Tag: Reading wrap up

Categories
General Posts, Non Reviews

February Wrap Up & March Travel Plans

Favorites, stats, hauls & unhauls, and miscellany. Did I even buy books this month? Let’s get to it!

February felt like a slower reading month and  March is going to be pretty vague TBR wise as I’ll be travelling from the 10th-29th and won’t be reading much.

February reading wrapup:

I finished 9 books. All of these reviews can be found on the blog using the search bar if you’re interested.

I was loyal to my TBR this month.

My favorite read was  The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie but I feel bad for giving him two months in a row.

My favorite new to me/debut/new discovery author was definitely Kate J Armstrong, with her new book The Nightbirds

I also just absolutely disliked a few of the books I read in February, like The Hermes Protocol. I’m bordering a reading slump but I’ll recover overseas so it’s all good.

The breakdown was 5 fantasy,  2 sci-fi, one thriller, and one… Uh… badly reimagined mythology. I disliked The Song of Achilles too (thoughts coming🤣)

Stats wise:

February fell way short of January here on the blog.  It rebounded towards the end but my traffic sucks compared to everyone else so why do I even bother 🤷‍♀️ the most interesting thing though is most of my views are coming from search engines now so that’s something! Even funnier is that it’s my two main evergreen articles bringing the views in 🤣

Book un/hauls and spending

I’m tracking spending now to show y’all that commercialism isn’t necessary to do this. I did spend 27$ on audiobooks but I got eight through Chirp, on sale for a few dollars each and have no regrets.

I forgot my Kindle unlimited was due to start again and I meant to cancel it but ate that charge, and the audible trial. I bought NO physical or EBooks.  So the two subscriptions plus the audiobooks, I’m out like 43$.  KU is done in March, I don’t think it’s worth it.

I only had five books come in, two arcs and three giveaway wins. Thanks all ❤️ so all of that is on my TBR (see below)

I unhauled six books so I’m barely net negative for the month 😅.  The only place I collected more books was free e-copies of indies, with some killer sales this month from Clayton Snyder among others

The last thing I did on here that I liked was a short and sweet article about bookish things making me cranky this month 

How was you guys’ reading in February?
March tbr:

I won’t have much reading time so there are only three books on my TBR. If I blog a lot, it’ll likely be an excessively nerdy travelogue. I wrote one list about books based in London and their related landmarks, so stay tuned for my progress!

Celadon Books was nice enough to hook me up with a late ARC of Alex North’s new book The Angel Maker. I also have an audio code so look for that soon.

Sordaneon is for a blog tour and I’m starting it tonight!

Good Dog, Bad Cop will be a quick read and David Rosenfelt is always reliable for an entertaining mystery. Plus dogs. Thanks to Minotaur Books for that one ❤️

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I also have one brunch interview planned for the 19th with LL Stephens!

Nerdy travels:

I’m heading back to the UK (and already having a bad time with hotels) but I’m psyched to explore literary London, go to a British Sci fi convention, and see my sad nerd SO among other plans.  It’ll be an adventure for sure.

I will be slow here during March but I’ll do my best to update all the cool bookish things as I go!

What’s on you guy’s TBR?

Categories
General Posts, Non Reviews

January Wrap Up & Feb Reading Plans

January Wrap Up

January didn’t feel like a great reading month,  quality wise.  Lots of self published works and exhaustion don’t mix well. 

With that in mind: I finished 11 books.   Five were e-books from the SPSFC competition, one was an unrelated self published sci-fi book for which I had an e-arc, then I listened to 1984, Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie, and Cursed by Marissa Meyer.  My only physical read this month was Medusa’s Child by John J. Nance, in my effort to read my own shelves.  Everyone loves a 90s thriller, right?

My page count was about normal but quality wise, I can only read so much self published work and so much sci-fi, and am burning out hard on the genre.

My favorite book of the month was easily Before They Are Hanged.  For favorite new author, I am glad to have discovered AK DuBoff in the SPSFC and hope to explore her space opera universe a little more when I have time.

Last up, brunch came back in style with author JCM Berne, and if you didn’t check that out you can do so here

Spending &  book (un)haul

Subscription included I spent less than $20 on books, most of it so I could read SPSFC on Kindle.

I unhauled over 20 books and only three came in, one from a publisher, one arc, and one giveaway win!

February goals:

I still don’t have a real TBR except for the two arcs on my list

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I’ll also try to read those giveaway wins and publisher copies

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Minimally I would also like to read two SPSFC semifinalists, of which will come from this list. Likely I’ll try to knock out the longest one but I’m going to feel out my burnout before getting too excited

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Categories
General Posts, Non Reviews

All My Series Reads … Why I can’t finish them, and Will I Ever?

A few books in the Malazan Book of the Fallen Series by Steven Erikson
The Malazan Book Series

I wrote a couple of offhanded notes throughout the year lamenting about dropped series. Why can’t I finish what I start? Why is it so hard to finish series when you’re a book blogger? P.S. for my purposes, I’m calling a trilogy a series but really I consider them 4+ books.

I’m going to briefly talk logistics, then share the series I finished in 2022 (yay go me) then … Ack .. you’ll see my abandon or continue list 😅😅😅🤣😭😭😭

Let’s talk about series logistics

My personal preference is to wait until a series is finished before reading it. The reason is that I have trouble remembering books, so if there’s a considerable time frame between publications I will forget what I read. The downside is that committing to a full series read takes a considerable amount of time away from ARCs, buddy reads, book tours, and other things that bloggers (myself included) like to do.

For a slower reader like me, it’s impossible to keep up sometimes.

Another point I made while reading Stephen King’s Gunslinger series, and it applies to the Wheel of Time too, and many other series: the books tend to get longer and longer as they go! It takes forever for me to read a 1000+ page book, like it’s impossible for my reading schedule! If I have deadlines to meet, don’t have time, and can’t find it on audio…that’s the main reason I will drop a series.

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The Reasons I Drop Series

  • Increasing book length vs time available (see above)
  • Availability – Hello @ my local library and Libby app.  Sticking with my prior examples, Gunslinger and WoT: they only have up to book 4 for each one. Audiobooks are extremely cost prohibitive as well
  • Getting Annoyed: this is pretty self explanatory. I didn’t finish The Conqueror Saga because I got annoyed by the second book. At this point I’d have to reread the first two and don’t really want to do that.
  • Forgetting: this feeds into the time thing. I made time last year for a The Faithful and the Fallen by John Gwynne buddy read. I made it through Malice and had already fallen behind, then didn’t have time for book two. Now I’m afraid I’d have to re read to remember all the nuances.
  • Blog content: I mean hello yeah again for bloggers like me who rely on review content and tend to read slower, getting sucked into an 8 or 12+ book series with long books leaves us pretty high and dry for content sometimes 😅

So let’s take a look at all the series I read in full in 2022

Noting that the ones I finish tended to be on audio, or a mix of audio & print 😅 

  1. The Lunar Chronicles (6 books) by Marissa Meyer (loved it) on audio
  2. The Murderbot Diaries (6 books) by Martha Wells – Audio & print mix
  3. The Magicians (trilogy) by Lev Grossman – audio
  4. The Dreadbound Ode (trilogy) by Jordan Loyal Short – actually read these, and loved them
  5. The Harbinger Series (5 Books) by Jeff Wheeler – mix of audio & print

I’m actually really happy with this. There are also the series that had their final books published in 2022, which I finished:

  1.  The Song of Kamaria (trilogy) by T.A Bruno
  2.  The Guardian League (4 books) by Stephen Morris
  3. The Draco Sang Trilogy by Mary Beesley

(These actually all released within days of each other and having so many powerful endings at month gave me the biggest book hangover EVER)

Hardcover Copies of The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

Lastly- let’s see the series I STARTED in 2022 and if the goal is to continue or not

  1. The First Law (trilogy +)  by Joe Abercrombie: continue. For sure. Just ran out of time at the end of the year.
  2. The Wheel of Time (14 books) by Robert Jordan: Abandon. I DNF’d The Shadow Rising (book 5) and don’t plan to continue
  3. Arc of a Scythe (trilogy) by Neal Shusterman: I read Scythe & Thunderhead. MAYBE will read the end
  4. The K Team, and Andy Carpenter series by David Rosenfelt: I read the first two books in each series and will continue if I see them somewhere.
  5. Malazan by Steven Erikson (how many books? 31 according to GoodReads?) I read the first two and do plan to continue while I still remember them
  6. The Fionavar Tapestry (trilogy) by Guy Gavriel Kay – Abandon.  Just, abandon.
  7. Skullduggery Pleasant (15 books) by Derek Landy – Abandoned after four books, especially knowing the content of the “rebooted” series
  8.  Frontlines by Marko Kloos (8 books) – I read the first four this year and will continue when I have time
  9. Song of Echoes by R.E. Palmer – I believe he is planning four books, and I’m reading as they come out so yes I’ll read #3 if it releases in 2023!
  10. Blacktongue by Christopher Buehlman – yes I’m ready for whenever the next one comes, not sure how many he is planning
  11. The Founders (Trilogy) by Robert Jackson Bennett – I … Omg this list is ridiculous. Yes Shorefall and Locklands are on my 2023 reading list 😅
  12. Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar: not sure how many he is planning, I read #1 and yes, Conqueror’s Blood (#2) is on my TBR
  13. Mara of the League (4 books) by Thomas Kane – Abandoned after book 2.
  14. The Dark Tower by Stephen King (8 books) – continue when I have time to read them in print 😅
  15. Hybrid Helix (Trilogy) by JCM Berne – read #1, will definitely continue!
  16. (Green Rider ((9 books?)) I don’t expect #9 until at least 2025 but #8 came out this year, and I’m counting it as an ongoing series)
Books in the Green Rider series by Kristen Britain
Green Rider series by Kristen Britain

There you have it! This list may not be complete but I did the best I could looking at my GoodReads completed books. My main goal for 2023 is to clean up these series so I can start new ones without feeling guilty!

Hint: I’d really like to do a cover to cover Warcraft read-through …. Finish Malazan … Get into John Gwynne … Read the Prey books like I meant to in 2020… Ugh 😅

What thoughts do you have on series after reading this? Do you abandon them too? What series do you want to read or continue in 2023?

Categories
General Posts, Non Reviews

2022 Reading Goals Recap and Looking Forward, I Don’t Care Anymore

Home library shelves with 2023 reading goals written

I said it, I don’t care anymore. Let’s see how I did with my 2022 goals and how it all feeds into where I am now.

My 2022 goals: did I pass or fail?

  • Track genres, pub years, books purchased each month:  Failed after six months.  (Remember my bi-monthly Reading Trend posts? Yeah no one else does either). That was interesting but ultimately told me what I already knew – that I read what I want and moved away from YA.
  • Read more books off my shelves: Pass. I think I was about 50/50 but stopped keeping track
  • Save $: request arcs, use library, and buy used: pass. I only bought three full priced new books with my own money, all year. The rest came from my Amazon points (work bonus) or used & garage sale finds.
  • Increase blog visibility: pass (but comparative fail).  I did increase views, visits, and likes almost double from the prior years which is wonderful.  Compared to other people posting their stats though it’s embarrassing.  That’s why I’m not doing a “stats” post 😅
  • Read what I want: Mostly success.  I abandoned a lot of series though due to increasing book length and perceived need to “keep up” with other things
  • Broaden Horizons: I did read more classics from around the world, tried new voices, and went looking for new authors. I’d say success
  • Read what I buy: fail 😅 most of my newly hauled books from this year are sitting in stacks still 🤣 though I did read
  • Unhaul books: success. I gave away boxes and boxes after Instagram got hacked and I didn’t have to care about what people saw on my shelves.

2022 Good

So where does that leave my 2023 reading goals?

  • Arcs: not a goal anymore. I have two 2023 arcs left to read and am not requesting or taking requests at this time
  • Finish some of the series I started. I’ll write a post about abandoned series, my list is somewhere between impressive and disgusting 🤣
  • Read what’s on my shelves. A goal for every year. I have a lot of fantastic literature from around the world here and need to read it.

And?

I‘ll mood read and absolutely fuck anything with a deadline.

Oh, the blog

Sunday Brunch has garnered some interest (but none of the old posts still get views, so…) and may or may not come back depending on if I re subscribe my site. If someone else’s blog wants to host the interviews I would consider that too.

The fact is that despite whatever enjoyment I get out of this, even my best articles just go into the void, my “evergreen posts” are rare and the stats on them are embarrassing. I don’t know if this blog is worth it’s headache and I guess that’s a personal choice for me going into the new year. It also needs a visual overhaul that I’m not competent to do on my own 🤷‍♀️

Soooo to those reading to this point, how did you do on your goals from 2022? Are you making any for 2023? Let me know in the comments 🤣

Categories
General Posts, Non Reviews

Reading Reflections 2022: The Big Wrap Up Post!

2022 GoodReads Reading Stats

Another year, another reading reflections post. I tried to keep it brief!

My year-end wrap ups share my GoodReads collages and I take a few minutes to reflect on the highlights and lowlights as I go.  I don’t like to try to rank my favorites or single out anyone that was too terrible, but you’ll get the idea. I do point out my genre and series favorites as I go.

Anyway, thanks for following along with me here in year three on OneReadingNurse.com and let’s jump into it♥️

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Ok so I started out the year strong by finishing The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I listened on a binge to this wonderful YA series narrated by Rebecca Soler.  These are by far my favorite YA books (and series) of the year.

Scythe and The Latecomer are oddly enough the two book reviews I wrote which still get daily views.  A YA dystopian and a literary fiction.  Obsidian by Sarah J Daily was also a great read courtesy of Angry Robot, and she interviewed for Sunday Brunch.

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January was probably my strongest month of reading so these two will be longest. I discovered Murderbot and just, shamelessly binge read all of it.  So Murderbot as my favorite series of the year, and The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman was my favorite trilogy. I just, love love love everything about those books and if you ever see me bingeing a whole series, take me seriously!

Fate’s Ransom concluded Jeff Wheeler’s First Argentines series and he actually sent a tissue emoji at me when I said I was bawling at the end😂 lovely series conclusion. 

Conversely I think I am the only one that didn’t like A Touch of Light. He tried the style where you read and learn about things later on,  which is amazing when it’s done well, except he never told us anything useful 😅

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I finally tried some David Sedaris essays and found him delightfully funny. He self narrated them live, highly recommend for audio.  Zorba… Zorba…Zorba was hard.  I read hard classics this year.  I also found Strange the Dreamer great for YA, but never read the sequel 

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This month is where I hit the full length Murderbot and just fell in love even more. I also decided to knock out another backlist series and binged The Harbinger Series by Jeff Wheeler.  All five books, no regrets 

The Outside and Elsewhere we’re both I believe one star reviews, some of my least favorites of the year.

On a brighter note I finally read Gardens of the Moon ( Malazan ) and wrote a great piece for first time readers like myself.

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Here lies another great month of reading. Deadhouse Gates (Malazan #2) is one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read. Also finally getting Human Hearts by Mary Beesley was amazing and a fitting end to her Draco Sang trilogy.

Speaking of endings, At the Threshold of the Universe by TA Bruno was an incredible series ending. I’m not just saying that because I’m quoted on the dust jacket either, I really truly loved the book 😅

Also hey look at that, I finally started The Gunslinger series by Stephen King!

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The Greatest Knight was my favorite nonfiction read of the year, about the knight William Marshal (who Jeff Wheeler’s Ransomcharacter is based on).

My biggest let down of the year, as in I expected and wanted to love it but it truly was just not good, was Aftermath by LeVar Burton. 

This month I had been pretty loyal to continuing series. Skullduggery Pleasant on audio (funny to start but I fizzled out after four books) and the military sci-fi Frontlines series by Marko Kloos. I fizzled out after five books but will keep going. I was also reading a bunch of David Rosenfelt – dogs and detectives, say no more.

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Other Birds was probably my favorite standalone fiction of the year, while I’ll Be Gone in the Dark was my favorite true crime and an amazing piece of nonfiction.

Otherwise this was the month of reading first books in series that I didn’t have time to continued. (Gunmetal Gods, Blacktongue Thief, Foundryside…)  Truly good books all but I had too much going on to read trilogies and mean to go back in 2023 😭

Also I THINK Wizard and Glass was my favorite Dark Tower book so far (and I talked about why I can’t finish series).

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Noteworthy here are a few indies: 8 that month! I binged the rest of Jordan Loyal Short’s Dreadbound Ode trilogy, liked The Trials of Ashmount by quasi local author John Palladino, and was in total love with Wistful Ascending by JCM Berne. I also read Goodbye to the Sun but wasn’t a huge fan.

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This is it, the end! I was honored to grab an ARC of Rubicon by JS Dewes.  I’m finally reading the Blake Crouch back catalogue.  Lastly- right at the end of the month, finished yesterday, I FINALLY read The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie! Wow do I have a lot of great series to continue next year.

The only book that didn’t appear was Fairy Tale by Stephen King, which I hope to finish tomorrow morning!

So pardon my super long reading reflections post, did you see anything here that you read as well? Anything you liked or disliked? 

If you want to see how I did this last year, here’s my 2021 reflections post!

Categories
General Posts, Non Reviews

Ten Bookish Things I Did In 2022 Other Than Read!

The title says it all! From online participation in reading events to meeting a boy in real life, 2022 was a busy year for all things bookish.  Here’s a look at my top ten peripherally related things of 2022, in no particular order.

1) A bookshop tour of New York City, including The Mysterious Bookshop! Highly recommend checking it out if you’re ever near the world trade monument.  Floor to ceiling books, ladders, all mysteries, and tons of signed copies.  There are tons and tons of independent and antiquarian bookstores in the city but this was by far the highlight of the trip.

Check it out at https://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/pages/about-us

2) A failed attempt at BBNYA judging – I pissed a few people off with this one but I dropped after round one. The cloak of silence utterly defeated the purpose of promoting indie and if  merely sharing the title of a book you’re reading is supposedly going to influence other judges, why do they let you pick the titles to read going forward? Still scratching my head over this whole debable

3) A much happier occasion, SPSFC judging!  I jumped into a team and have gotten to yell all about indie sci-fi.  Currently we are reading quarterfinalists and it’s a blast.  I’ve met some great people including…

4) Ok so #3-7 are pretty much all related but that’s how life works, right?

Through the SPSFC, this happened! I mean we had been following each other for a while but probably wouldn’t have actually started talking without the SPSFC, so that’s been an experience.  I wasn’t even the one who came up with the matching hats 🤣

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If I had thought reading books would ever lead to something like that happening… Well… Haha I didn’t think so 😅

5) Discovered discord –  I think I was in a failed discord book club in 2021 briefly but now I have really discovered it as a source of book community and discussion.  I need to find a server that focuses on traditionally published books since my main one turned all Indie.  That said though, between the old SFF Oasis and the SPSFC one, I struck up an ongoing chat with #4 and stuff happened

6) Book store hunting in the UK! Upon visiting said boy, there was obviously some bookstore touring involved. From seeing the  charity shops and used book stores to finally going into a Waterstones for the first time, it was fun to see the UK side of things.  The covers are amazing (as we know) and I actually like the idea of focusing on paperbacks.  I’m not a Warhammer fan either but it was kind of fun to have a pint in a dwarvish tavern and see all the artwork and statues, so I’ll add Warhammer World to this list 

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7) on a similar note – seeing the Shakespeare exhibit at the biggest public library in the UK was cool, as well as walking around where he was born and seeing all the old places and things.  I’m giving Shakespeare his own category although he probably should go into #6

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8) Switching gears, Wyrd & Wonder and Sci-fi Month! I actually participated in these lovely events for the first time and it was amazing. I met some lovely members of the SFF community, got tons of good recommendations, and still am in near daily contact with some of my new bookish friends! Fantastic events!  You can see https://onemore.org/ for more info on Wyrd & Wonder!

9) GrimDarkTober! It’s been a yearly thing of mine for three years now but due to life events I almost didn’t do it this year.  I didn’t know how to do it without Instagram but some wonderful members of the SFF community kicked in content and I had nearly 20 posts to share by the end of it! Thank you to everyone who participated 🖤

10) A new bookish tattoo! We started a sci-fi stocking and it kind of morphed into a skeletal astronaut reading a book 😅 “too many books, too few centuries” right?

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So there you have it! What non-reading bookish things did you guys all do this year!?

Categories
General Posts, Non Reviews

October Wrap Up (How much dark fantasy can one blog feature in one month?)

The answer to the title is: quite a bit! October ended up being pretty amazing, so let’s just jump right in

GrimDarkTober

I didn’t think GrimDarkTober had a future after losing it’s platform (and community). Unbelievably, with two days to spare before October started, I found out that it still had an audience! I went to work, bugged the SFF Oasis, messaged some friends, and thanks entirely to the help of these people, pulled together a month of guest posts, guest reviews, and some dark fantasy content of my own. It turned into something that for having NO planning, went spectacularly. I think GrimDarkTober has started to gain a new community, so maybe stay tuned for 2023? Maybe I can merge with someone else’s dark and spooky themed thing?

To summarize the guest content really quick… 

You can check out additional content and all posts by searching “GrimDarkTober” in the search field *top left corner of the blog*

So that said, thanks to everyone who jumped in and wrote some guest content because you’re all amazing  ♥️👻

I should also add that I got to feature a super special Sunday Brunch Halloween edition this year, featuring John Palladino of The Trials of Ashmount 

Reading Summary:

I was incredibly loyal to my TBR this month reading all 8 of my definite picks and saving space for some impulse reads.

Thanks to some shorter novels and novellas it was actually a decent reading month.  I spread my little multi genre wings and talked about both indie and regularly published dark fantasy, classic sci-fi, a domestic thriller, a true crime novel, a lovely book of magical realism, and classic horror.

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All of these books have been reviewed here on the blog, minus the one I’ll talk about next.  I did also just finish Later by Stephen King but it will be my first review in November. I’m almost done with Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone but won’t finish it before tonight.

There is one book I read for an author and will not write a review for. As much as I loved The Witches of Crannock Dale last month and had a great interview with the author, I had content / age appropriateness issues with The Rebels of Caer City as the book went from middle grade to new adult real quick and I don’t think a series can have it both ways without keeping content appropriate to the lowest age group advertised for.  I’d say ok, maybe 16 year olds, but I also just didn’t enjoy reading it and am going to leave it at that 

October book haul:

None 🤣

I did not buy any books in October.  I did load up my kindle unlimited with some new reads and found some free e books from indie authors I’ve been looking at.  I also got lucky with some long time Libby holds coming in.

Miscellaneous:

There’s not much else to say.  Thanks to all the guest content I had a decent month here and am going to keep the blog going at least for now. I hope everyone had a great spooky month and found something good to read! 

Check in tomorrow for November goals and Sci-fi Month TBR!

Categories
General Posts, Non Reviews

March & April Reading Trends + What’s Next!

I am going to stick with this every other month reading trend format! It’s quick and fun and tells me a lot!

Jan + Feb https://onereadingnurse.com/2022/03/02/jan-feb-reading-trends-whats-next/

March: 

  • 12 books ( about my average)
  • 11 adult, 1 Y.A. (Lol I broke up with YA)
  • 6 arcs/gifts, 6 Libby/KU
  • 6 fantasy, 4 thrillers, 1 sci-fi, one classic
  • Half were audio

– I am happy with this.  I knocked most of my arcs out and did a ton of mood reading. It gave me the freedom and concentration in April to knock out a bunch of books on my shelves!

April:

  • 15 books!!!!
  • 12 adult, 3 YA
  • 3 ARCs, 🌟🌟6 off my shelves🌟🌟, 6 Libby/KU
  • 6 fantasy, 5 sci-fi, and one each of a classic, a histfic, a memoir, and a thriller

Most of my April numbers came from my vacation at the end of the month. I had part of my back done and couldn’t move like all week so I got a ton of reading in!

Plus I am caught up on ARCs, reading what I want, and enjoying it so much more.  Books go faster when you’re enjoying them! I did a few book tours and brought back Sunday Brunch! Starting slowly but my interviews so far have been a huge success.

What’s next?

May is Wyrd & Wonder.  I am planning on slowing my reading intake down and enjoying some longer epic fantasy at my own pace. I have plenty of blog content written and ready to bridge the gaps. I’ll be doing a readalong of The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay, plan to knock out another Wheel of Time book, and finish binging the Jeff Wheeler series Harbinger.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their reading! Be ready for an epic month of May!

Categories
General Posts, Non Reviews

Jan & Feb Reading Trends + What’s Next?

I am taking a much broader look at my reading this year to try to balance things out a little more.

What I’m learning is that regardless of all other factors – mood reading is everything

January trends:

  • 12 books total, including the final 600 pages of The Shadow Rising
  • Of the 12: five were ARCs, 7 backlist.
  • Of the backlist books: 6 were library/libby books, and only one came off of my shelves
  • Those backlist books were all published between 1993-2016, and reviewed on the blog
  • 7 were adult, 5 young adult
  • Genre wise: 9 fantasy, 2 thrillers, one literary fiction

I also purchased ZERO books in January!

February trends:

So my goal for February was to read more books off my shelves and I utterly failed at that.  Most of my limited physical reading was one long ARC, and I was mood reading newer books by more popular authors to help boost my recent canon

  • I finished 13 books!
    -6 were arcs
    -7 were ebooks off of Libby (library app)
  • Here it got interesting: 11 were adult, 2 were YA. That tells you how I feel about YA right now and I expect that trend to continue
    – Genre wise: 4 fantasy, 4 sci-fi, 3 thriller, 1 mystery, 1 true crime

I also caved and bought my first new books of the year, 6 from the Book Outlet buy 2 get 1 free sale that additionally offered 2x reward points.

So looking at March and onwards …

– finishing Notre Dame de Paris is my first read.  It’s a struggle but good

– I definitely want to keep up with ARCs, but I haven’t requested any recently and have mostly author requests to read now

-I want to maybe do a few more book tours again

– Without ARCs coming I should be able to read more books off my own shelves

– more adult fantasy, more literary reading, and short stories are my goal for the rest of the spring

What are your spring reading goals??