June 2025 Wrap-up

June TBR Pile (29/34):

1. Bookworms BC: Water Moon by Samantha Yambao Sotto ✓

2. Friend BC: The Wedding People by Alison Espach ✓

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: (already read)

4. Kid Book Club: May the Best Player Win by Kyla Zhao

5. Kid Read Aloud: Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl ✓

6. Fantasy: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins ✓

7. Romance: Enchantra by Kaylie Smith ✓

8. Romance: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry ✓

9. Romance: Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez ✓

10. Romance: Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti ✓

11. Romance: Seoulmates by Susan Lee

12. Comics: Uzumaki by Junji Ito ✓

13. Comics: Betwixt

14. Comics: Gyo by Junji Ito ✓

15. Comics: Deserter by Junji Ito ✓

16. Comics: Tombs by Junji Ito ✓

17. Comics: Soichi by Junji Ito

18. Comics: Alley by Junji Ito ✓

19. Comics: Black Paradox by Junji Ito ✓

20. Comics: Smashed by Junji Ito ✓

21. Comics: The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito ✓

22. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 0 ✓

23. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 11 ✓

24. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 12 ✓

25. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 13 ✓

26. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 14 ✓

27. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 15 ✓

28. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 16 ✓

29. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 17 ✓

30. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 18 ✓

31. Comics: Twisted Wonderland Vol. 1 ✓

32. Comics: Twisted Wonderland Vol. 2 ✓

33. Comics: Twisted Wonderland Vol. 3 ✓

34. Comics: Twisted Wonderland Vol. 4 ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal

Monthly Total: 8308 pages
Pages Remaining: 147,072 pages

Current Read - The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo; Black Rose Auction series; more manga

Books I Gave Up On (1) - The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sarah Gran: Billed as a romance thriller. It was neither. Somehow the book made sex magic boring. Gave up about halfway through.

Books Bought/Received (12)

I grabbed two books from this month’s Book of the Month selections.

• A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle Jensen

• Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by VE Schwab

I also had a preorder copy of Irresistible Devil by Jenny Nordbak and Stolen Vows by San R. Miller get delivered.

And during the Bookish Retreat, I bought seven books and received two in the exchange.

• The Sirens by Emilia Hart (Afterword)

• Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove (Afterword)

• Hooked by Emily McIntire (Under the Cover)

• Pestilence by Laura Thalassa (Under the Cover)

• Grave Matter by Karina Halle (Under the Cover)

• Matrix by Lauren Groff (Flagship)

• The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik (Flagship)

• Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper (exchange)

• Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland (exchange)

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 298

• Books Read: 2

• Books Acquired: 12

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 308

July TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: Already read

2. Friend BC: The Mayor of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends: Already read

4. Kid Book Club: The Mechanical Mind of John Coggin by Elinor Teele

5. Kid Read Aloud: TBD

6. Fantasy: The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

7. Scifi: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green

8. Romance: Wicked Pursuit by Katee Robert

9. Romance: Divine Intervention by R.M. Virtues

10. Comics: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion Vol. 1

11. Comics: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion Vol. 2

12. Comics: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion Vol. 3

13. Comics: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion Vol. 4

14. Comics: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion Vol. 5

15. Comics: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion Vol. 6

16. Comics: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion Vol. 7

17. Comics: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion Vol. 8

Movies Watched

• Kpop Demon Hunter - Amazing! And the soundtrack slaps.

TV Shows Watched

• Leverage: Redemption

• Doctor Who

• Last Week Tonight

• Um, Actually

• Game Changer

• Murderbot S1

• Welcome to Wrexham S4

• Andor S2

• Clarkson’s Farm S4 - Finished

• Goblin S1 - Finished this one. Loved it so much!

• Clone High S1 - Finished

• Smartypants

• Alice in Borderland S2

• SKZ-Talker (2022)

• SKZ-Talker Go (2022)

• SKZ Code (2022)

Comments - Another manga heavy month, but I’m okay with that. Beyond the reading, I did watch some great media.

Next up on the TBR pile:

May 2025 Wrap-up

May TBR Pile (24/27):

1. Bookworms BC: (NOT READING)

2. Friend BC: (Already read)

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky ✓

4. Kid Book Club: (Already read)

5. Kid Read Aloud: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: Odder by Katherine Applegate ✓

7. Kid Read Aloud: The Giver by Lois Lowry ✓

8. Historical Fiction: The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis ✓

9. Fantasy: This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman ✓

10. Fantasy: How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann ✓

11. Romance: Swept Away by Beth O’Leary ✓

12. Horror: Stitches by Hirokatsu Kihara ✓

13. Comics: Shiver by Junji Ito ✓

14. Comics: Tomie by Junji Ito ✓

15. Comics: Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito ✓

16. Comics: Dissolving Classroom by Junji Ito ✓

17. Comics: Remina by Junji Ito ✓

18. Comics: Lovesickness by Junji Ito ✓

19. Comics: Sensor by Junji Ito ✓

20. Comics: Venus in the Blindspot by Junji Ito ✓

21. Comics: Frankenstein by Junji Ito ✓

22. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 5 ✓

23. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 6 ✓

24. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 7 ✓

25. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 8 ✓

26. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 9 ✓

27. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 10 ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal

Monthly Total: 7171 pages
Pages Remaining: 155,380 pages

Current Read - Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 11-16; Enchanrtra by Kaylie Smith

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (0)

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 299

• Books Read: 1

• Books Acquired: 0

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 298

June TBR Pile: I have quite a stack of comics to finish this month.

1. Bookworms BC: Water Moon by Samantha Yambao Sotto

2. Friend BC: The Wedding People by Alison Espach

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: (already read)

4. Kid Book Club: May the Best Player Win by Kyla Zhao

5. Kid Read Aloud: Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

6. Romance: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

7. Romance: Seoulamtes by Susan Lee

8. Comics: Uzumaki by Junji Ito

9. Comics: Betwixt

10. Comics: Gyo by Junji Ito

11. Comics: Deserter by Junji Ito

12. Comics: Tombs by Junji Ito

13. Comics: Soichi by Junji Ito

14. Comics: Alley by Junji Ito

15. Comics: Black Paradox by Junji Ito

16. Comics: Smashed by Junji Ito

17. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 11

18. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 12

19. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 13

20. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 14

21. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 15

22. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 16

23. Comics: Twisted Wonderland Vol. 1

24. Comics: Twisted Wonderland Vol. 2

25. Comics: Twisted Wonderland Vol. 3

26. Comics: Twisted Wonderland Vol. 4

Movies Watched

TV Shows Watched

• Crash Landing on You

• Leverage: Redemption

• Doctor Who

• Last Week Tonight

• Below Deck: Down Under

• Um, Actually

• Game Changer

• Inheritance Detective

• Very Important People

• Murderbot S1

• Welcome to Wrexham S4

• Andor S2

• Goblin

• Mythic Quest S4

• All of Us are Dead

• All-Night SKZ (2021)

• Kingdom: Legendary War Behind (2021)

• SKZ Song Camp (2021)

• Kingdom Week: NO+ (2021)

• SKZ-Talker (2021-2022)

• SKZ-Talker Go (2021-2022)

• SKZ Code (2021-2022)

• 2 Kids Room (2022)

Comments - I’m slowly getting my reading mojo back. I actually read novels this month and not just manga (although I am still loving manga). We also watched some great shows. I even finished a few shows.

