June Wrap-Up 2020 + July Goals

I think the theme for 2020 is going to be 'it's been rough' because, again, June was rough.

Pile o'notebooks & coffee sustenance 

I just started my old job again. Things are slow as everything is trying to pick up. I've seen no evidence of this, but I'm told it has. My biggest worry is getting laid off again since COVID-19 has spiked, again, and that was the reason I was laid off the first time. We'll see.

May Wrap-Up 2020 + June Goals

I meant to post this on Monday, but got so caught up in everything going on that I forgot. Tuesday was #blackouttuesday and I only posted links to help/donate/petitions on all my social media. Wednesday I was just drained and honestly, I still am. If you want info on the police killings and protests and resources to help out/donate, check out my pinned tweet and scroll on down. I've been retweeting like mad anything that's useful. Also, if you want to become a better ally, join me in participating in a buddy read created and led by @bookswithshae that's starting tomorrow, the 5th. She's picked for everyone to read White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo and White Rage by Carol Anderson. You can get the books free on Scribd (2 month free trial, it's her code) here. Check out Shae 🦄✨ (@bookswithshae): twitter and Youtube. There's a website set up for the buddy read here.

I ended up reading five Tor shorts this month, two graphic novels I got off Netgalley, one physical book (review here), one ebook from Netgalley, one ebook from the library, and three audiobooks. I bailed on two that just could not keep my interest (and one especially I kept trying, but would pick it up and just never actually open it to read). I feel bad about these bails as they were both in a reading swap I was doing. Slowly, I'm clawing myself out of this slump, but looking down the road... there are pitfalls, especially if things continue on in lockdown as they have. I'm hoping I'll be able to keep my spirits up and keep focused on the things I need and want to do.

April Wrap-Up 2020 + May Goals

I finished The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence (review here), listened to the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for my HP reread, and two new books:  The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander (read for unshelving project, also gifted - review here) and An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (audiobook was fantastic). There's been a few false starts with various audiobooks. May go back to them, we'll see.

I joined this movie community called Letterboxd the later half of this month where I've been logging my quest to catch up on all the horror flicks I've missed. Still catching up on some reviews there, but if you watch a lot of movies and wanna join, here's my profile - add me!

Won some more books, received some gifts (see pic above) - thus the unshelving project never ends. Tried to do the Dewey 24-hr redaction, but only managed to read an hour. Spent a lot of time playing Sims 4 (since I don't have a Switch for Animal Crossing). Still laid off.

March 2020 Wrap-Up + April Goals

This month has been absolutely chaotic between the oldest's school being cancelled for basically forever (I think the tentative date back right now is April 28th?), other shutdowns (libraries, bookstores are my most upsetting ones - especially the ones that may not come back after all this starts getting better),  and my job's hours being reduced before me ultimately getting temporarily laid off (I spoke to our HR gal and she's assured me they'll call all of us back - we'll see). I've had to nativagate filing for unemployment for the first time in my life, avoid people more than usual (because certain people I live with either can't or won't). I've been trying to support as locally as I can, but it's going to start getting tough if the other earners in the apartment get laid off as well.

So of my goals I set in February, I've solidly finished two. I got everything for my book swap and got the box sent out, luckily before the post office closed (currently, it's still open, but a lot of the other folks in the swap have been talking about theirs being closed, so I doubt everyone's going to get their box when they're supposed to). I spoke with the person that's supposed to send me my swap and I likely will fall into that 'get it later' category. That's ok. The world is crazy right now.

I also posted about Twelve Nights at Rotter House. See that here. My goal about that book club was only really half completed as there's no longer going to be face-to-face meetings and I haven't heard of a virtual one for horror group yet. But I got The Exorcist and listen/read it and also watched the movie. See that here.

I've been chugging away at The Girls and The Stars and while it is so fast paced and interesting, I think it's also bogging me down at bit with how breakneck it is and the world building is just so vast. It's lovely, but it's taking me longer to complete than expected. I may not get it out to the next in line before I get the one sent to me.

Have been social distancing and haven't been able to get out to do any magnet fishing. I think technically we can, so long as we stay away from anyone else, but the motivation to do things like that with everyone is slim. I also wrote next to nothing besides a few notes and scenes over the course of the month.

The chaotic-ness of me trying to get any work done (piles of notebooks, books, cords, and my laptop)

All those people saying that this time of being cooped up should be time everyone should be working on their creative endeavors obviously hasn't had a houseful of kids and paranoid people, with an endless barrage of bad news on their phone, and stress shutting off every creative synapses in their brain. I've been an almost useless puddle of goo.

