June 2021 Wrap-up

June TBR Pile: I did away with my TBR list at the beginning of the month to let the reader inspiration take me where it wanted. Here’s what I read this month:

1. Daring Greatly by Brene Brown

2. Bellamy and the Brute by Alicia Michaels

3. Broken by Jenny Lawson

4. The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov

5. Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman

6. Looking Glass by Christina Henry

7. Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence

8. A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz

9. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

10. The Downing Kind by Jennifer McMahon

11. The Whispering House by Elizabeth Brooks

12. The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

13. The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary

14. Scary Stories for Little Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker

15. A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

16. For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

17. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5530 pages
Pages Remaining: 468,997 pages

Current Read - Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (4) - I grabbed two books from Book of the Month. I also received a book that I won from Goodreads and totally forgot about. And I got a book during our book club swap day.

• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

• Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian

• Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams

• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 279

• Books Read: 0

• Books Acquired: 4

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 283

July TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: ???

2. Formerly Girly Book Club now Bookworms: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

3. Friend Book Club: Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

4. MMD RC: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

5. Nonfiction: Wintering by Katherine May

6. Fantasy: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

7. Fantasy: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

8. Comic: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 3

9. Science Fiction: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

10. Romance: Friends without Benefits by Penny Reid

11. Kid Read Aloud: Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

12. Kid Read Aloud: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Movies watched

• Deep Murder - Fun quirky movie

• Good on Paper - Interesting little comedy

TV Shows watched 

• Loki - Oh yes! I can’t wait to watch this one every week.

• Running Wilde S1 - I never watched this short-lived comedy sitcom, so we started. Short and sweet, but lots of fun.

• Hustle S3-4

• Star Trek: Voyager S3-4

• Holey Moley S3

• Mythic Quest S2

• Last Week Tonight

• Rick and Morty S5

• Making It S3

Comments - I loved having no reins on my reading this month! It was lovely to allow my moods to determine my next reads. There were definitely some misses in there, but I knocked out a ton of titles from my bigger TBR. And we managed to watch some great television this month (hello Loki!!!!). Looking forward to what is July brings!

Next up on the TBR pile:

May 2021 Wrap-up

May TBR Pile (19/25):

1. Book of the Month Club: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

2. BOTM: The Heiress Gets a Duke by Harper St. George

3. Girly Book Club: (already caught up)

4. Friend Book Club: The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary ✓

5. MMD RC: Still Life by Louise Penny ✓

6. MMD RC: Daring Greatly by Brene Brown in progress

7. Nonfiction: In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick in progress

8. Nonfiction: Buy Yourself the Fucking Lilies by Tara Schuster ✓

9. Fantasy: Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark ✓

10. Fantasy: Red Queen by Christina Henry ✓

11. Fantasy: Cursed edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane ✓

12. Comic: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1 ✓

13. Comic: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 2 ✓

14. Comic: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Vol. 1

15. Science Fiction: The Toll by Neal Shusterman ✓

16. Romance: The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn ✓

17. Romance: The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy by Julia Quinn ✓

18. Kid Read Aloud: Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr ✓

19. Kid Read Aloud: The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate ✓

20. Kid Read Aloud: Frog and Toad Collection by Arnold Lobel ✓

21. Added: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo ✓

22. Added: The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark ✓

23. Added: The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ✓

24. Added: The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James ✓

25. Added: The Book That Made Me edited by Judith Ridge ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5469 pages
Pages Remaining: 474,527 pages

Current Read - Daring Greatly by Brene Brown; In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick; The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov; Bellamy and the Brute by Alicia Michaels

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (1) - My BOTM of the month selection was Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. I can’t wait to dive into this one!

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 280

• Books Read: 2

• Books Acquired: 1

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 279

June TBR Pile: I’m taking a break from the big TBR list and leaving everything open for June. I know there are few books I want to get to (book club selection and library books), but I’m going to let my mood lead my reading this month.

Movies watched

• Mortal Kombat (2021) - Pretty decent action movie.

• Raising Arizona - A rewatch, but it’s been at least 15 years. Still holds up!

• 10 Cloverfield Lane - This was surprisingly good.

• Ghost Rider 2 - How did I miss this ridiculous Nicholas Cage movie? Goodness that was silly.

• Wrath of Man - Back to what Guy Ritchie does best. Oh so good!

• Cruella - I absolutely loved that one!

TV Shows watched 

• The Queen’s Gambit S1 - We sped through this one and it was delightful!

• Calls S1 - So incredibly strange, but I loved it.

• Star Trek: Voyager S3 - Still plugging along, watching all of Trek.

• Below Deck: Sailing Yacht S2 - My silly guilty pleasure show.

• Hustle S1-2 - J wanted me to start this one… decent so far.

Comments - May was a great month for books, movies, TV, and all around fun!

Next up on the TBR pile:

April 2021 Wrap-up

April TBR Pile (17/24):

1. Book of the Month Club: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

2. BOTM: The Heiress Gets a Duke by Harper St. George

3. Girly Book Club: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner ✓

4. Friend Book Club: Outlawed by Anna North ✓

5. MMD RC: Still Life by Louise Penny in progress

6. MMD RC: Daring Greatly by Brene Brown

7. MMD RC: The Switch by Beth O’Leary

8. Nonfiction: In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick in progress

9. Fantasy: Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust ✓

10. Fantasy: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig ✓

11. Fantasy: Alice by Christina Henry ✓

12. Fantasy: All the Tides of Fate by Adalyn Grace ✓

13. Science Fiction: Robots and Empires by Isaac Asimov ✓

14. Science Fiction: Sea Change by Nancy Kress

15. Romance: On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn ✓

16. Romance: Bridgertons Happily Ever After by Julia Quinn ✓

17. Kid Read Aloud: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate ✓

18. Kid Read Aloud: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lundgren ✓

19. Added: A House at the Bottom of the Lake by Josh Malerman ✓

20. Added: Lady Mechanika Vol. 5 ✓

21. Added: Lady Mechanika Vol. 6 ✓

22. Added: Tales from the Hinterland by Melissa Albert ✓

23. Added: Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn ✓

24. Added: A Night Like This by Julia Quinn ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 4922 pages
Pages Remaining: 479,966pages

Current Read - Still Life by Louise Penny; In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick; Something is Killing the Children

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (16) - So many! I went a little crazy with a Book Outlet order and came away with multiple books for myself! I also grabbed a selection for my BOTM.

• Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

• The Devious Dr. Jekyll by Viola Carr

• Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas

• The Queen of Sorrow (Queens of Renthia #3) by Sarah Beth Durst

• The Deepest Blue by Sarah Beth Durst

• You May Now Kill the Bride (Return to Fear Street #1) by R.L. Stine

• The Wrong Girl (Return to Fear Street #2) by R.L. Stine

• Say No to the Duke by Eloisa James

• Underground Airlines by Ben Winters

• The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie

• The Book of Dust (La Belle Sauvage 1) by Philip Pullman

• The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders

• Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

• Whichwood (Furthermore #2) by Tahereh Mafi

• Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

• The Reckoning of Noah Shaw (Shaw Confessions #2) by Michelle Hodkin

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 270

• Books Read: 6

• Books Acquired: 16

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 280

May TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

2. BOTM: The Heiress Gets a Duke by Harper St. George

3. Girly Book Club: (already caught up)

4. Friend Book Club: The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

5. MMD RC: Still Life by Louise Penny

6. MMD RC: Daring Greatly by Brene Brown

7. Nonfiction: In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick

8. Nonfiction: Buy Yourself the Fucking Lilies by Tara Schuster

9. Fantasy: Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

10. Fantasy: Red Queen by Christina Henry

11. Fantasy: Cursed

12. Comic: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1

13. Comic: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 2

14. Comic: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Vol. 1

15. Science Fiction: The Toll by Neal Shusterman

16. Romance: The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn

17. Romance: The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy by Julia Quinn

18. Kid Read Aloud: Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr

19. Kid Read Aloud: The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate

Movies watched

• Godzilla vs. King Kong - Decent kaiju movie.

• Point Break - New version. Beyond terrible.

• Nobody - Very John Wick-esque but starring Bob Odenkirk. We really enjoyed this one.

• Say My Name - A quirky action comedy. We really like these types of movies.

TV Shows watched 

• AP Bio S1-3 - We finished the series and I laughed so hard!

• Falcon and the Winter Soldier S1 - Really enjoyed the buddy cop elements of this show.

• Below Deck

• Staged S1-2 - We needed to watch this. Delightful.

• Star Trek: Voyager S2-3 - Slowly continuing on with our goal of watching all the Star Trek. Voyager really is very uneven…

Comments - Very good reading month! I actually knocked out 6 from my Unread Shelf. Unfortunately, I added 16 books to that same shelf. Goodness… Well, more books for me to love I guess.