Next up on the TBR pile:

April 2025 Wrap-up

April TBR Pile (32/33):

1. Bookworms BC: (not reading)

2. Friend BC: The Secret Book of Flora Lee by Patti Callahan Henry ✓

3. Friend BC: Her Last Flight by Beatriz William ✓

4. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Dawn by Octavia Butler

5. Kid Book Club: (not reading)

6. Kid Read Aloud: Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo ✓

7. Kid Read Aloud: Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell ✓

8. Kid Read Aloud: Matilda by Roald Dahl ✓

9. Kid Read Aloud: Willodeen by Katherine Applegate ✓

10. Romance: The Demon’s Queen by Katee Robert ✓

11. Romance: Sweet Obsession by Katee Robert ✓

12. Romance: Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson ✓

13. Fantasy: Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett ✓

14. Nonfiction: Kinky History by Esme Louise James ✓

15. Nonfiction: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green ✓

16. Comics: Sex Criminals Vol. 5 ✓

17. Comics: Sex Criminals Vol. 6 ✓

18. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 2 ✓

19. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 3 ✓

20. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 4 ✓

21. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 5 ✓

22. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 6 ✓

23. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 7 ✓

24. Comics: Parayste Vol. 8 ✓

25. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 1 ✓

26. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 2 ✓

27. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 3 ✓

28. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 4 ✓

29. Comics: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 01 ✓

30. Comics: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 02 ✓

31. Comics: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 03 ✓

32. Comics: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2 01 ✓

33. Comics: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2 02 ✓

34. Comics: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2 03 ✓

35. Comics: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2 04 ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal

Monthly Total: 8971 pages
Pages Remaining: 162,551pages

Current Read - Shiver by Junji Ito; The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (3)

I preordered Katee Robert’s newest book, Sweet Obsession.

At Half Price Books, we sold a ton and I only bought two for myself

• The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman

• The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 300

• Books Read: 4

• Books Acquired: 3

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 299

May TBR Pile: Because of our travel plans, I’m really going to wing my TBR this coming month. We’ll see what happens!

Movies Watched

• The Trouble with Jessica

• The Day the Earth Caught Fire

• A Working Man

• Captain America: Brave New World

TV Shows Watched

• Last Week Tonight

• Clone High (2022)

• Below Deck: Down Under

• Interview with a Vampire S1

• Um, Actually

• Alice in Borderland S1

• Kingpin Katie

• Mythic Quest S4

• The Studio

• Game Changer S7

• Dimension 20 S2: Escape from the Bloodkeep

• Leverage: Redemption

• Doctor Who S

• SKZ Code S1

• Stray Kids Two Kids Room (2019) Vol. 4-5

• Stray Cuts (2017)

• SKZ The 9th (2018)

• SKZ & SKZ (2018)

• SKZ Talker (2018-2019)

• SKZ Talker Go (2018-2019)

• Finding Stray Kids (2019)

• CHOISKZ (2019)

• One Kid’s Room (2019-2020)

• Two Kids Room+1 (2020)

• Finding Stray Kids: God Edition (2020)

• Mysterious Kitchen (2021)

• Kingdom: Legendary War (2021)

Comments - Wow! I may have broken my reading brain, but I have really dove into manga and enjoyed the journey. I imagine that May will also be full of manga. And I watched a lot of Stray Kids content for my television time. A worthwhile month.

Next up on the TBR pile:

March 2025 Wrap-up

March TBR Pile (24/25):

1. Bookworms BC: Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah ✓

2. Friend BC: Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld ✓

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis ✓

4. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle ✓

5. Kid Book Club: The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin ✓

7. Kid Read Aloud: Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

8. Romance: A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire by Sarah Hawley ✓

9. Romance: My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine ✓

10. Romance: Deep End by Ali Hazelwood ✓

11. Romance: The Demon’s Bargain by Katee Robert ✓

12. Fantasy: The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab ✓

13. Nonfiction: The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair ✓

14. SciFi: All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall ✓

15. SciFi: Fragments by Dan Wells ✓

16. SciFi: Ruins by Dan Wells ✓

17. Comics: Moonshine Vol. 2 ✓

18. Comics: Moonshine Vol. 3 ✓

19. Comics: Moonshine Vol. 4 ✓

20. Comics: Moonshine Vol. 5 ✓

21. Comics: Sex Criminals Vol. 1 ✓

22. Comics: Sex Criminals Vol. 2 ✓

23. Comics: Sex Criminals Vol. 3 ✓

24. Comics: Sex Criminals Vol. 4 ✓

25. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 1 ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal

Monthly Total: 6526 pages
Pages Remaining: 171,522 pages

Current Read - Sex Criminals Vol. 5 and 6; Parasyte Vol. 2 and beyond; Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 1 and beyond

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (11) - It’s my birthday month which is always a good time for buying lots of books.

From online, I ordered

• Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

From Book of the Month, I ordered

• The Wedding People by Alison Espach

• Jane and Dan at the end of the World by Colleen Oakley

• Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven

On my birthday day out, I bought (some kids books and homeschool resources that I’m not detailing here)

• Krakatoa by Simon Winchester

• Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

• 1421 by Gavin Menzies

• Wicked Pursuit by Katee Robert

• Divine Intervention by KM Virtues

• Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

• Lady Mechanika Vol. 8

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 289

• Books Read: 0

• Books Acquired: 11

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 300

April TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: (not reading)

2. Friend BC: The Secret Book of Flora Lee by Patti Callahan Henry

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Dawn by Octavia Butler

4. Kid Book Club: (not reading)

5. Kid Read Aloud: Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

6. Kid Read Aloud: Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

7. Romance: The Demon’s Queen by Katee Robert

8. Fantasy: Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

9. Comics: Sex Criminals Vol. 5

10. Comics: Sex Criminals Vol. 6

11. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 2

12. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 3

13. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 4

14. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 5

15. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 6

16. Comics: Parasyte Vol. 7

17. Comics: Parayste Vol. 8

18. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 1

19. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 2

20. Comics: Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 3

21. Comics: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 01

22. Comics: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 02

23. Comics: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 03

Movies Watched

• No Country for Old Men

• Nosferatu

• Stardust - Rewatch with the kids

TV Shows Watched

• Last Week Tonight

• Clone High (2022)

• The Bachelor

• Below Deck: Down Under

• Interview with a Vampire S1

• Dimension 20: Fantasy High S1

• Um, Actually

• Alice in Borderland S1

• SKZ Code S1

• Kingpin Katie

• Stray Kids Survival Show

• Stray Kids Two Kids Room (2019) Vol. 1-3

Comments - My reading has suffered from my current mental state, but I did find a work around: MANGA! I checked out multiple manga series and have been slowly working through them. I think April is going to be a month of manga.

Next up on the TBR pile:

February 2025 Wrap-up

February TBR Pile (22/23):

1. Bookworms BC: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang ✓

2. Bookworms BC: The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan ✓

3. Friend BC: Shark Heart by Emily Habeck ✓

4. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark (already read)

5. Kid Book Club: Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien ✓

7. Kid Read Aloud: The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat ✓

8. Kid Read Aloud: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo ✓

9. Romance: Their Vicious Darling by Nikki St. Crowe ✓

10. Romance; The Fae Princes by Nikki St. Crowe ✓

11. Romance: Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura ✓

12. Romance: Scythe and Sparrow by Brynne Weaver ✓

13. Horror: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas ✓

14. Horror: The Way Up is Death by Dan Hanks ✓

15. Horror: Horseman by Christina Henry ✓

16. Nonfiction: A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins ✓

17. Comics: Alice in Borderland Vol. 4 ✓

18. Comics: Alice in Borderland Vol. 5 ✓

19. Comics: Alice in Borderland Vol. 6 ✓

20. Comics: Alice in Borderland Vol. 7 ✓

21. Comics: Alice in Borderland Vol. 8 ✓

22. Comics: Alice in Borderland Vol. 9 ✓

23. Fantasy: Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal

Monthly Total: 6848 pages
Pages Remaining: 178,048 pages

Current Read - A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire; Dreadful; War and Peace

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (2) - On our trip to Lawrence and Kansas City, we stopped into The Raven bookstore in Lawrence. It was my second time visiting the store and I loved it even more this time. I grabbed two books off of the shelf: The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke and Zoey is Too Drunk for This Dystopia by Jason Pargin.

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 290

• Books Read: 4

• Books Acquired: 3

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 289

March TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: (already read)

2. Friend BC: Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakas

4. Kid Book Club: The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan

5. Kid Read Aloud: Willodeen by Katherine Applegate

6. Romance: A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire by Sarah Hawley

7. Fantasy: The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab

Movies Watched

• The Hobbit 1977 version

• The Gorge

• Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads concert to go along with our music curriculum

TV Shows Watched

• The Franchise S1 - Finished

• Severance S2

• Rivals S1 - Finished

• Smartypants S1 - Finished

• Pantheon S1-2 - Finished

• The Recruit S2 - Finished

• The Bachelor

• Mythic Quest S4

• Make Some Noise

• Last Week Tonight

• Clone High S1 - Missed this one when it aired way back in 2002.

Comments - Overall another great month! While I struggled to read some days, I turned to Alice in Borderland to help me get over the slump. It worked! I’m back to reading normally I think. Just in time for a busy March.

Next up on the TBR pile:

January 2025 Wrap-up

January TBR Pile (19/22):

1. Bookworms BC: Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen ✓

2. Bookworms BC: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

3. Friend BC: Small Angels by Lauren Owen ✓

4. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker ✓

5. Kid Book Club: The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontorvant

6. Kid Read Aloud: The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis ✓

7. Kid Read Aloud: The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder ✓

8. Kid Read Aloud: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

9. Romance: Blame the Mistletoe by Dani Collins ✓

10. Romance: Hunting Adeline by HD Carlton ✓

11. Romance: Kiss the Girl by Zoraida Cordova ✓

12. Romance: The Never King by Nikki St. Crow ✓

13. Romance: The Roommate by Rosie Danan ✓

14. Romance: The Dark One by Nikki St. Crowe ✓

15. Fantasy: Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer ✓

16. Fantasy: A Ship of Bones and Teeth by Karina Halle ✓

17. Fantasy: The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold ✓

18. Horror: The Gathering by CJ Tudor ✓

19. Scifi: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow ✓

20. Scifi: Partials by Dan Wells ✓

21. Comic: Alice in Borderland Vol. 2 ✓

22. Comic: Alice in Borderland Vol. 3 ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6442 pages
Pages Remaining: 184,896 pages

Current Read - The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (7)

Half Price Books after Christmas sale!

• Horseman by Christina Henry

• The Albion Initiative by George Mann

• Frogkisser by Garth Nix

• The Swifts by Beth Lincoln

Book of the Month had some good selections for January. I had to get three.

• A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young

• The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

• Babylonia by Costanza Casati

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 308

• Books Read: 3

• Books Acquired: 7

• Books Unshelved: 22

• Finishing Number: 290

February TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

2. Friend BC: Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark

4. Kid Book Club: Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

6. Kid Read Aloud: The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat

7. Romance: Their Vicious Darling by Nikki St. Crowe

8. Romance; The Fae Princes by Nikki St. Crowe

9. Romance: Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura

10. Horror: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

Movies Watched

• Enemy of the State - rewatch with the kids

• Venom 3

• Wicked

• The Idea of You - So much better than the book (and I hardly ever say that)

• Wallace and Gromit Vengeance Most Fowl

• A Family Affair - Very meh

• The Killer’s Game - So so bad…

• Greedy People

TV Shows Watched

• The Gentlemen S1 - finished

• Bad Monkey S1 - finished

• Wednesday S1 - finished

• SAS Rogue Heroes S2 - finished

• Below Deck Sailing Yacht

• Love Life S2 - finished

• Star Struck S3 - Somehow I left two episodes unwatched in this series…

• Monarch - finished

• The Franchise S1

• Severance S2

• Pantheon S1

• The Bachelor

Comments - A great start to my year. I read a ton of books, including three from my own physical unread shelf. I finished many television shows and J and I started some new ones (or at least new seasons). Hoping to keep all the momentum rolling through the rest of winter.

Next up on the TBR pile:

December 2024 Wrap-up

December TBR Pile (21/24):

1. Bookworms BC: NONE (Christmas exchange)

2. Friend BC: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley ✓

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: NONE (Lit Society month)

4. Kid Book Club: Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones

5. Kid Read Aloud: Wishtree by Katherine Applegate ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: Gregor the Overland by Suzanne Collins ✓

7. Kid Read Aloud: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ✓

8. Nonfiction: The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries by Donald R. Prothero ✓

9. Fantasy: The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen ✓

10. Romance: The Holiday Honeymoon Switch by Julia McKay ✓

11. Romance: The Best Cowboy Christmas Ever by June Faver ✓

12. Romance: All I Want is You by Falon Ballard ✓

13. Romance: The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers ✓

14. Romance: Jingle All the Way by Sarah Everly ✓

15. Romance: 26 Ways to Come Home for the Holidays by Jennifer Joy ✓

16. Romance: Under the Mistletoe Collection ✓

17. Romance: Savor It by Tarah DeWitt ✓

18. Romance: Throttle Me by Chelle Bliss ✓

19. Romance: The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling ✓

20. Romance: Snowed in with Benefits by Misha Horne ✓

21. Mystery: A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas ✓

22. Horror: Kringle Down by Shane Lacy Hensley ✓

23. Horror: Kringle Down II by Shane Lacy Hensley ✓

24. Horror: Kringle Down Krampus by Shane Lacy Hensley ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5426 pages
Pages Remaining: 191,338 pages

Current Read - Hunting Adeline by HD Carlton

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (5)

I grabbed some deals on Black Friday including:

• House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

• The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

• The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin

I restrained myself and only ordered one from Book of the Month.

• The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 305

• Books Read: 2

• Books Acquired: 5

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 308

January TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen

2. Bookworms BC: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

3. Friend BC: Small Angels by Lauren Owen

4. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker

5. Kid Book Club: Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones

6. Kid Book Club: The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontorvant

7. Kid Read Aloud: The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

8. Romance: Hunting Adeline by HD Carlton

9. Romance: The Never King by Nikki St. Crow

10. Horror: The Gathering by CJ Tudor

Movies Watched

• Dear Santa

• Uncle Buck - Still holds up!

• Hot Frosty

• Red One

• The Merry Gentlemen

• The Carry-on

• Die Hard - A yearly tradition

• Holiday Inn - Another yearly tradition

TV Shows Watched

• Only Murders in the Building S4

• What We Do in the Shadows S6

• Lower Decks

• The Great Britsh Bake-off S15

• Below Deck: Sailing Yacht

• All the Dropout shows

• The Essex Serpent

Comments - Wrapping up the year with a decent showing as far at my reading. I ended the year with some not great reads, but you never know when you start a book. I still had a good month.

