Category: Reading Wrap-up

Mid-Month Check In

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It’s the middle of December and I have a monthly check in post going up? Why, yes, I do!

I’ve already finished most of my December reading goals, which is honestly very surprising. It helps that I had a lot of graphic novels on my TBR, but I only have two (two and a half?) books left to earn a gold star for the month. I finished both The Plastic Magician and Ghostly, which were in progress at the time I published my end of the year reading list. I’ve also read all of the graphic novels on that list, and even added in a middle grade book that wasn’t originally on it. I’m currently making my way through The Sisters of the Winter Wood quite quickly, which only leaves me with MCSI: Magical Crime Scene Investigation and Plato and a Platypus. None of this includes books I read or finished before I made my end of the year reading list, either. I’m not sure if anything I read this month will garner a full review from me, but at the very least I’ll give a rundown of my feelings at the end of the month.

I also went and did some exploring around my city this past week. I’m hoping to start a series about local bookstores, so I mapped out an adventure for myself in one area of the city that has a number of bookstores within walking distance. I got to check out two brand-new-to-me bookstores and the physical location of a third that was a vendor at a book event a friend and I attended earlier this month. I’d like to write about the bookstores in twos or threes and – as long as they’re inside city limits – keep them within an easy walking distance of each other. Eventually, I know I’ll want to talk about the amazing bookstores that are not in Philadelphia proper, but there are still so many in Philadelphia for me to check out. And, with any luck, I’ll be able to do some bonus posts about bookstores in other states (and countries!) in the following year.

Does anyone else have exciting goals and ideas for 2019 already spinning away in the hamster wheel? New Years and its resolutions are fast approaching!

June 2017 Wrap-Up

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At the beginning of every month, I will do a quick wrap-up of the previous month’s reads.

I finished seven books in June.

  1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
  2. Enclave by Ann Aguirre
  3. The Blue Fox by Sjón
  4. Hard Child by Natalie Shapero
  5. The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
  6. The Master Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
  7. Goodnight Lab: A Scientific Parody by Chris Ferrie

The Handmaid’s Tale was my book club’s pick for the month of June. It was the only 5 star read of the month, and I have to say that I’m very eager to read more from Atwood now. This novel gave me a lot to think about, and I’m currently working on a review for the blog.

Enclave was a bit of a disappointment for me. I only rated this book 2.5 stars because I was not impressed by the character development and the book’s treatment of rape and victim blaming. This was a post-apocalyptic YA novel that had a very interesting premise and it was an engaging read as a whole, but in the end, I just couldn’t get beyond the two issues I just mentioned.

The Blue Fox was my second favorite read of the month. I rated it 4.5 stars and have already posted a short review of it here on the blog.

Hard Child was my most disappointing read in June. I rated the collection 2 stars. I went in expecting to really enjoy this collection of poems because the overarching theme per the blurb on the back of the book sounded great. Unfortunately, very few poems had an impact on me. A small handful did, however, which is why this wasn’t a total bust.

I finished up The Paper Magician trilogy, which I gave a solid 4 stars across the board. I’m usually very critical with romance in YA novels because it’s either a love triangle or a creepy age difference, the latter of which this series falls into. However, there is a pretty decent backbone for this plot point, and I had to remind myself that while Ceony is a good deal younger than Emery, she is over 18. Besides that, I found the magic system very interesting and it was a comfortable series to settle into.

Finally, I read Goodnight Lab, which is a parody of Goodnight Moon. The lab monkey by night that I am, I definitely appreciated this picture book. I rated it 3 stars for it’s humor and for featuring a female POC main character, but otherwise, it was just another children’s book parody in a sea of children’s book parodies.