Tackle Your TBR | Updates (21st - 27th)

Week two of the Tackle Your TBR read-a-thon! The first few days of this week is in the are of there still being time to sign up. And who doesn't love a good read-a-thon?

I posted my updates for last week here and have been mostly having fun with it, even though there is quite a bit of reading I'd like to be getting done, life has kind of taken over. I'm going to have to try and switch gears and put writing first, and maybe be able to sleep later, that would help.

Updates

Monday
Yeah, I haven't read a thing yet this week, I've been busy and it's been hectic. And I just plain can't focus on reading. I'm hoping to at some point tomorrow, but I've been so damn anxious lately (books help with that, but not if I'm too anxious. If I'm too anxious I can't just sit and read, need to be at like a yellow, at least).

But what are you reading / how are you liking this read-a-thon? Not particpating? How's your week going? And, seriously, tell me what you're reading, I'm curious!

Tuesday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 53
Total # of pages: 1,308 
Time Spent Reading: 10 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 8 hours, 15 minutes
Books:
Captain America: White #1 by Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale (started and finished - 53 pages)

Notes:
So my mom started moving and, obviously, helping with that. Also, really cannot seem to focus on books right now? Too stressed or too anxious, or all the things.

Wednesday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 36
Total # of pages: 1,344 
Time Spent Reading: 30 mintutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 8 hours, 30 minutes
Books:
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (continued - 36 pages)

Notes:
They're only so many times I can read a few pages from The Things They Carried until I'm finished with it, right? It's so good, but I currently really cannot digest it in large bouts, just can't. Loving it, though. And look, I took half an hour to read yesterday! And I read something! (It's only been like a week since I had time to really read, probably less then, and I miss books)

Thursday & Friday
No reading done days, but have I mentioned the crocheting that has started? I'm still in the I suck at this phase, but it's very nice, kind of just mind/anxiety quieting. And it's always nice to make things. And warm things for coming winter months is fun.


Saturday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total # of books I've read: 4
Pages read: 75
Total # of pages: 1,419 
Time Spent Reading: 1 hour
Total Time Spent Reading: 9 hours, 45 minutes
Books:
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (finished - 75 pages)

Notes:
I crocheted two wristers/fingerless gloves and bought yarn to hopefully start blanket. And also finished a book! (And watched the livestream of the all pug production of Hamlet). So yesterday was pretty good and very full of things, I'm pretty pleased. Now to start the blanket and finish another book.

Sunday
Yeah so this week didn't go so well with reading, hope it went better for you - pretty sure it probably went better for everyone else since I finished one thing this week and it was pretty much just the last half of it (not counting the other one single issue I read). I did move a lot of things and organize and clean and crochet, though, so that's good.

Top Ten Tuesday | Books On Your Fall TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I haven't done one of these in a while - but I've been seeing people talking about the books that they want to read in the fall, basically that they want to read before the end of the year, and I've been mulling it over and over. Because I don't want to stress myself out too much, especially with my mom going to be moving (and needing help) and everything else.

First off, fall is the season of so many good books being released and also trying to figure out how to complete reading challenges before the end of the year - at least that's what is on my mind. There's a ton of new releases that I've pre-ordered and I'm looking forward to, but I'm not going to make any promises I can't keep (at least, I'm going to try not to).

1. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - comes out on September 29th and I've been hearing literally nothing but good things about this book, and it's a heist story in a fantasy world. I am so far sold, and I need this book in my life, one more week, I can (hopefully) survive one more week.
2. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness - I need to finish this series before the first two books start to fade (more then they already have). I'm putting it off, mostly, because I know it's going to destroy my soul, probably, but I also need to know what happens.
3. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien - This might be slightly cheating, since I'm like halfway through this, but it's been taking me forever, so at this point it's like hopefully I can finish this soon.
4. the Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - this is for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, I think this is going to be my book by an African author. 
5. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab - it's honestly ridiculous I haven't read this yet, and just shows how much my reading is so messed up right now that I didn't immediately sit down and read this. I pre-ordered this, I have two copies now, I need to just get to it at some point. 
6. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard - also for the RH challenge, a book by an author that was under 25 when the book was published, and from what I've found she was, and also something I pre-ordered that I should get to. 
7. Zeroes by Chuck Wendig - also something I preordered, also something I should get to. I own a good number of Chuck's books for never having read one, need to read this. 
8. The Shining by Stephen King - I, a professed King fan, have never read this. I know, it's awful, but it's going to be spooky season and I'm living in a building that is possibly haunted and also the corridors are creepy, so it seems like the perfect time to read this. 
9. The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer - pre-ordered this one, signed. And it's AFP, but it's also one I know is going to make me sob my heart out, even though it's also going to help. Also I'm going to use it for the 'self-help' book part of the RH challenge, I feel like it'll fit that in a not normal way. 
10. Stonewall by Martin Duberman - this book is taking me forever to read, and I'm not sure how I'm feeling about it, but I want to keep reading it? I'm currently not focusing on it, have kind of put it to the side, but I'd like to finish in the next few months, if not then by the end of the year. Hopefully.

And I think that's my kind of off the cuff list of books, I probably should of just included all my remaining RH challenges but I decided against doing that, there's other things I want to read, too. I've still got 11 challenges left to go, though, but I haven't been overly pushing myself to finish it by the end of the year? (They've said it wasn't a year thing, and if I don't finish it by the end of the year, I still want to push myself to try and finish all of the challenges because they're definitely challenges).

Let me know what's on your fall TBR, if you did this topic, or whatever you'd like!