I finished three books.

The Exorcist, obviously. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (translated by Gunny Tapley Takemori), which was a quick and entertaining palate cleanser. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, which I listened to it narrated by him and it was a little bittersweet. I miss seeing the man travel around to interesting places and eat interesting things.

Anyway, I'm not going to give my self any strict April goals as I got a feeling it's going to be just a ridiculous as March.

• Finish a book
• Write anything at all
• Try not to be on social media 24-7

February 2020 Wrap Up + March Goals

To start, have you seen the picture of that hospital nursery where they put all the babies into little frog hats for the leap day? Very cute. Highlight of my month considering it wasn't a great reading month, I didn't get much done with my other goals, and the news has been an absolute shitshow. So here's some cute frog babies.

I finished one book I started in January, Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (review here). And only actually started and finished two other books. The Princess Beard by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne, a very funny audiobook borrow (I'm working on a review of the trilogy now and some commentary not strictly review related) and Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J.W. Ocker, a physical book for horror bookclub at my local bookstore. I didn't finish it in time for the meet and didn't want to spoil the ending by going anyway, but there longer I have mulled on it, the more I wish I'd let it be spoiled. The ending honestly ruined the book for me and I'll likely post a spoiler-y review in a day or so.

As much as I was looking forward to Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer, I just could not get into it and returned it to the library. I'll have to pick it up again when I think I can focus. I bailed on Highfire by Eoin Colfer, which is a shame as I dug Artemis Fowl, but just could not get into this adult fare. Didn't read any Way of Kings.

I'm slowly chugging along with American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson (it feels a bit disjointed with lots of facts thrown at you and also, wtf was original CSI. Insane.), The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey (which I'm not feeling so far, but I got it for review), and just started Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore on audio the last day of February (it's good so far).

On Litsy, I joined a group of gals who are going to be swapping books for four months. The 4 books we're going to cycle among ourselves sound interesting and I'm especially excited to get my choice back in the mail at the end. I'm reading my proof copy of The Girl and The Stars by Mark Lawrence, which I was SO stoked to receive a copy of. I've heard the author's other stuff has just been great.

I also set myself up for a bookswap, which I may end up regretting as I may spend too much on my match. The host hasn't matched everyone up yet, won't be until March 11th, I think? It's like spring/Easter themed. I'll probably post what I get on here (or if it messes up - which is why I stopped with the swaps originally - I'll complain about that instead).

Not much TV watched last month. I think I watched a single movie? Idk. Lots of YouTube. Just playing Dragon Age: Inquisition on hard and getting my ass handed to me. Bioshock and restarted Skyrim with a warrior, necromancer orc.


March Goals:

• Finally use the giant magnet to go magnet fishing.
• Finish The Girl and The Stars, primary, but also the others I'm currently reading (3, with the exception of Way of Kings since there's just no way)
• Get one book for one of the bookclubs (I'm leaning towards The Exorcist for horror bookclub)
• Once I get the match for the swap, get everything for it ASAP
• Write a short story (or anything, seriously)
• Get review for Rotter House posted here and two other posts (I have one solid idea and the other is a maybe)

Anyway, how was your February? 

January 2020 Wrap Up (w/some Feb goals)

Books Completed:

Storm Front - Jim Butcher (finished Jan. 05) review here

Guts - Raina Telgemeier (finished Jan. 11) 4 out of 5 stars, read because my oldest daughter gave it to me to read after she did. She has all her graphic novels and has liked them all. They're pretty good books!

Monstress Vol. 4: The Chosen - Marjorie M. Liu and Sana Takeda (finished Jan. 29) 4 out of 5 stars, this entire series has been interesting and beautiful, so far. Pretty great world building, too!

The Wives - Tarryn Fisher (finished Jan. 20) 2 out of 5 stars. I have a bone to pick with this book. It was seriously terrible. I may just dedicate a review post to it, but we'll see. (If I decide to, I'll link it here, too.)

I won a book (The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence) and recieved a book I won back in December (American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson). Both are have jumped up the immediate TBR pile (behind Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer, the bookclub horror pick for February: Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J.W. Ocker, and my current reads).

picture of My Grandma and Me by Mina Javaherbin

Books Read With bb: 11 (plus plenty of rereads)

Her faves of the month:

First Numbers by Tony Mitten and Ant Parker & 12 Lucky Animals by Vickie Lee and Joey Chou (her Chinese zodiac is the dog!)

One of the picture books I read to the bb,  My Grandma and Me by Mina Javaherbin and Lindsey Yankey, completed 3 prompts for 3 different challenges I'm loosely working on. It was a pretty book and sweet.

