T5W: Books Bought For the Cover

This week's T5W was a freebie, so I went back through previous topics and selected "Books Bought for the Cover" from July 2014 (2015?). Usually I don't buy books for their cover, but I did manage to come up with a few: 

1. Renegades by Marissa Meyer - I really liked the color scheme and then how it looks like a graphic novel cover. Haven't read it yet, but it looks really good. 

2. The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi - Another one where I liked the cover. It was really pretty all the blues and purples. 

3. Circle of Stone by Catherine Fisher - There was just something about the way the cover wasn't to...busy. I know that sounds weird, but I liked how not cluttered it was. 

4. The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco - Purple and a skull. I liked the skull. I'm sort of easy to please there. Creepy things are my jam. 

5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery - I loved the funny image on the cover and the deep blue of the background. The white around the border was neat as well. 

January 2019 Wrap Up

In January I read, 5 books. Some I liked, some I didn't. It gave me new authors to look out for and at least one to definitely avoid in the future.

#1: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

This book was definitely not what I was originally expecting. I prefer to go into books blind, and that was probably a bad idea with this one. I had thought this book was going to be about discovering a sect of witches or powers of some sort. Turns out it really should have been 'A Discovery by Witches.' They (the witches) make the discovery. Though we only get a glimpse of what the discovery is while Diana is trying way too hard to be involved romantically with a 1500+ year old vampire who is rather disinterested in her. I smell what I call WBS, or Wicker Basket Syndrome. She thinks she is ugly or plain, but has massive magical power. It didn't seem plausible for even a fantasy novel. It was somewhat strange. Seeing someone who was raised adamantly anti-vampire to just hop into bed, so quickly, with a vampire.  As to the story itself, I rather enjoyed it. I liked how Diana couldn't outrun her own past so easily. We cannot deny who we are, not for lack of trying. I wanted more of the book talking about why the plot is what it was. Not all books need to be heavy on romance! I would have equally good without it. I will have to read the next book in the series to see what happens. Deborah Harkness is a good writer.


#2: The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors. Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare. What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

What the hell did I just read?! Anna Fox (we don't even learn her name til like 1/3 of the way in) is a recluse. She suffers severe agoraphobia. However, she helps other people get over their own agoraphobia. A new family moves in, which sparks her interest because she watches them. Personally, I would have found this unusual, but not really all that alarming. She hears a scream, meets people, and then she sees something she shouldn't have. What do you expect from someone who thrives on watching others live their lives. I'm surprised she never saw worse. No family is perfect. Anna is determined she saw what she saw. Everyone else had irrefutable proof she didn't see what she thinks she did. She even started to believe them when they came over. Everything just devolved from there. I would have reached a point (crazed woman wearing a wet, wine-stained robe over just undies yelling at me) where I would have just hauled her off to the funny farm. I loved/hated the way we got the story in fragments. It frustrated me that I couldn't figure it out, because I'm really good at that, but I also loved it because it was her real thought process. Self-medicating drunks are always fun...to read about. I thought she really just needed help. It makes me really think about the people in my own lie and who I can and should trust. 5/5 stars. I will always trust my librarians from now on and will be on the lookout for more from A.J. Finn.

3. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse 

In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig, stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth. Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alaïs is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father. The book, he says, contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. Now, as crusading armies gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take a tremendous sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.

It took me far too long to read this. I picked it up on a whim from my library because I was attracted to the bronze and teal cover. It was pretty. The story on the other hand was completely silly. We follow two young women, separated by ~800 years. We don't learn the full extent of the story for a while. Instead we are taken on a journey in the life of Alaïs Pelletier-duMas on one side and Alice Tanner on the other. I didn't mind switching back and forth in the timeline, if only they had been marked better. I would be reading and suddenly we were in 1209-1244 instead of 2004, or 2004 instead of 1209-1244. This book was interesting, I'll give it that, but not interesting enough. I did like the idea behind the tale, and I want to read more in a similar vein, but I don't think Kate Mosse's writing style is for me. I had no idea how to pronounce half of it, wasn't particularly invested in Alice, and the grail story itself was very strange. Not revisiting this author.

4. My Hero Academia (v1) by Kohei Horikoshi

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks” at age four? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless? Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives him a chance to change his destiny…

I was quite fond of this. I have already seen the associated anime and was interested in beginning the manga series so I could see (1) what is different from the anime and (2) the continuation of the plot after the where the anime ends because the anime is behind the comics. I already owned volumes 2 & 3, but couldn't find 1. Finally got a copy at Books-A-Million recently. I enjoyed this a lot, even though I already knew the plot. We follow protagonist Izuku "Deku" Midoriya as he struggles with being a quirkless teen in a world where 80% of the population has quirks. I'm wont to believe that as well that Izuku is the only member of his middle school class to not have a quirk. At least we are told that he doesn't have one. We are then introduced to Katsuki Bakugo, our deuteragonist (yes, this is a word, it means second main hero), who has been Izuku's friend/enemy for years. Bakugo has a powerful quirk. He and Izuku both apply for the hero program. I wondered how Izuku managed to not succumb to the ever mounting pressure the bullies put on him. Even the nickname means "useless" in Japanese. No one I know would have been anywhere near as emotionally strong enough to face that every day. Enter: All Might, or as I call him, America Man! He sees himself maybe in Izuku and passes on his own quirk to the teen. Even though Izuku has no idea how to wield it nor is he even properly strong enough. I'm entirely unconvinced that this plan was thought out by either of them. Who in their right mind would give a woefully under-prepared teenager access to that level of power? No one! Why All Might? Because Izuku reminds you of.....spoilers! Anyway, I loved how they gave Izuku a quirk to call his own, even if it was the quirk of the #1 pro hero in Japan. As we now follow Izuku into his first few days as a high school student, we watch him learn that being a pro hero is harder than he thought. He gains a few new friends along the way who can (hopefully) help him become a better hero. Looking forward to reading the next volume in the My Hero Academia series. 

5. Night by Elie Wiesel

Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. Night is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel's memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man. This new translation by his wife and most frequent translator, Marion Wiesel, corrects important details and presents the most accurate rendering in English of Elie Wiesel's testimony to what happened in the camps and of his unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.

I'm not sure how I've managed to miss reading this with my random obsession with WWII. Yet I did. Picked it up because it was a stunning edition of the book and read it in a single day. It was beautiful. One cannot help feeling sorrow as they read. Elie's story is one that strikes home for many. I have both German and Jewish ancestry (so I have been told), so I sympathize with both sides. Many German soldiers were only doing it because they didn't want to got to the camps themselves. I don't know if anybody in my family was ever in a camp, and now I want to go on an ancestry site and find out. This is a book everyone ought to read and hopefully take to heart. 

Currently Reading: 12 January to 25 January 2019

Currently Reading

- The Secret Tradition in Arthurian Legend by Gareth Knight (01%)
- Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco (01%)
- Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert B. Pix (01%)
- Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (17%)
- IT by Stephen King (06%)
- Queen of the Star Pirates by Stephen Landis (06%)

- Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en (14%)

- The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (39%)

* * *

Well, I picked up a new book journal for 2019 at Books-A-Million. I'm rather proud of this new addition to my own shelves. It's called "High Jinks" and is a bookshelf or series of them. I like that it has two different ribbon markers. That way I can keep one in the Wrap Up and Book Haul section and the other on whatever page I've managed to get to. I love that, though I had to mark the ribbons because I kept grabbing the wrong one. Oops.

My local librarian should be trusted more often with bookish suggestions. I picked out The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn because I rememered the title from the other day when Peter Monn was talking about it on his channel, Peter Likes Books, and I just remember him being excited about it. I figured I would give it a try. I had just read Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz which is sort of similiar in that it is a crime thriller. I think this book would be classed as a psychological thriller. Anyway, getting off track here. My librarian, henceforth known as Ms R, warned me that the beginning could possibly be a bit of a drag to get through, but it would be worth it in the end. So far she has actually been sort of wrong? I liked the beginning pretty well. It was a tad slow, but the second I hit page 50, everything picked up. I enjoy how we are seeing both Anna's reaction to the world and everyone else's. I feel so bad for her. I will look into more A.J. Finn books in the future. He's going to become one of my auto-buy authors.

I got the T5W for the 2nd and the 16th done. I skipped the 9th, because I don't particularly care about new releases? It was a struggle to find something for the last weekend in December of 2019 releases I was excited about!

I found a reading challenge online that I'm going to participate in, and I think I will list out now the challenges and my tentative choices for them....

1. A book you've been meaning to read - The Far Side of the Sky by Daniel Kalla. I have stopped and started this one so many times. Not even because I didn't want to read it, oh no. Because I just got busy/side tracked and forgot I was reading it. I like WWII books, I like books about China...so why would I not read a WWII book set in China?

2. A book about a topic that fascinates you - The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom by John Pomfret. This one is a nonfiction (duh) about the relationship between China and America from 1776 to the present (at the time of publication). The other one that I may use here is Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert B. Pix. I'm a history buff and I am interested in the Asian countries.

3. A book in the backlist of a favorite author - The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle. I don't quite know what that means, but I think it is referencing older books an author wrote? I have read and rather liked the Sherlock Holmes series (and I live in Pennsylvania right near where the Molly Maguires operated which is sort of what inspired the brotherhood in the American mining valley), so this was an easy selection for me.

4. A book recommended by someone with great taste - Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I picked this one at random. I went to the Goodreads page of Bookish Thoughts, someone I watch as often as she posts new videos, because hers was the first one that I recognized and just compared the books so I could pick one I knew I had. This one was already on my TBR shelf, so I just picked it. It's about dragons....?

5. Three books by the same author - The Magicians (trilogy) by Lev Grossman. I've been meaning to read it anyway, I have all three of the books, so why not? I chose it based on the fact that I've seen one and a bit seasons of The Magicians on Syfy and I loved it (Eliott is my favoite!), so I wanted to read the source material. I am assuming that a trilogy will count toward this because it is three books by the same author!

6. A book you chose for the cover - A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. I liked the cover a lot and picked it up when I saw it in the library. I've seen the series floating about places and thought I would try it out. (done)

7. A book by an author who is new to you - Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. I have never heard of this author or the Languedoc series that she apparently wrote a few years ago, so I suppose this one counts for an author that is new to me? Most authors are new to me, though. (done)

8. A book in translation - The Elegence of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (translated from the French by Alison Anderson). It was just the first book I thought of that was translated. I have My Brilliant Friend around here somewhere, probably on a pile beside my desk (I have lots of books) or I would have chosen that, but I like this book. It's pretty. 

9. A book outside your comfort zone - The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. I don't typically read domestic thrillers of any nature. They are not what I like in books, so I tend to avoid them and go for other things. I heard a lot of very good things about this one and I grabbed it from the library when I saw it on the "new to us" shelf. It looks really good. (done)

10. A book published before you were born - Animal Farm by George Orwell. I took this literally and picked a book with a publication/printing year in it of before I was born. I ended up with a 1982 copy of Animal Farm. Yes, I do know what the book is actually about and that sort of intrigues me anyway, so hopefully I can finish it. Who knows?



I think those will do as far as books to read for the challenge. Now then for some other news of various importances. My first TBR jar pick of 2019 is Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco. I recently picked up a copy of Escaping from Houdini by her and to read that one, I first have to read Hunting Prince Dracula. So that was our book of the draw!


I've been buying many more ebooks lately. This week alone I've picked up four or five of them. 

I've completed 3/10 of the challenges so far for the year! 

T5W: Top of Your TBR

This week's Top 5 Wednesday is the top of my TBR. Normally I don't do TBRs, but I'll think of something. Kind of makes me think of December's Books You Didn't Get to in 2018 T5W. I think I will use the challenge I found on Facebook? I will pick the five books I am most excoted about reading. 

1. The Magicians by Lev Grossman - I've been meaning to read it anyway. I have all of the books, so why not?

2. Zodiac by Romina Russell - I've had this book on my shelf for a while. I got it from BookOutlet and it seems like as good a time as any to read it.

3. Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller - I think of this as Brave on the sea. The girl, who looks an awful lot like Merida, is a pirate. I like pirates, so I will read it. 

4. Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco - I recently bought this one because I had the first two in the series and really enjoyed them.

5. The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli - I read her book, Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, and loved it, so I figured I would give this one a try. Here's hoping I enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Simon. 

T5W: Most Disappointing Reads of 2018

I shared this before in the Best and Worst of 2018 post, but I thought it would just be outright cheating if I did it again for Top Five Wednesday to just link to that post [again]. So, instead, I'll put it here: the five most disappointing books I read in 2018...again, they are in no particular order. 

1. Hummingbirds by Daniel Lipari - This book was just a waste of time. I understand what they were trying to do when they made the little book series, but seriously it did not do a good job of it. There are so many types of hummingbird in the world (mostly the southern hemisphere) that even a fully trade sized 150-odd page book would not have been enough space to fill it. I just found the book to be a perfect waste of time and space.

2. My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara - Another weird childrens' book that was not at all what I thought it was going to be. I had checked it out in the school library a few times and must not have been remembering the right story when I asked for it for....Easter 2018? Christmas 2017? I don't remember off hand. Any way this lovely story I was expecting about a horse and his boy turned out to be garbage about a spoiled kid who didn't do anything his was told to do by his parents and they still gave him what he wanted. His dad thought it would teach him responsibility, but it really just taught him that even if he misbehaved he could still be rewarded. Bad bad bad.

3. Slaughter by James Beltz - It wasn't even that it was bad, it was just boring. The fight scenes read like he was watching a Liam Neeson film while writing and literally just wrote down what he was looking at. Over done to death. Not my cup of tea and likely not an author I am going to read again.

4. Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman - I'm sorry, even if he just compiled them, I don't understand seeing an English name on a book of Chinese fairy stories (even for children). The stories were passable, but clearly made for less intelligent children. I didn't much care for them and will definitely NOT be rereading this one.

5. Butterflies by Diana Ajjan - I didn't like this one either. It was another of the small books like the hummingbird one. Though it did somehow manage to cover more than the hummingbird book, it still didn't cover enough. I am glad I got them for $0.25 each.

Currently Reading: 29 December 2018 to 11 January 2019

Currently Reading

- Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco (01%)
- Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (39%)
- The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (34%)
- Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert B. Pix (01%)
- Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (17%)
- IT by Stephen King (06%)
- Queen of the Star Pirates by Stephen Landis (06%)

- Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en (14%)

- The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (39%)

* * *

Nothing terribly exciting has happened recently. My keyboard died, so I bought a new one (still has that fresh from the box smell to it). Hmm....went to a write-in with some friends from NaNoWriMo. Got virtually no actual writing done. 

I did come up with a list of books for a TBR bowl/jar of sorts. They are as follows:

• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
• Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco
• Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
• The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom by John Pomfret
• A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss
• The Far Side of the Sky by Daniel Kalla
• Daughter of the Pirate Queen by Tricia Levenseller
• We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas
• The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
• The Sherlockian by Brittany Cavallaro 
• The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
• Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• Black City by Elizabeth Richards
• The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
• A List of Cages by Robin Roe
• The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
• The Magicians by Lev Grossman
• The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson
• Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
• History of Greek Culture by Jacob Burckhardt
• Zodiac by Romina Russell
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Naturally these are in no specific order, it's just how I remembered writing them from the bookshelf. I want to get to these some time this year. First go at actually doing a TBR properly. I left plenty of wiggle room in my 2019 reading goal to fit these in and then whatever else strikes my fancy.

I'm already changing one of my goals for the year. I have a reading journal and I have decided that instead of buying one book for five read, I will use the number of lines as a monthly maximum. So no more than 24 books in a given month. 

December 2018 Wrap Up

You'll have to forgive a girl here. I'm still not sure exactly how I want to go about doing wrap ups and hauls. I think I may keep them separate for now....ugh. So difficult! December wasn't as good of a month as I was hoping it would be. I read 3 books...

On with the Wrap for December!


1. Ikigai by Yukari Mitsuhashi

Ikigai is a traditional Japanese concept that embodies happiness in living. It is, essentially, the reason that you get up in the morning. This book is about finding your ikigai - identifying your purpose or passion and using this knowledge to achieve greater happiness in your life. Your ikigai doesn't have to be some grand ambition or highly noble life's purpose - it can be something simple and humble, like tending your garden or walking your dog. Having grown up in Japan, Yukari Mitsuhashi understands first hand what ikigai means to Japanese people. Now living in Los Angeles, she has written this book to introduce the traditional concept to a new audience. This is not a 'one size fits all' book. Instead, Ikigai encourages you to look at the details of your life and appreciate the everyday moments as you learn to identify your own personal ikigai. The book includes case studies from a range of people sharing their ikigai, from university lecturers and writers to doctors. With its refreshingly simple philosophy and liberating concepts, this beautifully presented book will be a guide you will return to again and again.

The book is a brief primer on the concept of ikigai or the joy in living, the idea of finding things in your life that bring you joy in living. Using their system, my own ikigai would probably the act of writing. I find joy in it and I do it without anyone asking me to. I removed one star though, because it could have been longer. Some of it could have been expanded to make more sense and to better explain ikigai meant to Mitsuhashi-san and less vague descriptions.


2. Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah. But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity. It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.

I saw people talking about this on BookTube and when I saw it in Barnes & Noble, I had to get it. I finally got around to it. I loved how nearly the entire book is told in first person perspective through Tanner. I didn't love how little of Sebastian's life we got. We learn about the Mormon take on homosexuality from the perspective of a non-religious son of an ex-Mormon. Not exactly the best source. I think if the chapters (even still in first person) were split between Tanner and Sebastian, it would have been so much better. 4/5 stars.


3. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job. Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.

I have a vague memory of someone talking about this on BookTube, though I don't remember when and when I saw it at the library I immediately had to borrow it. I read it in about a week and I loved the idea of a story within a story. I did figure out who committed the murders right away, but I didn't put together the why or how at all. That is the mark of a good mystery to me. I love these and I have a habit of figuring out everything before the end of the book, but this one kept me on my toes. I even questioned if I had the right suspects at first. There were a few that can be automatically ruled out, because even if they were angry enough to commit the crimes, they had no actual reason to at that given moment. The real killers were sort of a surprise about why though. I gave this book 5/5 stars and I will definitely pick up my own copy of this to reread if I ever get the urge. Mr. Horowitz really knows what he's doing when it comes to murder mysteries. 

Currently Reading: 06 September to 28 December 2018

Currently Reading

- Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (11%)
- A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (06%)
- Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert B. Pix (00%)
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (15%)
- Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (17%)
- IT by Stephen King (06%)
- Queen of the Star Pirates by Stephen Landis (06%)

- Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en (14%)

- The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (39%)

* * *

I realize that it's been a fair while since I wrote anything last. I found some old pet sim games and my sister moved in and it's just been a hectic few months. Now that everything is starting to settle (just in time for the chaos that is Christmas), I realized I should come back on and at least update you on what I've been up to the last few, uh, weeks.

I started collecting manga again and bought a bunch of them recently from anime that I enjoy watching. I have to complete a few sets, and I'm not sure how I'm going to do that, as some went out of print a while ago. I picked up some from Attack on Titan, Bungo Stray Dogs, Kiss Him Not Me, Seven Deadly Sins, Fairy Tail, and one or two others that I can't think of. I like them, especially SDS (Go Ban!).

What else has happened recently that I should mention? Oh! I won NaNoWriMo. Finished with 86,023 words. I technically "won" back on November 20th with 55,635 and I plan to continue writing until the month is over. I want that badge for 30 days of continuous writing. I decided that I would buy myself one book for every 5,000 words. So, I get to have 17 new books in December. 

I've been working my way through Robin McKinley's Dragonhaven for a while now. I don't know what exactly happened here, but something went horribly wrong in the plot. I don't get it. This boy, not even 15 yet, does some really stupid shit that could get not only himself, but every single person in the park he lives in sent to jail/juvenile hall and he seems either just really stupid or really oblivious. He is in so much more trouble than he apparently realizes he is in that it's actually kind of funny when you think about it. I don't like the book much right now (1.5/5 max), but I am giving it until the halfway point before I DNF it. I really don't like DNF'ing books if I can avoid it. I know there's this whole "why finish a book you don't like when you can find one you do" or "don't waste time reading books you don't like when there are more out there" things, but I'm the type of person where if I start a book, I finish it. Even if I don't like it. Maybe it will get better? Enough to bring it from 1.5 to maybe a 2.75-3?

I've been thinking about my goals for 2019. That time is coming around again and I'm not sure what I will be setting them at. I figure I will go through this year's goals and adapt the ones that I like or replace them with other goals. This is the list I came up with: 

2019 Reading and Writing Goals

1. Meet/exceed my Goodreads goal for the year – This year I decided to keep it somewhat simple and set my goal for only 50 books. Something I'm sure I can reach and I will feel great when I read over the goal. Anything more is almost beyond my capabilities as a reader at the level I currently am at.

2. Review all of the books that I read – I had this same goal last year and I think I nearly got 100% completion on it. I realized that I didn't actually post my review for a few books, but it was in my own personal blog, so I count it.

3. Read IT by Stephen King – I sorted it out, in a comment to be seen later on in the entry, that if I read 288.25 pages per quarter from 1 January forward, I should finish the book on or near 31 December.

4. Enter and win Camp NaNo and NaNoWriMo – Yeah this is a difficult challenge to meet since I will have a job by then and my time set to write will be going down. That's okay, we can still do it if we actually plan it out a little bit. I didn't win 2018's Camp NaNo, but I did manage to win NaNoWriMo with 86,023 words.

5. Stick to My Book Buying….Restriction – It's not so much a “ban” on book buying, I know I won't be able to really contain myself, but I do think a restriction is in order. I can only buy one (1) book for every five (5) books that I read. That way I reduce the total number of books I bring into the house. I know I would never be able to not bring in books...so yeah.

6. Publish at least two stories – I have been writing a lot more lately and in 2019 I want to publish at least two of my works, be they fanfiction or fictionpress or even traditional publishing. There are projects I am excited about and I hope to finish them before the year is out.


I actually DNF'd and and got rid of a book. I have been trying to read it for far too long and I just cannot get into it. The longer I read it, the less and less I like it to the point where it just became a chore to actually read. The book, for anybody who (1) is reading this and (2) cares, is Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley. It came off sounding like it was just her first novel and she had no clue what she was doing. (I am aware that should I write a novel, my own would also be absolute garbage). I just...it was very, forced almost. Forced is a good word. She ran out of plot by page three and kept rehashing the information we already had.

That said, I then picked up Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (5/5) and read the entire thing in a few days. I guess that style was better suited to my tastes. I loved this book and will definitely be all about reading his book Moriarty soon. My review for this is in my December Wrap Up. I don't know yet if I am going to start doing hauls again...I will decide before January though. 

I think that may be it for this Currently Reading. I kind of skipped a lot of time and I will try my best to not skip any more! I even have a little note in my day planner to remind me. I'm hopefully not going to forget.