Tuesday, February 3, 2015

January 2015 | Monthly Wrap Up

I'm not entirely sure on how this monthly wrap-up thing is going to work, since I'm doing weekly wrap-ups with mini-reviews of everything I read (all the links are below, for everything I did this month on the blog). And I considered just not doing monthly wrap ups, but I like them. I like the idea of fully wrapping up each much, kind of in a bow.

So I'm going to keep doing them, unless I feel like they getting too repetitive or I have nothing else to add.
  • The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami (5/5)
  • The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, Chris Rissell (5/5)
  • Above the Dreamless Dead: World War 1 in Poetry and Comics edited by Chris Duffy (5/5)
  • Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark (5/5)
  • Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff (3/5)
  • The Truth is the Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman (4/5)
  • The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry (3/5)
  • Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 1 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
  • Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (4/5)
  • Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 2 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
  • Wayward #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 by Jim Zub (5/5)
  • Baltimore: The Wolf and The Apostle #1, #2 by Mike Mignola (3/5)
  • The Wicked and the Divine #6 by Kieron Gillen (5/5)
  • East of West #16 by Jonathan Hickman (5/5)
  • Lock In by John Scalzi (5/5)
  • The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks (5/5)
  • Dark Work Rising by Rhyannon Byrd (3/5)
  • Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 3 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
  • Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 4 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
  • Ouran, Volume 5 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
  • Ouran, Volume 6 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
  • Ouran, Volume 7 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
  • The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (5/5)
  • Club Shadowlands (Masters of the Shadowlands #1) by Cherise Sinclair (4/5)
  • Showa: A History of Japan, 1926-1939 by Shigeru Mizuki (5/5)
  • Warning: Contains Language by Neil Gaiman (5/5)
  • Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (3.5/5)
  • Ouran, Volume 8 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
  • Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor, Jim Di Bartolo (5/5)
  • Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (5/5)
  • Saint City Sinners (Dante Valentine #4) by Lilith Saintcrow (3/5)
  • Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1) by Melissa Marr (5/5)
  • To Hell and Back (Dante Valentine #5) by Lilith Saintcrow (4/5)

I read a lot more this month then I expected - and simultaneously felt like this month went by fast and slow, which isn't normally how I feel (I tend to always feel like a month/day flew by). I like this better, though, it feels like I actually accomplished something, even though I'm not sure what that was.

Besides reading a shit ton of books and starting a writing project without planning any of it before hand (I'm not normally a pantser, this is terrifying). I also, surprisingly, have read some non-fiction and have finished my first series, already reread my first book of the year, well rereading two actually. And got more into the Ouran manga, which I'm glad for - it's a little ridiculous and silly, but I love it for that.

I'm going to end up be keeping track of everything I read in a spreadsheet (thanks to conversations after Bout of Books this month with some lovely book people about said spreadsheets - #booknerdWIN). And, I don't know if you want to know what I'm doing, but I think I'm going to end up linking them most months, anyway.

I have one spreadsheet about the books I've read in 2015 - taken from this BookRiot post. I'm also keeping track of the books I've bought. And I've technically only broken my read 5 (sometimes 3) before I buy once - because of a lovely indie bookstore - but I'm not counting ebooks towards that, or preorders. Which is probably not the correct way to do it, but whatever - I'm just doing it. (Please don't judge me. I feel like I need to say: Hello, my name is Casey, I'm a book buying addict. I haven't bought any books in over a week!) Books bought 2015 spreadsheet.

Anyway - I think that's all I've got to say, just because I feel like this post is getting way too long. But first - I want to just point out some of the books I read that were my favorites of the month. Ouran, East of West #16, Freakboy, Above the Dreamless Dead, Lock In, The Way of Shadows, The Darkest Part of the Forest, Lips Touch: Three Times, Brown Girl Dreaming, Wicked Lovely, Showa: A History of Japan, 1926 - 1939.

And that's just the ones that I'd want to absolutely recommend to people, for other people to know about because they're incredible. I read a surprising amount of books this month, and a surprising amount of really good ones.

And, lastly I promise, there are the books I started and didn't finish by the end of the month: Spook by Mary Roach (oh man, I'm loving it so far) and The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (why did I wait so long? Why haven't I finished this yet?) I also signed up for a month trial of Oyster just on the 29th, and ended up spending way too long having fun with it. If you're interested LINK (disclaimer: I get a little bit of money from that link, but also if you don't want to go past the free trial, I always forget, I've learned to just put a reminder in my phone calendar).

I hope you had a good month, in general or related to reading, and a good start to the year. And - I hope February is better.

On the Blog:
December Wrap-Up
2015 Reading Resolutions
January - March TBR | TBR Double Dog Dare
2014 Favorites | The Books
Bookish Bingo | 2015 New Year (Sign-Up Post)
2014 | Reading Wrap-Up
2015 | All the Books
Kick-Off Post (My Announcement Post)*
January 5th | Weekly Wrap Up #3
Day One Wrap-Up*
Day Two Wrap-Up
Day Three Wrap-Up
Day Four Wrap-Up
Day Five Wrap-Up
Day Six Wrap-Up

* all Bout of Book 12, of course

2 comments:

  1. Woah, I take my hat off to you! SO MANY BOOKS! Well done for reading them all. XD I had quite a good reading month for January, too, and I would luuuurve to do a book a day in February, but I've already failed that, haha. XD Here's to a good reading February! Thanks for stopping by @ Paper Fury!

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    1. You could always do the equivalent of a book a day! There were days I didn't finish things, or didn't read at all. I always go for that or else it's way too stressful for me. And thanks for stopping by here :)

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