Next up on the TBR pile:

March 2021 Wrap-up

March TBR Pile (19/24):

1. Book of the Month Club: TBD

2. Girly Book Club: Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown ✓

3. Friend Book Club: Dangerous Women by Hope Adams ✓

4. MMD RC: Still Life by Louise Penny

5. MMD RC: I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman ✓

6. Nonfiction: Walkable City by Jeff Speck

7. Nonfiction: From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty

8. Romance: Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

9. Romance: Duke of Pleasure by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

10. Romance: Duke of Desire by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

11. Fantasy: A Vow of Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer ✓

12. Fantasy: Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

13. Fantasy: Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire ✓

14. Thriller: Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger ✓

15. Science Fiction: Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman ✓

16. Kid Read Aloud: Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar ✓

17. Kid Read Aloud: Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie ✓

18. Added: To Sir Phillip With Love by Julia Quinn ✓

19. Added: When He was Wicked by Julia Quinn ✓

20. Added: It’s in His Kiss by Julia Quinn ✓

21. Added: Librarian Tales by William Otten ✓

22. Added: Once Upon a Moonlit Night by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

23. Added: Once Upon a Christmas Eve by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

24. Added: Once Upon a Maiden Lane by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5537 pages
Pages Remaining: 484,888 pages

Current Read - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig; Outlawed by Anna North; Robots and Empire by Isaac Asimov

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (4)

Using my birthday gift cards, I bought two comic trades:

• Lady Mechanika Vol. 5

• Lady Mechanika Vol. 6

And I picked up two Book of the Month books:

• The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

• The Heiress Gets a Duke by Harper St. George

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 276

• Books Read: 2

• Books Acquired: 4

• Books Unshelved: 8

• Finishing Number: 270

April TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

2. BOTM: The Heiress Gets a Duke by Harper St. George

3. Girly Book Club: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

4. Friend Book Club: Outlawed by Anna North

5. MMD RC: Still Life by Louise Penny

6. MMD RC: Daring Greatly by Brene Brown

7. MMD RC: The Switch by Beth O’Leary

8. Nonfiction: In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick

9. Fantasy: Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

10. Fantasy: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

11. Fantasy: Alice by Christina Henry

12. Fantasy: All the Tides of Fate by Adalyn Grace

13. Science Fiction: Robots and Empires by Isaac Asimov

14. Science Fiction: Sea Change by Nancy Kress

15. Romance: On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn

16. Romance: Bridgerton Happily Ever After by Julia Quinn

17. Kid Read Aloud: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

18. Kid Read Aloud: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid

Movies watched

• Raya and the Last Dragon - The settings and backgrounds were absolutely gorgeous. The story wasn’t quite hitting all the emotional notes.

• Pixie - Enjoyed this black comedy! We unintentionally watched this for St. Patrick’s Day.

TV Shows watched 

• Last Week Tonight - Our usual current show

• Below Deck Med S5 - Still love Captain Sandy, but man that was a season full of firings!

• Superstore S6 - We finished it!

• WandaVision S1 - Heartbreaking, but oh so good.

• Resident Alien S1 - Delightfully weird show. We watch anything with Alan Tudyk in it!

• Falcon and the Winter Solider S1 - We are totally in on this show.

• Ted Lasso S1 - This was exactly the show that I needed right now. It’s so incredibly hopeful!

• AP Bio S1 - J had me start this one and it is good. It’s the cynical opposite of Ted Lasso.

Comments - A surprisingly great reading month. I read some duds, but I also finished a great (very large) historical romance story and almost finished another one. We also managed to watch some great TV series (seriously Ted Lasso is life!). Looking to April to decrease my library books and read more from my shelves. This should be helped by the fact that both book club books I actually own and am prioritizing.

Next up on the TBR pile:

February 2021 Wrap-up

February TBR Pile (15/24):

1. Book of the Month Club: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides ✓

2. Girly Book Club: Recursion by Blake Crouch (reread for me)

3. Girly Book Club: Disappearing Earth by Julia Philips

4. Friend Book Club: The Widow by Fiona Barton ✓

5. MMD RC: Still Life by Louise Penny

6. Nonfiction: Librarian Tales by William Ottens

7. Nonfiction: Underland by Robert Mcfarlane ✓

8. Romance: Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

9. Romance: Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

10. Romance: Sweetest Scoundrel by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

11. Romance: To Sir Phillip With Love by Julia Quinn

12. Romance: It’s In His His by Julia Quinn

13. Romance: When He was Wicked by Julia Quinn

14. Romance: On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn

15. Scifi: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

16. Scifi: Scythe by Neal Shusterman ✓

17. Fantasy: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

18. Fantasy: The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow ✓

19. Added: Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade ✓

20. Added: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark ✓

21. Added: Dearest Rogue by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

22. Added: Know My Name by Chanel Miller ✓

23. Added: The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman ✓

24. Kid Read Aloud: Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman ✓

25. Kid Read Aloud: Just Beyond the Very, Very Far North by Dan Bar-el ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5058 pages
Pages Remaining: 490,425 pages

Current Read - A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer; Walkable City by Jeff Speck

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (0)

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 281

• Books Read: 5

• Books Acquired: 0

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 276

March TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: TBD

2. Girly Book Club: Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown

3. Friend Book Club: Dangerous Women by Hope Adams

4. MMD RC: Still Life by Louise Penny

5. MMD RC: I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman

6. Nonfiction: Walkable City by Jeff Speck

7. Nonfiction: From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty

8. Romance: Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt

9. Romance: Duke of Pleasure by Elizabeth Hoyt

10. Romance: Duke of Desire by Elizabeth Hoyt

11. Fantasy: A Vow of Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer

12. Fantasy: Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

13. Fantasy: Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

14. Thriller: Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger

15. Science Fiction: Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

Movies watched - See my separate Movie Month posts for all the details.

TV Shows watched 

• The Watch S1 - We just finished the first season this week. I’m loving it!

• Superstore S6

• Bridgerton S1 - So class to finishing this season.

• Below Deck Med S5 - I’m liking some of the people on this season, but Hannah has got to go.

Comments - I barely squeaked to my reading goal of 15 books this month. February has always been a blah kind of month for reading and this month is no different. We did really enjoy our February movie month and watched some great (and some terrible) movies.

Next up on the TBR pile:

January 2021 Wrap-up

January TBR Pile (20/26):

1. Book of the Month Club: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London ✓

2. Girly Book Club: Exhalation by Ted Chiang ✓

3. Girly Book Club: Disappearing Earth by Julia Philips

4. Friend Book Club: Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam ✓

5. MMD RC: Still Life by Louise Penny

6. Nonfiction: The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen ✓

7. Nonfiction: Librarian Tales by William Ottens

8. Nonfiction: Underland by Robert Mcfarlane

9. Romance: Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt

10. Romance: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn ✓

11. Scifi: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

12. Scifi: The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov ✓

13. Fantasy: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke ✓

14. Comics: Solution and Other Problems by Allie Brosh ✓

15. Comics: Wellington by Aaron Mahnke ✓

16. Added: How to Catch a Wild Viscount by Tessa Dare ✓

17. Added: His Defiant Princess by Kathleen O’Brien ✓

18. Added: His Christmas Princess by Kathleen O’Brien ✓

19. Added: Sanctum by Madeleine Roux ✓

20. Added: The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham ✓

21. Added: The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn ✓

22. Added: An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn ✓

23. Added: Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn ✓

24. Added: Lock In by John Scalzi ✓

25. Kid Read Aloud: The Very Very Far North by Dan Bar-el ✓

26. Kid Read Aloud: Matilda by Roald Dahl ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6279 pages
Pages Remaining: 495,483 pages

Current Read - Underland by Robert Macfarlane; The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Books I Gave Up On (1)

• Suicide Forest by Jeremy Bates - I read about 30% and had a feeling that things were not going to take a good turn. I ended up reading Goodreads review and was validated in my feeling. CW for suicide and rape.

Books bought/received (4)

Two BOTM the month selections for me this month. One was free as it was a finalist for Book of the Year.

• Outlawed by Anna North

• The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare

I also picked up two romance paperbacks from Half Price Books. These are from Hoyt’s Maiden Lane series that I’m really enjoying reading. The library does not have either of these volumes right now, but does have later volumes.

• Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt

• Sweetest Scoundrel by Elizabeth Hoyt

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 292

• Books Read: 6

• Books Acquired: 4

• Books Unshelved: 9

• Finishing Number: 281

February TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

2. Girly Book Club: Excursion by Blake Crouch (reread for me)

3. Girly Book Club: Disappearing Earth by Julia Philips

4. Friend Book Club: The Widow by Fiona Barton

5. MMD RC: Still Life by Louise Penny

6. Nonfiction: Librarian Tales by William Ottens

7. Nonfiction: Underland by Robert Mcfarlane

8. Romance: Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt

9. Romance: Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

10. Romance: Sweetest Scoundrel by Elizabeth Hoyt

11. Romance: To Sir Phillip With Love by Julia Quinn

12. Romance: It’s In His His by Julia Quinn

13. Romance: When He was Wicked by Julia Quinn

14. Romance: On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn

15. Scifi: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

16. Scifi: Scythe by Neal Shusterman

17. Fantasy: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

18. Fantasy: The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Movies watched

• The Last Blockbuster - Interesting little documentary

• Fahrenheit 451 (2018) - Really enjoyed the first act or so, but the second half of the movie was very weak.

TV Shows watched 

• Below Deck: Sailing Yacht S1

• Star Trek DS9 S1

• Schitt’s Creek S2-6 - We burned through five seasons in like two weeks. Oh goodness! I was in tears at the end. So incredibly good.

• The Watch S1 - J is super excited about this show based on The Watch novels from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.

• Lupin S1 - That was such a good show, but darn it, what a cliffhanger!

• The Bachelor - Ooofff, I’m not loving some of the women and their interactions on Matt James’s season.

Comments - Starting off the year strong! I read 18 books for myself and 2 kid read alouds. I managed to keep my library numbers down and read a decent number of unread shelf books. We managed to finish a few seasons of tv and almost an entire series. February is going to be our traditional new-to-us movie month, so very little television series will be watched. Can’t wait!

Next up on the TBR pile:

December 2020 Wrap-up

December TBR Pile (19/25):

1. Book of the Month Club: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

2. Girly Book Club: Exhalation by Ted Chiang

3. Friend Book Club: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab ✓

4. Friend Book Club (Dec): Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

5. TBR Random (Dec): Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins ✓

6. Goodreads To Read Random (Dec): Still Life by Louise Penny

7. Theme 1: Wrapped Up for Christmas by Katlyn Duncan ✓

8. Theme 1: A Christmas to Remember by Jenny Hale ✓

9. Theme 1: The Christmas Princess by Patricia McLinn ✓

10. Theme 2: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

11. Theme 2: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix ✓

12. Theme 2: Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas ✓

13. Scifi: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green

14. Comics: The Tea Dragon Society ✓

15. Comics: The Tea Dragon Festival ✓

16. Comics: Flight Vol. 2 ✓

17. Comics: Once & Future King Vol. 2 ✓

18. Comics: Lumberjanes / Gotham Academy ✓

19. Comics: Monstress Vol. 5 ✓

20. Horror: North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud ✓

21. Added: Gotham Academy Semester 2 Vol. 1 ✓

22. Added: Gotham Academy Semester 2 Vol. 2 ✓

23. Added: Her Christmas Bonus by Rain Danvers ✓

24. Added: Let It Snow by Erica Ridley ✓

25. Added: The Christmas Contest by Scarlet Wilson ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 4439 pages
Pages Remaining: 501,761 pages

Current Read - Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam; Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (0)

January TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

2. Girly Book Club: Exhalation by Ted Chiang

3. Girly Book Club: Disappearing Earth by Julia Philips

4. Friend Book Club: Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

5. MMD RC: Still Life by Louise Penny

6. Nonfiction: The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen

7. Nonfiction: Librarian Tales by William Ottens

8. Nonfiction: Underland by Robert Mcfarlane

9. Romance: Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt

10. Romance: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

11. Scifi: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

12. Scifi: The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov

13. Fantasy: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

14. Comics: Solution and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

15. Comics: Wellington by Aaron Mahnke

Movies watched

• Beneath the Planet of the Apes - I’m slowly working through this series that I’ve never watched.

• Florence Foster Jenkins - Delightful biography.

• Holidate - Delightful Christmas romantic comedy.

• Tenet - Too smart for its own good. Parts were liked and parts that were just too confusing.

• MIB: International - Rotten Tomatoes’ score of 22% was very harsh. This was an okay summer blockbuster popcorn flick. I would give it more like 55%.

• Insert Coin - Interesting documentary about coin op games and Midway. Didn’t know I needed to watch that one.

• Soul - This was really beautifully; something I expect from Pixar.

• WW84 - Very underwhelming…

• Fatman -

TV Shows watched 

• Lovecraft Country S1

• His Dark Materials S2

• The Mandalorian S2

• Below Deck: Sailing Yacht S1

• Star Trek DS9 S1 - As we finished some of the other shows, we jumped back into Star Trek.

• Schitt’s Creek S1-2 - We finally started it!

Comments - Finished off the year strong with 30 books over my goal.

Next up on the TBR pile:

November 2020 Wrap-up

November TBR Pile (16/30)

1. Book of the Month Club: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

2. BOTM Club: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

3. BOTM Club: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

4. Girly Book Club: Color Me In by Natasha Diaz ✓

5. Friend Book Club: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

6. Unread Shelf Random (Nov): Still Life by Louise Penny

7. Goodreads To Read Random (Nov): The Troop by Nick Cutter ✓

8. Theme 1: The Address Book by Deirdre Mask ✓

9. Theme 1: The Witches by Stacy Schiff

10. Theme 1: The Buried by Peter Hessler

11. Theme 2: The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

12. Horror: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff ✓

13. Comics: Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy

14. Comics: Lumberjanes The Infernal Compass ✓

15. Comics: Lumberjanes The Shape of Friendship ✓

16. Comics: Lumberjanes Bonus Tracks ✓

17. Comics: Flight Vol. 1 ✓

18. Comics: Flight Vol. 2

19. Romance: Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt

20. Romance: Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

21. Romance: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

22. Thriller: There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins ✓

23. Horror: The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School by Kim Newman

24. Horror: Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand ✓

25. Added: The Last Flight by Julie Clark ✓

26. Added: Magical Blend by Kennedy Layne ✓

27. Added: Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker ✓

28. Added: Gotham Academy Vol. 1 ✓

29. Added: Gotham Academy Vol. 2 ✓

30. Added: Gotham Academy Vol. 3 ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 4043 pages
Pages Remaining: 506,200 pages

Current Read - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (2) - Two selections from Book of the Month

• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

• The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman

December TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

2. Girly Book Club: Exhalation by Ted Chiang

3. Friend Book Club: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

4. Friend Book Club (Dec): TBD

5. TBR Random (Dec): Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

6. Goodreads To Read Random (Dec): Still Life by Louise Penny

7. Theme 1: One Day in December by Josie Silver

8. Theme 1: TBD

9. Theme 1: TBD

10. Theme 2: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

11. Theme 2: TBD

12. Theme 2: TBD

13. Scifi: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green

14. Comics: The Tea Dragon Society

15. Comics: The Tea Dragon Festival

16. Comics: Flight Vol. 2

17. Comics: Once & Future King Vol. 2

18. Comics: Lumberjanes / Gotham Academy

19. Comics: Monstress Vol. 5

20. Horror: North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud

Movies watched

• The New Mutants - Boring

• Downsizing - Very confused message and tone.

TV Shows watched 

• The Mandalorian S2

• Truth Seekers S1

• Battlestar Galactica S4

• His Dark Materials S2

• Happy S2

• Lovecraft Country S1

Comments - My reading went down this month as life was busy. But I still had a decent showing and finished off a stack of comics. I’ve put myself on a library ban that will be extending into 2021 (excluding book club selections that I don’t want to buy). We’ll see how December goes.

Next up on the TBR pile:

October 2020 Wrap-up

October TBR Pile (17/27)

1. Book of the Month Club: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

2. Book of the Month Club: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

3. Girly Book Club: The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali ✓

4. Friend Book Club: Sleepjng Giants by Sylvain Neuvel ✓

5. Unread Shelf Random (Oct): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

6. Goodreads To Read Random (Oct): The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

7. Theme 1: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones ✓

8. Theme 1: White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi ✓

9. Theme 1: Devolution by Max Brooks ✓

10. Theme 2:

11. Theme 2:

12. Theme Wrap-up: The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender ✓

13. Theme Wrap-up: The Secrets of Drearcliff School by Kim Newman

14. Theme Wrap-up: Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

15. Romance: Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt

16. Romance: A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore ✓

17. Romance: Well Played by Jen De Luca ✓

18. Nonfiction: The Witches by Stacy Schiff

19. Historical Fiction: Lovely War by Julie Berry ✓

20. Ebook: Dark Desires by Eve Silver ✓

21. Added: Lumberjanes Vol. 12 ✓

22. Added: Lumberjanes Vol. 13 ✓

23. Added: Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner ✓

24. Added: The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller ✓

25. Added: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune ✓

26. Added: The Last Mrs. Summers by Rhys Bowen ✓

27. Added: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5323 pages
Pages Remaining: 510,243 pages

Current Read - The Last Flight by Julie Clark

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (2) - Two selections from BOTM this month.

• A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

• Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

November TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

2. BOTM Club: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

3. BOTM Club: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

4. Girly Book Club: Color Me In by Natasha Diaz

5. Friend Book Club: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

6. Unread Shelf Random (Nov): Still Life by Louise Penny

7. Goodreads To Read Random (Nov): The Troop by Nick Cutter

8. Theme 1: The Address Book by Deirdre Mask

9. Theme 1: The Witches by Stacy Schiff

10. Theme 1: The Buried by Peter Hessler

11. Theme 2: The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

12. Theme 2:

13. Theme 2:

14. Horror: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

15. Comics: Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy

16. Comics: Lumberjanes The Infernal Compass

17. Comics: Lumberjanes The Shape of Friendship

18. Comics: Lumberjanes Bonus Tracks

19. Comics: Flight Vol. 1

20. Comics: Flight Vol. 2

21. Romance: Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt

22. Romance: Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

23. Romance: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

24. Thriller: There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

25. Horror: The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School by Kim Newman

26. Horror: Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Movies watched

• Save Yourselves - Weird and odd. Loved it!

• Enola Holmes - Delightful

• Aladdin (2019) - Better than I thought it was going to be. Will Smith is a good different genie.

• Crazy Rich Asians - Better than the book…

• Phinneas and Ferb: Candace Against the Universe - Our entertaining family movie night selection.

• The Doorman - So very forgettable.

• Jaco - Knew the music, didn’t know the name. Interesting biography.

• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Rewatch for me, first time for J.

TV Shows watched 

• Battelstar Galactica S3-4

• The Boys S2

• The Great British Bake-Off S11

• Lower Decks S1

• Archer S11

• Happy S2

• Home S1

• Below Deck S7

• Truth Seekers S1

Comments - A mixed bag when it came to the quality of the books I read this month, but I did reach my number goal. I’ve put myself on a library hold ban for November and December (except for book club books). Things got a little out of a hand and I stop reading my unread books. Need to get back to my own bookshelves and knock out some more books.

Next up on the TBR pile:

September 2020 Wrap-up

September TBR Pile (14/42):

1. Book of the Month Club: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

2. Girly Book Club: Gods of Jade and Shadows by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ✓

3. Friend Book Club: The Holdout by Graham Moore ✓

4. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

5. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

6. UnRead Shelf Random (June): Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

7. Unread Shelf Random (July): Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel

8. Unread Shelf Random (Sept): Catacomb by Madeleine Roux

9. TBR Random (Sept): The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

11. Goodreads To Read Random (Sept): Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

12. May Theme Wrap-up: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

13. May Theme Wrap-up: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

14. May Theme Wrap-up: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

15. May Theme Wrap-up: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

16. May Theme Wrap-up: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

17. June Theme Wrap-up: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

18. June Theme Wrap-up: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

19. July Theme Wrap-up: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

20. July Theme Wrap-up: The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

21. August Theme Wrap-up: Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

22. August Theme Wrap-up: The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

23. Theme 1: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

24. Theme 1: Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

25. Theme 1: Bear Town by Fredrik Backman

26. Theme 2: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo ✓

27. Theme 2: Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

28. Theme 2:

29. Nonfiction: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

30. Horror: The Asylum Novellas by Madeleine Roux

31. Library: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

32. Library: Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

33. Library: Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power ✓

34. Ebook: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown ✓

35. Ebook: The Robots at Dawn by Isaac Asimov

36. Added: Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland ✓

37. Added: The Last Curtain Call by Juliet Blackwell ✓

38. Added: The Hike by Drew Magary ✓

39. Added: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan ✓

40. Added: Love and Death Among the Cheetahs by Rhys Bowen ✓

41. Added: Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert ✓

42. Added: The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner ✓

43. Added: Lord of Darkness by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5453 pages
Pages Remaining: 515,566 pages

Current Read - The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones; Lovely War by Julie Berry; A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (3) - I ended up getting three books from BOTM for this month

• Gods of Jade and Shadows by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

• Piransei by Susanna Clarke

• Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

October TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

2. Book of the Month Club: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

3. Girly Book Club: The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

4. Friend Book Club:

5. Unread Shelf Random (Oct): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

6. Goodreads To Read Random (Oct): The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

7. Theme 1: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

8. Theme 1: White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

9. Theme 1: Devolution by Max Brooks

10. Theme 2:

11. Theme 2:

12. Theme 3:

13. Theme Wrap-up: The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

14. Theme Wrap-up: The Secrets of Drearcliff School by Kim Newman

15. Theme Wrap-up: Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

16. Romance: Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt

17. Romance: A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore

18. Romance: Well Played by Jen De Luca

19. Nonfiction: The Witches by Stacy Schiff

20. Scifi: Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

21. Historical Fiction: Lovely War by Julie Berry

22. Ebook: Dark Desires by Eve Silver

Movies watched

• Dolittle - Not as bad as I thought it would be. I think the biggest problem was the ridiculous accent.

TV Shows watched 

• Battlestar Galactica S3

• Below Deck Med S

• Afro Samurai

• Lower Decks S1

• The Orville S2

• Archer

• Travels with My Father

• The Boys S2

Comments - Decent reading month even with all the interruptions.

Next up on the TBR pile:

August 2020 Wrap-up

August TBR Pile (17/44):

1. Book of the Month Club: One Day in December by Josie Silver

2. BOTM: The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

3. BOTM: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

4. Girly Book Club: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite ✓

5. Friend Book Club: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ✓

6. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

7. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

8. UnRead Shelf Random (June): Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

9. Unread Shelf Random (July): Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

11. Goodreads To Read Random (August): The Ship of Dreams by Gareth Russell ✓

12. TBR Jar Random (August): Delirium by Lauren Oliver ✓

13. May Theme Wrap-up: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

14. May Theme Wrap-up: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

15. May Theme Wrap-up: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

16. May Theme Wrap-up: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

17. May Theme Wrap-up: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

18. June Theme Wrap-up: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

19. June Theme Wrap-up: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

20. July Theme Wrap-up: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

21. July Theme Wrap-up: The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

22. Theme 1: Partials by Dan Wells

23. Theme 1: The End of October by Lawrence Wright ✓

24. Theme 1: The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov ✓

25. Theme 2: Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

26. Theme 2: Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams ✓

27. Theme 2: TBD

28. YA: Wicked as You Wish by Rin Chupeco ✓

29. Nonfiction: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

30. Horror: The Asylum Novellas by Madeleine Roux

31. Horror: Catacomb by Madeleine Roux

32. MMD: Beach Read by Emily Henry ✓

33. MMD:: Redhead By the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler ✓

34. MMD: Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen

35. Library: The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

36. Library: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

37. Library: The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck

38. Library: Seven Endless Forests by April Genevieve Tucholke ✓

39. Romance: Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

40. Romance: Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

41. Added: Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

42. Added: The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov ✓

43. Added: Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau ✓

44. Added: Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6012 pages
Pages Remaining: 521,019 pages

Current Read - Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (1) - I chose The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson for my BOTM selection.

September TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

2. Girly Book Club: Gods of Jade and Shadows by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

3. Friend Book Club: The Holdout by Graham Moore

4. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

5. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

6. UnRead Shelf Random (June): Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

7. Unread Shelf Random (July): Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel

8. Unread Shelf Random (Sept): Catacomb by Madeleine Roux

9. TBR Random (Sept): The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

11. Goodreads To Read Random (Sept): Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

12. May Theme Wrap-up: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

13. May Theme Wrap-up: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

14. May Theme Wrap-up: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

15. May Theme Wrap-up: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

16. May Theme Wrap-up: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

17. June Theme Wrap-up: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

18. June Theme Wrap-up: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

19. July Theme Wrap-up: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

20. July Theme Wrap-up: The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

21. August Theme Wrap-up: Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

22. August Theme Wrap-up: The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

23. Theme 1: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

24. Theme 1: Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

25. Theme 1: Bear Town by Fredrik Backman

26. Theme 2: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

27. Theme 2: Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

28. Theme 2:

29. Nonfiction: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

30. Horror: The Asylum Novellas by Madeleine Roux

31. Library: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

32. Library: Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

33. Library: Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

34. Ebook: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

35. Ebook: The Robots at Dawn by Isaac Asimov

Movies watched

• Jack Reacher - Very meh movie

• Max Reload and the Nerf Blasters - Cute little indie film

• Dynamite Warrior - Such a weird movie that J made me watch.

• Bill & Ted Face the Music - Decent movie, but very earnest.

TV Shows watched 

• Battlestar Galactica S2

• The Umbrella Academy S2

• Holey Moley S2

• Below Deck Med S5

• Below Deck S7

• The 100 S7

• The Orville S1

Comments - A decent showing this month for reading. I figured my reading numbers would go down because of homeschooling. And it happened. That’s okay. I still read a decent amount this week and am going into September with renewed motivation.

Next up on the TBR pile:

July 2020 Wrap-up

July TBR Pile (22/43)

1. Book of the Month Club: The End of October by Lawrence Wright

2. BOTM: Home Before Dark by Riley Sager ✓

3. BOTM: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

4. Girly Book Club: Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert ✓

5. Friend Book Club: The Witches are Coming by Lindy West ✓

6. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

7. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

8. UnRead Shelf Random (June): Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

9. Unread Shelf Random (July): Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

11. Goodreads To Read Random (July): Dread Nation by Justina Ireland ✓

12. TBR Jar Random (July): Pines by Blake Crouch ✓

13. May Theme Wrap-up: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

14. May Theme Wrap-up: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

15. May Theme Wrap-up: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

16. May Theme Wrap-up: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

17. June Theme Wrap-up: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

18. June Theme Wrap-up: Conjure Women by Afia Atakora ✓

19. June Theme Wrap-up: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

20. June Theme Wrap-up: Across the Universe by Beth Revis ✓

21. Theme 1: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

22. Theme 1: Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson ✓

23. Theme 1: Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

24. Theme 2: The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

25. Theme 2: Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch ✓

26. Theme 2: The Guest List by Lucy Foley ✓

27. YA: Wicked as You Wish by Rin Chupeco

28. Nonfiction: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

29. Nonfiction: A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg ✓

30. Horror: Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

31. Horror: The Asylum Novellas by Madeleine Roux

32. Horror: Catacomb by Madeleine Roux

33. Horror: The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs ✓

34. Science Fiction: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells ✓

35. Science Fiction: Network Effect by Martha Wells ✓

36. Added: Once & Future Vol. 1 ✓

37. Added: Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo ✓

38. Added: On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service by Rhys Bowen ✓

39. Added: Pandemic 1918 by Catharine Arnold ✓

40. Added: Tweet Cute by Emma Lord ✓

41. Added: Galatea by Madeline Miller ✓

42. Added: Shrill by Lindy West ✓

43. Added: A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6736 pages
Pages Remaining: 527,031 pages

Current Read - Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt; Wicked as You Wish by Rin Chupeco

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (1) - My BOTM selection for July was Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I’m excited to dive into that one for August.

August TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: One Day in December by Josie Silver

2. BOTM: The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

3. BOTM: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

4. Girly Book Club: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

5. Friend Book Club: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

6. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

7. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

8. UnRead Shelf Random (June): Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

9. Unread Shelf Random (July): Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

11. Goodreads To Read Random (August): The Ship of Dreams by Gareth Russell

12. TBR Jar Random (August): Delirium by Lauren Oliver

13. May Theme Wrap-up: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

14. May Theme Wrap-up: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

15. May Theme Wrap-up: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

16. May Theme Wrap-up: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

17. May Theme Wrap-up: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

18. June Theme Wrap-up: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

19. June Theme Wrap-up: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

20. July Theme Wrap-up: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

21. July Theme Wrap-up: The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

22. Theme 1: Partials by Dan Wells

23. Theme 1: The End of October by Lawrence Wright

24. Theme 1: The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

25. Theme 2: Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

26. Theme 2: Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams

27. Theme 2: TBD

28. YA: Wicked as You Wish by Rin Chupeco

29. Nonfiction: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

30. Horror: The Asylum Novellas by Madeleine Roux

31. Horror: Catacomb by Madeleine Roux

32. MMD: Beach Read by Emily Henry

33. MMD:: Redhead By the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler

34. MMD: Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen

35. Library: The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

36. Library: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

37. Library: The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck

38. Library: Seven Endless Forests by April Genevieve Tucholke

39. Romance: Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt

40. Romance: Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt

Movies watched

• Stuffed - Strange doc about taxidermists. Loved it!

• Overboard (2018) - Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but not good.

• Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - J made me watch. Way funnier than I anticipated.

• Eurovision - Tonally all over the place, but had some great funny moments.

• Palm Springs - Total delight! Loved Andy Sandberg.

• Yesterday - Don’t think about it too hard and then it’s great.

• The Personal History of David Copperfield - Such a delightful movie. Loved it.

• Psych 2: Lassie Come Home - We needed some light-hearted fun!

• The Bit Player - Fascinating documentary about Claude Shannon

• The Current War - A bit muddled, but decent.

TV Shows watched 

• Battlestar Galactica S2

• Below Deck: Med S3

• Cosmos S2

• Avenue 5 S1 - This was a delight! I can’t wait for S2.

• The 100 S7

Comments - Holy cow! Another huge reading moth! I knocked off a ton of books from my TBR pile and didn’t add to many. Looking forward to August. I imagine my reading will go down a bit with Arthur starting homeschooling and lots of big changes to our very lax schedule right now.

Next up on the TBR pile:

June 2020 Wrap-up

June TBR Pile (25/46):

1. Book of the Month Club: One Day in December by Josie Silver

2. BOTM: The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

3. Girly Book Club: Ask Again Yes by Mary Beth Keane ✓

4. Friend Book Club: The Library of Legends by Janie Chang ✓

5. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

6. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

7. UnRead Shelf Random (April): Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore ✓

8. UnRead Shelf Random (May): Asylum by Madeleine Roux ✓

9. UnRead Shelf Random (June): Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

11. Goodreads To Read Random (June): The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs by Katherine Howe ✓

12. TBR Jar Random (June): Hollowland by Amanda Hocking ✓

13. May Theme Wrap-up: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

14. May Theme Wrap-up: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

15. May Theme Wrap-up: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

16. May Theme Wrap-up: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

17. Theme 1: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

18. Theme 1: Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn

19. Theme 1: Empress of the Seven Hills by Kate Quinn

20. Theme 2: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

21. Theme 2: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

22. Theme 2: A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer ✓

23. Mystery: Cocaine Blues by Kerry Washington ✓

24. Historical Fiction: Lady of the Eternal City by Kate Quinn

25. Historical Fiction: The Paris Hours by Alex George ✓

26. Science Fiction: Sever by Lauren DeStefano ✓

27. Science Fiction: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells ✓

28. Science Fiction: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells ✓

29. Science Fiction: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

30. Science Fiction: Network Effect by Martha Wells

31. Romance: Whisper of Scandal by Nicola Cornick ✓

32. Romance: One Wicked Sin by Nicola Cornick (dumped series)

33. Romance: Mistress of Midnight by Nicola Cornick (dumped series)

34. Romance: Notorious by Nicola Cornick (dumped series)

35. Nonfiction: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte ✓

36. Ebook: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel ✓

37. Added: The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams ✓

38. Added: Crowned and Dangerous by Rhys Bowen ✓

39. Added: The City We Became by NK Jemisin ✓

40. Added: Hollowmen by Amanda Hocking ✓

41. Added: The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley ✓

42. Added: When Women Ruled by Kara Cooney ✓

43. Added: Bibliophile by Jane Mount ✓

44. Added: The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez ✓

45. Added: Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston ✓

46. Added: I’d Give Anything by Marisa de los Santos ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 8354 pages
Pages Remaining: 533,767 pages

Current Read - Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert; Conjure Women by Afia Atakora

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (3) - I ended up getting three Book of the Month selections at the beginning June.

• The End of October by Lawrence Wright

• One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

• Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

July TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: The End of October by Lawrence Wright

2. BOTM: Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

3. BOTM: One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

4. Girly Book Club: Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

5. Friend Book Club: The Witches are Coming by Lindy West

6. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

7. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

8. UnRead Shelf Random (June): Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

9. Unread Shelf Random (July): Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

11. Goodreads To Read Random (July): Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

12. TBR Jar Random (July): Pines by Blake Crouch

13. May Theme Wrap-up: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

14. May Theme Wrap-up: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

15. May Theme Wrap-up: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

16. May Theme Wrap-up: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

17. June Theme Wrap-up: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

18. June Theme Wrap-up: Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn

19. June Theme Wrap-up: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

20. June Theme Wrap-up: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

21. Theme 1: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

22. Theme 1: Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

23. Theme 1: Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

24. Theme 2: The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

25. Theme 2: Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

26. Theme 2: TBD

27. YA: Wicked as You Wish by Rin Chupeco

28. Nonfiction: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

29. Nonfiction: A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

30. Horror: Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

31. Horror: The Asylum Novellas by Madeleine Roux

32. Horror: Catacomb by Madeleine Roux

33. Horror: The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs

34. Science Fiction: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

35. Science Fiction: Network Effect by Martha Wells

Movies watched

• Corporate Animals - Such a weird tone. Did not like…

• Masterminds - A better comedy, but not great.

• Porno - Not as comedic as we were hoping for.

• Star Trek: Generations - Decent. Like a long episode of Next Gen.

TV Shows watched 

• Holey Moley S1-2 - Our fun silly show!

• Broadchurch S3 - I was a little disappointed in the resolution of the storyline.

• Cosmos S2 - Oh so good.

• Battlestar Galactica S1 - As we finished Broadchurch, J had me start this show.

• Below Deck S5-6

Comments - Holy cow! Still powering through books while social distancing. I need to do better at reading my own books (my constant refrain), but I’m excited about all the books I’ve been reading.

Next up on the TBR pile:

May 2020 Wrap-up

May TBR Pile (20/31):

1. Book of the Month Club: Things in Jars by Jess Kidd ✓

2. Girly Book Club: Circe by Madeline Miller (reread, no review) ✓

3. Friend Book Club: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson ✓

4. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

5. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

6. UnRead Shelf Random (April): Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

7. UnRead Shelf Random (May): Asylum by Madeleine Roux

8. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

9. Goodreads To Read Random (May): The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ✓

10. TBR Jar Random (April): The Five by Hallie Rubenhold ✓

11. TBR Jar Random (May): A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer ✓

12. April Theme Wrap-up: The Oracle Code ✓

13. April Theme Wrap-up: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

14. April Theme Wrap-up: Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin ✓

15. Theme 1: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

16. Theme 1: Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller ✓

17. Theme 1: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

18. Theme 2: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

19. Theme 2: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

20. Theme 2: TBD

21. Romance: The Secrets of the Courtesan by Nicola Cornick ✓

22. Romance: The Confessions of a Duchess by Nicola Cornick ✓

23. Romance: The Scandals of an Innocent by Nicola Cornick ✓

24. Romance: The Undoing of a Lady by Nicola Cornick ✓

25. Added: Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen ✓

26. Added: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins ✓

27. Added: Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey ✓

28. Added: The Deep by Alma Katsu ✓

29. Added: All Systems Red by Martha Wells ✓

30. Kid Read-Aloud: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl ✓

31. Kid Read-Aloud: Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6518 pages
Pages Remaining: 542,121 pages

Current Read - The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte; Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (1) - I skipped Book of the Month for May. Nothing really called to me. But I did pick up a copy of A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson for book club. I am hoping J will read it this year also.

June TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: One Day in December by Josie Silver

2. BOTM: The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

3. Girly Book Club: Ask Again Yes by Mary Beth Keane

4. Friend Book Club: The Library of Legends by Janie Chang

5. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

6. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

7. UnRead Shelf Random (April): Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

8. UnRead Shelf Random (May): Asylum by Madeleine Roux

9. UnRead Shelf Random (June): Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

11. Goodreads To Read Random (June): The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs by Katherine Howe

12. TBR Jar Random (June): Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

13. May Theme Wrap-up: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

14. May Theme Wrap-up: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

15. May Theme Wrap-up: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

16. May Theme Wrap-up: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

17. Theme 1: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

18. Theme 1: Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn

19. Theme 1: Empress of the Seven Hills by Kate Quinn

20. Theme 2: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

21. Theme 2: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

22. Theme 2: TBD

23. Mystery: Cocaine Blues by Kerry Washington

24. Historical Fiction: Lady of the Eternal City by Kate Quinn

25. Historical Fiction: The Paris Hours by Alex George

26. Science Fiction: Sever by Lauren DeStefano

27. Science Fiction: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

28. Science Fiction: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

29. Science Fiction: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

30. Science Fiction: Network Effect by Martha Wells

31. Romance: Whisper of Scandal by Nicola Cornick

32. Romance: One Wicked Sin by Nicola Cornick

33. Romance: Mistress of Midnight by Nicola Cornick

34. Romance: Notorious by Nicola Cornick

35. Nonfiction: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte

36. Ebook: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

UnRead Shelf Plans

For June, the prompt a book from a series. I am hoping to read one of my historical fiction series or a romance series from my stacks.

Movies watched

• Frankenstein from the National Theatre - We watched the one with Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor Frankenstein and Jonny Lee Miller as the monster. So good!

• 1917 - Absolutely gorgeous and horrifying. Amazing!

• VHYes - So weird, but strangely entertaining.

• Love Wedding Repeat - Enjoyed this romcom.

• Jay and Silent Bob Reboot - Meh.

• 20 Feet from Stardom - Pretty decent documentary.

• Ford v. Ferrari - Really enjoyed this movie about car racing, who knew?

• General Magic - Fascinating look at an almost mythical company.

• Jumanji: The Next Level - It had moments of humor. Mostly Kevin Hart being Danny Glover.

• The Darkest Minds - Terrible confusing movie (and I’ve read the book).

• Mortal Engines - Very cool models and set design, less exciting story and characters.

• Alita: Battle Angel - It had promise, I just wanted less teeny-bopper romance and more battle with the Big Bad.

• It Stains the Sands Red - Not the worst zombie movie I’ve seen, but the ending really killed it for me.

• F/X - Great 80s action movie!

• 2010 - Except for the voiceovers, I loved this one.

• Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss - Quirky and pretty fun.

• A Trip to Greece - A fourth trip! I found this one to be more uplifting than the previous ones.

• Spaceship Earth - A confused muddle of a documentary.

• Color Out of Space - Hate Lovecraft as a person, love Lovecraftian horror. This was terrifying and amazing!

• The Lovebirds - That was delightful!

• Jupiter Ascending - What a trainwreck of a movie…

• Extraction - Pretty good action film

• Bad Times at the El Royale - Pretty intriguing

• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

TV Shows watched 

• Last Week Tonight

• What We Do in the Shadows S2

• Rick and Morty S4

• Living With Yourself S1

• Below Deck S5

Comments - Another month in quarantine. At least I had a really good media month. Lots of books read. Lots of movies watched. Lots of schoolwork done with Arthur.

Next up on the TBR pile:

April 2020 Wrap-up

April TBR Pile (18/27):

1. Book of the Month Club: Things in Jars by Jess Kidd

2. Girly Book Club: We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib

3. Friend Book Club: The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams ✓

4. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

5. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

6. UnRead Shelf Random (Mar): 1776 by David McCullough ✓

7. UnRead Shelf Random (April): Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

8. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

9. Goodreads To Read Random (Mar): Archaeology from Space by Sarah Parcak ✓

10. Goodreads To Read Random (April): Planetfall by Emma Newman ✓

11. TBR Jar Random (Jan): The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn ✓

12. TBR Jar Random (April): The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

13. March Theme Wrap-up: The Vagina Bible by Jen Gunter ✓

14. Theme 1: The Complete Phonogram ✓

15. Theme 1: Rat Queens Vol. 7 ✓

16. Theme 1: The Oracle Code

17. Theme 2: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

18. Theme 2: Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

19. Theme 2: All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace ✓

20. Ebook: Horrostor by Grady Hendrix ✓

21. Ebook: The Last Debutante by Julia London ✓

22. Scifi: Redshirts by John Scalzi ✓

23. Added: The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis ✓

24. Added: Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb ✓

25. Added: Grave Minder by Melissa Marr ✓

26. Added: Saltwater Kisses by Krista Lakes ✓

27. Added: The Deep by Rivers Solomon ✓

28. Added: After the Cure by Deirdre Gould ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6116 pages
Pages Remaining: 548,639 pages

Current Read - Things in Jars by Jess Kidd; Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (15)

Book of the Month Selections: I grabbed my monthly selection and added on another new release. Plus I grabbed a physical copy of Circe for Girly Book Club’s May selection and because I really enjoyed that book the first time reading.

• The Library of Legends by Janie Chang

• Circe by Madeleine Miller

• The Paris Hours by Alex George

I also found myself on the Book Outlet website and ended up buying a giant box of books. My first delivery arrived as a completely empty box. I had to contact customer service and get a replacement order. Unfortunately a few of the titles I originally ordered were then out of stock. I did get a few for the littles and many for me…

• Asylum by Madeleine Roux

• Catacomb by Madeleine Roux

• Escape from Asylum by Madeleine Roux

• Every Hidden Thing by Kenneth Oppel

• Lady of the Eternal City by Kate Quinn

• Partials by Dan Wells

• Sanctum by Madeleine Roux

• Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

• Asylum Novellas by Madeleine Roux

• The Becoming of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin

• The Dazzling Heights by Katharine McGee

• The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert - I wanted a physical copy for my bookshelves.

May TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: Things in Jars by Jess Kidd

2. Girly Book Club: Circe by Madeline Miller

3. Friend Book Club: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

4. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

5. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

6. UnRead Shelf Random (April): Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

7. UnRead Shelf Random (May): Asylum by Madeleine Roux

8. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

9. Goodreads To Read Random (May): The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

10. TBR Jar Random (April): The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

11. TBR Jar Random (May): A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

12. April Theme Wrap-up: The Oracle Code

13. April Theme Wrap-up: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

14. April Theme Wrap-up: Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

15. Theme 1: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

16. Theme 1: Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

17. Theme 1: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

18. Theme 2: The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

19. Theme 2: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

20. Theme 2: TBD

21. Romance: The Secrets of the Courtesan by Nicola Cornick

22. Romance: The Confessions of a Duchess by Nicola Cornick

23. Romance: The Scandals of an Innocent by Nicola Cornick

24. Romance: The Undoing of a Lady by Nicola Cornick

UnRead Shelf Plans

For May, the prompt is a backlist book whose author has a newer book out. I’m choosing Asylum by Madeleine Roux. I’ve been meaning to read the entire series, so thought I would start here.

Movies watched

• Memory - A documentary about the making of the movie Alien. Fascinating!

• Vivarium - So incredibly weird…

• Emma (2020) - I really enjoyed this slightly exaggerated version of the classic novel. Loved the costuming choices.

• My Spy - This was a lot more funny than I thought it would be.

• Bloodshot - Decent superhero action movie.

• Beastie Boys Story - This was incredible! I laughed and cried throughout the video.

TV Shows watched 

• The Magicians S5 - What a good sorta happy ending to the series.

• Superstore S5 - We’ve caught up.

• Broadchurch S2 - We will finish this series eventually…

• Lego Masters S1 - Some light fair for our TV watching, although I wasn’t too keen on who won.

• Making It S1-2 - Another fun light show for us.

• Below Deck Med S2 - My silly show to watch occasionally.

• What We Do in the Shadows S1 - J had already watched the first season, but agreed to rewatch so I could see it.

• Cosmos S2 - Very soothing documentary series.

Comments - Another decent reading month during quarantine. We also watched some good shows and movies. Here’s hoping that creating my new reading room will keep up my momentum.

Next up on the TBR pile:

March 2020 Wrap-up

March TBR Pile (20/33):

1. Book of the Month Club: One Day in December by Josie Silver

2. BOTM: The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

3. Girly Book Club: Vox by Christina Dalcher ✓

4. Friend Book Club: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow ✓

5. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

6. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

7. Unread Shelf Random (Mar): 1776 by David McCullough

8. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

9. Goodreads To Read Random (Mar): Archaeology from Space by

10. TBR Jar Random (Jan): The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn

11. TBR Jar Random (Feb): The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams

12. January Theme Wrap-up: Fever by Lauren DeStefano ✓

13. February Theme Wrap-up: The Seduction of Lady X by Julia London ✓

14. February Theme Wrap-up: Kindred by Octavia Butler ✓

15. February Theme Wrap-up: An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon ✓

16. Theme 1: The Vagina Bible by Jen Gunter

17. Theme 1: Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay ✓

18. Theme 1: How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran ✓

19. Theme 2: Queen of Hearts of Rhys Bowen ✓

20. Theme 2: The Secret Book and Scone Society by Ellery Adams ✓

21. Theme 2: Crocodile at the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters ✓

22. Comic: The Complete Phonogram

23. Comic: Lumberjanes Vol. 9 ✓

24. Comic: Lumberjanes Vol. 10 ✓

25. Comic: Lumberjanes Vol. 11 ✓

26. Comic: Rat Queens Vol. 7

27. Library: Mythos by Stephen Fry ✓

28. Library: After the Flood by Kassandra Montag ✓

29. Series: The Night Country by Melissa Albert ✓

30. Nonfiction: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

31. Added: After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid ✓

32. Added: The Story of the World in 100 Species by Christopher Lloyd ✓

33. Added: Well Met by Jen DeLuca ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6173 pages
Pages Remaining: 554,755 pages

Current Read - The Vagina Bible by Jen Gunter

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (8)

I took advantage of a my birthday month free Book of the Month deal and got two books this month.

• The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

• All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

I grabbed a clearance copy of Empress of the Seven Hills by Kate Quinn from Half Price Books.

For my birthday day out, I visited at cavern of a used bookstore. I limited myself to only buying five books. Seriously I could buy dozens from there. It’s the perfect bookstore of serendipity. I picked up:

• Children of the Storm by Elizabeth Peters

• The Hippopotamus Pool by Elizabeth Peters

• Still Life by Louise Penny

• Sea of Glory by Nathanial Philbrick

• Buffalo Bill’s America by Louis S. Warren

April TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: Things in Jars by Jess Kidd

2. Girly Book Club: We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib

3. Friend Book Club: The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams

4. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

5. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

6. UnRead Shelf Random (Mar): 1776 by David McCullough

7. UnRead Shelf Random (April): Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

8. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

9. Goodreads To Read Random (Mar): Archaeology from Space by

10. Goodreads To Read Random (April): Planetfall by Emma Newman

11. TBR Jar Random (Jan): The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn

12. TBR Jar Random (April): The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

13. March Theme Wrap-up: The Vagina Bible by Jen Gunter

14. Theme 1: The Complete Phonogram

15. Theme 1: Rat Queens Vol. 7

16. Theme 1: The Oracle Code

17. Theme 2: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

18. Theme 2: Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

19. Theme 2: All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

20. Ebook: Horrostor by Grady Hendrix

21. Ebook: The Last Debutante by Julia London

22. Scifi: Redshirts by John Scalzi

23. Scifi: Planetfall by Emma Newman

UnRead Shelf Plans

For April, the prompt is the book you most recently acquired. I’ve gotten a few books in the past month; it was my birthday month. I decided to choose one of those books and I’m going with All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace. And here’s my ambitious UnRead Shelf TBR pile for April:

Movies watched

• Little Monsters - Delightful zombie movie!

• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - The more I think about it, the less I like this movie.

• The Gentleman - Thankfully this was a return to the good Guy Ritchie movies.

• Birds of Prey - This was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

TV Shows watched

• Last Week Tonight - We caught up before the show had to change format.

• The Magicians S5 - Last season… it has gutted me.

• Doctor Who - Decent season finale.

• Broadchurch S2 - Finally getting this season started.

• Superstore - We caught up.

Comments - Being forced to stay at home has definitely helped my reading life, but has been a detriment to my mental health. I need a better balance. Hoping to focus on picking books that I will enjoy (not “required” reading) and get myself in a better place.

Next up on the TBR pile:

February 2020 Wrap-up

February TBR Pile (15/29):

1. Book of the Month Club: Bringing Down the Duke by Eva Dunmore

2. Girly Book Club: The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer ✓

3. Friend Book Club: Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker ✓

4. OBM Book Club (Jan): Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez ✓

5. OBM Book Club (Feb): The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

6. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

7. Unread Shelf Random (Feb): Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo ✓

8. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

9. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Feb): The Revenge of Lord Eberlin by Julia London ✓

11. TBR Jar Random: The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn

12. Theme 1: Well Met by Jen DeLuca

13. Theme 1: The Year of Living Scandalously by Julia London ✓

14. Theme 1: The Christmas Secret by Julia London ✓

15. Theme 2: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

16. Theme 2: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson ✓

17. Theme 2: Kindred by Octavia Butler

18. Comic: The Complete Phonogram

19. Ebook: Friends Without Benefits by Penny Reid

20. Library: Drive Thru Dreams by Adam Chandler ✓

21. Library Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

22. Series: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

23. Carryover: The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara ✓

24. Nonfiction: Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs by Caitlin Doughty ✓

25. Nonfiction: Mississippi River Tragedies by Christine A. Klein, Sandra B. Zellmer ✓

26. Mystery: Queen of Hearts of Rhys Bowen

27. Added: I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib ✓

28. Added: Frida Kahlo by Maria Hesse ✓

29. Added: Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 4532 pages
Pages Remaining: 560,928 pages

Current Read - Kindred by Octavia Butler; The Night Country by Melissa Albert

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (0)

March TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: One Day in December by Josie Silver

2. BOTM: The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

3. Girly Book Club: Vox by Christina Dalcher

4. Friend Book Club: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

5. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

6. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

7. Unread Shelf Random (Mar): 1776 by David McCullough

8. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

9. Goodreads To Read Random (Mar):

10. TBR Jar Random (Jan): The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn

11. TBR Jar Random (Feb):

12. TBR Jar Random (Mar):

13. January Theme Wrap-up: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

14. February Theme Wrap-up: The Seduction of Lady X by Julia London

15. February Theme Wrap-up: Kindred by Octavia Butler

16. February Theme Wrap-up: An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

17. Theme 1: TBD

18. Theme 1: TBD

19. Theme 1: TBD

20. Theme 2: Queen of Hearts of Rhys Bowen

21. Theme 2: The Secret Book and Scone Society by Ellery Adams

22. Theme 2: TBD

23. Comic: The Complete Phonogram

24. Comic: Lumberjanes Vol. 9

25. Comic: Lumberjanes Vol. 10

26. Comic: Lumberjanes Vol. 11

27. Comic: Rat Queens Vol. 7

28. Library: Mythos by Stephen Fry

29. Library: After the Flood by Kassandra Montag

30. Series: The Night Country by Melissa Albert

31. Nonfiction: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

UnRead Shelf Plans

For March, the prompt is the book that’s been on your unread shelf the longest. That would probably be 1776 by David McCullough.

Movies watched

• The Spy Who Dumped Me - This was much funnier than I thought it was going to be.

• Knives Out - Oh so good! Loved this one.

• Jojo Rabbit - Very touching movie.

TV Shows watched

• Decline and Fall S1 - We love our Jack Whitehall.

• Doctor Who S12 - So close to the end of the season!

• Broadchurch S1 - We finished the first season finally. Oh so intense!

• The Magicians S5 - This season has been so good so far.

• Outlander S2 - I finally restarted this season. I will finish it at some point.

• Last Week Tonight S7 - Yeah! John Oliver is back!

Comments - It was a weird month with prepping to move houses, but I ended up reading 15 books. Decent showing… Next month I need to do some clean up of the books I meant to read in January and February.

Next up on the TBR pile:

January 2020 Wrap-up

January TBR Pile (16/30):

1. Book of the Month Club: The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell ✓

2. BOTM: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

3. Girly Book Club: The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan ✓

4. Friend Book Club: The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey ✓

5. OBM Book Club: Invisible Women by Criado-Perez

6. Unread Shelf Random: Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

7. Goodreads To Read Random: Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

8. TBR Jar Random: The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn

9. Theme 1: Wool by Hugh Howey ✓

10. Theme 1: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

11. Theme 1: Wither by Lauren DeStefano ✓

12. Theme 2: Kate Chopin by Emily Toth

13. Theme 2: The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara

14. Theme 2: TBD

15. Carryover: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness ✓

16. Comics: Daybreak ✓

17. Kindle Unlimited: Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid ✓

18. Kindle Unlimited: Friends without Benefits by Penny Reid

19. Library: The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas ✓

20. Library: Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren ✓

21. Library: The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Adams

22. Library: Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs by Caitlin Doughty

23. Library: The Toll by Cherie Priest

24. Library: The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang

25. Added: The Hunger by Alma Katsu ✓

26. Added: Packing for Mars by Mary Roach ✓

27. Added: Billie Holiday by Carlos Sampayo and Jose Munoz ✓

28. Added: Wolfpack by Abby Wambach ✓

29. Added: Lady Mechanika Vol. 4 ✓

30. Added: Lady Mechanika La Dama de la Muerta ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 4973 pages
Pages Remaining: 565,460 pages

Current Read - Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez; The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara; Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (4)

I took advantage of a special Book of the Month deal and got two books this month.

• Things in Jars by

• The Silent Patient by

I grabbed the Kindle edition of The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey for book club.

And I received Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin from a friend for an exchange.

February TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: Bringing Down the Duke by Eva Dunmore

2. Girly Book Club: The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

3. Friend Book Club: Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker

4. OBM Book Club (Jan): Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez

5. OBM Book Club (Feb): The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

6. Unread Shelf Random (Jan): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

7. Unread Shelf Random (Feb): Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

8. UnRead Shelf Selection (Feb): Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

9. Goodreads To Read Random (Jan): Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

10. Goodreads To Read Random (Feb): The Revenge of Lord Eberlin by Julia London

11. TBR Jar Random: The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn

12. Theme 1: Well Met by Jen DeLuca

13. Theme 1: The Year of Living Scandalously by Julia London

14. Theme 1: ???

15. Theme 2: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

16. Theme 2: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

17. Theme 2: Kindred by Octavia Butler

18. Comic: The Complete Phonogram

19. Ebook: Friends Without Benefits by Penny Reid

20. Library: Drive Thru Dreams by Adam Chandler

21. Library Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

22. Series: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

23. Carryover: The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara

24. Nonfiction: Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs by Caitlin Doughty

25. Nonfiction: Mississippi River Tragedies by Christine A. Klein, Sandra B. Zellmer

26. Mystery: Queen of Hearts of Rhys Bowen

UnRead Shelf Plans

For February, the prompt is a book gifted to you. I’m putting Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi as my choice. As for the strategies, February is all about weeding out books you don’t want anymore. This is perfect as this month is our moving month. I’m hoping to unload at least 5 books from my currently Unread Shelf.

Movies watched

• Zombieland 2 - Such a delight to watch!

• Strangers on a Train - Great classic Hitchcock movie!

• Double Indeminity - Another great classic movie.

• Freaks - Pretty interesting scifi movie.

• Burglar - J’s pick. I had never seen this one. Funnier than I thought it was going to be.

• Last Christmas - The entire plot was super spoiled in the trailer, but I still enjoyed it.

TV Shows watched

• The Bachelor S24 - Ugh! The manufactured drama this season has been dialed way up. Not sure I like this.

• Doctor Who S12 - Jodie as the Doctor is really growing on me.

• His Dark Materials S1 - Finally! We get to where everything was leading to. So good…

• The Mandalorian S1 - My my that was quite a season ender.

• Below Deck S3 - Guilty pleasure show

• Below Deck: Med S1 - Ditto

• The Good Place S4 - Oh Goodness! I can’t believe this show is over. Love it so much.

• Superstore S5 - Continue to enjoy this little sitcom.

• Letterkenny S8 - Thank you for returning to comedic gold for the second half of the season!

• War of the Worlds BBC 2019 Mini series - I really liked that this one was sent in Edwardian times. Not such a fan of the weird timeline for the present sections.

• The Magicians S5 - I’m really intrigued about where they are going this season.

• The Witcher S1 - We sped through the 8 episodes of this season. Loved it! I can’t wait for season two.

Comments - Thankfully I started out the year strong with my reading. I often top 20 books in the first month, but I’ve slowed down my reading in favor of larger books and specific ones I want to read. Moving to mood reading again will hopefully results in a better reading year in terms of quality if not also quantity.

Next up on the TBR pile:

December 2019 Wrap-up

December TBR Pile (17/37):

1. Book of the Month Club: One Day in December by Josie Silver

2. Book of the Month Club: Well Met by Jen DeLuca

3. Book of the Month Club: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

4. Book of the Month Club: The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

5. Girly Book Club: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman (I just read this one, so no reread)

6. Friend Book Club: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante ✓

7. Ebook: Silver Bells by CJ Hunt

8. Ebook: Second Chance Christmas by Shawn Inmon

9. Ebook: Romancing the Holidays by Jolene Cazzola

10. Ebook: Falling for Her Bachelor by Robin Bielman ✓

11. Ebook: Once Upon a Royal Christmas by Robin Bielman ✓

12. Ebook: In Too Deep by Tracey Alvarez

13. Ebook: Christmas with You by Tracey Alvarez

14. Ebook: Christmas Light by Jolyse Barnett ✓

15. Ebook: A Match Made at Christmas by Patty Blount ✓

16. Ebook: A Pirate for Christmas by Anna Campbell

17. Ebook: Her Christmas Bonus by Rain Danvers

18. Ebook: A Kiss of Christmas by Jillian Eaton ✓

19. Ebook: A Kiss for Christmas by Melody Grace

20. Ebook: Home for Christmas by Daphne James Huff

21. Ebook: A Cheyenne Christmas by Caroline Lee

22. Ebook: A Cheyenne Christmas Homecoming by Caroline Lee

23. Random TBR Pick: Twenty Truths About Love by Matthew Dicks ✓

24. Popsugar (“Pop, sugar, challenge”): Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman ✓

25. Modern Mrs. Darcy: Persuasion by Jane Austen ✓ (no review as this is a reread, but it is my second favorite book of all time)

26. Finishing the Series: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

27. Romance: Santa’s On His Way ✓

28. Romance: Finding Christmas by Karen Schaler ✓

29. Romance: Christmas in Vermont by Anita Hughes

30. Romance: 25 Days ‘til Christmas by Poppy Alexander ✓

31. Dancing with Fantasy and Scifi: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

32. Creativity: Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

33. Added: This Christmas by Jeannie Moon ✓

34. Added: The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan ✓

35. Added: Bewitched and Betrothed by Juliet Blackwell ✓

36. Added: The Old-Fashioned by Robert Simonson ✓

37. Added: The One by John Marrs ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 4790 pages
Pages Remaining: 570,433 pages

Current Read - The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness; The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan; Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (4) - Couldn’t resist the 2 for $10 deal at Barnes and Noble this week and the Stan Lee’s birthday sale at Summit.

• The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

• Glass Houses by Louise Penny

• Lady Mechanika Vol. 4: The Clockwork Assasin

• Lady Mechanika La Dama de la Muerte

January TBR Pile:

1. Book of the Month Club: The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

2. BOTM: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

3. Girly Book Club: The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan

4. Friend Book Club: The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey

5. OBM Book Club: Invisible Women by Criado-Perez

6. Unread Shelf Random: Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

7. Goodreads To Read Random: Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

8. TBR Jar Random: The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen Flynn

9. Theme 1: Wool by Hugh Howey

10. Theme 1: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

11. Theme 1: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

12. Theme 2: Kate Chopin by Emily Toth

13. Theme 2: The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara

14. Theme 2: TBD

15. Carryover: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

16. Comics: Daybreak

17. Kindle Unlimited: Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid

18. Kindle Unlimited: Friends without Benefits by Penny Reid

19. Library: The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas

20. Library: Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren

21. Library: The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Adams

22. Library: Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs by Caitlin Doughty

23. Library: The Toll by Cherie Priest

24. Library: The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang

UnRead Shelf Plans

For January, the prompt is to read any unread book from my shelf. I imagine something will strike my fancy. As for the strategies, there were three tasks for this month.

1. Count your books - Currently there are 120 unread books sitting in the theater room bookshelf. I’m not counting any ebooks or the books currently residing in the attic. Figure I will focus on those books first.

2. Library and book buying ban - I’m excepting my book club books and anything I already have on hold for the library.

3. Make a Top 10 to read for 2020 - I spent some time and make my short list:

   1. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

   2. Uprooted by Naomi Novik

   3. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

   4. In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick

   5. Scandalous Women of the Ton Series by Nicola Cornick

   6. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomikas Adeyemi

   7. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

   8. Well Met by Jen DeLuca

   9. Swamplandia by Karen Russell

   10. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Movies watched

• Ready or Not - Love love loved this movie!

• Christmas at Pemberley Manor - So dumb, but I do like my Holiday romances. I just couldn’t get over the male lead. I kept conflating him with his not-so-nice character on UnReal.

• Hail Satan - Very interesting documentary. I am fascinated.

• 6 Underground - Terrible movie. Even Ryan Reynolds could not save it.

TV Shows watched

• Daybreak S1 - We finished this season and loved every minute of it! And oh that cliffhanger was brutal! Really hoping we get a season 2.

• American Gods S1 - Slowly making our way through this first season.

• Below Deck S1-2 - My mom keeps begging me to watch this one. Finally started after catching a few episodes at the gym.

• A Discovery of Witches S1 - Finally got around to this one! Oh so good!

• The Mandalorian S1 - Yes!

Comments - Wooo!!! What a reading year! I ended up reading 255 books in 2019. Hoping to carry some momentum into 2020.

Next up on the TBR pile:

November 2019 Wrap-up

NovemberTBR Pile (24/41):

1. Carry-over: Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber ✓

2. Book of the Month Club: Well Met by Jen DeLuca

3. Girly Book Club: Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield (I won’t be re-reading as I just read it, but I’m adding this here to remind me.)

4. Friend Book Club: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson ✓

5. The Second Deluge by Garrett Putman Serviss ✓

6. Monstress Vol. 4 ✓

7. Feed by M.T. Anderson ✓

8. Rabid by Bill Wasik ✓

9. Crisis in the Red Zone by Richard Preston ✓

10. The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht ✓

11. The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring

12. The Lager Queen on Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal ✓

13. In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen

14. Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen ✓

15. The Upside of Falling Down by Rebekah Crane ✓

16. My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray

17. What’s a Rogue Got to Do With It by Samantha Holt ✓

18. When a Rogue Loves a Woman by Samantha Holt ✓

19. Waiting for a Rogue Like You by Samantha Holt ✓

20. A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams ✓

21. Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

22. Married for Christmas by Noelle Adams

23. A Family for Christmas by Noelle Adams

24. A Christmas Bride by Hope Ramsay ✓

25. Old West Christmas Brides

26. Songbook by Nick Hornby ✓

27. The Victorian Christmas Brides Collection

28. A Very Special Christmas by Mary Balogh

29. The Highlander’s Christmas Bride by Vanessa Kelly

30. The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas

31. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

32. Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

33. Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren

34. The Christmas Layover by Robert Tate Miller ✓

35. Christmas Lovebirds by Rachelle Ayala ✓

36. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

37. Unexpected Gifts (and Endings) by Elena Aitken ✓

38. My Christmas Curse by Joan Gable ✓

39. Christmas with the Black Sheep by Natalie-Nicole Bates ✓

40. Man-eaters Vol. 1 ✓

41. Man-eaters Vol. 2 ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5663 pages
Pages Remaining: 575,223 pages

Current Read - The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern; Santa’s On His Way

Books I Gave Up On (0) 

Books bought/received (2) - Popped into Half Price Books for holiday items and came out with two books for me.

• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

• The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

December TBR Pile: This month is all about those last chance reads and holiday reads!

1. Book of the Month Club: One Day in December by Josie Silver

2. Book of the Month Club: Well Met by Jen DeLuca

3. Book of the Month Club: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

4. Book of the Month Club: The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

5. Girly Book Club: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman (I just read this one, so no reread)

6. Friend Book Club: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

7. Ebook: Silver Bells by CJ Hunt

8. Ebook: Second Chance Christmas by Shawn Inmon

9. Ebook: Romancing the Holidays by Jolene Cazzola

10. Ebook: Falling for Her Bachelor by Robin Bielman

11. Ebook: Once Upon a Royal Christmas by Robin Bielman

12. Ebook: In Too Deep by Tracey Alvarez

13. Ebook: Christmas with You by Tracey Alvarez

14. Ebook: Christmas Light by Jolyse Barnett

15. Ebook: A Match Made at Christmas by Patty Blount

16. Ebook: A Pirate for Christmas by Anna Campbell

17. Ebook: Her Christmas Bonus by Rain Danvers

18. Ebook: A Kiss of Christmas by Jillian Eaton

19. Ebook: A Kiss for Christmas by Melody Grace

20. Ebook: Home for Christmas by Daphne James Huff

21. Ebook: A Cheyenne Christmas by Caroline Lee

22. Ebook: A Cheyenne Christmas Homecoming by Caroline Lee

23. Random TBR Pick: Twenty Truths About Love by Matthew Dicks

24. Popsugar (“Pop, sugar, challenge”): Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

25. Modern Mrs. Darcy: Persuasion by Jane Austen

26. Finishing the Series: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

27. Romance: Santa’s On His Way

28. Romance: Finding Christmas by Karen Schaler

29. Romance: Christmas in Vermont by Anita Hughes

30. Romance: 25 Days ‘til Christmas by Poppy Alexander

31. Dancing with Fantasy and Scifi: The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

32. Creativity: Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

Movies watched

• Set It Up - A very enjoyable romantic comedy.

• Echo in the Canyon - Awesome music documentary.

• The Dark Tower - Ooof. Not great. Very confusing… and I read the books.

• Bedazzled (1967) - Never saw this one. Really enjoyed Peter Cook in this one.

• Fyre Fraud and Fyre - We watched both documentaries to compare and contrast. I think Fyre Fraud was more effective.

• London Has Fallen - Oof. That was terrible.

• Angel Has Fallen - Slightly better than London Has Fallen, but still terrible. Goodness. We need pick some better movies.

• Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe - Silly Christmas romance. I do enjoy these some days.

• Dealt - Fascinating documentary about a card mechanic.

TV Shows watched

• Letterkenny S7 - A bit of an uneven season, but there were definitely some great jokes in there! And we finally got to see them play hockey!

• His Dark Materials S1 - I’m so excited about this one… So far, so good.

• Superstore S5 - It’s our light and fluffy show.

• The Good Place S4 - Oh goodness! This season is really coming together.

• A Chef’s Life S1 - I went back to rewatch this series from the beginning. I think I stopped somewhere in S3.

• The Mandalorian S1 - Getting so excited about this series.

• American Gods S1 - Finally got this show started after J finished the book awhile back.

• Daybreak S1 - Wow! Really enjoying this series so much!

Comments - Such a killer reading month! I read a ton, some good, some not so good. But at least I knocked off some titles from my TBR pile. And I even clarified my reading goals for next year. Now on to December and my last chance to read for this year.

Next up on the TBR pile: