I’ve decided to [gasp] start doing monthly TBRs? On average, I read ~2740 pages per month (easier, I think, than worrying about books per month since their lengths can vary so much). I decided to give myself a goal of 2055 pages for my TBR; this is about 75% of my monthly average so it gives me some leeway for mood reading and for slower reading months. I am currently reading Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler (~165 pages of 336) and Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (115 pages of 454). I’ll group these into my leeway category (depending on the results of next month, I may include current reads in my TBR pages).
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (496 pages): I just re-read Ninth House in preparation to pick this up and I’m very excited!
The Anatomy of Jane by Amelia Lefay (261 pages): This has been on my polyamory TBR and I’m hoping I enjoy it.
Answering Tough Interview Questions for Dummies (320 pages): A re-read! I graduate in May and need to prepare myself for some job interviews.
A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout (647 pages): This is on my owned TBR and I’m excited to pick it up after getting caught up on the Blood & Ash series.
The Edge of the Abyss by Emily Skrutskie (320 pages): I read the first in the series years ago and need to finish this sapphic pirate duology!
Do y’all have monthly TBRs and if so, what are you planning on reading? If not, what do you think you’ll be in the mood to read this month?
I took a look at my series in progress recently (I keep track of them in my general reading spreadsheet) and was inspired to post about them by Destiny’s recent blog post. I currently have eight series I decided to DNF this year, seven series I’m caught up on, one series I completed this year, and eleven series that I can and should be continuing.
DNFs
The Dreamer Trilogy. I really liked Call Down the Hawk but Mister Impossible was a slog for me to try to get through. I looked up a plot summary and decided to officially DNF the series.
Outlander.Outlander had its issues, but I did enjoy it! At almost 1000 pages, Dragonfly in Amber was dragging for me, even listening to the audiobook at almost 2x speed. This is a long series of long books and I think I’m just out.
Throne of Glass. I don’t even have any complaints about this series, I just feel completely unmotivated to finish. Perhaps I’ll come back to it another time.
Winston Brothers. I read the first in this series back in 2020 and liked it, but I’ve realized I just am not going to end up prioritizing this series and should just DNF it.
Dune. The Dune audiobook was good! Unfortunately I found Paul unbelievably boring. After checking and seeing that Dune Messiah continues to follow him, I decided to DNF.
Dublin Murder Squad. Oh my god, I thought In the Woods was SO boring. I know the next book doesn’t follow Rob, but I just can’t bring myself to continue.
The Radiant Emperor. Book two hasn’t even been released yet, but I found She Who Became the Sun too focused on political intrigue for my tastes. The book was good! Just not for me.
The Sandman. This is barely worth counting, because I DNFed Preludes & Nocturnes after 50 pages, but I like to track all series I start. Anyway, just not for me.
The Sand Chronicles. I also DNFed Across the Sand, so I won’t be continuing this if Howey decides to write more.
Caught Up
The Numair Chronicles. The first book came out back in 2018 and I have simply been waiting. I know Tammy is still working on this (I’m in her fb fan group and she’s relatively active), I’m unsure as to when we can expect it.
The Adventure Zone. I adore this podcast, and the graphic novel follows the first season of it. The next installment is out in February and I have already preordered it!
The Sixth World. I am patiently awaiting the next book in this series. We don’t have a title, cover, or release date so… I continue to wait.
Alex Stern. It’s divisive, but I really liked Ninth House. Hell Bent comes out in just over two weeks and I’ve also preordered it!
A Court of Thorns and Roses. My beloved guilty pleasure. I’m not sure when the next book is going to be released, but I’m in no rush.
Blood and Ash. Okay, I am conflicted. I really loved the first two books, but the third was eh, and the fourth was… not great. The only reason I finished it was for [redacted]. This does just seem like the first book from a different POV though, so hopefully I’ll enjoy it.
Bright Falls. I absolutely adored Delilah Green Doesn’t Care and could have gotten along better with Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, so I am cautiously optimistic for Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date. I didn’t looove Iris as a character, but I think getting her direct POV will help.
Ongoing
Wayfarers.The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was a favorite of mine and I also loved A Closed and Common Orbit. Unfortunately, I have already tried to read Record of a Spaceborn Fewtwice and put it back down both times. To be fair, the second time was at the start of lockdown so I was a little slump-y. I’m going to give it one more shot before skipping to the next book if necessary.
The Abyss Surrounds Us. It’s been so long since I read The Abyss Surrounds Us that I don’t even know if I’ll enjoy The Edge of the Abyss, but I must give these sapphic pirates a chance.