January was rough for reading. Haven't gotten into the swing of this new year and new schedules so, especially audiobooks, reading has been all over the place. Also, all of my adult reads last month were just.. bad with the exception of one and current reads (though Just Mercy is upsetting in a different kinda way).

Here's hoping February is better! Loose TBR for February is: finish up Just Mercy (physical book for nonfic bookclub), The Princess Beard by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne (audiobook), Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer (physical library borrow I've /patiently/ awaited), Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J.W. Ocker (physical book for horror bookclub), American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson (physical copy for review), and probably a few chapters of The Way of Kings.

Other Unnecessary Stats:
Active TV shows: Grimm S5E9, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina S3E4, The Great British Pottery Throw Down S3E3
Movies watched: The Witch ****, Paranormal Activity 2 ***, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil ***
Video games playing: Dragon Age: Inquisition (3rd replay, on hard) and picked up No Man's Sky again

2019 Wrap-Up (long)

For 2019, my GR's goal was 80, then I bumped it up to 90 when I hit that in November, but I figured I would maybe get one or two more books before the end of the year since December is typically my slowest reading month, but I read 100 books! The review for my 100th book of 2019 'Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?' will probably drop January 11th, after I go to the bookclub for it.

I just wanted to go over some stats before going into my top books of the year.

So, according to Goodreads, my total pages from the year equaled over 23,000 pages, which is kinda wild when think about it like that (how many words would that be?!) My longest book, with 720 pages, was Imaginary Friends by Stephen Chbosky (I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars) and my shortest book, with 22 pages, was Blue Morphos in the Garden (which I actually read on Tor.com and gave 4 out of 5 stars). 32 of the authors were male and 41 were female, a couple of other such and for the most part I'd say like 90% of the authors were new to me. I tried to consciously read more non-cis white male authors and I'd say I branched out a lot more.

I don't have any specifics stats for genre, as I didn't keep track so well... but I know I've read more nonfiction this year then ever before with I think... seven? I read more sci-fi and horror than what's usual too, but it looks like I read way less YA books than usual. I think I'm just finding it harder and harder to relate to the teenagers? There hasn't been many I've enjoyed this last year. I've downloaded BookRiot's spreadsheet for 2020, so we'll see if there's better stats for next year!

Top Reads of 2019

• Best audios are definitely The Tales of Pell by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne. I listened to the first 2 and they were so entertaining! I've got the 3rd one on hold and hopefully will get it here soon! I listened to A LOT of audios in 2019.
• Best graphic novel by far was the Saga series (I read most of it this year) by Brian K. Vaughan (who also did Paper Girls, which was another good one this year) and illustrated by Fiona Staples. I'm caught up and volume 9 hurt my heart D: I read some really great graphic novels though and a close runner up was Harrow County by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Tyler Crook.
• Best nonfiction, that made me incredibly sad and rage-y was Dopesick by Beth Macy. I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara was SO scary and the ending was bittersweet.
• Overall, I think I enjoyed the sci-fi books the most. The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells were thoroughly entertaining and I'm kind of in love with how lovely Becky Chambers makes the future sound!

In 2019:
I had 5 5-star ratings: Saga Vol. 9 (Brian K. Vaughn), The Shadowglass (Rin Chupeco), The Kingdom of Copper (S.A. Chakraborty), Exit Strategy (Martha Wells), and Passing Strange (Ellen Klages).

58 4-star ratings, 29 3-star ratings, 5 2-star ratings, and 1 1-star ratings (if you wanted to know, it was a romance that made me rant in my Litsy and GR review).
I did not finish 8 books. I won't go into these, but this is such a relief to me that I've finally learned to let books I just DON'T want to read go. There's too many books to waste time on shit books.

Other Bookish Things:

This was the year of following Booktubers. Want some good ones? Some of my faves: Thoughts on Tomes, Merphy Napier, Daniel Greene. If you know of any booktubers that do more horror, scifi, or fantasy videos let me know!

2019 was 3 years for me on Litsy! It's had it's drama, but it primarily has been about books and I've met some cool people on there. If you wanna talk books and not have to deal with all the stupid review drama on GR, definitely check on Litsy!

I've been trying to branch out locally with other readers and towards the end of the year went to a few bookclubs at a local bookstore. It's fun and I hope eventually I won't be awkward as shit. I'm planning on going to at least 3 this month. And hopefully many more throughout 2020.

So to end this info dump, here are the battered copies of my one-year-old's favorite books: