March 2021 To-Be-Read

 I realized about halfway through February that the goal of 10 books on the TBR per month was a bit of a stretch and impossible for me to actually read. I will still have a goal of actually reading 10, but I won't set a TBR of 10. I am going to go back to my original set TBR of only 6 books, 3 print, 2 digital, 1 audio. You will notice that all of these books on March's TBR also appeared on February's. Mostly March will be used to just finish the books I started in February. Hopefully I can actually finish them....

Physical Books

1.  The Dragon's Legacy by Deborah A. Wolf - I started this in January for a reading challenge to pick up something by an author with the same initials as you. I am liking it so far, I'm very confused by it, but, that's not surprising since I kind of went in blind right after reading There Will Come a Darkness, so...I'm really doing it to myself. There are wyverns, and possibly full on dragons? They mention two Akari and Sajani, a mated pair of Sun and Earth dragons. Who knows. As of 01 February 2021, I am about 170 pages in and finishing up the rest of it. 

2. The Fireman by Joe Hill - I found this cheap, had to have it. Was it a good plan to read a book about the plague right in the middle of the plague. I'm really enjoying it so far. What I've read is pretty good and I cannot wait until I see what happens in the end of the novel. He definitely has the same writing flair as his father and I think that I will love his writing...

3. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo - I got this in a fit of random purchases, and so far I like it. I'm nearly done and should be able to cross this one off my list pretty quickly. I feel bad for Camino and Yahaira, but I am looking forward to the conclusion to see how it ends. It should be brilliant. I never thought about using verse as a way to tell prose before. This is quite intriguing and I am rather enjoying myself. 

Digital Books

4. The Girl with the Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson - This was acquired in one of the many caffeine fueled psychosis hauls where I was just getting anything that looked remotely interesting at a time when I should not have been allowed access to the internet (think like 3-4 in the morning) after a rather long shift at work. I have been obsessed with China and Chinese dramas lately and this is set in Chinatown and references the characters emigrating from China to the United States, specifically...California, I think. I started it in late December 2020, and intend to finish it some time this month. 

5. Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim - The cover is pretty. I'm a fan of Mulan, but definitely not Project Runway, so this ought to be a good go. I think the premise sounds rather interesting. I have no idea what I will think about it. This was one of those books that at one point or another was very popular on BookTube so I figured I would give it a try. Yeah.

Audio Books

6. A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara - I started this some time last month and I'm already ~36% of the way in. Hopefully I can finish it by the end of the month? It's 32 hours long. THIRTY TWO. That's quite a long time. I'm not sure how I feel about what I've previously listened to. It's....something. I can never tell at first if I'm supposed to be mad, sad, happy, or disgusted. It's strange. For a while there, I thought Jude was no longer on the mortal coil, but then they talk about him in the future past where we were and what he's doing. I don't know. 

February 2021 Book Haul

 I know! I'm normally not so good at this, but I want to try better this year to actually stay on top of things. I don't really remember how many books I bought in January, because I got some from the Dollar Stores, and I never marked them down. I have to put a section in my book journal for when I buy books....anyway, in February I got 31 books (28 print/2 digital/1 audio).

1. The Deck of Omens by Christine Lynn Herman - I read The Devouring Grey last month and I had to have the next volume in the series. I have absolutely no idea what the synopsis of this one is, other than the fact that it is following May Hawthorne. She is noticing something the others aren't because she is not letting any romantic entanglements cloud her vision. It looks good and I do quite enjoy the cover. 

2. The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson - I saw this on BookTube a few times and it looked amazing. We're following a biracial young woman growing up in this very strict religious community where her very existence is thought of as an abomination. There is also some plotline about witches and possibly her mother being a witch, or going to the witches for help, I don't remember, but I loved the idea of it and wanted to read it. 

3. The Fireman by Joe Hill - I read the synopsis for this, and it looked brilliant. There is this spore going around and if you get it you get these gorgeous black and gold swirlies all over your body. Slowly you begin to burn from the inside out until you literally burst into flame and just turn to a pile of charred bones and ash. Draco incendia trychophyton...Draconscale. It looks good. I didn't realize it would be quite as large (because I rarely look at the part of the description on Amazon, Goodreads, whatever, that says page count), but it is wonderfully well written and is definitely able to suck one in. I am looking forward to finding out more about this thing that he made up. 

4. The Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson - I have absolutely no idea what this book is about. It was the book that was included in our Once Upon a Book Club for....February? January? I don't remember. I know they're always a few weeks behind in shipping so I cannot remember what month this one is for. Either way, I will get to this one shortly I guess. 

5. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - I didn't actually buy this. We should, by now, all know what it is about...but I already had a copy. This was one of the gifts in the box from Once Upon a Book Club. It is not particularly well put together and printed, so I'm unlikely to hold on to it, but yeah. I felt like including it here because it is a novel that I got in February.

6. Normal People by Sally Rooney - I heard good things about this on BookTube. So when I found it at Target pretty cheap, I picked it up. Not really sure if I'm going to like it or not, so we are willing to give pretty much anything a try at this point. It appears to be a contemporary [almost] romance between a pair of Dubliners? Not a clue.

7. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams - Another book about being biracial in a world that isn't as accepting as it should be. Though this one is not nearly as fantastical as the other one is. This is a contemporary instead of historical fiction. I thought I would give it a try because I literally saw it and remembered someone somewhere saying nice things about it. 

8. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill - I remember reading and hearing about this one and thinking it sounded quite interesting. Every year, a group of people from the village will leave a baby in the woods to appease a witch for a year. Only...the witch isn't evil. At all. Not even bad. She feeds the babies starlight to strengthen them, then gives them to needy families on the other side of the forest. She makes a mistake and ends up feeding one baby moonlight instead. The book tells the story of how the witch deals with this.

9. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - This is one of those modern classics that people really should read and I know I am letting down the diverse readers by not even having previously owned a copy of it. My sincerest apologies. I saw a gorgeous edition available at Target and couldn't resist getting it. I wonder if it will live up to the hype that is around it as a modern classic? 

10. You Should See Me In a Crown Leah Johnson - Contemporary YA sapphic romance? I think? She falls for one of the people also running for prom queen. It was well loved last year, and as I tend to wait to read things, I think it's good that I waited now to get to this. Liz is not interested in all the guts and glamor that is the prom pageantry, so this ought to be interesting. 

11. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo - This is another of those contemporary YA novels that I don't normally like, but I think I'm going to give it a good try anyway. It's a story about loss and grief and how two girls who don't really know each other come together over the loss of their father and how they need to be there for each other. It looks somewhat interesting and I think I may like it. I don't know if I'm going to start it soon, or let it stew for a bit first before I get to it. 

12. My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell - I didn't know what this was about, I just liked the cover and I heard people mentioning dark academia around it and saying that they enjoyed it. I did not realize it was going to involve some controversial topics and now I am even more for it. I am putting this book pretty far up on my TBR, possibly even March TBR....it looks good and like the kind of thing I would watch on television and be wrapped up in (and use for inspiration). 

13. My Hero Academia #10 by Kohei Horikoshi - I can't say much, since this really is the tenth volume in a manga series....you really need to have read the previous nine volumes to understand what is happening. I picked this one up because I do own and have read the first nine and just want to continue my collection (slowly) of these books. 

14. Hitorijime My Hero #2 by Memeco Arii - Someone had suggested the first volume to me, and I was interested in it, and bought that earlier. I was very much intrigued by it and now I need to know what else is going on and I want to know more about what the characters are doing. Unlike some of the manga I bought (to follow), this one is actually a rather wholesome story. I love how sweet it is and how they are feeling their way around each other and figuring out how to trust one another. 

15. The Traitor's Game by Jennifer A. Nielsen - The book that had actually caught my attention was The Warrior's Curse because it was facing out on the shelf. However, that is the third volume in this series, and when I read the back of the first one, it looked very interesting. I am intrigued by the political machinations that are going to be in this book and I am looking forward to reading it. 

16. Graceling by Kristin Cashore - Not quite the edition I wanted (I wanted the newest cover that has the anime looking art on it...) but this is the one they had. I have been hearing nothing but good things about this series since Winterkeep has been published. People are talking about it all over and I am wondering how it will compare to Katy Rose Poole's series since that is also about special abilities called "Graces" (although there are significantly fewer Graces in that series than The Seven Realms). Here's hoping I like it. 

17. The Last Wish by Andrej Sapkowski - The only reason I got this, is because it is the trade paperback size. I already owned a copy with the same cover in the mass market edition but I didn't like it. I've seen the first two...one...I don't remember, episodes of the Netflix series, but my goblin brain definitely does not like watching something it knows is a book before reading the book. So, I got the same book in an edition that I liked. I will probably look into donating my old mass market or selling it...I don't know.

18. Birds of Shangri-La #1 by Ranmaru Zariya - Yes, for anyone that actually clicked the link, that cover is part of why I bought the book. It was a wrapped BL manga and I have not bought new BL manga in such a long time that I thought I would indulge a little and pick it up. It was so different from what I was expecting when I read it. I had been thinking it would be a cutesy love story that involved actual art of intercourse between men. Nope. That is not at all what it is. The intercourse thing is still correct, but...I was not expecting the 'birds' to be people (men) in a brothel (all-male). I think I will need to continue this one. It was something. 

19. Therapy Game #1 by Meguru Hinoharu - It looked interesting. I am aware this is a spinoff, but it doesn't seem that you need to read the first series to understand what's going on in this one. Minato is not one to take rejection lightly. He is the one who has to walk away, not his partner. So he goes all out to get revenge when Shizuma says he cannot remember their passionate night together. I am intrigued. I also now want to look for Hinoharu-sama's first series, Secret XXX. 

20. Yarichin Bitch Club #1 by Tanaka Ogeretsu - My friends pointed out this manga to me while we were browsing in Books-a-Million and I recognized the characters on the cover from...things...yeah. I have seen things. Anyways, I thought I would buy it because why not? I was horribly surprised by the actual content of the book. My boyfriend said it is "Ouran, only gayer." and I have to say, he's actually not wrong.

21. Refuge by Dina Nayeri - I have another of her books, I think her only other one, A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea, which looked good (and I still haven't read). I recognized her name when I saw it on the spine of this book. It looks interesting. A young girl escapes from a brutal place and overcomes her past, but also has to contend with it because her father is still there. I'm definitely looking forward to reading this one when I get to it. 

22. The Death of Rex Nhongo by C.B. George - No idea. It was pretty and definitely not the second or better book in a series for just $1. So I thought, why not? Let's give this a try. I am hoping it will be good and I already know exactly what book this (the title anyway) is piggy backing off of. A book I already read and adored. I hope this one brings me as much joy as the other had. 

23. The Foreseeable Future by Emily Adrian - This one is outside my normal reading area. I hardly ever pick up anything with any combination of the following: YA contemporary romance. I barely read this sort of thing, but when the synopsis talked about them working basically in the same type of environment I do (I'm in an assisted living though, not a nursing home...but there is one right next door), I was intrigued and wanted to know more. I am certainly hoping this one is as good as it sounds.

24. Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera - I couldn't tell at first if the person on the cover was male or female. Not that it particularly matters, I was just curious. Turns out they're at least female-presenting. I have no idea whether they identify as female now. Another YA novel only this one is more about gangs and trying to rise up out of it, from what I gather. The main character, Nalah, wants to move to Mega Towers and get away from her life now in Mega City (why does this strike me as the most cliché anime name for a place?).

25. Omega City by Diana Peterfreund - I don't know exactly what it was that made me even look at this book. It's a middle grade adventure story. They find a thing that isn't supposed to exist and end up going on this grand adventure to figure out a thing that involves going to a place that technically doesn't exist? It looked fun and it's the first in the series, so why not?

26. Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser - I have been in the mood for shorter books lately, and when I saw this one it looked intriguing. The synopsis called to me as something I would like, even though I rarely read these sort of books. I'm planning on adding it to the TBR/Currently Reading in March. 

27. How to Behave in a Crowd by Camille Bordas - My only reason for this is that the cover looked kind of cool. I'm expecting this will be one of those hidden gems you find in the bookstore that are outside your regular reads, but is still amazing in the end.

28. A Natural by Ross Raisin - Something something LGBT+ football players? Possibly not LGBT+ but still interesting. The cover sparked my interest despite it being very simple, or in spite of it being simple. I have no idea, but either way, I needed to read it and it was only $1. 

29. Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff & Amy Kaufman - Technically I already own this as a physical book, but I used my February audible credit to get it to listen to. Perhaps if I finish A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara during March I will add this one in it's place....or maybe to April's TBR if not...

30. Ashes and Blood by Katie Zaber - What caught me was the part of the synopsis that described this as basically a portal fantasy. It looks interesting and I am curious to see how a handful on nonmagical people from our world find (and/or fight) their way through an entirely unknown magical world they stumble into by accident.

31. Ghost of a Chance by Yasmine Galenorn - Tea & Tarot cozy mystery with cats? Yes please. I think I have another of her books, that I haven't read yet, but this looked too good to pass up. I will be adding it quickly to my currently reading list. It's a step outside of what I have been reading recently and I think will be a good change of pace for me. 

February 2021 Wrap Up

 I have read 3 books in February~

1. Yarichin Bitch Club #1 by Tanaka a - Wow. Just...wow. There is a good reason that this was plastic wrapped. For the ones that missed it in the Book Haul, my boyfriend commented that this was just Ouran, only gayer. And hot damn, he's not wrong. I was impressed by the art and I loved it. I feel so bad for this poor first year, and I'm wondering just what is going on with the cutie pie boy who is always just wherever he is. There seems to be something about the two transfer students. Why would they be spontaneously so interested in each other? I think Yu knew what the Photography Club was before he tried to join up. He didn't seem at all surprised when he walked in on what Yuka was doing. I am looking forward to buying the next volumes in this series. 

2. Therapy Game #1 by Meguru Hinoharu - I grabbed this initially because it was a BL manga. Then I realized my mistake when I read it. I feel so bad for Minato. He has been crushed so many times by people that he just internalized his entire personality. I don't think realizes that Shizuma was black out drunk, that the person he slept with had zero conscious idea that he was even being slept with. Unconscious people don't want tea, he physically could not consent. Well, here's hoping it is different in the future. I also love the fact that there is something about Shizuma that makes Minato want to open up to him. Want to tell him the truth. It's cute, and yet has much gay. 

3. Birds of Shangri-La #1 by Ranmaru Zariya - This was the first of BL manga that I bought. I mean, the cover was beautiful to look at and I wanted to know (contrary to KS's belief) what on earth plot line had a pretty naked tattooed man on his knees. I was not disappointed. I feel kind of bad that Apollo was put into the situation that got him at the all-male brothel in the first place. He was that desperate for money that he was willing to subject himself to that. I like Phi, too. He is such a broken character and I think Apollo's steady nature (that we see right now) will be very good for helping calm and heal whatever it is that throws him into such rages.

4. My Hero Academia #10 by Kohei Horikoshi - Continuing during the hero camp. There's not that much I can say that won't spoil it for future readers other than we complete hero camp and go on a few rescue missions. It was really good and I can't wait to get more in the series. 

5. Hitorijime My Hero #2 by Memeko Arii - This was so cute. The boys just strike me as an excellent couple. I'm glad the ended up staying together in the end, because splitting them up would just be a horrible thing. I suggest anyone interested in fluffy BL novels that aren't heavy on the sexy time, read this one. It's an LGBT rom-com. 

6. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - As per usual, I don't understand what the hype was all about. It went about as I thought it would, the one random orphan girl was discovered to have the biggest and best power of them all. The only one that can defeat the bad guy? I mean, it's not a bad story. Just an overplayed one in my opinion. 

7. My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! #1 by Satoru Yamaguchi - This one was better than I thought it would be. Not as good as expected, but still not that bad. The artwork was really good too. I liked the fact that this is a sort of portal fantasy in which the girl ends up having to live out the life of the character from the otome game she was playing. And that she's going to try to make it so that her "character" doesn't end up dead or exiled or anything. I wonder if nature will force her hand and make things happen to end up that way anyway, of if she will be able to overcome it?

8. Seraph of the End #1 by Takaya Kagami - I heard about this and I saw cosplays of the various characters and I thought I would give it a try. It looked good and the story is pretty interesting so far as plots go. I don't know how I will feel when Yu meets back up with Mika again. That will be a tad heart-wrenching I think. Looking forward to the rest of the series. 

9. Seraph of the End #2 by Takaya Kagami - Yu reminds me of many other anime/manga protagonists. Too eager to get out to where the action is without knowing what he's getting himself into. He's going to get hurt and there's just no way to avoid it, but being hurt is going to unlock whatever special hidden potential he has and allow him to access some weird superhuman ability of some kind or other. Just mark my words. He's already itching to get out there where the action is, with zero training.

10. Seraph of the End #3 by Takaya Kagami - Called it. Yu was not happy until he got out on the front lines and now he's in the middle of a battle with some pretty powerful vampires. Mika is there and I know it's only a matter of time before they run into each other. I have fuzzy memories of seeing a clip from the anime (which is partly why in my head I never say Seraph of the End, I always call it Owari no Seraph...bad brain, we don't actually speak Japanese) of Mika and Yu in some sort of warehouse or storage space. I wonder if that is coming up soon? I can't wait to see how that confrontation goes down.  Yu's going to be sure that Mika betrayed him. Absolutely. 

11. My Hero Academia #11 by Kohei Horikoshi - I didn't realize that part of it happened as early on in the series as it did. I thought we would have more time before when the movie took place. Nope, it really was fast. I loved it and still feel bad for all the families of the students of UA who have to make the decision of whether or not to send their children to the school dorms. 

Currently Reading: 07 February to 20 February 2021

Currently Reading

- The Fireman by Joe Hill (28%)

- Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (45%)

- The Dragon's Legacy by Deborah A. Wolf (35%)

- Greek Religion: A Sourcebook by Valerie M. Warrior (22%)

- A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara (53%)

- The Girl with the Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson (31%)

- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (03%)

* * *

Yearly Reading Goal

21/100

* * *

Yeah. We started February with BL manga. I like how we no longer refer to it by it's proper Japanese name now...probably because other countries are getting in on it and we can't just use a thousand names to all mean the same thing. So they reduced it to BL (boys' love). Does this mean that yuri is now going to be referred to as GL (girls' love)? That would be fun. What do they plan to do about nonbinary/genderfluid characters in books? NBL? GFL? We could just stick with "romance", but that seems a bit to easy to me. 

So far we seem to be on track for the reading goal for the year. We are actually a little ahead of goal as this month I only theoretically need to hit 16 books read and I'm already at 20. Pretty proud of myself for the progress I have made in the goals. 

I will have to knuckle down though, and really just reduce the amount of books I bring in (I say as I am thinking about asking for an adventure shopping trip to Barnes & Noble today....don't question me, I have plans). We got word from a friend of ours that they are looking at having us all in an apartment building together. Cheaply at that. If I keep saving up my money instead of spending it, and put away my taxes, I should have a few month's worth to use for rent while I job hunt in the area. 

I will probably restructure my reading goals and like monthly TBRs in May, June, and July. Don't be surprised if there is no structure to be had. They will be chaotic months at best. Between weeding out the books I'm just not interested in reading (as much as it hurts me) and figuring out where I'm going to keep my books....plus having to locate the nearest local library to the new place. It will be stressful and just in general no fun. 

That's all for the time, see you all in two weeks~

Currently Reading: 24 January to 06 February 2021

 Currently Reading

- The Fireman by Joe Hill (10%)

- Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (24%)

- The Dragon's Legacy by Deborah A. Wolf (35%)

- Greek Religion: A Sourcebook by Valerie M. Warrior (22%)

- A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara (23%)

- The Girl with the Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson (26%)

- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (03%)

* * *

Yearly Reading Goal

13/100

* * *

I am doing better than expected!!! I have not forgotten to post for longer than like four days so far this year, and that was only because work has been a b***h. Between people being discharged, passing, admitted to the hospital, it's been a crazy month at work. However, I am proud of myself for getting done what I did. (and the 01-02 February snow storm didn't help...)

Les Miserables is still giving me trouble. Probably just because it's so ungainly? My goal for February is only to make it to page 152, which may or may not even happen. I will completely have to dedicate a full day of to reading as much as I can. I do actually want to get through. It took me almost a month of off and on reading to get to page 27. And I had only wanted to get to page 76 in January. Like holy cow man. I don't know if it's the format, if it's the actual weight (3.6lbs), or just a lack of interest in it? It couldn't be the last one. I've been interested in it for weeks. I don't understand! Maybe Friday we will try to at least c

I am proud of my reading for the year so far. I've already cleared what would be the goal for January and may even sneak one or two more in, since this post is starting on the 24th. There is still a full week left of January that I can fill in and I've been blazing through Howl's Moving Castle and should get that done quickly enough. And to think, I've only read one manga this month. Usually numbers like this are from me reading a dozen or more manga. I may actually only read one or two manga a month. Then maybe only buying one or two (no more than four) a month from various shops. 

I still have to do the book haul post for January. How many books did I even acquire? 34 from BookOutlet, 10 from Amazon, however many manga it was from HP, and an unknown number from Dollar Tree/General. I don't even remember which books I bought. So yeah, we should definitely skip for January and just start with February. KEEP TRACK this time. I am bad at it, I know. I really intend to do better this time around. 

February 2021 To-Be-Read

 I did a somewhat decent job finishing last month's TBR. I got all of the physical books read and some of the digital, did get to the audiobook (it was stupid...) I have also decided to increase the number of book on my TBR from six books to ten. I have a good system set up for how to split them (because I know where my strengths lie in reading). This time around, instead of three print, two digital, and one audio, we are going to increase each section to: five physical, three digital, and two audio.

Here we go!!

Physical Books

1. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - This was suggested to me by a friend in one of my servers, by way of him just randomly babbling at me and me being entirely clueless about whatever it was he was trying to tell me. So I figured I would buy the series. It was cheaper to buy both box sets than it probably would have been to buy them individually. So far I'm about...twenty pages in, and it kind of is very...Russian? Is it supposed to be so Russian? I'm looking forward to getting further in and figuring out why this book is so popular.

2. The Dragon's Legacy by Deborah A. Wolf - I started this in January for a reading challenge to pick up something by an author with the same initials as you. I am liking it so far, I'm very confused by it, but, that's not surprising since I kind of went in blind right after reading There Will Come a Darkness, so...I'm really doing it to myself. There are wyverns, and possibly full on dragons? They mention two Akari and Sajani, a mated pair of Sun and Earth dragons. Who knows. As of 01 February 2021, I am about 170 pages in and finishing up the rest of it. 

3. Greek Religion: A Sourcebook by Valerie M. Warrior - I have been really getting back into my studies for Hellenism. I don't remember what sparked it, but I have wanted to learn more about the gods and culture of the pantheon that I tend to follow. I am starting with something smaller and reasonably easier to actually read through. Still marking it up, and doing my best to keep notes. Yay for being somewhat responsible!!

4. The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang - I want to read this one early in 2021, because I have already ordered the third and final book in the series, The Burning God, and it is due to arrive in January. I loved The Poppy War back when I read it a few months ago, and I think now would be an excellent time to finish it up. I am looking forward to the continuation of Rin's story and finding out how it all concludes when the third book arrives.

5. The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg - I have been dying to get this book for ages. The best way I can describe it is Disney meets the Terminator. These automatons are made to be as lifelike as possible to work as princesses for The Kingdom, a theme park. Someone gets dead and one of these automatons is charged with the murder. We follow what happened before, during, and after the trial, but not necessarily in that order. It looked amazing and I like the cover so I thought I would give it a go.

Digital Books

6. The Girl with the Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson - This was acquired in one of the many caffeine fueled psychosis hauls where I was just getting anything that looked remotely interesting at a time when I should not have been allowed access to the internet (think like 3-4 in the morning) after a rather long shift at work. I have been obsessed with China and Chinese dramas lately and this is set in Chinatown and references the characters emigrating from China to the United States, specifically...California, I think. I started it in late December 2020, and intend to finish it some time this month. 

7. Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim - The cover is pretty. I'm a fan of Mulan, but definitely not Project Runway, so this ought to be a good go. I think the premise sounds rather interesting. I have no idea what I will think about it. This was one of those books that at one point or another was very popular on BookTube so I figured I would give it a try. Yeah.

8. Roseblood by Emily Shore - This one is a paranormal romance? Oh! I really ought to read the rest of the synopsis sometimes, this is a fantasy retelling of The Phantom of the Opera (which is another book I need to read, that I own, maybe March's TBR....). Right. This looks like a lot of fun. I picked it at random from a bunch that the covers intrigued me. I can't remember what half the books on my Kindle are even about because I buy them in such a frenzy. I am definitely looking forward to this one. 

Audio Books

9. A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara - I started this some time last month and I'm already ~36% of the way in. Hopefully I can finish it by the end of the month? It's 32 hours long. THIRTY TWO. That's quite a long time. I'm not sure how I feel about what I've previously listened to. It's....something. I can never tell at first if I'm supposed to be mad, sad, happy, or disgusted. It's strange. For a while there, I thought Jude was no longer on the mortal coil, but then they talk about him in the future past where we were and what he's doing. I don't know. 

10. Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos - I literally only picked this one because it is included in my Audible subscription, and it's one that I own in hard cover so I know I can find it on Goodreads to add to my currently reading list. I may even just track my progress with the book. Since I assume it wouldn't be that different in edition. It's one of those books that I've been reading a lot of lately. A contemporary about women who are learning to heal from broken pasts. I don't even normally like these, but they are good to keep me occupied on my walk to work.

January 2021 Wrap Up

I am actually on top of things this month. I am trying harder to keep track of things that I need to do for the year with reading. I fell behind last year and ended up not logging as much as I had meant to. (I also kind of realized that not very many people actually read the blog, so it's more just for me to look back and see my own thoughts!) 

In January, I read 10 books. 

1. American Witches by Susan Fair - I....yeah. The tagline of this is that it's a broomstick tour through four centuries. It is not. It is through ~2 centuries with a smattering of 1999 thrown in. Susan Fair talks almost exclusively about the 1600s and 1800s. I was expecting there to be something about modern witchcraft, or the witchcraft revival of the 1950s. No. She literally just babbles for a while about the Salem witches and then talks about her interview with a mayor about a movie? It was not what I thought I was going to get nor was it what I wanted. The tone was way too sarcastic. Clearly Ms. Fair is just making fun of what was perceived as witchcraft in colonial America.

2. Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve - I buddy read this with a friend from Discord. It was definitely not what I was expecting, but in a good way. I didn’t trust Crome from the beginning and just felt bad the whole time for Valentine. All he wanted was to make life better for the people of London. The characters read either way younger than they were possibly meant to be, or way older. I am working on the idea this is a middle grade, so it stands to reason the younger characters would be mid teens. Hester and Katherine acted like they were in their late teens, possibly early twenties, where Thomas behaved as if he were closer to 12. It was weird. I am interested in reading the next books in the series to see just what happens to the people left behind and how they deal with traction cities.

3. When Harry Met Minnie by Martha Teichman - I received this ARC from Celadon books in exchange for review (which it will have it's own individual review~). I liked this one. We are given a memoir of a pup, but in a most unusual fashion. The entire memoir is the tale of how two Bull Terrier owners (something I can stand behind as a Staffordshire Terrier owner myself), get to know each other and wade the waters of their two dogs living together. I liked the way it was told and how the flashbacks would add to the actual story itself. They gave strong reasons for why the people were doing the things they were doing in the current time. Be sure to check for my proper review!

4. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab - I have been seeing this book all over the booktube, and really just all over the internet and bookstores. It's everywhere. There is no escaping V.E. Schwab. So I grabbed it from Book of the Month because why not? Y'all, I did not believe the hype but I do not know why. I really enjoyed the book. It's one of those ones where you simultaneously want to kiss and punch the main male character. I couldn't decide if I hated Luc for the way he worked the deal or loved him for always giving Addie an out and bending the rules as much as he could for her. He even went so far as to do something for her that he had never done for anyone else and gave her back the token as a means to call him. Since when is Death that friendly? I don't understand. This earned its stars and I am looking forward to reading more by Schwab.

5. Asylum by Madeleine Roux - This one was rather interesting and not quite what I had been expecting. I thought the book would be a little more...juvenile? It reminded me a lot of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs in the formatting. However, that's where the similarities ended. This boy was reliving the life of a mad doctor who had died long before he was even born. His great grandfather or some nonsense like that. I was intrigued by the various instances that were almost too unbelievable, but I've seen it happen in the real world. I am looking forward to possibly getting my hands on the next volume and continuing the story.

6. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo - What on earth did I just read? It was definitely something. I didn't understand half of what was going on, but I did peg what happened with Darlington right away. And why did we all call him that instead of his name? Did he not like his name? I don't understand. We follow Galaxy "Alex" Stern as she is sent to Yale to basically police the "secret" societies that are all around the campus doing magic. Each society (there are 7, were 8, but not any more) that all perform different types of magic that are unique to that particular society. It's Alex's job through Lethe House to make sure they stay in line. If only it were that simple. The things one person learns is just far too much. There is so much more going on that even Lethe House wants to admit or even knows about. I will definitely get the next one in the series just to see what happens and how it wraps up. Magic isn't what it seems and the dead do not stay in their graves. 

7. Bungo Stray Dogs v2 by Kafka Asagiri - I can't sometimes with mangaka, I really can't. The whole premise of this is that people have these "skills" (not all people, just some) and they can use them to fight one another? But this agency calling itself the ADA uses people with skills like these to help the public for a price while the mafia also employs similar people to work for them. I like it, but I do not understand it at all. I was also told that at some point dead authors are involved and I am wholly looking forward to that. It is easy to read and I am glad I picked it up anyway. This particular volume is just more character introductions and setting the connections Atsushi will need to use in the future. Dazai is still strange, and I love him for it. 

8. The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman - This one was a buddy read with a fellow reader from one of my discord servers (and yes, I am usually down to buddy read things as long as I have a copy of the book someone wants to read). I liked it. It was very odd, and like you could tell that Justin was used to his name and possibly his looks getting him whatever he wanted. Until he realized that it wasn't adoration so much as it was fear of his mother. The whole thing is based on the fact that something was trapped about a hundred and fifty or so years earlier by residents of Four Paths, NY. Now we follow the lives of their descendants as the thing gets stronger and tries to escape. Some of it was just beyond believable, but it wasn't that bad. I'm already ordered the next volume and I'm gonna read it. I can't wait to see what happens now that the Founder kids are not as scared of Augusta Hawthorne as they used to be.

9. Lovely War by Julie Barry - Let me premise this by saying I don't normally read this kind of thing. I very rarely read romance novels, but this was the group read for by the discord group Moonlight Readers. We read it in bits and talked about it. I liked that the whole story was being told by outside forces as memories of theirs. It certainly didn't hurt that the outside forces that were telling the story were Greek deities. That made my day. We follow the lives of four people who are living through WWI in England and France, just trying to survive. It was really good and I suggest everyone read it. The whole story lead up to something heartfelt and adorable (that I'm not going to spoil, but trust me, you all need to read it!!) 

10. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle is one of my favorite Miyazaki films, and when I learned it was based on an actual book, I had to get my hands on it. I absolutely had to. It was so different from the movie. Howl is not as dumb or vain as the book makes him out to be, and there is nothing of going to the past. It was so good, I loved every second of it and I had to put the next two volumes (yeah, there are more, apparently the Ghibli movie Castle in the Sky is also based on a Diana Wynne Jones book, the companion novel to HMC, Castle in the Air). Calcifer is still my favorite. If I were to get a literary/animation themed tattoo, it would definitely be Calcifer's "May all your bacon burn!!" I was surprised to know that Michael was in fact, not a ten year old white kid, but from what I gather he was actually a fifteen year old dark skinned teen. I am looking very forward to reading the next two volumes of the series.