Bird Box. I loved Bird Box, so I’m willing to give Malorie a chance even if I do despise the cover.
Ravenswood. I think this is a little novella between book 1 and 2 about a character we met in A Girl Like Her.
Cafe. I decided to skip the second book because it’s not a dynamic I’m a fan of, so I’m headed straight into this standalone novella next.
Loose Ends. I loved Xeni‘s character in Rafe and am excited to see her in a (I believe) fake marriage scenario.
The Girl With All the Gifts. I have no idea how they’ll follow up the first, but I am excited to find out.
Cambric Creek. No judgement, please. It’s a good series!
The Atlas. I am literally in the middle of The Atlas Paradox right now, so this will be moved to the ‘Caught Up’ category by the end of 2022.
Completed
The Scholomance. I found this sort of anticlimactic, but was frustrated by a lot of the reviews I’ve seen. I am sending this to my friend Hadeer so we can discuss.
I’m sure you’ve all seen this meme going around, the template I’ve seen has been by shadowbooker. The premise is to read 12 books in 12 months recommended by 12 friends. I think it’s a super fun and doable (for me) challenge! So today I’ll be sharing my challenge TBR with you all (in no particular order). If you’re doing this challenge, feel free to link your TBR below!
Bookish Friday is a weekly meme created by Lauren and Georgi. Today’s prompt is disappointing books, which I feel like everyone knows a little something about. See mine below! These are not necessarily bad books — just books that didn’t live up to expectations.
Gideon the Ninth was good, but I was expecting a 5-star read out of it. I had a lot of trouble getting invested and ended up quite confused as well. Still something I would recommend! Just not what I was hoping for.
Mr. Mercedes, for those of you who remember, absolutely killed me. This was another one I had reasonably high expectations for and BOY did King blow it. I hesitate to recommend this but I mean, I guess it’s worth a shot.
Dead of Winter was my first read by Kealan Patrick Burke, who I’ve been meaning to read because of Destiny! This was actually a buddy read with her and I feel bad that I didn’t love this — but I also didn’t hate it. There was a lot of promise and I still intend to pick up more of his books.
Half Way Home was hugely disappointing as I adored the Silo series by Hugh Howey. This was an older work of his that was being rereleased, so I’m sure any newer books he puts out will be better.
All the Birds, Singing was tough because I thought the premise sounded so interesting. This is another case where the book itself wasn’t bad, but just didn’t live up to what I had expected.
What books have y’all found disappointing recently? Please link your Bookish Friday posts in the comments if you’d like! 🙂
I was inspired by Ally’s Top TBR post to share my own prioritized TBR shelf with y’all. I’ve been using one for a while, as I find it really helpful to remind me of the things I don’t want to get lost in my general TBR shelf — which always happens. I have still been neglecting this shelf somewhat but with most of the Women’s Prize list behind me, I plan to prioritize my TBR ASAP shelf, my owned TBR, and the ARCs I have.
I’ll be ordering this list by date added and am going to try Destiny’s trick of providing a brief summary of the book and/or why I’m prioritizing it, along with the genre.
It Devours! (Welcome to Night Vale #2) by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor Published by Harper Collinson October 17, 2017 my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Goodreads avg: 4.08 (as of 2019-02-09)
From the authors of the New York Times bestselling novel Welcome to Night Vale and the creators of the #1 international podcast of the same name, comes a mystery exploring the intersections of faith and science, the growing relationship between two young people who want desperately to trust each other, and the terrifying, toothy power of the Smiling God.
Nilanjana Sikdar is an outsider to the town of Night Vale. Working for Carlos, the town’s top scientist, she relies on fact and logic as her guiding principles. But all of that is put into question when Carlos gives her a special assignment investigating a mysterious rumbling in the desert wasteland outside of town. This investigation leads her to the Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God, and to Darryl, one of its most committed members. Caught between her beliefs in the ultimate power of science and her growing attraction to Darryl, she begins to suspect the Congregation is planning a ritual that could threaten the lives of everyone in town. Nilanjana and Darryl must search for common ground between their very different world views as they are faced with the Congregation’s darkest and most terrible secret.
I’ve had this on my shelf for close to year, and finally got around to reading it! I used to be a huge fan of the Welcome to Night Vale podcast, but stopped listening a couple years ago because I personally found that the content felt a bit repetitive. I also read the first book and didn’t find it really held my interest, but thought it was still worth it to give the second one a shot. I’m glad I did! It was an interesting, compelling read. While not plot-dependent on the podcast or the first book, if you take in the content out-of-order you probably will spoil yourself, just as a heads up.
Sometimes it’s okay to find something beautiful without correctly understanding it.
The book itself ran me through a lot more emotions than I expected it to. Honestly, I was almost in tears at the end of the first chapter. No joke. There’s just enough of a mystery that you’re not quite sure what’s going on without encroaching too far into nonsense, which could have been easy to do with a world filled with such fantastical elements. There were a few places where I didn’t feel quite as invested in the story as I could have, but it really held my attention for the most part.
Sometimes where you live is just a place, no matter how long you live there.
I really adored the main characters. Nilanjana was great and I liked getting to see her struggles as an outsider in Night Vale. I found Darryl really interesting as well, especially with his background and how it tied in to some events towards the end of the book. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters didn’t have much characterization. Carlos was given some depth, but I felt like the rest of the scientists and Darryl’s friends all seemed like caricatures and were quite one-dimensional.
When considering our place in the universe, we must recognize that by having this one position we are negating every other possible position we could have.
So, overall it was a fun read and I would definitely recommend it to fans of Welcome to Night Vale or to anyone else who finds themselves interested in it. I don’t see myself picking it up again in the future, but I definitely don’t regret reading it!
The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos Published by Balzer & Brayon January 26, 2016 my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Goodreads avg: 3.48 (as of 2019-01-20) cw: portrayals and discussion of bipolar disorder and severe depression
All Imogene Scott knows of her mother is the bedtime story her father told her as a child. It’s the story of how her parents met: he, a forensic pathologist, she, a mysterious woman who came to identify a body. A woman who left Imogene and her father when Imogene was a baby, a woman who was always possessed by a powerful loneliness, a woman who many referred to as “troubled waters.”
Now Imogene is seventeen, and her father, a famous author of medical mysteries, has struck out in the middle of the night and hasn’t come back. Neither Imogene’s stepmother nor the police know where he could’ve gone, but Imogene is convinced he’s looking for her mother. And she decides it’s up to her to put to use the skills she’s gleaned from a lifetime of reading her father’s books to track down a woman she’s only known in stories in order to find him and, perhaps, the answer to the question she’s carried with her for her entire life.
…with enough time and the right conditions, precious stones could grow in hollow places.
This was my second Rebecca Podos book (my first being her 2017 release Like Water) and it was just as great as I had hoped it would be. I was honestly shocked when I got to the end and realized that this was her debut novel. This was one of those books that sucked me right in and filled me with emotion. Following Imogene on her journey felt both meaningful and real. It was easy to see where her thoughts, feelings, and coping mechanisms (or lack thereof) came from. The story follows Imogene as she attempts to find her long-lost mother and, in turn, her newly missing father. While she has little in the way of clues, between her wits and the assistance of her best friend Jessa she starts out on a path that will impact her life forever.
I thought Imogene was a sympathetic, believable main character and enjoyed being inside her head. While her constant Sherlock references wore on me a bit, I understood the point being made. Her relationship with Jessa was appropriately complicated, I liked the reference to symbiosis as I think we all have friendships that rely on shared exchanges like these. There were some romantic undertones between Imogene and Jessa’s brother, Chad, but I think this was well-balanced and certainly wasn’t anything close to the main focus of the story.
I really enjoyed the portrayal of Imogene’s non-traditional family structure. She spent most of her life living alone with her father, who struggled with bouts of severe depression where his daughter had to fend largely for herself. Her mother left before she could remember and exists only in the peripheries of scattered photographs. Lindy, her stepmother, is a family therapist and recent addition to the family. To be honest, I never grew to like Lindy very much. While I could absolutely see where she was coming from and didn’t actively disliked her, I just didn’t think I was given enough to really develop much in the way of positive feelings toward her — but that could definitely have just been me.
But if there’s one thing Dad’s bad times have taught me, it’s this: I never, ever want to have something I can’t survive without.
The only downside was that I didn’t love the end. There was a climax that I enjoyed, but after that I felt like I was just skimming the last bit to finish out the book. It was sort of like in movies where they have the on-screen text to explain what happened to each of the characters in the aftermath of the main plot. I personally didn’t feel that it added much, although I’m not sure what I would have suggested as an alternative.
Overall, though, this was an excellent read that I would highly recommend to lovers of contemporary YA, as well as those who like a bit of mystery in their books. I’m really excited to see what Rebecca Podos comes out with next, as she’s proven herself to be quite a strong writer! I think this is one that I’ll definitely be thinking back to in the future.
First Test by Tamora Pierce Published by Random House Children’s Bookson May 23, 2000 (originally 1999) my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Goodreads avg: 4.25 (as of 2019-01-19)
In the medieval and fantastic realm of Tortall, Keladry of Mindelan is the first girl to take advantage of the decree that permits females to train for knighthood. Up against the traditional hazing of pages and a grueling schedule, Kel faces only one real roadblock: Lord Wyldon, the training master of pages and squires. He is absolutely against girls becoming knights. So while he is forced to train her, Wyldon puts her on probation for one year. It is a trial period that no male page has ever had to endure and one that separates the good natured Kel even more from her fellow trainees during the tough first year. But Kel Is not a girl to underestimate, as everyone is about to find out…
I read this quite some time ago, but only owned the first book and never continued with the series. For Christmas, I received books 2-4 and decided to re-read this so that I could jump into the rest. I had forgotten most of the plot, although all of it felt familiar to me. While I couldn’t have predicted anything that happened, once it happened I thought to myself “oh yeah, I remember that.” Luckily, I enjoyed it just as much as Tammy’s other books and am very excited to finally finish the series!
One of the things I love about Tammy’s writing is that she’s able to create such distinct characters. While most of her books focus on “strong” women, they’re not all the same. Where the Lioness is hot-tempered and loud, Daine is timid yet stubborn, Aly is quiet and calculating, and Kel is even and impenetrable. Each of her characters have different strengths and weaknesses, and I think that makes it possible for girls to find representation they are able to relate to.
This book follows Kel in her initial (probationary) year as a page, the first female page to enter the program since girls were allowed to join. There are plenty of obstacles along the way: a lot of the boys think that a girl doesn’t belong there alongside them. Kel’s advantage is that she and her family had lived with the Yamanis as an ambassador for most of her early life. The Yamani culture is much different from the one Kel has transitioned back into and one of the biggest things she has learned is to “be as stone” and hide all of her emotions behind a smooth mask.
Overall, I found the pacing to be great and the story fun to follow. I worked through the book fairly quickly and am looking forward to what comes next, although I plan to wait until Fantastic February to continue reading since this series is obviously perfect to put on my TBR for it. I recommend this to all Tamora Pierce fans, as well as anyone looking for some YA fantasy with a strong female character.
The only people who talk about dead like it’s something pretty and fanciful are people who haven’t seen it up close.
I’ll admit that although I found the premise somewhat interesting, most of the reason I picked up this one was because it took place in Boston. That aspect was really fun, since I recognized most of the places mentioned and could really imagine myself there. The writing itself was interesting, too. It was a mixture of first and second person and worked really well for the story. Kim Savage ended up keeping me on my toes and I absolutely inhaled the last half or so in one sitting. My only complaint was that it felt kind of queerbait-y and I ended up pretty frustrated by that.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Unrequited cw: graphic sex, power imbalances, sexual assault, infidelity, suicide, off-page drunk driving, stalking, and probably much more
They’re a perfect match. I think anybody who’s in love with anyone is a perfect match. I don’t believe in crap like There’s somebody better for you out there. I don’t want better. I want the guy I’m in love with.
I picked this up on a whim after seeing Melanie’s glowing review and it was absolutely worth it. While the morals throughout are highly questionable, the writing is great and the author knows how to do steamy scenes well. I rarely read straight-up romance novels, but in this instance my rating is based more on personal enjoyment than objective quality. I’ve been going through a rough time and this was exactly the kind of read I needed to distract me from that. If you’re looking for a fun romance that’s a little on the kinkier side, this should hit the spot for you.
I’ve read some of the criticisms of this book, and also recognize that it was published almost a decade ago and may be a bit outdated. Regardless, it’s nice to read a book that validates your sexuality and makes you feel more “normal” than society at large might have you believe. As a queer, polyamorous woman I thought this was a really good starting point to learn about human sexuality. I’ll certainly be picking up some other works and doing further research, but I found this book to be well-written, humorous, and just what I needed.
I can’t remember the last time I participated in a readathon (I’m so bad at them!) but Destiny @ Howling Libraries and Kathy @ Books and Munches have put together this super fun one that I just had to join. 🙂
Here’s all the important info, snagged directly from Destiny’s post:
SHORT-A-THON!
Short-a-thon is a readathon that is going to take place from 12:00AM December 21st to 11:59PM December 31st. (You can go by your own time zone!)
The goal is simple: to focus on reading the SHORTEST books in your TBR! These can be short stories, novellas, graphic novels, manga—if it’s got a low page count, it works! Of course, our ideas of “short” books will all vary, so go by whatever YOU consider short!
We liked the idea of hosting this readathon for two reasons: 1) It’s unique! 2) BOOST THOSE READING CHALLENGE NUMBERS! Your December end-of-year wrap could look amazing with a big stack of short books thrown on top!
Here’s how you can join in…
Create a TBR in a blog post, tweet, or whatever else you like to use. We recommend making a list of your TEN (10) shortest books!
Leave a comment here or on Kathy’s post with a link to your TBR so she can add you to our official participants list (you can do this any time between now and December 21st).
Use #shortathon18 on social media so we can all find each other and cheer one another one, and be sure to follow us on Twitter at @shortathon! We’ll be hosting reading sprints and challenges everyday.
My Short-a-thon TBR
I decided to choose the same method as Destiny: I’ll write out a list of shorter books on my TBR (all under 150 pages) and choose my TBR at random. I’ve also split them up based on number of pages, like Destiny did! Some of these may not be published yet, and some I may not be able to get a hold of. I’ll select and random and read whatever I actually can and skip what I can’t. 🙂 Here are the books I’ve selected as options:
1-50 Pages:
A Monstrous Love: Two Halloween Romances – Magen Cubed
Wet Nails – Shira Glassman
Heaven or This – Topaz Winters
Hex Wives #1 – Ben Blacker
The Goddess Collection – Ailie Wallace
Waiting on a Bright Moon – J.Y. Yang
Complementary and Acute – Ella Lyons
A Guide to Undressing Your Monsters – Sam Sax
Throttle – Joe Hill
A Jury of Her Peers – Susan Glaspell
Hunting Monsters – S.L. Huang
50-100 Pages:
The Terracotta Bride – Zen Cho
We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
New American Best Friend – Olivia Gatwood
In the Tall Grass – Stephen King
By the Bog of Cats – Marina Carr
Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Grownup – Gillian Flynn
Sour Candy – Kealan Patrick Burke
Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live – Sacha Lamb
Rose – Li-Young Lee
This Way to the Sugar – Hieu Minh Nguyen
The Little Red Wolf – Amélie Fléchais
White Nights – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Curse Catcher – Laura Thalassa
Night Sky with Exit Wounds – Ocean Vuong
Black Helicopters – Caitlín R. Kiernan
Riding the Track – Kara Ripley
Bingo Love – Tee Franklin
Learning Curves – Ceillie Simkiss
Don’t Tell My Mother – Brigitte Bautista
I’m Afraid of Men – Vivek Shraya
The Lost Path – Amélie Fléchais
ApocalyptiGirl – Andrew MacLean
Jealousy Survival Guide – Kitty Chambliss
Bluets – Maggie Nelson
100-150 Pages:
Pizzeria Kamikaze – Etgar Keret
Ongoingness – Sarah Manguso
The Atrocities – Jeremy C. Shipp
Ariel – Sylvia Plath
Some New Ambush – Carys Davies
Heathen Volume #1 – Natasha Alterici
Afterlife – Melissa Jennings
The Black God’s Drums – P. Djèlí Clark
Do/ Story/ – Bobette Buster
Wenjack – Joseph Boyden
Water Memory – Mathieu Reynès
The Backstagers Vol. 1 – James Tynion IV
The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion – Margaret Killjoy
Heavy Vinyl Vol. 1 – Carly Usdin
Evidence of the Affair – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Women & Power – Mary Beard
A House at the Bottom of a Lake – Josh Malerman
Moonstruck Vol. 1 – Grace Ellis
The Devil You Know – KJ Parker
Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time – Hope Nicholson
Taproot – Keezy Young
Giant Days Vol. 1 – John Allison
Stairway – Matt Hawkins
Kingdom of Needle and Bone – Mira Grant
Sex Criminals Vol. 1 – Matt Fraction
You Should Have Left – Daniel Kehlmann
The Murders of Molly Southbourne
Written on the Body – Lexie Bean
The Buddha in the Attic – Julie Otsuka
Dead Leaves – Patrick Kealan Burke
All Hail the House Gods – Andrew J Stone
The Reason I Jump – Naoki Higashida
Zodiac Starforce Vol. 1 – Kevin Panetta
Mockingbird Vol. 1 – Chelsea Cain
Spell on Wheels – Kate Leth
Runaways Vol. 1 – Rainbow Rowell
Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat! Vol. 1 – Kate Leth
Oh Honey – Emily Austin
My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness – Kabi Nagata
Sarah Ames-Foley 