Next up on the TBR pile:

November 2024 Wrap-up

November TBR Pile (18/19):

1. Bookworms BC: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose ✓

2. Friend BC: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn ✓

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Dark Eden by Chris Beckett

4. Kid Book Club: A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga ✓

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: The Goblin’s Puzzle by Andrew Chilton ✓

7. Fantasy: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan ✓

8. Fantasy: The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke ✓

9. Romance: Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren ✓

10. Romance: Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton ✓

11. Romance: Desperate Measures by Katee Robert ✓

12. Romance: Illicit Temptations by Katee Robert ✓

13. Romance: A Soul to Keep by Opal Reyne ✓

14. Romance: Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins ✓

15. Romance: The Gargoyle’s Captive by Katee Robert ✓

16. Romance: A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch by Sarah Hawley ✓

17. Horror: The Nighthouse Keeper by Lora Senf ✓

18. Horror: The Loneliest Place by Lora Senf ✓

19. Comic: Alice in Borderland Vol. 1 ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6199 pages
Pages Remaining: 196,764 pages

Current Read - The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (0)

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 306

• Books Read: 1

• Books Acquired: 0

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 305

December TBR Pile: The rest of my December TBR pile is filled with holiday romances.

1. Bookworms BC: NONE (Christmas exchange)

2. Friend BC: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: NONE (Lit Society month)

4. Kid Book Club: Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones

5. Kid Read Aloud: Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

6. Kid Read Aloud: Gregor the Overland by Suzanne Collins

7. Kid Read Aloud: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

8. Fantasy: The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen

Movies Watched

• The Wild Robot

• The Jackpot

TV Shows Watched

• All the Dropout shows per usual

• What We Do in the Shadows S6

• Lower Decks

• Nobody Wants This S1 (finished!)

• The Great British Bake-Off S15

• Dimension 20 S1

• Only Murders in the Building S4

Comments - A much slower month overall. And that’s a good thing! After the crazy pace of September and October, it was nice to slow down a bit this month and just be. I didn’t read a ton of amazing books, but it was overall pretty decent. We watched a few television shows, but didn’t go too crazy.

Next up on the TBR pile:

October 2024 Wrap-up

October TBR Pile (26/27):

1. Bookworms BC: Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maeherer ✓

2. Friend BC: The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young ✓

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

4. Kid Book Club: No One Leaves the Castle by Christopher Healy ✓

5. Kid Read Aloud: Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: The Wild Robot by Peter Brown ✓

7. Kid Read Aloud: The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street by Lindsay Currie ✓

8. Kid Read Aloud: Coraline by Neil Gaiman ✓

9. Kid Read Aloud: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graeme ✓

10. Romance: That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming ✓

11. Romance: A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley ✓

12. Romance: By the Book by Jasmine Guillory ✓

13. Romance: The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling ✓

14. Romance: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Human by Kimberly Lemming ✓

15. Romance: Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca ✓

16. Fantasy: Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs ✓

17. Fantasy: Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher ✓

18. Fantasy: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry ✓

19. Horror: Ghost Camera by Darcy Coates ✓

20. Horror: The Clackity by Lora Senf ✓

21. Horror: We Kept Her in the Cellar by W.R. Gorman ✓

22. Mystery: The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel ✓

23. Comics: Year Zero Vol. 0 ✓

24. Comics: Year Zero Vol. 1 ✓

25. Comics: Year Zero Vol. 2 ✓

26. Comics: Lore Olympus Vol. 7 ✓

27. Nonfiction: Behind the Horror by Lee Mellors ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 7871 pages
Pages Remaining: 202,963 pages

Current Read - The Nighthouse Keeper by Lora Senf

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (2) - I restrained myself and only bought two books from Book of the Month even thought I wanted all five.

• The Wild Huntress Emily Lloyd-Jones

• The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 308

• Books Read: 4

• Books Acquired: 2

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 306

November TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

2. Friend BC: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Dark Eden by Chris Beckett

4. Kid Book Club: A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum

6. Kid Read Aloud: The Goblin’s Puzzle by Andrew Chilton

7. Romance: Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

8. Horror: The Nighthouse Keeper by Lora Senf

9. Horror: The Loneliest Place by Lora Senf

Movies Watched

• Deadpool vs. Wolverine

• Evolution

• Beetlegeuse Beetlegeuse

• Wolfs

TV Shows Watched

• Cafe Minamdang

• Slow Horses S4

• Star Trek: Discovery

• All the Dropout shows

• Dimension 20 S1

• The Great British Bake-off S15

• Below Deck: Sailing Yacht S5

• What We Do in the Shadows S6

• Lower Decks S5

Comments - A huge reading month for me! I absolutely adore Spooky Reading season, and I definitely leaned into that in October. We also got back into some our television shows and even watched a few movies.

Next up on the TBR pile:

September 2024 Wrap-up

September TBR Pile (20/21):

1. Bookworms BC: None (already read)

2. Friend BC: The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry ✓

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz ✓

4. Kid Book Club: I Can Make This Promise by Christina Day (DNF)

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Long-Lost Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Knight by Tim Collins ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: Mars One by Jonathan Maberry ✓

7. Kid Read Aloud: Lucy and the Rocket Dog by Will Buckingham ✓

8. Kid Read Aloud: Wretched Waterpark by Kiersten White ✓

9. Romance: The Succubus’s Prize by Katee Robert ✓

10. Romance: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming ✓

11. Romance: The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India Holton ✓

12. Science Fiction: Key Lime Sky by Al Hess ✓

13. Fantasy: Book of Night by Holly Black ✓

14. Fantasy: Lost Boy by Christina Henry ✓

15. Fantasy: A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher ✓

16. Horror: Never Whistle at Night ✓

17. Horror: Murder Road by Simone St. James ✓

18. Horror: From Below by Darcy Coates ✓

19. Horror: Dead Lake by Darcy Coates ✓

20. Horror: Phantasma by Kaylie Smith ✓

21. Comics: Universal Monsters Dracula ✓

22. Comics: Lore Olympus Vol. 6 ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6225 pages
Pages Remaining: 210,834 pages

Current Read - Behind the Horror by Lee Mellors; Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

Books I Gave Up On (1) - The boys and I started reading the co-op book selection, but found it very boring. The writing wasn’t great and I was very not engaged with the story, so we gave up and moved one.

Books Bought/Received (4)

From BOTM, I grabbed three books. They were too good to pass up!

• Phantasma by Kaylie Smith

• The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India Holton

• A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

I also took the boys to the library book sale and grabbed a few selections for me (along with many homeschool curriculum books). The only one that was actually a book for me to read was Strange Harvests by Edward Posnett

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 310

• Books Read: 6

• Books Acquired: 4

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 308

October TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maeherer

2. Friend BC: The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

4. Kid Book Club: No One Leaves the Castle by Christopher Healy

5. Kid Read Aloud: Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein

6. Kid Read Aloud: The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

7. Kid Read Aloud: The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street by Lindsay Currie

8. Romance: That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming

9. Fantasy: Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

10. Nonfiction: Behind the Horror by Lee Mellors

Movies Watched

• None really. We did rewatch a few movies with the boys, but nothing new.

