas gifts from this past year. I don't have any specific goals, except continuing toward my Goodreads challenge of 80 books.

1. Diverse: Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
2. Debut author: Beyond a Darkened Shore by Jessica Leake
3. Fae: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
4. TBR group read: Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young
5. Paranormal: Our Dark Duet by V.E. Schwab
6. Tear jerker: Where She Went by Gayle Forman
7. Free space: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
8. Retelling: Fairest of All by Serena Valentino
9. All the feels: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
10. Purple: Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston
11. Summer: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Progress Report: April - May 2018

Well, I have all but given up on book blogging. I just can't seem to make it happen. I'm terrible at writing reviews anyway. I can appreciate how taking notes and writing a review helps to really comprehend what you've read and be able to discuss any topics it raises... I get that. But that's not why I read. I read to escape, for entertainment, to have a harmless pastime. I'm not in a book club so I don't need to discuss anything with anyone. And then it comes down to it, if it was a good book, I will remember the basic premise and my feelings about it enough to either recommend it or not. Admittedly, after some time, I barely remember the plot of most of the books I've read, and I literally have to check Goodreads to see if I've read it or not. *sigh* Anyway...

Since it has been a while, I guess I'll just do a summary of the books I read in April and May, and how I rated them. And I will try to come back in a couple weeks to summarize what I read in June, and do a little 6 month recap! Ok, here goes...


April 2018 reads:
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton (audio) - 5 stars
Alice in Tumblr-Land by Tim Manley - 3 stars
The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris - 5 stars
The Hogwarts Library by J.K. Rowling - 5 stars
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee - 4 stars
Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs - 4 stars


My favourite read in April was definitely The Magic Misfits. I loved how interactive it was, with actual clues and puzzles in the book for you to solve as you read. I really enjoyed the story as well, and I am looking forward to reading any sequels.

My least favourite read in April was definitely Alice in Tumblr-Land. It's just a sort of coffee table book, conversation starter, not exactly a "read" as such. It's basically just comics about the "real" lives of fairytale characters in a modern world. Some were funny, but some weren't. I had picked it up because when I flipped through it there was one that struck me funny, but in the end, not worth it.


May 2018 reads:
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (audio) - 3 stars
York: The Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby - 5 stars
The Dollmaker of Krakow by R.M. Romero - 4 stars
The Doldrums by Nicholas Gannon - 5 stars
The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell - 3 stars
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell - 4 stars
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - 4 stars


In May I did a reading challenge through one of the Facebook groups I am in, called TBR and Beyond. The challenge was called "Book to School" and we had to read all middle grade books. There was a "report card" to fill out, and at the end of the month we were graded, and every middle grade book read equalled one entry for a prize. My favourite read in May was a tie between York and The Doldrums. They both have so many elements that I love in a middle grade book: adventure, mystery, friendship...

My least favourite read in May was probably The Wizards of Once just because I had such high hopes and was really disappointed by it. I had never read any of the author's other books. It's classified as middle grade, but definitely geared toward the younger end of the 8-12 age range. I have more appreciation for books that are written for the older end of that range. Her other book, How to Train Your Dragon, was in the same style, but I enjoyed it more, perhaps because of the movie.

~~~

So, as of the end of May, I had finished 34 books out of my goal of 80, putting my 2018 Goodreads reading challenge at 43% complete!

Progress Report: January - March 2018

I knew I hadn't posted for a while, but when I really stopped to look at the calendar I realized that this year is already 25% completed... Things are moving along a bit quicker than I thought! So since I haven't posted in months, this will be a long one!

Once again, I will try to be a little more proactive in my blogging/reviewing. One of my unofficial goals for the year was to blog more, but I feel that's not really realistic, especially as I am trying to read even more books this year than I did last year. If I couldn't keep up with blogging before, what makes me think I'll be able to now?!

I've been shifting around all my piles of books recently, and seeing them all piled up together in one place now gives me this overwhelming desire to read as fast as I can, get through them as fast as possible, and try to get rid of some of them. I feel bad getting rid of books I haven't read yet, because (usually) there was a reason I picked up the book... you know? But then I also feel bad getting rid of books I have read, because it's like I'm abandoning them or betraying them. Anyway, bunny trails...

So, the reading goal I set for myself this year is 80 books. This means I need to be reading 6-7 books every month. That is a fairly average rate for me, but it leaves me no room for slumps or reading breaks. Basically, I need to be chain-reading. So far I'm keeping up (because January I was a book dragon, devouring much more than average), so we'll have to see how the next quarter goes...


January was my biggest reading month so far, partially because I finished up a couple books that I had read large chunks of in December, but also because I was fired up for the new year! Haha! Here's the list of what I read, and how I rated them:

The Glass Spare by Lauren DeStefano - ****
The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp (Alfred Kropp #1) by Rick Yancey - ***
Trouble Is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromley - *****
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - *****
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie - ****
26 Kisses by Anne Michels - ****
The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1) by Jessica Townsend - *****
Queen of Hearts (Queen of Hearts Saga #1) by Colleen Oakes - ****
Blood of Wonderland (Queen of Hearts Saga #2) by Colleen Oakes - ****


In February, I participated in the OwlCrate-A-Thon reading challenge, which helped me bust through 3 OwlCrate reads I hadn't yet got to. Here's what I read:

War of the Cards (Queen of Hearts Saga #3) by Colleen Oakes - ****
Heartless by Marissa Meyer - *****
The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones - *****
Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills - *****
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith - *****

There's not much to say about March, nothing special happened. These were the books I read:

Furthermore (Furthermore #1) by Tahereh Mafi - ****
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia - ****
You Know You're Dutch, When... by Colleen Geske - ***
North of Happy by Adi Alsaid - ****
The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill - ***
Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller - *****
Newt Scamander: A Movie Scrapbook by Rick Barba - ****

2017 Reads

Hey guys! I thought I would make a complete list of the books I've read in 2017, with links to any reviews I've written. Just, you know, in case you were interested or whatever... You probably aren't, but let's be honest, this isn't about you. ;)

I believe I had originally set my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal this year to 30, because that's how many books I read last year. I quickly reached that goal, so I pushed it up to 52. I had reached that by the end of... October, I think? At that point I decided not to set a higher goal, but just see how many books I would end up reading by the end of the year. As things progressed I unofficially gave myself a goal of 75, and I have managed to achieve that!

Reading went really well for me this year! I didn't go through many reading slumps, and I consistently read a minimum of 4 novels per month, at my normal pace - no stressing or pushing to read faster. At the end, I'll admit I read a few shorter books in order to complete a couple challenges and reach my "unofficial goal," but they're still books, and I did read them! ;) There are probably a few areas of my life that I didn't pay as much attention to in order to read more (other hobbies, mostly), but aside from my penpals, I don't think my reading twice as much this year has had much affect on anybody else. I will admit that my penpals may have suffered a bit of neglect this year... :/

According to my Goodreads Year in Books, the most popular book I read was All the Light We Cannot See, and the longest book I read was Wildwood. As you can see from the list below, I was doing alright with reviewing for a while, but I quickly got sidetracked (by reading more books!). I think one of my goals for 2018 will be to set aside time every 3-4 weeks to review any books I've finished in that time period. Or to try to review as soon as I've finished (that would be ideal). Actually, ideally, I should take notes as I'm reading, but that would just require too much organization and commitment on my part! ;) 

1. Flawed by Cecelia Ahern (****) - review here
2. The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister (***) - review here
3. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (****) - review here
4. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (*****) - review here
5. Da Vinci's Tiger by L.M. Elliott (**) - review here
6. The Woman Next Door by Barbara Delinsky - audio (***)
7. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (*****) - review here
8. Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth (****) - review here
9. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (**) - review here
10. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (*****) - review here
11. P. S. I Like You by Kasie West (***) - review here
12. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - audio (***)
13. The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry (****) - review here
14. Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill (*****) - review here
15. Caraval by Stephanie Garber (*****) - review here
16. Seven Deadlies: A Cautionary Tale by Gigi Levangie (***) - review here
17. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (audio / reread) (*****)
18. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley (*****)
19. Grounded by Kate Klise (****)
20. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (****) - review here
21. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (*****) - review here
22. Servants' Hall: A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance by Margaret Powell (***)
23. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (*****) - review here
24. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer - audio (*****)
25. Wildwood by Colin Meloy (*****) - review here
26. Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell (***)
27. Look Into My Eyes by Lauren Child (****)
28. The Girl With the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts (****)
29. Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch (*****) - review here
30. Sweet Misfortune by Kevin Alan Milne (****)
31. The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli (****) - review here
32. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (*****)
33. Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill (***)
34. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (*****) - review here
35. Wonder by R.J. Palacia (*****) - review here
36. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (*****)
37. The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands (*****)
38. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (****) - review here
39. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (*****) - review here
40. Future Perfect by Jen Larsen (****)
41. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (****)
42. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (*****)
43. Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller (*****) - review here
44. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (***)
45. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (****)
46. All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps by Dave Isay (****)
47. New World: Rising by Jennifer Wilson (****)
48. Peter Pan by E.M. Barrie (****) - review here
49. Everland by Wendy Spinale (****)
50. Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman (*****)
51. What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum (*****)
52. 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad (**)
53. The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee (*****)
54. The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling - audio (**)
55. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (*****)
56. Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (***) - review here
57. One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake (*****)
58. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (*****)
59. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (****) - review here
60. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith - audio (*****)
61. A Good Day to Buy by Sherry Harris (****)
62. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith - audio (*****)
63. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (****)
64. Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco (****)- review here
65. Warcross by Marie Lu (****)
66. Glass Houses by Louise Penny (*****) - review here
67. Miracle on 5th Avenue by Sarah Morgan (***)
68. Dear Santa: Children's Christmas Letters and Wish Lists, 1870-1920 (*****)
69. Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore (***) - review here
70. Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows (****)
71. A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (*****)
72. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (****)
73. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling (****)
74. Matchless by Gregory Maguire (***)
75. For One More Day by Mitch Albom (****)

And that's it for 2017! I think this is the most books I have ever read in a year, and I'm pretty stoked about that. If it isn't, it certainly has been years since I've been able to achieve that.

So, I've just set my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal for 2018 to 80. Five more than 2017, which I think should be achievable. Providing that the new year goes as smoothly as this past year, with no real obstacles... We'll see! I will definitely try to continue reviewing the books I've read this year (or at least the ones I really liked), and will try to be more on top of the blogging/reviewing situation in 2018.

Happy New Year everyone, and happy reading!

Progress Report: October - November 2017

*Phew*

 

Let me tell you, I thought that the summer went fast, but the last two months were like a flash! Ok, so maybe October dragged a bit for me due to personal reasons, but November... Where did it go?!

 

Alright, so I just thought I should do another brief overview of my reading for tthe last two months. In October I read the following 5 books and 1 audiobook:

 

My fave October read

 

 

One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake *****

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater *****

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman ****

The Cuckoo's Calling (audio) by Robert Galbraith *****

A Good Day to Buy by Sherry Harris ****

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater ****

 

And in November I read the following 4 books and 1 audiobook:
 

Even though I rated a
couple others higher,
this was my fave
November read!

The Silkworm (audio) by Robert Galbraith *****

Stalking Jack the Ripper (ebook) by Kerri Maniscalco ****

Warcross by Marie Lu ****

Glass Houses by Louise Penny *****

Miracle on 5th Avenue by Sarah Morgan ***

 

I had reached my Goodreads goal of 52 in September, and decided not to increase it, just to see how many books I would read without feeling the pressure of a deadline. As of today, I have read 67 books in 2017! I was sort of unofficially aiming for 75, but that might be a bit of a stretch at this point. I'm not sure exactly how much reading time I'll be putting in between now and Christmas, what with work and Christmas parties, and gifts to finish crafting/buying... But we'll see! Maybe I will surprise myself! ;)

Just to finish the update, I am currently reading Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore. It is mystical and magical and intriguing, but I'm not feeling a real connection to the story or characters yet. I don't think I like the way it is written, but I'm going to stick it out and see if my opinion changes. Last week I picked up, but haven't dug too deep yet into, Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown. And last night (technically December 1st, but we are the first, so... I'll mention it...) I started Dear Santa: Children's Christmas Letters and Wish Lists, 1870-1920. It should be a very sweet Christmas-y read to kick off the season.

I'll be back at the end of the month for a complete 2017 Year in Review post!

It's Monday! What Are YOU Reading? #6

Good evening Bookish Friends!

Welcome back for another It's Monday! What Are YOU Reading? post, as hosted by The Book Date! Here's what I was reading last week:

• the audiobook of The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
• the ebook of Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
• Glass Houses by Louise Penny

I started and finished the first two around the same time, so it took me approximately two weeks to read both of them. The audiobook would've taken that long anyway, because I only listen to them in the car to/from work, so a total of about an hour a day. Stalking Jack the Ripper I would have normally finished faster, but I was trying to read Glass Houses at the same time, which wasn't working very well, so it was a slow beginning for me. Also, I find that I am distracted much easier from ebooks than physical. With a physical book, once I crack it open and start reading, I am pretty well absorbed in it. With the ebook, especially on my phone, I find it so much easier to do anything else except open the book, plus I would be getting notifications and messenger messages, so just very distracting for me. But handier than carrying around a physical book.

I eventually set aside Glass Houses last week, because Stalking Jack the Ripper was for a book club discussion so I wanted to be sure I finished it and the other book club book, which is Warcross by Marie Lu. So, this week I am reading Warcross. I also started the eversion of Where'd You Go, Bernadette? last night, but I most likely won't get much more into that until I have finished both Warcross and Glass Houses. I don't even know why I started it? I guess I was just flipping through my tablet (which I haven't touched in months, and which has a bunch of books in a different program that I can't access from my phone), found it and thought, "Oh that looks good!" so I read a couple chapters. *shrug*

Everyone says Warcross is a really quick read, and the discussion for it is this Saturday, so I'm hoping I'll be able to finish it by then, and then I'd like to finish Glass Houses. After that, I don't really have much of a plan for November. I had added a couple Harlequin's to my month's TBR pile initially, just because they were at the top of a pile that keeps judging me staring at me, and I just want to say I've read them so I can pass them along or whatever. They were gifted to me by a friend, so I do want to actually read them before getting rid of them, if possible. However, if I don't read them by the end of January, I might just have to let them go. The book piles around here are out of hand, and the rest of my family is getting fed up with me.

Anyway! That's what's up this Monday!

Progress Report: Summer 2017

Ok, so I know I say this every time, but seriously... This year is flying by! The summer was a blur... But there were some good times to be had! It wasn't exactly the summer I had anticipated, but I definitely kept busy and had some great adventures!

I'll quickly outline said adventures, for those of you who may be interested! If you are not, feel free to skip this part!

So July was a pretty chill month. Many of my colleagues took their vacations in July, and things were generally quiet on all fronts. I was gifted tickets (from work) for the opening night of a local festival (Festival du Lac des Nations), so my brother and I went to that and had front row seats to the fireworks show. We went on a few little driving adventures, and I had some crafty projects... just taking pleasure in the little things and generally enjoying the season.

August was super busy. My family went to Ontario for the second week of August, so of course the previous week was spent preparing for that. The week that we returned was full of busyness and preparations for the local county fair the following weekend, and my 30th birthday. I had one week to unwind after the fair, and then the next week I was preparing to go away again, this time to New Brunswick to spend an extra long Labour Day Weekend with my best friend! We had a lot of fun going whale watching, spending a day on PEI (visiting the Anne of Green Gables heritage site, L.M. Montgomery's grave, and walking the beach), and some shopping. So much fun!

September started off, of course, with the weekend in New Brunswick/PEI. Life got a bit crazy when I got back... Finances were needing attention, there was an incident at work that aggravated a growing problem, a friend asked me to help her make some decorations for a wedding cake, etc.

 So... with all the adventuring and busyness and personal affairs... I didn't read as much as I would have liked to this summer. I did, however, reach and exceed my Goodreads goal of 52! So, there is that. I decided not to increase it, and just see how many books I would end up reading by the end of the year. This way I won't feel pressured by a number or timing, I can just read to read! (Not that I really stress about the numbers, but I am disappointed when I don't reach a goal).

So, to summarize, in July I read 8 books, 4 in August, and 5 in September (I managed to finish one more before the weekend!).

JULY READS

Future Perfect by Jen Larsen ****

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli ****

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven *****

Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller *****

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle ***

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell ****

All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps by Dave Isay ****

New World: Rising by Jennifer Wilson ****

 

AUGUST READS

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie ****

Everland by Wendy Spinale ****

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman *****

What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum *****

 
SEPTEMBER READS

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad **

The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee *****

The Casual Vacancy (audio) by J.K. Rowling **

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater *****

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst ***

Progress Report - April 2017

You may remember that in February I posted a progress report (check it out here), in which I mentioned that I wanted to make a habit of posting similar posts every month. But with my vacation the end of March, March and April have kind of blurred together into one long month and things just got neglected.

Whoops.

Anywho!! So, in March I read five books, as well as an audio book. They were as follows:

Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill - ***** A story about a girl trying to avenge her father's death, and decide whether the man she loves is a good guy or a bad guy. It's full of adventure and innocent romance, and I adored it.

Caraval  by Stephanie Garber - ***** This is a story about the love between sisters (Scarlett & Tella). It's a magical tale of an elaborate game set on a private island. It was dark and weird and had a twist or two, and I just loved it. It definitely lived up to all the hype and anticipation for me.

Seven Deadlies: A Cautionary Tale by Gigi Levangie - *** Kind of cute. This young girl is writing a series of letters to a college admissions officer, explaining the weird things she has encountered as a "babysitter" for her peers, etc. It's all fun and games until the last couple of letters which ruined everything for me.

A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley - ***** The third book in the Flavia de Luce series. This time Flavia gets involved with gypsies, and helps solves an attempted murder, as well as an old kidnapping/murder case.

Grounded by Katie Klise - **** This one was kinda weird. Similar to Flavia, Dolly is a 12 year old girl who likes a bit of a mystery. Through a kind of creepy and semi-dangerous series of events, she uncovers a cheating swindler in their midst.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (audio - technically a "re-read") - ***** One of my fave books of all time! If you haven't read it, you must. All I will say is it's magical and takes place in a circus.

In April I also read five books and an audio book. I feel like I probably could have read another, but the last one was really long! So, April's reads were:

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver - **** I wasn't sure how to feel about this one. The main character, Sam, dies and relives her last day about 10 times, changing things every time. She becomes a completely different person and ends up making very different choices, but in the end she still dies, and I couldn't quite figure out how I was supposed to feel about that.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - ***** Full of weirdness, magic, psychics, ghosts, talking trees. This story follows Blue and her Raven boys (Gansey, Adam, Ronan & Noah) on their quest to find the resting place of Owen Glendower.

Servant's Hall by Margaret Powell - *** A first-hand account of life "below stairs" from a former kitchen servant. She tells the true story of how a servant girl from downstairs married the family's son from upstairs, which helped inspire Downton Abbey (new episode of Downton of Netflix were what inspired me to pick this one up!).

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon - ***** Crazy cute love story. I can't wait for the movie!

Wildwood by Colin Meloy - ***** An adventure-packed story, very reminiscent of The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. Prue's baby brother is kidnapped by a murder of crows and taken into the Impassable Wilderness. Prue and her friend Curtis head into the forest to rescue him, and find all kinds of strange and wonderful creatures.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (audio) - ***** I love that this is written in the form of letters and telegrams, which was kind of fun with the audio version, because different actors read the different voices of the characters. I really enjoyed all the little war-time stories that are shared, and the romance we see develop.

Mid-April, seeing that I was already over two-thirds toward my goal of 35 books, I decided to increase my Goodreads goal to 45. So, to date, I have now read 25 out of 45 books and have completed 56% of my new goal. I will increase again in a few months, if I feel it is necessary. I'm really impressed with how much I've been reading this year. Part of me wishes I could read faster (so many books, so little time!), but as it is I'm reading too fast to keep up with writing reviews, so I guess I'll just stick with this pace.

Progress Report - February 2017

A couple weeks ago I participated in the weekly meme called It's Monday! What are YOU reading? (read my post here) and mentioned that I would be publishing this post last week, but I didn't get around to it. Whoops! I am going to try to make a habit of posting updates every month to summarize my reading progress.

 

As I mentioned at the beginning of the year, I've set myself a Goodreads goal of 35, but am unofficially aiming to reach 40.

 

In January I read six books and had aimed, for February, to finish The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, a few OwlCrate books, and some of my more recent acquisitions. It wasn't noted, but understood, that I also intended to read Anne of Avonlea, for my online book club reading challenge. Partway through the month, OwlCrate introduced their first annual OwlCrate-a-Thon reading challenge, which was to help us get through some of our unread OwlCrate books, and I decided to participate. The requirements for the challenge were 1) to read at least three books, 2) read one fantasy and one contemporary, 3) the one you've had the longest. The challenge ran from March 11-25.

 

So, in February I ended up reading five books: Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth, The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (finally!), This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (OwlCrate 1: fantasy), P.S. I Like You by Kasie West (OwlCRate 2: contemporary), and The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry (OwlCrate 3: longest owned). I also listened to  All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer. I didn't mention in my January post that I had also listened to The Woman Next Door by Barbara Delinsky.

 

I barely read any of Anne of Avonlea, which I felt pretty bad about, so in March I am hoping to burn through both that and Anne of the Island. I am currently reading Ever the Hunted, I would like to read Caraval and a few others, but I'm kind of leaving it open. There are always books I'd like to read, but then when it comes time to pick up a new book, I'm not in the mood for those. So, we shall see!


So, my total books read in 2017 at this point is 13 out of 35, which is 37% complete - 8 books ahead of schedule! At this rate, I could potentially read over 70 books by the end of the year. That would be awesome! Especially if I could come to terms with getting rid of the ones I didn't love out of those I've read... *wink, wink*

Progress Report - January 2017

I just felt like doing a little update on my reading progress, seeing as January has now come and gone.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the year, I've set myself a Goodreads goal of 35, but will aim to reach 40.

So far, I have finished six books: Flawed by Cecelia Ahern (review here), The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister (the book I got for Christmas!), Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (which is part of an online book club reading challenge), Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (review here), Da Vinci's Tiger by L.M. Elliott (review here), and Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (review here).

For February, I'd like to finally finish The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George - the book is nothing like what I imagined it would be, and I've had such a hard time getting over that. If I can't finish it in February, I think I will officially DNF that sucker and get it out of my life!

Aside from that, I will most likely tackle another OwlCrate book or two, as well as some of my more recent acquisitions, because there have been so many lately!! I'm almost embarrassed, but then I remember that I am far from the only one!

I do have quite a collection of books that I, honestly, will probably never read. I tend to pick up interesting looking/sounding used books everywhere (yard sales, rummage sales, used bookstores, thrift stores, hand-me-downs from relatives, dollar stores, etc. The supply is nearly endless!). However, the books I tend to pick up in loads like that tend not to be books that I will read. If I had nothing else to read, I suspect they would fit the bill and could be quite captivating, but there are just so many books, and not enough time! In my reading, I tend to lean more towards books that are more popular/well-known, or classical novels (to say I did), etc. In my foraging, I do occasionally find books that are on my wishlist, or by authors I recognize, but for the most part, those thrifty finds are usually just random books that have either a charming cover/title or a very intriguing synopsis. It seems that the prettier the cover and longer the title, the more likely I will be to buy the book; but the more well-known it is, the likelier I am of reading it.

Anyway, all that to say that I think I may need to attempt another purge of my book collection. The last time I tried I went through 3 bins and got rid of maybe 5 books. I am a collector by nature, it's difficult for me to leave interesting things behind at a store (I want it, therefore I need it!), and often even more difficult to let go of said things once they are in my possession. It probably comes from some underlying need/desire, but that's far too deep and philosophical for this post.

Suffice it to say that I will try again soon to purge my book collection, and I may be giving away (used) books on my bookstagram account or in the OwlCrate Society Facebook group, so keep an eye out!