Tag Archives: fun

February 2024 TBR

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Wow, January is finally over! Does anyone else ever feel like it lasts 84 years? So I didn’t finish or get to all of the books I had set out to read last month, which is fine, but I decided I’m still going to make a TBR to at least talk about the books I’m interested in reading and hopefully will get to.

As February is also Black History Month, I also want to be intentional with my choices and read books by black authors. This choice isn’t going to start and stop in February, though, as I will continue to read books by black authors throughout the year and beyond. This will continue for other months in which heritages and identities are recognized, as I want to continue to diversify my reading and broaden my horizons.

The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang – This book is one from my TBR last month and is the book I’m currently reading, so I want to finish it before moving on to another book. I’m only about 80 pages into it, but it’s an interesting read so far! I’m excited to see where it goes.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn – This was another book on my TBR last month, but as I didn’t get to it, I’m slotting it over into February. This book is an Arthurian retelling, which I’ve never read about before, and so I’m definitely intrigued to read about it and see how I like it.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler – Now I’ve heard amazing things about Butler for a long time, but I’ve never picked up one of her books before. This one takes place in 2024, and it’s about climate change and the effects of how economic strife can be so harmful to everyone and everything around it.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jeminsin – This start to a fantasy trilogy has been on my shelf for years (well, the whole trilogy) and I haven’t started it, BUT I’m going to rectify that this year and actually do it! It’s a critically acclaimed and award winning book, so I’m a bit intimidated by that, however I hear fantastic things about it. Just reading the synopsis alone has me dying for more, so I can’t wait to get to this.

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed – I’m trying to bring in more contemporary reads into my life, as most of my focus is on fantasy, so I figured this would be a good one to add! It centers a young black girl in high school and protesting and riots after officers from the LAPD are acquitted after beating a black man half to death. It sounds very hard hitting, and very important, too.

Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan – I’ve seen this pop up around TikTok a lot lately, and after reading the synopsis (and wanting more contemporary in my reading), I think this would be a fun, dramatic, and spicy read. It’s like a second chance romance between a once husband and wife pair, so I’m definitely interested to see how it plays out.

Now, will I get to all of these books? I hope so honestly. Trying to get back into reading after the hard time I’ve had with it for years is already a challenge, and I’m further challenging myself by listing all of these books that I’m interested in as part of my TBR. I do hope to get to all of them, though, but if I don’t I’ll probably do the same thing as last time and push one or two I’m interested in into the next month.

What’re you reading currently or planning to read this month? Any recommendations you have that you think I might like to try out for myself? Let me know!

Reading Goals for 2024

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*peeks in, the door creaking on its hinges as dust settles from the ceiling* Hello?

Well, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve blogged lol How have the last few years been treating you?

It’s been a rough few years for me, as it has for many others, but I hope that with the new year there is renewed hope in the future and that you will be able to find your way to where you want to be in your life.

But today, for the first time in… almost three years, I wanted to talk about some reading goals that I have for this year. I was debating on whether or not I wanted to do TikTok or this, and I decided to blog about it first because writing is much easier for me than speaking is when it comes to new experiences and whatnot. Like… talking to a camera just sounds daunting, but I’ll find a way to do it (maybe).

I’ve barely read in the last seven or so years, and I’ve been very slowly getting back into reading at the end of 2023, and I want to at least try to keep up that momentum if I possibly can. So here are my current reading goals for 2024:

Read 25 Books

Every year I set my Goodreads goal to 25 books. It seems like it’s doable, and though I haven’t read that many books in many years, I’m going to try my best to hit that goal this year. I’ve been using the app, Bookly, for a few weeks now (though I didn’t read the week of the holidays), and it’s been helping me read an hour a day at the minimum and keeping track of what I read. Highly recommend an app like this to help you form a habit if you’re struggling to read every day like I am!

Read Books I Already Own

This might seem obvious, but I’m affected easily by the excitement people show for newer releases, and so I have many books on my shelf – even from years ago – that I haven’t read that have just been sitting there and staring at me, waiting for me to give them the time of day. I’ll be doing another unhaul soon (I donate the books to a local library), so that’ll make space for more books I inevitably end up getting, so…

Basically, I want to read at least 2 books I actually own off of my shelves per month. This is extremely doable, and it’ll slowly cut down the amount of unread vs read books on my shelves. This doesn’t include my ebooks, which I need to go through and see what I actually want to keep, anyway.

Get More Books from the Library First

This coincides with my previous goal because I want to curate a collection that I personally want, a physical collection of books I’d either reread or just want to have on my shelves. Right now there’s many books I haven’t read that I’m still interested in reading that I own, however, over time my tastes change, space available changes, and I need to be realistic with myself about books that I want to keep. So, using the Libby app, I’m going to place holds on books that I’m interested in reading and then decide if I want to physically add them to my collection.

Read At Least One Diverse Book Per Month

I really liked what Sera of serareadthat on TikTok said about diverse books, in that it’s about reading books from authors who don’t look like you or are from a different culture/ethnicity/background that you, and so I want to read at least one book from a BIPOC author per month. I want to read stories from other cultures, with their own fantastical and mundane settings set in places I only wish I could see.

Read At Least One Book Outside of My Normal Genre Bimonthly

I, like many people, love to read fantasy. I love reading about rich and diverse worlds, magic and monsters, but I also know that there’s other genres outside of that that I should explore. For instance, this month (January 2024) I’ll be reading Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price along with a group of people on Fable called History Sickos hosted by Michael Kist. This is both a nonfiction and history novel, which are two genres of book I never really gravitate toward.

I might do this monthly, however I’ll keep my goal to bimonthly so that I can give myself time to warm up to the idea of it lol And this isn’t just limited to nonfiction, but also things like horror, thrillers, mystery, personal growth, middle grade, etc.

Read At Least One Indie Author Bimonthly

Again, I’m keeping this bimonthly only because of my goal to read more of my already owned books, however it’s always important to support indie authors when you can. And from what I’ve seen around TikTok, there’s a lot of great bangers out there that I’d be interested in reading, so I’ll keep my eyes peeled for indie books every other month.

Reread or Finish Rereading Books or Series

So there are still plenty of books that I own that I haven’t finished yet or finished off the series for, so that’s also going to be a priority for me this year. Will I have to reread a lot of books to get to that point? Yes, 100%, but that’s just how it is! I’m okay with it, though, because many of these books are ones I enjoyed in the past, so I hope to continue to enjoy them now.

Those are all of my reading goals for 2024! They’re broad and simple, but that’s what I need right now to get back into reading. So tell me, what are some of your goals for 2024? I’d love to hear about it!

I also don’t know how often I’ll be blogging again. Getting back into the swing of things full force is a bit daunting, but I hope that by easing back into it that I’ll be able to enjoy my time and rediscover my love for reading again.

Happy New Year everyone, and happy reading!

Books I Loved But Never Reviewed | Top Ten Tuesday

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Hey everyone, and welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday hosted by Jana of That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s topic is about books I’ve read and loved but never actually reviewed. So for this topic we’re going waaaay back before I ever had this blog, because ever since I started I pretty much review (almost) everything I read at some point. So let’s go back in time, shall we?

10. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

I know I bring this book up a lot, but I really loved it when I read it as a teen. The story, atmosphere, emotions behind it and that I felt throughout reading it are something that still stick with me to this day. I hope to reread it eventually, though, and then I can give a review for it now as an adult!

9. Blood & Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klaus

Another book I read as a teen and fell in love with! It’s a story about werewolves and romance and angst, I mean… c’mon. I also saw the movie adaptation of it and… was not happy with it. Do not recommend the movie, even as a standalone if you haven’t read the book.

8. The Vampire Diaries (1-4) by LJ Smith

You bet your butt that I jumped on the Vampire Diaries train after the hype of Twilight. I loved this series a lot! The romance, the drama, the angst, the vampires! What’s not to love? I never watched the series adaptation for the STUPIDEST reason: the main female lead is supposed to be blond, not brunette. I KNOW. STUPID. Whatever lol I feel like I’ll have to reread this series again someday.

7. Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah

I read this for a project in freshman year of high school, and it was a tough read. I didn’t realize at the time that it’s a memoir, but I do remember how impacted and shocked I was by it and how family can be so cruel sometimes. This is another one I want to reread eventually.

6. A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

I’ve talked a lot about this book on my blog over the years, but I have yet to reread it and review it. It was a book I read over summer reading and ACTUALLY enjoyed (because summer reading suuuuucked back in the day with choices that actually fit kids my age). And it was also the one year we didn’t have to do a book report or something related to it and I remember being pissed about that. XD “I did the summer reading for once and can’t do anything about it!?”

Anyway, I loved the story of this book about a young woman who’s a ghost that takes over someone’s body who isn’t really occupying their body, and how she falls in love with another ghost in another guy’s body… it’s a good story! One to reread for sure.

5. Manga. So much manga.

I’ve been an avid reader of manga since I was a preteen, even though it kind of dwindled a bit through my college years and for a few years after that. I don’t read as much manga anymore, but what I have read before was always fun to read! I was always engrossed in the worlds and characters and art styles.

Some series I recommend: Alice 19th, Fruits Basket, Tsubaki Chou Lonely Planet, and Chobits.

4. The Twilight saga by Stephanie Meyer

With the recent release of Midnight Sun, which is Twilight from Edward’s POV (and you know I definitely preordered and decided I’m reading for Tome Topple round 12), I had to talk about the Twilight saga. This series meant the world to me as a teenager. The writing, the story, the characters, etc. drew me in and hooked me from page one. It has a special place in my heart, for sure, and I think I feel the nostalgia a lot of people would feel toward something like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. I mean, Twilight is the only book I’ve read four or five times from cover to cover, which is a lot for someone who doesn’t reread often.

3. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Another angsty teen romance that came out around the time Twilight was big, I was all over this book, too! The first two books, in particular, were the ones I loved, and then I don’t think I ever finished the third because I think I didn’t like the way it was turning out. I’m not sure, but I do remember really liking the whole falling angel falling in the love thing.

2. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

I was LIVID in freshman year of high school when my parents wouldn’t let me read this because of the VERY MINIMAL sex scene in it (when I had read various other things with sex and crap by that point) and got stuck reading The Life of Pi (which I hated because it was boring and I was just mad lol). So once I actually did read it a year or so later (or however later it was), I fell in love with it! I loved the setting and the characters and just reading something different from what we were reading in school. It’s a great story of love, loss, family, and what it means to be who you are.

1 . The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa

I talked about this in another Top Ten Tuesday post, but I never finished the third book in the initial trilogy. I read this soon after reading Tithe by Holly Black (and loving it), and found myself on a kick of wanting to read fey books. This was a different tale about an iron kingdom and how the iron was making the lands of the fey die away. I really enjoyed the first two books in the series and need to give this a go again.

What kinds of books have you read that you loved by never reviewed? What book would you recommend to me from that list? Have you read any of the ones on my list and enjoyed them? Let me know!

Songs That Remind Me of Books | Top 5 Wednesday

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Hey, back with another one that I haven’t posted in a million years: it’s Top 5 Wednesday!

Top 5 Wednesday is a fun meme hosted by Sam @ Thoughts on Tomes, where you discuss five books/bookish topics related to the prompt given for that day.

Today’s prompt: “Songs that remind you of your books! Explain why a specific song reminds you of a book. You can do five songs for five books or five songs for a single book, do what y’all feel.”

This one sounded like a lot of fun, so here we go~

5. Merry Go Round of Life by Joe Hisashi from/for Howl’s Moving Castle by Diane Wynne Jones

Okay, this is totally cheating, but I don’t care. Howl’s Moving Castle is one of my favorite Ghibli movies, and the song Merry Go Round of Life is so beautiful. I recently started reading the novel version for the first time (at the behest of my best friend who’s read it and loved it more than the film, which is saying something), and I got to say that even though I’m not very far into it, it’s already so different from the movie! In a good way, though. But of course, this song is obviously playing in my head while reading it, because how could it not be? Honestly, the whole soundtrack for the movie is, so yeah lol

4. Songs composed by Jeremy Soule for The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Movie and video game scores are seriously inspiring when it comes to, well, anything, let’s be real. This particular compilation of songs are from various games such as Skyrim and Oblivion. I love listening to instrumental music a lot, and I can say that I often get lost in my own world when listening to tracks such as these because they allow your mind to really craft its own world to their sounds. I think that this mix really speaks to The Way of Kings because it’s an epic fantasy with many ups and downs, twists and turns, glory and defeat, and I think the varying music really speaks to that.

3. LION by (G)I-DLE for Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

I love this song LION by (G)I-DLE. It’s so powerful and sultry and makes me feel strong and like I can kick ass. The first thought that came to my mind was Celaena and her journey to get to where she is, and I thought that it was an appropriate song for her.

2. Scared of the Dark by Lil Wayne & Ty Dolla $ign for The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

As I was listening to this song, I was thinking about how much strife Starr went through, and how she was scared of many things after what happened to her friend, Khalil. The Hate U Give deals with a lot of topics of racism, police brutality, self-identity, family, gangs, and more. This song really talks about not being afraid, even if your environment and the people around you are against you. I think Starr really learns that in this book, so it fits.

Also, the whole Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse album is a bop, so go watch the movie, then go listen to the soundtrack.

1 . Paper Rings by Taylor Swift for Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

Alrighty, this series is probably one of the cutest, heartwarming, diverse LGBT+ reads I’ve ever read, and I love it so much. I also love the song Paper Rings, and I thought it was appropriate because it’s all about being content with the person you’re with, and how you want to be with them no matter the circumstance. I think it’s a cute song fitting for a cute series.

Alright, this was harder than I thought it would be haha! But I think that these songs fit these stories. Do you agree?

What song(s) do you think fit the current book you’re reading? Or what about a song that fits one of your favorite books? Let me know!

5 Bookish Things to Do During Quarantine

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Hey everyone! I hope you’re all doing well during these stressful times. I know for many, if not all of us, strict rules have been applied to our current states of living, and so many of us are turning to books to be able to find some solace among the chaos. So, to bring about some cheerfulness, I thought I’d share five fun and/or practical things us bookworms can do to keep at least somewhat sane during these times.

5. Organize your shelves, bookmark collection, candles, etc.

I, for one, know my shelves are a mess. Like I don’t have enough space for all of my books to fit nicely, so some are just stacked in front and it’s not all that pretty, but it’s functional. If you’re like me, now is a good time to set to organizing your shelves the way you want to!

Want to organize them by color? DO IT!

Want to organize them alphabetically by author? DO IT!

Want to organize them by large vs small, genre, hardcover vs paperback, etc. DO IT!

There’s seriously so many endless ways you can organize your shelves. I love seeing people be super creative in their organizational skills. It inspires (and also intimidates) me, and I really want to try to rearrange my shelves with the limited space I got so everything fits. Even if it means double stacking/shelving.

Don’t let this deceive you; there’s a lot in here.

Another thing you can organize is your bookmark collection. If you’re like me, you probably have a fairly sizable collection of bookmarks. Maybe take this time to organize them and really look at the ones you want to keep, give away, or throw away. Do a little KonMari while you’re in quarantine; you might feel better!

4. Support your local bookstores by buying online!

Because this fun time is really hitting everyone, especially small businesses, look into your local independent bookstores and see who is selling online. Many stores are doing free shipping along with ordering, so really it’s a win-win situation.

If you want a list of independent bookstores, check out IndieBound! Not only will you be able to find a local bookstore in your area or state, but you might also be able to visit those places once quarantine is over!

3. Participate in online read-a-thons or book clubs.

There’s never a dull moment in the book community, let me tell you. Not only are there local book clubs that you can visit in person (once this is over), but there are TONS of read-a-thons happening online all the time!

As you already know, this month of April is the O.W.L.s read-a-thon, which I’m participating in, and takes place every April. Not only that, but the subsequent N.E.W.T.s takes place every August, so there’s even more to look forward to as the year progresses with this Harry Potter themed read-a-thon.

Not only that, but there’s read-a-longs going on, as well, such as Cosmerealong, where people are reading some of Brandon Sanderson’s fantasy books. Really, just do a quick search online and you’ll find plenty. Plus, a lot of independent bookstores have their own book clubs or books that they highlight, so I suggest you check those out.

2. Blog, Booktube, Instagram, etc. ALL THE BOOKISH THINGS!

From my Instagram: missrayna_

What you’re doing right now? BOOKISH! But really, go blog! Do the Instagram thing, make your photos aesthetic af, go watch or make some YouTube videos, etc. Stay in touch with other readers and try to keep the mood light during these tough times. It’ll seriously be super rewarding for you, I’m sure.

1 . When in doubt, read.

Obviously, as readers, we read. It’s just the thing we do. But if you’re feeling overwhelmed by all of the other things, pick up a favorite book and reread it, allowing yourself to escape into that world you love so much. Or pick up one of your books for one of the read-a-thons you’re in, or a new book, or even read some webcomics! It doesn’t matter what form the book takes, but just take the time to actually read and unwind throughout the day.

I hope you all found this little list helpful. I just wanted to do a light-hearted post about things to do during quarantine, so I hope this gave you a few ideas. Keep up the great work you’re doing, and have fun!

What are you reading right now? Have your organized (or dusted off) your shelves lately? Let me know!