TV Shows Watched

• Only Murders in the Building S4

• Star Trek: Discovery S3

• Game Changer

• Um, Actually

• Make Some Noise

• The Bachelorette

• Below Deck Med

• My Lady Jane S1

• One Strange Rock

• Dimension 20

• Cafe Minamdang

Comments -

Next up on the TBR pile:

August 2024 Wrap-up

August TBR Pile (18/19):

1. Bookworms BC: I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue ✓

2. Friend BC: The Six by Loren Grush ✓

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (DNF)

4. Kid Book Club: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia (already read)

5. Kid Read Aloud: Gargantis by Thomas Taylor ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: Endling The First by Katherine Applegate ✓

7. Kid Read Aloud: Endling The Only by Katherine Applegate ✓

8. Kid Read Aloud: Over the Moon by Natalie Lloyd ✓

9. Romance: Beautiful Vengeance by Katee Robert ✓

10. Romance: Lovely Corruption by Katee Robert ✓

11. Romance: Ruthless Redemption by Katee Robert ✓

12. Romance: Dark Restraint by Katee Robert ✓

13. Romance: The Idea of You by Robinne Lee ✓

14. Fantasy: Temptation by R.L. Stine ✓

15. Fantasy: A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid ✓

16. Comic: The Nice House on the Lake Vol. 1 ✓

17. Comic: The Nice House on the Lake Vol. 2 ✓

18. Horror: The Deading by Nicholas Belardes ✓

19. Nonfiction: Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz ✓

20. Historical Fiction: The Briar Club by Kate Quinn ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6030 pages
Pages Remaining: 217,059 pages

Current Read - The Succubus’s Prize by Katee Robert

Books I Gave Up On (1) - Nerdy Bookish Friends was reading The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Applegate. I tried three times this month to get into it and it just didn’t happen. The book was very character focused and I just couldn’t. I may pick it up later this year, but now is definitely not the time.

Books Bought/Received (2) - During our travels, I bought a whole stack of homeschool books that I’m not including in this total. For me, I only bought two books. I grabbed The Oregon Trail by Rinker Buck from Nevermore Used Books in Toledo OH. I also preordered Dark Restraint by Katee Robert.

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 310

• Books Read: 2

• Books Acquired: 2

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 310

September TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: None (already read)

2. Friend BC: The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

4. Kid Book Club: I Can Make This Promise by Christina Day

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Long-Lost Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Knight by Tim Collins

6. Kid Read Aloud: Mars One by Jonathan Maberry

7. Romance: The Succubus’s Prize by Katee Robert

Movies Watched

• Twisters

TV Shows Watched

• The Umbrella Academy

• Cafe Minamdang

• Last Week Tonight

• Game Changer

• Breaking News

• Star Trek: Discovery S1-S2

• Below Deck: Med

• My Lady Jane

Comments -

Next up on the TBR pile:

July 2024 Wrap-up

July TBR Pile (19/19):

1. Bookworms BC: The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods ✓

2. Friend BC: The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok ✓

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett ✓

4. Kid Book Club: Endling by Katherine Applegate ✓

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Dragon in the Library by Louie Stowell ✓

6. Fantasy: Witch King by Martha Wells ✓

7. Romance: The Book of Scandal by Julia London ✓

8. Romance: Leather and Lark by Brynne Weaver ✓

9. Romance: The Gentleman’s Gambit by Evie Dunmore ✓

10. Romance: The Marriage Contract / Dark Succession by Katee Robert ✓

11. Romance: The Wedding Pact / Heated Rivals by Katee Robert ✓

12. Romance: An Indecent Proposal /Twisted Secrets by Katee Robert ✓

13. Science Fiction: Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff ✓

14. Science Fiction: Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff ✓

15. Horror: Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman ✓

16. Horror: The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert ✓

17. Comic: Glass Town by Isabel Greenberg ✓

18. Nonfiction: Broad Strokes by Bridget Quinn ✓

19. Nonfiction: Raising Critical Thinkers by Julie Bogart ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 7170 pages
Pages Remaining: 223,089 pages

Current Read - The Six by Loren Grush; Beautiful Vengeance by Katee Robert

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (0)

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 315

• Books Read: 3

• Books Acquired: 0

• Books Unshelved: 2

• Finishing Number: 310

August TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue

2. Friend BC: The Six by Lauren Grush

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

4. Kid Book Club: Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

5. Romance: Beautiful Vengeance by Katee Robert

6. Romance: Lovely Corruption by Katee Robert

7. Romance: Ruthless Redemption by Katee Robert

Movies Watched

• Trolls

• Polite Society

• The Boy and the Heron

TV Shows Watched

• Barry S1-2

• Doctor Who

• The Boys S4

• The Big Door Prize S2

• Hit Monkey S2

• Twisted Metal S1

• A Gentleman in Moscow

Comments - Another stellar month! I didn’t get to as many Unread Shelf books as I had hoped, but I did get ahead on multiple book club schedules. And the kids and I knocked out some great reads!

Next up on the TBR pile:

June 2024 Wrap-up

June TBR Pile (17/20):

1. Bookworms BC: The Morningside by Téa Obreht ✓

2. Friend BC: The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Annie Bot by Sierra Greer ✓

4. Nerdy Bookish Friends (Buddy Read): The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley ✓

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud (Arthur’s rec to me): Loot by Jude Watson

7. Kid Book Club: Malamander by Thomas Taylor

8. Fantasy: Poison by Sarah Pinborough ✓

9. Romance: Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez ✓

10. Romance: Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver ✓

11. Romance: The Do-Over by TL Swan ✓

12. Nonfiction: Blood by Jen Gunter ✓

13. Nonfiction: Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson ✓

14. Horror: Kaiju Battlefield Surgeon by Matt Dinniman ✓

15. Horror: Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren ✓

16. Horror: Ghost Station by SA Barnes ✓

17. Horror: Cursed Cruise by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren ✓

18. Science Fiction: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff ✓

19. Science Fiction: The Book of M by Peng Shepard ✓

20. Historical Fiction: Rules of Civility by Amor Towles ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6656 pages
Pages Remaining: 230,259 pages

Current Read - The Book of Scandal by Julia London; The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

Books I Gave Up On (13): I grabbed a historical romance from my shelves, started it, and absolutely hated it within 50 pages. From there I went to Goodreads to see if the series would get better. Doesn’t look like it. So I DNFed it and removed the rest of the series that I had from my shelves. That was 10 books. I did the same thing with another historical romance series. This time it was three books. So there’s 13 books that I removed from my shelves. In case you are wondering it was Christina Dodd’s Governess Brides series and Paula Quinn’s Children of the Mist series.

Books Bought/Received (9): I skipped Book of the Month for June; I wasn’t really interested in any of the selections. But then, I went on the retreat. I always buy a book from the indie bookstores we visit during our day out. We went to three different bookstores and did our book exchange. I came home with seven books!

From Afterword - The Book of M by Peng Shepherd and Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz

From Bliss Wine and Books - The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

From Under the Cover - Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson and Assistant to the Villian by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

From the exchange - The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and Drinking with Wizards, Warriors and Dragons by Thea James

At the end of the month, we traveled to Cedar Falls, Iowa, and we popped into their indie book store The Nook. I ended up buying two books: The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries by Donald R. Prothero and A Restless Truth by Freya Marske.

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 327

• Books Read: 7

• Books Acquired: 8

• Books Unshelved: 13

• Finishing Number: 315

July TBR Pile: I’m not going to overload my TBR for July. I would like to focus on book club selections and my own shelves this month.

1. Bookworms BC: The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

2. Friend BC: The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

4. Kid Book Club: Endling by Katherine Applegate

5. Fantasy: The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

6. Fantasy: Witch King by Martha Wells

7. Romance: The Book of Scandal by Julia London

8. Romance: Leather and Lark by Brynne Weaver

9. Science Fiction: Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Movies Watched

• Hit Man

• Inside Out 2

• Rising Sun

• IF

TV Shows Watched

• Welcome to Wrexham S3

• Clarkson’s Farm S3

• Twisted Metal S1

• Loot S2

• The Boys S4

• Dinner with the Parents S1

• Barry S1

Comments - My reading took a slight dip, as I assumed that it would this month. Life just got very busy and we were out and about a lot. Less time to sit and read. But I did have a very successful bookish retreat and mini road trip with the kids. Plus, I unshelved a ton of duds and read many others from my shelves. It helped balance out all the books I bought during the retreat.

Next up on the TBR pile:

May 2024 Wrap-up

May TBR Pile (18/20):

1. Bookworms BC: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

2. Friend BC: The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders ✓

4. Kid Read Aloud: Much Ado About Baseball by Rajani LaRocca ✓

5. Kid Read Aloud: Homer Price by Robert McCloskey ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly ✓

7. Kid Book Club: We Dream of Space by Erin Estrada Kelly ✓

8. Fantasy: A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall ✓

9. Fantasy: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor ✓

10. Romance: To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

11. Romance: To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

12. Romance: The Kraken’s Sacrifice by Katee Robert ✓

13. Romance: Funny Story by Emily Henry ✓

14. Romance: A Long Time Coming by Meghan Quinn ✓

15. Romance: The Casanova by TL Swan ✓

16. Romance: Bookshop Cinderella by Laura Lee Guhrke ✓

17. Nonfiction: Unmasking Autism by Devon Price ✓

18. Horror: What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher ✓

19. Horror: Diavola by Jennifer Thorne ✓

20. Historical Fiction: The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6037 pages
Pages Remaining: 236,915 pages

Current Read - Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon by Matt Dinniman; Blood by Jen Gunter; The Morningside by Téa Obreht; The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (4): I picked up a copy of the retreat book club selection and two books from Book of the Month. I also went to Half Price Books and only came out with one book for me. (I did get a giant stack of homeschool stuff, but that doesn’t count here.)

• The Morningside by Téa Obreht

• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

• The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

• Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 329

• Books Read: 3

• Books Acquired: 4

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 327

June TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: The Morningside by Téa Obreht

2. Friend BC: The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

4. Nerdy Bookish Friends (Buddy Read): The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

6. Kid Read Aloud (Arthur’s rec to me): Loot by Jude Watson

7. Kid Book Club: Malamander by Thomas Taylor

8. Fantasy: Poison by Sarah Pinborough

9. Fantasy: Charm by Sarah Pinborough

10. Fantasy: Beauty by Sarah Pinborough

11. Romance: Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

12. Nonfiction: Blood by Jen Gunter

13. Horror: Kaiju Battlefield Surgeon by Matt Dinniman

14. Horror: Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren

15. Horror: Cursed Cruise by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren

Movies Watched

• Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

• The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

• Godzilla Minus One

• Unfrosted

• The Fall Guy

TV Shows Watched

• Dead Boy Detectives S1

• Welcome to Wrexham S1-3

• Shogun S1

• Clarkson’s Farm S1-2

• Fallout S1

• Twisted Metal S1

• The Great Pottery Throw Down S2

• Bridgerton S3

Comments - My reading slowed down this month as I knew that it would. As soon as the weather really gets nice, we are outside most days. Less time to read during the day. My totals will probably hover right around this month’s numbers throughout the rest of the year. Beyond reading, we did watch some good movies this month (The Fall Guy was utterly delightful) and made progress on multiple television shows. We even finished some seasons (Fallout, Shogun, Dead Boy Detectives, Clarkson’s Farm, Welcome to Wrexham).

Next up on the TBR pile:

April 2024 Wrap-up

April TBR Pile (19/21):

1. Bookworms BC: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden ✓

2. Friend BC: Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave ✓

3. Friend BC: The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon ✓

4. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: NONE

5. Kid Read Aloud: Amari and the Night Brothers by BB Alston ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: Men at Arms by Terry Prachett ✓

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

8. Kid Read Aloud: Much Ado About Baseball by Rajani LaRocca

9. Kid Book Club: Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr ✓

10. Fantasy: A Tale Dark and Grim by Adam Gidwitz ✓

11. Fantasy: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman ✓

12. Horror: The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White ✓

13. Horror: Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden ✓

14. Horror: Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham ✓

15. Comics: Lore Olympus Vol. 5 ✓

16. Romance: To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

17. Romance: The Takeover by TL Swan ✓

18. Romance: To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt ✓

19. SciFi: Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley ✓

20. SciFi: The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler ✓

21. Nonfiction: The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6360 pages
Pages Remaining: 242,952 pages

Current Read - Unmasking Autism by Devon Price: To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (2): I grabbed two selections from Book of the Month, Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez and A Short Walk Through a Wild World by Douglas Westerbeke.

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 330

• Books Read: 3

• Books Acquired: 2

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 229

May TBR Pile: Starting with a small TBR for this coming month. I’m certain it will explode soon…

1. Bookworms BC: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

2. Friend BC: The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders

4. Kid Read Aloud: Much Ado About Baseball by Rajani LaRocca

5. Kid Read Aloud: Homer Price by Robert McCloskey

6. Kid Book Club: We Dream of Space by Erin Estrada Kelly

7. Fantasy: A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

8. Romance: To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

9. Nonfiction: Unmasking Autism by Devon Price

Movies Watched

• Steve! (Martin)

• How I Became a Superheo

• Baby Assasins 2

• Hundreds of Beavers

• Dune Part 2

TV Shows Watched

• Shögun

• Below Deck

• A Gentleman in Moscow

• Loot S2

• Twisted Metal S1

• Fallout S1

• The Great Pottery Throw Down S2

• Dinner with the Parents S1

• Dead Boy Detectives S1

Comments - A slightly slower reading month like I predicted. With all the school activities and home chores, my reading was going to slow down no matter what I did. But I still have a very strong reading month. We also watched a few good movies/documentaries and started some new television series. Great month overall!

Next up on the TBR pile:

March 2024 Wrap-up

March TBR Pile (25/31):

1. Bookworms BC: NONE

2. Friend BC: The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia ✓

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

4. Kid Read Aloud: The Witches by Roald Dahl ✓

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo ✓

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

7. Kid Read Aloud: Sweep by Jonathan Auxier ✓

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

9. Kid Read Aloud: Amari and the Night Brothers by BB Alston

10. Kid Read Aloud: Men at Arms by Terry Prachett

11. Kid Book Club: The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf ✓

12. Fantasy: Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge ✓

13. Fantasy: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett ✓

14. Science Fiction: The Rise and Fall of DODO by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland ✓

15. Science Fiction: Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino ✓

16. Historical Fiction: Two Wars and a Wedding by Lauren Willig ✓

17. Romance: Ruthless by Anne Stuart ✓

18. Romance: Reckless by Anne Stuart ✓

19. Romance: The Worst Best Man by Lucy Score ✓

20. Romance: So Not Meant to Be by Meghan Quinn ✓

21. Romance: Bride by Ali Hazelwood ✓

22. Horror: The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland

23. Horror: What Stalks Among Us by Sarah Hollowell ✓

24. Horror: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud ✓

25. Horror: Dark Waters by Katherine Arden ✓

26. Nonfiction: The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart - in progress, slow and steady read

27. Nonfiction: Toil & Trouble by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson ✓

28. Comics: Love Everlasting Vol. 1 ✓

29. Comics: Love Everlasting Vol. 2 ✓

30. Comics: The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg ✓

31. Comics: A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 8558 pages
Pages Remaining: 249,312 pages

Current Read - The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White; The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (10):

It’s my birthday month, so of course I got a free book from BOTM. Plus I grabbed one of the nominees for the best book of the year that I hadn’t already read.

