Currently Reading
- Chinese Fortune Reading Cards by Sharina Star (52%)
-
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (14%)
- Fearless Tarot by Elliot Adam (52%)
- Persephone Unveiled by Charles Stein (20%)
- Cute Little Lenormand by Sara M. Lyons (48%)
- Brothers of the Wild North Sea by Harper Fox (85%)
- The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington (37%)
- The Fireman by Joe Hill (40%)
* * *
Yearly Reading Goal
42/100
* * *
So, I know. I did the thing (again). I have trouble remembering, so don't be surprised if the updates are sporadic at best. I will always post the blogs when I actually remember to. I'm going to try to do better during the back half of the year, but don't expect much. 03 July is moving day. I will be busy quite a bit with getting everything into the truck and then out of the truck into the new place. Please bear with me!!!
I finished five books so far in June, which means I have ONE day to finish more books. I can add one last one before the month is over and then I will be starting in on July's books. I found another readathon for July, but it doesn't start until the 10th, so I have nine days to read whatever I want until then. I will likely try to finish up a few of the books that were already on my currently reading list, like The Shadow of What Was Lost, maybe Persephone Unveiled, or other books that won't take forever.
In the end, I finished six books for June and have started my reads for July. The idea of finishing up my books before the start of the Tarot Readathon have gone out the window. We moved to the new house on Saturday, July 3rd. Have been going almost non-stop since then to get everything in and sorted. It's going to be a long time yet until everything is settled and all of our stuff is up.
Going back to an old idea I had from last year or possibly the year before, I can't remember offhand. I found my old Lima Bean travel mug (sans lid) and it's full of fish tank pebbles. So, since I'm putting myself on a solid 1:3 book ratio (1 new: 3 finished) for the rest of 2021, I am going to use the fish tank pebbles to count it out. Every book finished is a new pebble in the jar. Then I can only buy as many books as there are pebbles in multiples of three. That way I can keep track of how much I am reading and just how many books I am allowed to buy. I'm still debating whether or not I will include the Book of the Month and Once Upon a Book Club picks for that, since they are subscription services.
I suppose since I didn't mention it really earlier, I should tell you about the readathon I found that I'm taking part in starting the day this blog goes up. I found it through an entirely different group on Discord, as follows:
Join one team. You can choose for yourself depending on what resonates with you, which “upright and reversed” challenges sound the most fun to you, or if you can’t decide, pull (or generate) one random tarot card and join that suit’s team:
- CUPS - water, emotions, relationships, intuition, creativity
- CUPS TEAM UPRIGHT: Modify or come up with a new prompt for one of the cards/prompts you get. Can relate to the imagery on the car, the colors, the actual meaning etc (ex. The star = read a book with stars on the cover)
- CUPS TEAM REVERSED: Once your TBR is set there is no changing or swapping books halfway through including DNFs. If you DNF a book from your TBR the prompt that book was for won’t be completed. You can add on more prompts and books as you go throughout the readathon but you can’t replace a book for the same prompt.
- WANDS - fire, energy, passion, success, ambition, warmth
- WANDS TEAM UPRIGHT: Your TBR can include books you’ve already started prior to the first day of the readathon (up to 50% through the book).
- WANDS TEAM REVERSED: BUT, if you choose to include more than one book you’ve already started on your TBR, for every already started book after the first, you can only count pages read during the actual readathon towards the Minor Arcana Trophy, and card values for that particular prompt will only be worth half for the Major Arcana Trophy.
- SWORDS - air, logic, intellect, protection, decisiveness, clarity
- SWORDS TEAM UPRIGHT: You may use one book to fulfill two prompts but only once during the readathon. The number of pages in the book will count double.
- SWORDS TEAM REVERSED: A book for one of your prompts must be chosen at random (ie. having a friend pick one of your books, throwing up a poll on IG, Twitter, or your channel, using a randomizer app, picking the title of a book out of a jar, etc.)
- PENTACLES - earth, peace, groundedness, nature, wealth, growth
- PENTACLES TEAM UPRIGHT: Books longer than 400 pages that you complete count for an extra 100 points in the Minor Arcana Trophy, and an extra 2 points in the Major Arcana Trophy. ($$$)
- PENTACLES TEAM REVERSED: Your tbr must consist of ONLY books you already own (you can use the library if you need to, just no new purchases for this tbr).
Make your TBR! The fun part! If you have tarot cards, you can make a spread of as few or as many cards as you want. Each card in the spread has a unique prompt. If you don’t own a deck, you can generate a virtual spread with an online card generator like this one. You can draw one at a time, and read your book for that prompt before drawing another card, OR you can make your tbr spread all at once. Whichever sounds more fun to you! No doubling up (except Team Swords but only once). One card = one book. Draw as few or as many cards as you want, but only one book can be used for any one card, and vice versa.
I have joined Team Swords, and drawn six cards to start with for the readathon:
* 3 of Swords - Read a book you think will be a tearjerker: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
* 10 of Swords - Read a book featuring a murder or a murder mystery: The 7-1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
* Knight of Swords - Read a book featuring a character on a quest or mission: Jason and the Golden Fleece by Apollonius of Rhodes
* The Chariot - Read a Booktube/Bookstagram recommendation: The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
* The Queen of Cups - Read a diverse romance: The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki
* 7 of Wands - Read the first book in a series: Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
I think this is quite a suitable amount to be read from 10 to 24 July. A good mix of long and short novels that I should be able to read through quickly.