September 21st | Weekly Wrap Up #23

A read-a-thon week, as next week will also be, but also this week I tried to get the rest of my books into my apartment (I was starting to get separation anxiety, my books, come to me!). And my mom got word that she'd be moving next week, so like pre-stress. Moving might be the most long lasting and stressful thing I've ever done, probably mostly because of how bad we are at it. (I'm kind of hoping to count how many books I own - read and unread - once everything is more settled, I have a feeling I'm going to have to do like sticky notes by few shelves so I don't look track).


Reading: (finished this week and actively currently-reading)
A Curious Tale of the In-Between (Pram #1) by Lauren DeStefano (4/5)
I was so strangely pleasantly surprised about this book - I started hearing good things because it'd come out and so I decided to jump and give it a shot. And I just really loved it - the whole feeling of it, the more serious things, the characters, the world. I really loved it and highly recommend it!

Lady Killer, Volume One by Joëlle Jones, Jamie S. Rich (5/5)
I've been anticipating this for months, because I found out about this series about when issue three was coming out, and couldn't find issues one or two anywhere for the life of me. And I was not disappointed, even for the wait and the anticipating. This book is what it says it is and definitely delivers, but I'm kind of a sucker for assassins. Especially with normal lives.

The Marvels by Brian Selznick (5/5)
I don't even know what to say about this, I didn't know anything going into it - it was Selznick, I didn't really need to know anything. And I'm glad I went in like that, so I don't want to give too much away. Basically it was beautiful and breathtaking and heartbreathing. And so fucking good and I recommend going and reading it. Also, you might need tissues (not sure why this book gripped and yanked on me so far, probably just because it's been an emotional week. But damn, it was so good).

Injection #5 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey (5/5)
I am just so into this series right now, it feels so fresh and original. Basically, I'm learning, that anything Warren Ellis writes is automatically a must read for me now.

Planet Hulk #5 by Sam Humphries (2/5)
I didn't expect it to go the way everyone was hoping - I was hoping, too, and it seemed pretty straight forward to go that way - and then it didn't feel like it ended? It was a strange tiny story arc where I don't feel any closer. However, I've learned I want a full thing of Steve and Bucky being Gladiators, that'd be cool.


Stuff:
Honestly, between getting the (almost) last of my books finally into my apartment and stress in general, and reading. I haven't been looking into too much on the internet. Mostly trying to catch up on Night Vale and listening to wrock.

Also been watching or rewatching Markiplier scream/play games. (Mostly Until Dawn and FnaF)

On the blog:

September 14th | Weekly Wrap Up #22
Tackle Your TBR | Updates (14th - 20th)
Comics | My Pull List (9/15)
Book Review: Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy #1)
Comics | Where To Start (Plainly: Recommendations)

Comics | Where to Start (Plainly: Recommendations)

I'm going to base this post on where I started, with some added things, because I feel like I stumbled a few times but mostly got there. Through following advice of others on where to start and recommendations. First, we're going to go not superhero comics, we'll get to that.

First off, I'm going to be listing the trades just because I feel like thats the easiest way to get into any series, and most of the series I'm going to recommend have at least the first, normally the first two out.

East of West and Sage are similar on the genre of SciFi, but that's where the similarities end. I'd recommend Saga first, because I know some people have found East of West very confusing. Saga follows tow young lovers who are from species that are at war and hate each other, and it's their on the run story. Them and their infant child. And it's pretty incredible and gorgeous and, also, easy to follow. It's also explicit so if you're not comfortable with that, then I'd suggest giving that one a pass.

East of West is a SciFi western that follows the start of the Apocalypse by the four horsemen. And, let me just tell you - the art is gorgeous, the characters are interesting, the different people are amazing, and the politics is complicated and bloody. I highly recommend this series - and people say that rereading the first volume after reading it the first time really helped them grasp on to everyone, if you had trouble.

Two more visually stunning series that are more contemporary and magical are The Wicked and the Divine and Wayward. We'll start with WicDiv - the first two volumes are available now and it's incredible. The art and coloring is gorgeous beyond belief and the story line feels fresh and interesting, and the characters are amazing. I kind of enjoyed going into it pretty blind, so all I'm going to tell you if you somehow haven't heard of this series - gods are re-incarnated in people and they only live for two years before dying.

Wayward is about an Irish/Japanese girl who is making the transition to live in Japan with her mother, and she's not sure about it but she quickly finds out that maybe the magics of Japan aren't just folklore. Volume one of this is out so far, volume two coming soon, and the art is gorgeous, the magic is interesting and comes out more in recent issues.

You know how I said if explicit wasn't your thing Saga wasn't for you? Well that's true times ten for Sex Criminals. Also by Fraction, who will be mentioned below for his Hawkeye run and I'm sure you've heard his name if you've been following my blog. People seem to waver on Sex Criminals but I've never seen anyone that's disliked it outright. It's a story about two people who meet and realize they both share a kind of strange ability - time freezes when they orgasm (I said explicit, it's pretty graphic at points. There might be a scene where he gynecologist explains contraceptives while stripping. Not actually doing so but that's what the comic shows). And from that - don't you want to read it? I did. And I'll ready anything by Fraction and Zdarsky.

I'm going to stop myself there for right now because I feel like that's enough indie comics to get you started. They're all Image, but I do love Image and haven't read much by anything others. And those all feel very user friendly - they're all good, got good story lines and art (gorgeous art for some), and also are pretty cheap for trades, Image is good about that.

And now, onto the superhero comics - I suggest giving Watchmen a read, I didn't love it but I did enjoy it and I also just think it's a good kind of commentary on the genre. And don't watch the movie, just save yourself.

First, before even getting into the recommendations - you need to be aware that it's going to be confusing if you think about too hard. And that you're never going to really be able to know everything, there's years and years of backlog and history. And they will decide to reboot series or the whole universe, or have events that bring in everything. It is complicated, but it's not scary complicated. If you can handle putting things in separate universes and sometimes not knowing things - though I've never been confused beyond just a slight what are you talking about? before - then you're good. Also good maybe not reading in complete order - carry on.

If that all just sounds like too much work or like it's going to give you a headache and confuse the hell out of it - then just give it a miss, maybe try contained comic series or the ones related to movies/TV shows. I'm not going to judge you for it, and no one else who is worth or time is going to either. It's complicated and can get expensive if your library isn't well stocked.

(Also, a disclaimer, I haven't gotten as into DC as I have Marvel, so these recs, and future ones, will be heavily Marvel until I do get more into DC, which I would like to do).

Now - places to start.

For where to start with more current things, I think Fraction's Hawkeye is relatable and gorgeously illustrated and deals withs Clint's disability towards the end. Also there's a dog. It's mostly about what Clint gets up to not on the clock, and it shows him as pretty fumbling. And I liked that Clint, he's related and entertaining (I also enjoy highly trained, can do anything Clint, but human disaster Clint has a special place in my heart since he was my entrance to it). It's also a limited run, four volumes, so there's a definite beginning and end, a whole story. And it's a hell of a good one.

Runaways - I don't know what the hell took me so long to start this series, and I haven't finished the run but I'm throwing it in here because I've read the first eighteen issues (complete collection volume one) and it seems like a fantastic starting point. It's super hero related and there is mentions of the outside universe and, in those first ones, you run into some others - two i had never heard of, my knowledge is lacking in some areas. Either way, they are kind of separate, at the beginning at least. Which I feel like is a good introduction to a comic with characters with superpowers, and in for the marvel universe (well, for that universe of the marvel universe). Still - fantastic series.

Captain Marvel - Carol might be one of my favorite characters. She's competent and smart as hell and in the more recent issues she's in space with a cat, just saying. She's an interesting character, though, and a good as hell on. (And Kelly Sue DeConnick. You don't know who she is? Well, friend, then you are in for a treat).

Ms. Marvel - I feel like everyone's been talking about since it started running. A muslim american teenage girl taking over Carol's old persona and becoming Ms. Marvel. Kamala is one of my favorite characters - she's young, in high school, but she wants to do good, wants to help. And there's some great commentary on how millennial's aren't what people think they are (we are, I'm a young one but I'm still in those years myself). Also there's some great cameos, and it's normally highly amusing.

The one DC thing I'm going to recommend because I'm sticking to things you can buy trades for - I'm sorry, DC, I'll try and do better but you make it hard with no subscription service - is the new run of Batgirl. The first volume is called Batgirl, Volume One: Batgirl of Burnside. And the way social media and technology in general is used in this comic is the main reason I wanted to pick it up. Some people have been shitting on it for that - but it's, I feel like, something I could see easily happening to a young girl whose a superhero and trying to her, failing at points and succeeding at others. It's fast-paced and interesting and I really liked the main character, Barbara.

I'm enjoying writing up these posts and hope to do some more posts with just some general recommendations. I'm not an expert, not by a long shot, but I'm finally in a space where I feel like I'm not an impostor when I"m giving out recommendations/suggestions

 If you have - or are planning to - read any of these, I'd love to hear about it. And if you are going to go and read them, report back your thoughts, I'd love to hear them! Also, if you already started - where did you start?

Comics | How I Got There Through Manga
Comics | My Pull List (9/15)

Book Review: Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy #1)

Title: Mr Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy #1)
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Mystery/Thriller (detective/crime)
Rating: 3/5
Page Count: 436
Publication Date: June 3rd, 2014

Plot: (from Goodreads)
In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging again. Eight people are killed; fifteen are wounded. The killer escapes.

In another part of town, months later, a retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the "perk" and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy.

Brady Hartfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. He loved the feel of death under the wheels of the Mercedes, and he wants that rush again.

Only Bill Hodges, with a couple of highly unlikely allies, can apprehend the killer before he strikes again. And they have no time to lose, because Brady’s next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim thousands.

Mr. Mercedes is a war between good and evil, from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable.

Review:
This book was... good, but just good not great or amazing. And I think the fact that it was just a plain solid detective thriller novel kind of disappointed me, maybe because all of King's other novels, that are my favorite and I adore to pieces. First off, the main character was just plain annoying. I don't know what about him was annoying, but he was just so damn blah, so plain and typical. And some stuff just rubbed me the wrong way.

This next paragraph has some plot spoilers, but it's a well used plot device, after this paragraph, we will get back to spoiler free review. SPOILER There was one particular thing that rubbed me the wrong way - and it was the use of female characters pain and such to enflame the male, make him want to fight, all that man pain. One of the worst tropes in the world in my opinion and I should of expected it but I thought something new and fun would happen. Nope. END SPOILER WARNING

One of the more interesting parts of this book is that you get to hear from the killer, the whole book you're aware of who the kill was, which definitely kills the suspense a bit. And it was interesting at first, and then it just gets of uncomfortable and then just sad, just plain sad. I didn't even feel anything for the guy but just pity.

The one really fantastic thing about this book, though I did like the writing for the most part, was the side characters. There's two characters who end up kind of being Bill's sidekicks and they're both intelligent and sharp and different, and I really enjoyed them.

Overall - if you want this kind of book, this is a good one. If you want a King book, not so much. (Side note that is shallow as hell: the cover is gorgeous. It's so creepy and awesome looking).

Comics | My Pull List (9/15)

I do have a local comic book shop and I am ashamed at how little I actually go to it. And there are actual reasons for it - it's tiny and slightly creepy from the outside because of it's location, but the people are super nice and such - but the main, slightly shameful reason, is because of two places: Midtown Comics and Amazon. I'm not that shamed about the MidtownComics part - where I get my pull list, which we'll get to in a minute - but I am kind of ashamed of the Amazon part. Either way - this post is about my pull list, not my Amazon shame.

So my pull list. When I get it changes depending on my reading mood - and what is actually actively coming out from said pull list - but currently I'm bi-weekly which means every two weeks in this case. It'd probably be better, and save on shipping, to just get it once a month but I like getting it bi-weekly so for now it's going to stay. (Cheapest shipping is a few dollars and since I'm not far from NY, it normally only takes 3 days).

I started this post a few months ago and it use to say here - it's not that long, pretty heavy on Image - and while the Image part stays true, I love a lot of what they do, the not that long part has completely gone out the window. I'm planning on writing up a post about single issues versus trades, but this is just all pull list. And, considering how long I just realized my pull list is, I'm not longer surprised I'm always a little behind (and am so far behind on some I could probably switch to trades easily).

We're going to go by publisher and I'm just going to list titles, no author/artist, just titles. First off, Dark Horse: Lady Killer (I was for the first trade so I can read it). And then DC, for right now the only one is Black Canary (which is so good).

And then there's Image and Marvel. We're going to start with Image and then, currently, my marvel stuff is secret was (obviously), so I guess I should do an update in a few months on this. Either way, Image: Autumnlands: Tooth and Claw, Birthright, Bitch Planet, Descender, Dying and the Dead, East of West, Empty Zone, Injection, Kaptara, Mythic, Nameless, Ody-C, Phonogram: The Immaterial Girl, RunLoveKill, Sex Criminals, Surface, The Wicked and the Divine, Wayward, Wolf, Wytches. 

Whew, Image is hefty for me. Marvel: Hawkeye/All-New Hawkeye, Secret Wars, Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos (haven't actually gotten to read this yet but I'm excited. And behind on all things secret wars, so behind), Planet Hulk (read it), Thors, Civil War.

I'm so glad I didn't bullet point those, because it looks about ten times longer that way. So obviously I have falling head first into comics, it's been over a year now since I started really getting into comics. And, on one hand, I'm really glad I did and I love them, but on the other hand - single issues everywhere, so behind.

So that is my pull list in all it's glory - if you read single issues, let me know what's on your list. Or if you're loving something that isn't on mine, I'm always up for recommendations.

Tackle Your TBR | Updates (14th - 20th)

It is Tackle Your TBR time! Wishful Ending's annual read-a-thon - the sign up post here(you can sign up through the 23rd). I'm planning on splitting up my updates into two posts, one for each week, mostly just the post doesn't get too long and weekly wrap ups.

Goals/TBR:
My goals are pretty vague - I'm also participating in Bookish September (is being run by a booktuber and there's also instagram challenges, some bookish fun mostly), and also a seasonal Bookish Bingo (both links to my posts). I'm mentioning both because there are challenges for the first, and the second one is pretty much just challenges, so I'd like to complete the remaining ones I have left for Bookish September and then get a bingo or two.

I don't really have any strict goals besides that. I'm probably going to just make a stack of books and try and work my way through it. If I do end up making a pile, I might do what I did for Bout of Books and make a list, crossing them off as I go (though, I doubt I'll be able to do as good / be able to stick to anything that well ever again).


Updates

Monday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Pages read: 240
Time Spent Reading: 2 hours
Books:
A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano (started and finished - 240 pages)

Notes:
I meant to get a bunch of reading done today because I've got plans mid week and no idea how next week is going to go reading while, but somehow it ended up being 5pm before I realized it. And then I just ended up picking up that book, reading it in one sitting, and then getting distracted again. I'm hoping to read more tomorrow, the only other day I know for sure is completely free this week. Should also do some book organizing but we shall see how it goes.

Tuesday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total # of books I've read: 2
Pages read: 291
Total # of pages: 531 
Time Spent Reading: 2 hour, 45 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading:  3 hours, 45 minutes
Books:
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (continues - 45 pages)
Lady Killer, Volume One by Joëlle Jones, Jamie S. Rich (started and finished - 138 pages)
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between by Jennifer E. Smith (started - 108 pages)

Notes:
I got a lot of things done today, and only a small part of it was reading, but I did get some reading done. Lady Killer, vol 1 was released today and I preodered it - and it might of been better then I expected and I was really freaking excited for it. (Also got The Marvel in the mail, which hoping to read this week or next, very soon).

I started The Things They Carried before this started, but didn't want to set it aside like I normally do for read-a-thons simply because I didn't want to fall that out it, and was less then 40 pages into it. Really, really enjoying it, though.

A lot of stuff came out September 1st, but it felt like twice as much came out today (it probably just seemed like it, but goodness). Pick up anything good? I'm curious, let me know!

Wednesday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total # of books I've read: 2
Pages read: 462
Total # of pages: 1,024 
Time Spent Reading: (about) 2 hours, 30 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 6 hours, 15 minutes
Books:
The Marvels by Brian Selznick (started - 462 pages)
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (continues - 31 pages)

Notes:
First off - I'm still just really loving The Things They Carried, something has just clicked but I also don't want to just sit down and read it in one go. I don't want it to be over.

I kind of accidentally started The Marvels today, I knew I wouldn't have time to finish it but i accentally started flipping through it and then, beofre I knew it, I was to the first page that's full text (which isn't until almost page 400, like 392 or something on my memory) - it's freaking incredible so far and I hope I can finish it tomorrow. It's just, i can't even words about it, but I'm loving it and it's making me want to reread his previous two books.

Today was rough, though, just a not good day (not feeling good always just makes me want to lay on the floor and do nothing), but reading definitely helped for most of it. Helped me get out of my own and just the act of slowing down to read, eased everything a little. Reading is cool.

How's your week going? Reading anything good?

Thursday
Did not get around to reading anything because I felt awful for a good part of the day and still had other things to do, so beside the time I had moments to read, I mostly just kind of fell asleep early.


Friday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 178
Total # of pages: 1,202 
Time Spent Reading:, 1 hours, 30 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 7 hours, 45 minutes
Books:
The Marvels by Brian Selznick (finished - 178 pages)

Notes:
I've loved both of what I've read by Selznick before - Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck - and so I shouldn't surprised at how much I just plain adored The Marvels - will gush about more in my weekly wrap up on Monday.

Feel free to let me know how your week is going? Reading wise, life wise.

Saturday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 53
Total # of pages: 1,255
Time Spent Reading: 20 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 8 hours, 5 minutes
Books:
Injection #5 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey (started and finished - 30 pages)
Planet Hulk #5 by Sam Humphries (started and finished - 23 pages)

Notes:
I ended up getting a lot less reading done then I expected because one of my neighbors and I had a mini doctor who party? Super last minute, but I actually had fun watching Doctor Who, so that was good!

Either way - hopefully i'll get more reading done tomorrow. I have to wake up super early to let people into my building for paint-y things, so we will see how this goes. If not tomorrow, hopefully monday, because after that will be insanity.

Sunday
Another day of no reading, just because there was so much going on today. And, by the time I would of been able to sit down and read, I was too exhausted to even really try, wouldn't of been able to focus for the life of me.

But, tomorrow is another day, hopefully I can get some reading done. I'm hoping to not get onto my computer until later in the day, maybe not until evening (someone hold me to that).

After this, the Tackle Your TBR is still going on for another week, so there will be another post up (which I'll link here when it's live) that'll be talking about my continued progress, not resetting anything, of course. Let me know if you're participating, of course, and where I can find your updates!

September 14th | Weekly Wrap Up #22

A weekly wrap up! Getting back into swing of things, and I think I'm going to do this only every week if I have a lot to talk about, and maybe every two weeks if I don't - but I'm glad to back doing them, regardless.

It was a weird two weeks, but I got some videos up on YouTube (both parts of my August wrap up are in my blog post the September TBR one is in the September TBR post)

Reading: (finished this week and actively currently-reading)
Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King (3/5)
This might be the first classic werewolf monster story I've read - I know, considering how much werewolf stuff I've read - and I just felt kind of eh about it. I guess I expect probably too much from King books, and it definitely had elements (the characters were surprisingly well developed for so few pages), but overall it was just - fine, okay, the illustrations were also just okay.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik (4/5)
On one hand, I loved this book - the world, the characters, the writing, how it kind of had some lines i just loved. But it wasn't perfect and I had problems with it and there were points that dragged for me. I think I said 'boring' somewhere, but that isn't exactly the right wording, it just was kind of eh then. Either way - I'd still highly recommend this book.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Stiefvater (5/5)
I'm caught up on this series and what do I do with my life now? I love these books so much - I'm just in love with them, have been since the first one. I don't know what it is but it's just all encompasing and I'm fully aware I can't be objective about them. I love the characters, the writing, the world, the plot. All of the things in this book are so good, and exactly what I want. And I can see where it isn't for some people, I get it, but I'd highly suggest reading the first one, giving it a chance. People say it's confusing but I haven't been confused by any of the books, just go with it.

War-Fix by David Axe, Steven Olexa  (2/5)
I don't know how I feel about this, really. I picked it up on a whim for a few dollars, also to have a book I knew nothing about, and it looked interesting. But something about it was just off for me, even though it was very interesting. I can't even put my thoughts together about how I feel about this one.

Injection #4 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey (5/5)
I feel like I'm starting to get a grasp on this series, understanding it more even though there's still a ton of unanswered questions. And I'm just loving it so damn much. I made a good decision picking this one up, pretty much for the title and then Ellis.

Descender #6 by Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen (4/5)
Enjoying still, definitely a series to check out (I think the first trade should be due out soon, for you not single issuers).

Black Canary #3 by Brenden Fletcher, Annie Wu (4/5)
Why do I love this series so much? Because I want to be Dinah? Possibly, possibly. Definitely want her clothes, pretty much have her hair (sans fringe).

Wolf #2 by Ales Kot, Matt Taylor (4/5)
This one was not as action packed, what the hell I love it as the first one was, but I still really enjoyed it. And the world seems super interesting and cannot wait to read more.

Justice Calling by Annie Bellet (2/5)
Eh. It was better at first, but still not great, and by the end of it I was just kind of like bleh. The world seemed interesting, but for some reason it just fell really short for me. It was free, though, so I'm not too upset about that.

I meant to start and finish a few things this weekend, but it ended up being more crazy then I expected - there was a wizard rock house party/show. And then I ended up getting my last bookshelf moved into my apartment, hopefully the last of the books will follow. Currently reading The Things They Carried and Stonewall - ah, how slow I read non-fiction. Hoping to finish both this month, but probably not this week.

Stuff (music/videos/links/nonsense):
It's been a while since I've done one of these, so I don't even know what to put here. Well, I've been listening to Halsey's album BADLANDS on repeat for the past week and a half, maybe more. That's a thing.

Also found this really cool YouTube channel recently that does old timey covers of songs (favorite one).

YouTube videos: Bookish Pet Peeves, Markiplier Reacts to Teens React to Markiplier, Making of the Welcome to Night Vale audiobook, A Week of Videos: Overcoming Creative Apathy, #bookishseptember is here!!

I think since I've done one of these Book Riot has launched a podcast I adore called All The Books! which is about the weeks new book releases, highlighting four (sometimes more, chatting about books). (Also they've now launched their recommendation show which I totally forgot about until I want to go grab the link for this, it launched yesterday as I'm writing this, but this past Thursday for you guys - Get Booked).

On the blog:

August 2015 | Monthly Wrap Up

2015 Goals Update

Bookish Bingo | Fall 2015 (sign up + update post)

Tackle Your TBR | Sign Up

This is an annual, I think, read-a-thon that's hosted by Wishful Endings. And it runs from September 14th, through September 27th. You don't have to be a blogger to participate, officially sign up (which you have to be for giveaways and such, need to have an official sign up something and wrap up). And I'm going to be participating because I need a kick to get back into reading, I was doing good at the end of the month but I've fallen off again.

My goal for this read-a-thon is mostly to complete the rest of the Bookish September challenges, some of the Book Bingo challenges, but also not to push myself to read anything I don't want to because I know how that ends (in me reading nothing). And there's a lot of books I'm hoping to get to this month (and Six of Crows comes out two days after this ends, so I will be able to just absorb that).

I'm not sure how updates are going to work for this, I haven't fully figured it out yet, but what I'm thinking (this may change) but is to do it Bout of Books style - one post, the updates by day put there. And I think, since this is two weeks, I'll split up the updates, weekly wrap ups, and then do a whole Tackle Your TBR wrap up post at the end. That sounds good, hopefully it works.

(I'll also be updating goodreads and posting on Twitter, Instagram).

Let me know if you'll be participating and where you'll be updating your progress! And happy reading.

Sign Up post

Comics | How I Got There Through Manga

I don't remember a specific point where I fully got lost in graphic novels and manga, I just remember kind of different points of it, stages I guess. I adore graphic novels - they're works of art with stories, characters and plot and setting, and they're normally gorgeous.

Anyway - I remember reading manga first and Fruits Basket was my first manga or any kind of graphic novel and I loved it. My friends and I had marathoned the show and there were books to go with it, I was sold basically, and I am still sold. I reread them within the last year, and they still hold up, but I'm a little biased with the nostalgia factor. They're - very strange and adorable and can poke fun at itself and the genre in general, though this specific genre does seem to make fun of itself a lot.

A newer manga I started reading at the beginning of last year was Attack on Titan (I say was just because I feel behind and so many spin offs, but I was loving it and want to get back into that world). There's, of course, the anime but I had trouble getting into and I'm not sure why, but when I read the manga I read through them very fast, loving it and the horror and just everything.

And, moving away from manga - comics. I never got into super hero comics and I'm still kind of not (kind of? I might be lying to myself, but I'm not falling too far down the rabbit hole on DC/Marvel quite yet, just a little). But I've started trying a few of the less intertwined and confusing series. I really loved Matt Fraction's Hawkeye series  - the art and the story are both fantastic, and I kind of love Hawkeye a tad bit more now. I've since dipped my toe into some other comic series runs, most I haven't finished reading but I've tried Young Avengers (here for it, yes), Runaways (how haven't I read more then the first eighteen issues yet), Captain America (the Brubaker run, obviously, and I think it made my love for Steve Rogers a little bit of an obsession. Tad bit), Captain Marvel (yes), Ms Marvel (also incredible), Thor: Goddess of Thunder (read it), Black Widow (most recent run, have the last trade to go), Deadpool (dipped in with Merc with a Mouth), Batgirl, and I think that's it but I could be wrong, and there's other I want to try (Marvel Unlimited subscription is totally worth it so far).

Anyway, the point is - is that I've now read a lot of comics. I feel like headfirst into it surprisingly quickly. First, and still a large majority, reading Image titles, but I've also tried Dark Horse stuff and, obviously, Marvel/DC. And am now at the point where I get my bi-weekly (every two weeks) pull list from Midtown Comics and am so behind because I'm interested and want to read so many damn things.

Saying that, I didn't just switch from - what does 'trade' mean? - to - I have a pull list longer then my arm (might not be true, but pretty close). And it did start with Fraction's Hawkeye and then moved onto Saga, which introduced me to Image and their comics.

That's how I fell into this wonderful strange world, and I'm so glad I did, and it was definitely a long fall. I read Hawkeye, Volume One: My Life as a Weapon on January 2nd, 2014, and read volume 2 a little latter. And 2014 was definitely the year I fell headlong into it, so this isn't that surprising. Saga I got to in March, reading volume 3 in April. Preacher, Locke and Key - both series I haven't finished yet. And then I was also reading some more graphic novels.

And then it was what I'm going to call the silence before the storm, I was reading a bunch but really just a graphic novel randomly - I read Watchmen in this time, it felt necessary and it was pretty good, and reread Fruit's Basket - and then I found the East of West series, and I can't for the life of me remember how. This also lined up with driving up to Ithaca to visit my friend Haley, and the Ithaca comic book store is pretty cool - and it ended with me reading all three volumes of East of West (if you haven't heard me talk about this series, you should read it), and then reading volume one of Ms Marvel and of the newer run of Captain Marvel (I've gone back and read the one right before, but I've let go of my must read in right order thing a little with comics, it's less necessary, though I wasn't aware at the time).

From what I can tell my first single issue was Wytches, which is the only one I've read so far but mostly because it actually scared me, which I'm not use to for any kind of horror stuff. And a few days after that I read issue one of Wayward, still one of my favorites. And then The Wicked and the Divine. And that was just the beginning.

I'm not going to bore you further, though I find this super interesting - and probably will find it even more interesting to go back in another year and see how far I've come from that. It didn't really take a lot to trip me into the world of comics and, considering my love of art and good story telling, I'm not all surprised about it. And I don't regret it (maybe a little now that I've had to lug that collection up a flight of stairs when moving, but still).

How did you get into comics? Or have you not tried yet? If you don't know where to start I'm going to have a post about that in the next few weeks, also a graphic novel recommendations post, and also a post coming about what currently on my pull list. So if that's something you're interested in, let me know and I hope you look forward to it.

Happy Reading! (Let me know about the comics, though, or just what you're currently reading in any format).

September 2015 | TBR

I haven't done a monthly TBR in a while but I think it's a good month to do. I hope to get a lot of reading done this month - like a ridiculous amount - but for this TBR I'm just going to put some vague plans, not too many things. If I put too many, I'll just stop reading and definitely won't read anything from the TBR, I'm learning.

Now I did a video - that'll be embedded at the bottom - that's just talking in video format about what I'm planning to read. The first thing going on is that some people in the BookTube community have created something called #BookishSeptember, which is basically just a mixture of a read-a-thon with challenges and just dedicating the month to books and reading, which is something I can get behind (and I'm a sucker for reading challenges).

Mostly my plan is to just read as much as I can without letting too many other things fall by the wayside. I want to get really back into blogging, I'm actually feeling like writing reviews and talking to people which is a good sign, and try and post one view a week on my YouTube channel and maybe try and film a review, maybe a few short reviews and see how it goes? My plans are kind of vague.

Now - onto the books! And the challenges for this bookish thing. The first one is to reread a favorite and I have three possibilities - I love rereading things, so I'm surprised I stopped at three - but right now I'm going to pick from rereading The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (Casey, didn't you read that in November and then again in December? Yes, yes I did. But I want to get to Blue Lily, Lily Blue), The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (which I've been thinking about recently and want to reread the original mistborn series before continuing on), and The Storm of the Century (the screenplay by Stephen King. I found it in this move, I hadn't really lost it but it was buried slightly, and it's been a few years).

The next challenge is a recently purchased on and I think I'm going with Hounded by Kevin Hearne. And then for favorite genre - fantasy - I'm going to read probably both of there, hopefully: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater and A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab. Beautiful cover is going to have to be Uprooted by Naomi Novik (UK cover, it's in my video, check it out, it's gorgeous).

And then the last three are a book you know nothing about (I think I'm going with a graphic novel called War Fix), a book with a darker theme (I mentioned some horror in my video and I think I'll stick to that, both books go pretty dark Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King and Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey, the second being a reread), and finally just a book you want to read.

I have slight plans to try and get to Runaways: The Complete Collection, Volume Two and Phonogram, Volume 2: The Singles Club along with maybe, finally Monsters of Men and a few others, but that's all I'm going to mention here.

I'd love to hear what you're planning on reading soon or this month. And, also, if you've ready of the books I'm planning on reading and what you out thought of them.

Have a good (bookish) September!

Bookish Bingo | Fall 2015 (Sign up + Update post)

I tried to do a bookish bingo card by another blogger for the first three months of the year and can no longer actually remember how well I did on it. Either way, I want to try again! I like reading challenge type things and this looks like a fun one, I'm just probably going to do the ones that sound the most interesting. I'd like to get one bingo but we'll see how it goes.

This time I'm doing a seasonal one by Pretty Deadly, who apparently puts one out for every season, which is a ton of fun. This one is for the books you read in the months of September, October, and November. 24 challenges, one free space. And some of them, for me, will be super easy, some slightly harder, but it looks fun and I'm not going to put a lot of stress on myself about it. Fun reading challenge.

There's a few I can't think of any off the top of my head, so if you've got any suggestions, let me know: mental illness (I can think of a few I own, but I'm always looking for recs for this), (your favorite) book set in high school, a book about dreams, LGBTQIA (also always looking). So just let me know your favorites for those, because recs are always welcome - hell, if it fits another category, no category at all.

If you're going to be participating, let me know, and happy reading!

Announcement/sign up post


Books Read for this challenge (and which one they cross off):

Row one across:
The Cycle of the Werewolf - horror

Row Two Across:
Uprooted - over 400 pages

Row Three Across:
War-Fix - orange cover

Row Four Across:
Blue Lily, Lily Blue - animal on the cover (?, might change)

Row Five Across:
Lady Killer, Volume 1 - historical fiction

2015 Goals Update

So it's now quite a bit over halfway through the year, but I still wanted to get this post up. If not just to organize my thoughts, but also maybe for some feedback, depending on where those thoughts lead to. As might be obvious from the title - this is going to be a post talking about my progress in relation to the goals I made for my reading at the beginning of the year.

I'm also, as you can tell by my lack of posts, trying to get back into writing posts and I feel like this kind of thing will help me refocus my energies a bit. Also, the weather hopefully will start cooling off soon, which I'm always looking forward to by this point.

First - read 100 books - well, by my goodreads challenge, I'm completely done with this. But I've been counting single issues on there, which I think I'm still going to do next year (I like everything together there, it's nice), but I'd rather go by my spreadsheet and towards those 100 I'd include novels and then collected single issues (trades) and graphic novels (everything but single issues, pretty much. And currently, for that count I'm at: novels - 57, graphic novels/trades - 40. Which, if my math is correct here, is 95. So I think it's safe to say I'll get to 100 probably very soon. However, it'd also be kind of cool to get to 100 book books, but I really don't think that's going to happen just because of how slump-y I've been since after the first month, which I feel like I'm just pulling myself out of (maybe, though, who knows). (Also I don't want to put too much stress on myself, because I've learned I then just stop reading.

Read more physical books/ buy less books - although it doesn't seem like it on the surface, I do think I'm buying less books (this month has not been good for that, but I think it's just because of getting back into podcasts and stress. Hopefully, September will be better and onward).

Complete series - I have not been doing good for this one, though I didn't technically set a number. I've completed three so far, which is one better then 2013, but I'm still a little disppointed in myself since I completed 12 in 2014 (trying to not be stressed about it, though. I've been reading a lot of pretty good books, that's all that matters)

weekly wrap ups - I was doing great with this before I went on hiatus the first time, even though I wasn't reading as much, I was having a lot of fun mentioning and talking about other things, but I've now fallen off the wagon with it a little. I'm thinking of doing it every two weeks, depending on how much I'm reading / on the internet (my mom's going to be moving, NaNoWriMo - I'm not going to be near a computer for either of that).

more discussions/reviews - I don't know how I feel about this, how I've been doing, because I know I haven't been doing more reviews mostly because I wasn't reading things, period, let along things I wanted to review. I don't always want to review everything I read, or am in the mood to do reviews, they normally take a lot out of me, maybe I'll do discussions for those instead? Do a mini review post of 3-5 books that I don't have enough to say for a full review?

read more of - I'm not entirely sure how I've been doing with any of these things, I feel like I was doing pretty good at the beginning of the year, but at the moment I'm feeling kind of down on myself in relation to how many books I've bought this months and how many things I haven't read (I have so many, it's one of those SO MANY BOOKS, SO LITTLE TIME kind of days)

Challenges - I actually feel like I'm doing pretty good with the Book Riot read harder challenge, though I'm not 100% sure I'll finish all the challenges this year, or that I need to? I mean, it'd be nice and such but I don't think it's necessary. And also okay for the series challenge, like I mentioned, and then also just okay for the banned book challenge.

That is my goals update! I'm hoping to get more reading done in the last four months of the year. (Also - there's only four months left of the year? When the hell did this happen?) How are you doing on your goal for this year? Did you make any or nah? I think next year I'm going to pick three reading goals, and five blogging/youtubing goals but we shall see. I'd love to hear your thoughts/opinions in comments, though!

August 2015 | Monthly Wrap Up

August was a good month - there was less stress, though not all of my stuff is in one place yet - and more time to read and Bout of Books (which is always just fantastic, I adore talking to everyone and such, always fun).

And I got some good reading done, I ended up reading - 11 single issues, 6 trades/graphic novels, and 10 novels. And I'm feeling really good about those numbers, I'm hoping to read more in September but I don't want to put too much pressure on myself about it.

This month I'm just going to list everything and then embed the videos I did for wrap ups, instead of rambling on and on. And I'm not sure I could pick a favorite from this mnth, anyway, so many good books.

• Starve #1 by Brian Wood, Danijel Zezels (2/5)
• Animal Farm by George Orwell (4/5)
• Civil War #1 by Charles Soule, Leeinil Francis Yu (4/5)
• Planet Hulk #1, #2, #3, & #4 by Sam Humphries, Marc Laming
• Kaptara #4 by Chip Zdarsky, Kagan McLeod (3/5)
• The Wicked and the Divine #13 by Kiernon Gillen, Jamie McKelvie (4/5)
• Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey (5/5)
• Waywar #10 by Jim Zub, Steve Cummings (5/5)
• Injection #3 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey (4/5)
• Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth by Victor gischler, Bong Dazo, Rob Liefeld (3/5)
• Cold Kiss (Cold Kiss #1) by Amy Garvey (2.5/5)
• You're Never Weird on the Internet (almost) by Felicia Day (5/5)
• Mythic #2 by Phil Hester, John McCrea (2/5)
• March: Book Two by John Lewis (5/5)
• Runaways: The Complete Collection, Volume by Brian K. Vaughn, Adrian Alphana, Takeshi Miyazawa (5/5)
• Glass Heart (Cold Kiss #2) by Amy Garvey (2/5)
• Black Widow, Volume 1: The Finely Woven Thread by Nathan Edmonson, Phil Noto (4/5)
• Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (4/5)
• Black Widow, Volume 2: The Tightly Tangled Web by Nathan Edmonson, Phil Noto (5/5)
• Phonogram: Rue Britannia by Kiernon Gillen, Jamie McKelvie (4/5)
• The Saint (The White Years #1) by Tiffany Reisz (5/5)
• Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older (5/5)
• Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (4/5)
• The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld (4/5)

On the blog:

I'm Back | And Not Just Here

BookTubeAThon 2015 | TBR

BoutofBooks 14 | Sign Up

June + July 2015 | Monthly Wrap Up

Bout of Books 14 | Goal and TBR

Bout of Books 14 | Update Post

Bout of Books 14 | Weekly Wrap Up #21