• A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen

• Murder Road by Simone St. James

• Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

During my birthday day out, I went to two local bookstores and grabbed a few titles. From The Bookworm, I picked up:

• Raising Critical Thinkers by Julie Bogart

• Lone Women by Victor Lavalle

• Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

• The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

At Jackson Street Booksellers, I discovered:

• DK The Ecology Book

• Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson

• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

• The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 325

• Books Read: 3

• Books Acquired: 10

• Books Unshelved: 2

• Finishing Number: 330

April TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

2. Friend BC: Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: NONE

4. Kid Read Aloud: Amari and the Night Brothers by BB Alston

5. Kid Read Aloud: Men at Arms by Terry Prachett

6. Kid Book Club: Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr

7. Fantasy: A Tale Dark and Grim by Adam Gidwitz

8. Horror: The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

9. Horror: Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden

10. Comics: Lore Olympus Vol. 4

11. Comics: Die Vol. 1

12. Comics: Die Vol. 2

13. Comics: Die Vol. 3

14. Comics: Die Vol. 4

Movies Watched

• Argyle

• Lisa Frankenstein

• Road House

TV Shows Watched

• Bachelor

• Below Deck

• Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist S2

• Monarch

• Dick Turpin

• Shōgun

• SAS: Rogue Heroes

Comments - Another big month for reading! I didn’t read that many off my shelves this month, but still read a ton.

Next up on the TBR pile:

February 2024 Wrap-up

February TBR Pile (26/28):

1. Bookworms BC: That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert (reread)

2. Friend BC: The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ✓

4. Kid Read Aloud: Guards! Guards! by Terry Prachett ✓

5. Kid Read Aloud: Ban This Book by Alan Gratz ✓

6. Kid Read Aloud: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson ✓

7. Kid Read Aloud: Tales from the Odyssey Part One by Mary Pope Osborne ✓

8. Kid Read Aloud: Tales from the Odyssey Part Two by Mary Pope Osborne ✓

9. Kid Read Aloud: The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith ✓

10. Fantasy: The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman ✓

11. Fantasy: Malamander by Thomas Taylor ✓

12. Fantasy: Haunted Holiday by Kiersten White ✓

13. Fantasy: A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft ✓

14. Fantasy: Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire ✓

15. Science Fiction: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells ✓

16. Science Fiction: System Collapse by Martha Wells ✓

17. Romance: Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert ✓

18. Romance: Untouchable by Talia Hibbert ✓

19. Romance: A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone ✓

20. Romance; Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband by Melissa Mayhue ✓

21. Romance: Hunt on Dark Waters by Katee Robert ✓

22. Thriller/Mystery: The Last One by Will Dean ✓

23. Thriller/Mystery: The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas ✓

24. Thriller/Mystery: Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty ✓

25. Comics: Confetti Realms ✓

26. Horror: Dead Voices by Katherine Arden ✓

27. Horror: Mimi’s Tales of Terror by Junji Ito ✓

28. Nonfiction: Sellout by Dan Ozzi ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 7812 pages
Pages Remaining: 257,870 pages

Current Read - The Rise and Fall of DODO by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (6):

During a trip to Half Price Books, I grabbed a few clearance books off the shelves.

• The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff

• Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

• Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

From BOTM, I grabbed The Mayer of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham.

And I put in a Thriftbooks order for some homeschool stuff, but also two books for me.

• To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt

• To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 330

• Books Read: 4

• Books Acquired: 6

• Books Unshelved: 7

• Finishing Number: 325

March TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: NONE

2. Friend BC: The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

4. Kid Read Aloud: The Witches by Roald Dahl

5. Kid Book Club: The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf

6. Fantasy: Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

7. Science Fiction: The Rise and Fall of DODO by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland

8. Science Fiction: Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

9. Historical Fiction: Two Wars and a Wedding by Lauren Willig

10. Romance: Ruthless by Anne Stuart

11. Horror: The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland

12. Horror: What Stalks Among Us by Sarah Hollowell

13. Nonfiction: The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart

14. Comics: Love Everlasting Vol. 1

15. Comics: Love Everlasting Vol. 2

Movies Watched - It’s another Nic Cage Quarterly for the month! We ended up watching 13 Nicolas Cage movies.

• It Could Happen to You

• Trapped in Paradise

• Kiss of Death

• Leaving Las Vegas

• The Rock

• Con Air

• Face/Off

• City of Angels

• Snake Eyes

• 8MM

• Bringing Out the Dead

• The Family Man

• Gone in 60 Seconds

And one non-Nic Cage Movie

• Anyone But You

TV Shows Watched

• Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist S1

• The Bachelorette S28

• The Buccaneers

• Below Deck

Comments - Another huge reading month for me! I managed almost a book a day throughout the month. This was helped by my early month reading weekend and some late nights. We also did a decent job at watching Nic Cage movies for our big year project.

Next up on the TBR pile:

January 2024 Wrap-up

January TBR Pile (31/31):

1. Bookworms BC: Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca ✓

2. Friend BC: The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin ✓

3. Friend BC: The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott ✓

4. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey ✓

5. Kid Read Aloud: James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl ✓

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

7. Kid Read Aloud: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by EL Konigsburg ✓

8. Kid Book Club: A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd ✓

9. Kid Book Club: The Fourteenth Goldfish by Natalie Lloyd ✓

10. Fantasy: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman ✓

11. Fantasy: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman ✓

12. Fantasy: The Dungeon Anarachist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman ✓

13. Fantasy: The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman ✓

14. Fantasy: Timekeeper by Tara Simm ✓

15. Fantasy: Signal Moon ny Kate Quinn ✓

16. Fantasy: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden ✓

17. Fantasy: Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson ✓

18. Fantasy: The Magician by Rebecca Serle ✓

19. Science Fiction: All Systems Red by Martha Wells (reread) ✓

20. Science Fiction: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (reread) ✓

21. Science Fiction: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (reread) ✓

22. Science Fiction: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (reread) ✓

23. Science Fiction: Network Effect by Martha Wells (reread) ✓

24. Nonfiction: Share Your Stuff, I’ll Go First by Laura Tremaine ✓

25. Romance: Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan ✓

26. Romance:: A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert ✓

27. Romance: Damaged Goods by Talia Hibbert ✓

28. Romance: Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders ✓

29. Romance: Teach Me by Olivia Dade ✓

30. Romance: Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura ✓

31. Romance: Mr. Fixer Upper by Lucy Score ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 9306 pages
Pages Remaining: 265,682 pages

Current Read - Guards! Guards! by Terry Prachett (kid read aloud); The Last One by Will Dean; Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (8):

I grabbed the preorder of Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert.

Half Price Books finds during their after Christmas sale.

• The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May

• Malamander by Thomas Taylor

• Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

• The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage

At the Barnes and Noble sale after Christmas, I came away with five books for me:

• A Power Unbound by Freya Marske

• Amari and the Great Game by BB Alston

• The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill

• The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill by Rowenna Miller

• The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 324

• Books Read: 2

• Books Acquired: 8

• Books Unshelved: 0

• Finishing Number: 330

February TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert (reread)

2. Friend BC: The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

4. Kid Read Aloud: Guards! Guards! by Terry Prachett

5. Kid Read Aloud: Ban This Book by Alan Gratz

6. Kid Book Club: The Boy at the Back of the Class by Anjali Rauf

7. Fantasy: The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman

8. Science Fiction: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

9. Science Fiction: System Collapse by Martha Wells

10. Romance: Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert

11. Romance: Untouchable by Talia Hibbert

12. Thriller/Mystery: The Last One by Will Dean

Movies Watched

• Top Secret

• Saltburn

• The Bricklayer

• Self-Reliance

• Chicken Run 2: Dawn of the Nugget

• Oppenheimer

• Relax, I’m from the Future

• Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched

• The Marvels

• Top Gun: Maverick

• Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One

• The Beekeeper

TV Shows Watched

• Letterkenny S12 (the last season!!!!)

• Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist S1

• The White House Plumbers

• Percy Jackson and the Olympians

• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

• Yonderland S1

• Party Down S3

• The Buccaneers

• Our Flag Means Death S2

• Below Deck: Med

• The Bachelor S28

Comments - Wow! Due to a ton of snow storms, we spent a lot of January in the house. And I read a ton of books and we watched a ton of media. Thankfully, we are able to get out of the house at the end of the month, but it was a very strange month. I only read two books from my Unread Shelf, but I have big plans for February’s reading. Ready for a new month.

Next up on the TBR pile:

December 2023 Wrap-up

December TBR Pilev (22/25):

1. Bookworms BC: None

2. Friend BC: None

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson ✓

4. Kid Read Aloud: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle ✓

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown ✓

6. Kid Book Club: A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

7. Nonfiction: Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar ✓

8. Romance: Snowed in for Christmas by Jaqueline Snowe ✓

9. Romance: Bad Bachelor by Stefanie London ✓

10. Romance: Gray Hair Don’t Care by Karen Booth ✓

11. Romance: The Christmas Fix by Lucy Score ✓

12. Romance: A Holiday by Gaslight by Mimi Matthews ✓

13. Romance: Love in a Blizzard by Britney M. Mills ✓

14. Romance: White Lie Christmas by Karla Doyle ✓

15. Romance: A Winter in New York by Josie Silver ✓

16. Romance: That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert ✓

17. Romance: Miss Kane’s Christmas by Caroline Mickelson ✓

18. Romance: A Not So Meet Cute by Meghan Quinn ✓

19. Romance: Blue Sky Cowboy Christmas by Joanne Kennedy ✓

20. Romance: The Worst Christmas Ever? by Rebecca Paulinyi ✓

21. Romance: The Stopover by TL Swan ✓

22. Romance: Falling for the Rockstar at Christmas by Lyndsey Gallagher ✓

23. Thriller: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus ✓

24. Fantasy: Magical Midlife Madness by KF Breene ✓

25. Fantasy: Under the Smokestrewn Sky by A. Deborah Baker ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 6250 pages
Pages Remaining: 274,988 pages

Current Read - Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros; Timekeeper by Tara Sim

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (3):

For the book club’s Christmas Book and Bottle Exchange, I ended up with Pinot Noir by Mads Molnar. Looks like an interesting mystery/action story.

I actually found two BOTM selections that I really wanted.

• The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen

• The Gentleman’s Gambit by Evie Dunmore

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 337

• Books Read: 0

• Books Acquired: 3

• Books Unshelved: 4

• Finishing Number: 336

January TBR Pile:

1. Bookworms BC: Mrs. Sherlock Holmes by Brad Ricca

2. Friend BC: The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

4. Kid Read Aloud: Charlotte’s Web by EB White

5. Kid Read Aloud: James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

6. Kid Book Club: A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

7. Fantasy: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

8. Fantasy: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

9. Fantasy: Timekeeper by Tara Sim

10. Fantasy: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

11. Science Fiction: All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Movies Watched

• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

• Newsies

• Solaris (1972)

• Silent Night

TV Shows Watched

• Doctor Who

• Below Deck: Med

• Bachelor in Paradise

• Slow Horses S3

• Obliterated S1

• Rick & Morty

• Archer - Series finale! I can’t believe that show aired for 14 seasons!

• One Piece S1

• Lockwood and Co. S1

• Percy Jackson and the Olympians S1

Comments - Ending my year on a high note for my reading and media watching. Looking forward to what 2024 will bring.

Next up on the TBR pile:

November 2023 Wrap-up

November TBR Pile (21/27):

1. Bookworms BC: All Systems Red by Martha Wells

2. Friend BC: Underground Airlines by Ben Winters ✓

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers ✓

4. Kid Read Aloud: Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia ✓

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown

6. Kid Book Club: From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks ✓

7. Romance: Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark ✓

8. Romance: A Delicate Deception by Cat Sebastian ✓

9. Romance: Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey

10. Romance: Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey

11. Romance: Love of My Lives by Yamille Saied Mendez

12. Romance: The Wake-Up Call by Beth O’Leary ✓

13. Romance: The Dragon’s Bride by Katee Robert ✓

14. Romance: Shades of Wicked by Jeaniene Frost ✓

15. Romance: Wicked All Night by Jeaniene Frost ✓

16. Romance: Wicked Bite by Jeaniene Frost ✓

17. Romance: Role Playing by Cathy Yardley ✓

18. Horror: Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons ✓

19. Horror: The September House by Carissa Orlando ✓

20. Nonfiction: Unlikeable Female Characters by Anna Bogutskaya ✓

21. Science Fiction: Starter Villain by John Schalzi ✓

22. Science Fiction: Ark by Veronica Roth ✓

23. Science Fiction: Emergency Skin by NK Jemisin ✓

24. Science Fiction: Summer Frost by Blake Crouch ✓

25. Science Fiction: Randomize by Andy Weir ✓

26. Science Fiction: You Have Arrived at Your Destination by Amor Towles ✓

27. Science Fiction: The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5563 pages
Pages Remaining: 281,238 pages

Current Read - Snowed in for Christmas by Jacqueline Snowe; Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (0)

UnRead Shelf Progress

• Starting Number: 339

• Books Read: 1

• Books Acquired: 0

• Books Unshelved: 1

• Finishing Number: 337

December TBR Pile: Not burdening myself with a TBR for this month. Just reading what I feel like.

1. Bookworms BC: None

2. Friend BC: None

3. Nerdy Bookish Friends BC: The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson

4. Kid Read Aloud: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

5. Kid Read Aloud: The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown

6. Kid Book Club: A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd

Movies Watched - November became Nic Cage November! We began a retrospective of his entire career. Definitely not going to finish this month, but we can get a start. We ended up with 17 Nicolas Cage movies and one docmentary.

• In Defense of Nicolas Cage

• Rumble Fish (side character)

• Valley Girl

• Racing with the Moon (side character)

• Birdy

• The Cotton Club (side character)

• Peggy Sue Got Married

• The Boy in Blue

• Moonstruck

• Raising Arizona - Still my favorite Nicolas Cage movie!

• Time to Kill - This is terrible. Skip it.

• Firebirds

• Wild at Heart - Reminds me why I don’t really enjoy Lynch.

• Zandalee

• Honeymoon in Vegas

• Amos & Andrew

• Deadfall

• Red Rock West

• Guarding Tess

• Solarbabies - Obviously not a Nic Cage movie. This was for family movie night. Very cheesy 80s scifi movie.

• Five Nights at Freddy’s - Kids’ pick for Thanksgiving movie night.

• Fantastic Mr. Fox

TV Shows Watched

• Loki S2

• Lower Decks S3

• Ghosts S6

• Rick & Morty S7

• Bachelor in Paradise

• Shoresy S2

• Doctor Who

Comments -

Next up on the TBR pile: