Reader Rayna

Month: January 2020

  • Top Ten Tuesday | Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2019

    Oh hey, how’s it going? I haven’t done a TTT in a long while, but I thought, hey, I want to pick up blogging again, so why not do a TTT post once in a while?

    If you don’t know what Top Ten Tuesday is, it’s a weekly event across book blogs, vlogs, etc., where we discuss our top ten of the topic picked for that week. It was originally started on The Broke and the Bookish, but has since moved to That Artsy Reader Girl.

    This week’s topic is all about bookish discoveries that I made in 2019, from authors to blogs, books to bookish merch. Here’s my top ten from last year.

    10. Reading Planner

    I had set up a reading planner for a few months and found it to be really fun, but hard to keep up with (I love the idea of planners, but using them? That’s a whole other story lol). So actually, for this year, I ordered the reading planner from Owlcrate and I can’t wait to use it! (Not sponsored!)

    9. Leigh Bardugo’s King of Scars Book Signing

    I did a whole post on this book signing event, but it was so much fun! I always love going into Boston and exploring, especially when I go to my favorite independent bookstore, Brookline Booksmith. There’s such a calming yet fun atmosphere there. For the event there were several activities to do while waiting for Leigh to talk, and when she did she was so super funny! It was a great time despite the weather.

    8. The Way of Kings by Brandson Sanderson audiobook is amazing

    2019 was the year I finally finished listening to this audiobook. I had started it YEARS ago, but never got very far in it until I was driving a half hour to and from work every day and realized that sometimes I just didn’t want to listen to music for my commute. Solution? A 45 hour long audiobook filled with amazing characters, great narrators, fantastic and vivid world building, and, of course, a unique magic system that Sanderson is so good at exploring. I can’t wait to continue on to Words of Radiance in audiobook!

    7. Libby and My Local Library

    Okay, so my local library is really dinky and doesn’t have a huge selection of books that I would personally check out, BUT what’s cool is that I can go to any library in the county and check out books from any of those locations with my card! So cool!

    Oh, and as for Libby, which is an app where you enter your location information, as well as your library card information, and you’re able to rent out e-books and audiobooks from your library, I found it to be super useful! I’m going to definitely be using it for my reading challenge this year in case I read some books not already on my shelf that I might not want to purchase just yet.

    6. Not Being on Twitter

    Okay, this might be a controversial one, but oh well because over the last six months I’ve deactivated Facebook as well as just stopped going onto Twitter, and let me tell you, it’s been doing wonders for my mental health. Twitter (not just book twitter, but the website as a whole) is just full of way too much negativity and I ain’t got time for that when I’m trying to heal from years of numbness and pain, you know? So as much as I miss the connectivity between people sometimes, I also don’t miss the drama and all of the other crap that came along with it.

    If you’re finding that there’s too much negativity on any social media space, including around books, I hope you take the time to rest and step back from it for your own mental health.

    5. I was featured on Novels & Waffles Bibliosmile Project

    Image by Kat @ Novels and Waffles

    Kat at Novels and Waffles asked on Twitter (before I left lol) if anyone would be interested in joining in this project, and I talked of my interest and so I was a guest on her blog! In this blog post I talked about five books that have impacted me over the years for one reason or another, so it’s a very sentimental post I wrote.

    4. There’s Both Power and Longing in NOT Buying Books

    So my husband and I moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina over the summer for a new job for him (which he likes!), and I didn’t have a job lined up. In fact, I only had a seasonal job recently and I still don’t have anything lined up. We’re doing okay, kind of – taking care of the important stuff, of course – and as a result we had to cut out a lot of stuff from our lives. One of them, for me, was book buying. Now, I didn’t stop completely, but I did slow down A LOT. It’s actually been nice to know that my TBR pile didn’t grow for a long time (until I worked this past season at a book store, haha…ha…).

    Part of me misses buying books because I’m excited in that moment, but the other part is like, “Girl, you want to unhaul a lot already on your shelves, so how about you focus on that first, yeah?”

    3. Donating Books Feels Good

    Seriously. There’s something freeing about freeing up space on your shelves. Now, this isn’t a new concept for me that I discovered in 2019 (I think I’ve been doing it since 2017/18), but I wanted to mention it because before we moved I donated another fifty books to my local library – including signed copies that I had gotten from book boxes. I just wasn’t interested in them, and frankly, I’d rather a library have it so others can read them if they want to.

    I plan on continuing to donate this year as the need arises, which it probably will. I have some books on my shelves that have been there for years and I know that at this point in time in my life I’m either a) never going to read them, or b) read them and don’t want them on my shelf anymore.

    2. My Reading Tastes Are Changing

    That’s right! I’m both surprised and not surprised at all, honestly. As I’ve been getting older I’ve been noticing that my reading tastes are starting to gravitate towards older content – aka, not YA or middle grade. Actually, strike the middle grade one because, well, spoilers, I love it so far (thank you Rick Riordan), but as I’m now 28 I want to read more content about characters in my age group (which, for me, is college age to about 35).

    This is in no way me dissing YA, by the way. I will absolutely still be reading YA because I still enjoy the genre, but I also find myself wanting to consume more adult and new adult books. This discovery, in particular, felt right to me, and even though I was a little nervous to talk about it, I’m not so much anymore. Anyone else feel this way?

    1 . Middle Grade Books are SO FUN

    Okay, so I’ve really only read the Percy Jackson series in 2019 (for the first time and I LOVE IT!), but as a way to dip my toes into middle grade? FANTASTIC! I want to spread myself as much as possible in my reading life, and so reading books for younger kids is a great way to do so.

    Of all of the bookish discoveries I made in 2019, I think this one is my favorite just because there’s so much to discover in middle grade and to see these books through the eyes of the younger generation. That’s how I see it, at least.

    Let’s chat!

    What bookish discoveries did you make in 2019? What is your most memorable one? Let me know!

  • January TBR

    What’s this? What’s this? There’s books waiting to be read~ What’s this? It’s this month’s TBR!

    Okay, corny song aside, I haven’t done one of these in… years. Since 2015, to be exact (at least for monthly TBRs. I’ve since made challenge TBRs). I stopped because I often found myself not actually reading the books in said TBR because I’m such a mood reader, but this year I want to try to set a goal and actually achieve it.

    So, the other day I posted my list for the POPSUGAR 2020 Reading Challenge, and I’m definitely going to stick to that list for most of my reading. There are some books I want to read that aren’t on my list, but are on my shelves, so yeah.

    Since there’s roughly four weeks per month, I want to aim to read one book per week, so these TBRs will have (at least) four books listed for me to read. This isn’t including all of the webcomics and other stories I keep up with online, mind you, but just novels/manga/comics that I hope to read.

    I’m going to attempt to read three books from the main list for the challenge, and then one book from the advanced list each month.

    I’ve also included a bonus book in each month because there are books that I’ve been reading for way too long and just need to finish, or I started last year and still need to finish.

    Okay, enough rambling, here’s my TBR for January!

    The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern – Bonus book!

    Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood. Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues — a bee, a key, and a sword — that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library, hidden far below the surface of the earth.

    What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians — it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also those who are intent on its destruction.

    Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly-soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose–in both the mysterious book and in his own life.

    Remembrance by Rita Woods – Challenge prompt: A book that’s published in 2020

    Remembrance…It’s a rumor, a whisper passed in the fields and veiled behind sheets of laundry. A hidden stop on the underground road to freedom, a safe haven protected by more than secrecy…if you can make it there.

    Ohio, present day. An elderly woman who is more than she seems warns against rising racism as a young woman grapples with her life.

    Haiti, 1791, on the brink of revolution. When the slave Abigail is forced from her children to take her mistress to safety, she discovers New Orleans has its own powers.

    1857 New Orleans—a city of unrest: Following tragedy, house girl Margot is sold just before her 18th birthday and her promised freedom. Desperate, she escapes and chases a whisper…. Remembrance.

    The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar – Challenge prompt: A book written by a trans or non-binary author

    The story of two girls living eight hundred years apart—a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker.

    It is the summer of 2011, and Nour has just lost her father to cancer. Her mother, a cartographer who creates unusual, hand-painted maps, decides to move Nour and her sisters from New York City back to Syria to be closer to their family. But the country Nour’s mother once knew is changing, and it isn’t long before protests and shelling threaten their quiet Homs neighborhood. When a shell destroys Nour’s house and almost takes her life, she and her family are forced to choose: stay and risk more violence or flee as refugees across seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of safety. As their journey becomes more and more challenging, Nour’s idea of home becomes a dream she struggles to remember and a hope she cannot live without.

    More than eight hundred years earlier, Rawiya, sixteen and a widow’s daughter, knows she must do something to help her impoverished mother. Restless and longing to see the world, she leaves home to seek her fortune. Disguising herself as a boy named Rami, she becomes an apprentice to al-Idrisi, who has been commissioned by King Roger II of Sicily to create a map of the world. In his employ, Rawiya embarks on an epic journey across the Middle East and the north of Africa where she encounters ferocious mythical beasts, epic battles, and real historical figures.

    An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green – Challenge prompt: A book with a great first line

    The Carls just appeared.

    Roaming through New York City at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship–like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor–April and her best friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world–from Beijing to Buenos Aires–and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.

    Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety, and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.

    Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson – Advanced challenge prompt: A book written by an author in their 20s.

    All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

    Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

    As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

    That’s all I have for this month! I’m excited to see what this month of reading brings and to see how these challenges push me to read books I never would have thought to pick up otherwise (probably).

    Let’s chat!

    What are your reading goals for this month? Any book in particular you’re excited to read? Anything on my list catch your eye? Let me know!

  • POPSUGAR 2020 Reading Challenge

    Image source: POPSUGAR Photography

    Hey! So I wanted to make a list of books I hope to read this year that can fit the categories for the POPSUGAR reading challenge. I don’t have all of the prompts filled as I might find other books to fit the prompts, plus I’m giving myself options since my goal is to read 25 books this year, not 52. (But if I do all of these challenges, then yay for me!)

    I won’t necessarily be reading these in the order listed, either, since I’m such a mood reader. I also picked as many books as I could already on my shelves, on my kindle, or on audible that I already own.

    So anyway, here’s the official list with my choices for books, and here’s where you can find their pretty printable list on their site!

    2020 Challenge – Regular prompts

    1. A book that’s published in 2020 – Remembrance by Rita Woods
    2. A book by a trans or nonbinary author – The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
    3. A book with a great first line – An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
    4. A book about a book club – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
    5. A book set in a city that has hosted the Olympics – The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
    6. A bildungsroman – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
    7. The first book you touch on a shelf with your eyes closed – All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (I had my husband pick with his eyes closed)
    8. A book with an upside-down image on the cover – Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust
    9. A book with a map – The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty
    10. A book recommended by your favorite blog, vlog, podcast, or online book club – The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
    11. An anthology – The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
    12. A book that passes the Bechdel test – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
    13. A book with the same title as a movie or TV show but is unrelated to it – Renegades by Marissa Meyer
    14. A book by an author with flora or fauna in their name – The Wicked King by Holly Black
    15. A book about or involving social media – Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
    16. A book that has a book on the cover – Persuasion by Jane Austen
    17. A medical thriller – The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
    18. A book with a made-up language – Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
    19. A book set in a country beginning with “C” – Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
    20. A book you picked because the title caught your attention – The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
    21. A book published the month of your birthday – The Color Project by Sierra Abrams
    22. A book about or by a woman in STEM – Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
    23. A book that won an award in 2019 – Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
    24. A book on a subject you know nothing about – The Morrigan: Celtic Goddess of Magick and Might by Courtney Weber
    25. A book with only words on the cover, no images or graphics – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
    26. A book with a pun in the title – Dying to Please by Linda Howard
    27. A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
    28. A book with a robot, cyborg, or AI character – Wires and Nerves vol 1 by Marissa Meyer
    29. A book with a bird on the cover – This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
    30. A fiction or nonfiction book about a world leader – Becoming by Michelle Obama
    31. A book with “gold,” “silver,” or “bronze” in the title – The Bronze Horseman by Paulina Simons
    32. A book by a WOC – The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
    33. A book with at least a four-star rating on Goodreads – The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
    34. A book you meant to read in 2019 – Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
    35. A book with a three-word title – Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke
    36. A book with a pink cover – The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa
    37. A Western – Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman
    38. A book by or about a journalist – Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
    39. Read a banned book during Banned Books Week – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi
    40. Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge – 2017: Involving a mythical creature – A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan

    2020 Challenge – Advanced prompts

    1. A book written by an author in their 20s – Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
    2. A book with “20” or “twenty” in the title – Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
    3. A book with a character with a vision impairment or enhancement (a nod to 20/20 vision) – All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
    4. A book set in the 1920s – Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
    5. A book set in Japan, host of the 2020 Olympics – Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
    6. A book by an author who has written more than 20 books – Vision in White by Nora Roberts
    7. A book with more than 20 letters in its title – The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
    8. A book published in the 20th century – Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
    9. A book from a series with more than 20 books – Noragami vol 21 by Adachitoka
    10. A book with a main character in their 20s – Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

    And that’s it! Those are the 50 books I hope to read in 2020, but my overall reading goal is to read 25 books, so if I read half of this list, I’ll consider that a win.

    Let’s chat!

    What are some of your reading goals for 2020? What book would you read that takes place in Japan? Or what about a book about or by a woman in STEM? Let me know!