Bout of Books 18 | Sign Up

Hello there, long time no talk. It's been a bit of a hectic few months, as every time I post here I say, but it might be evening out once 2017 starts. I'm not sure how well my participating in the beginning of this readathon will be, mostly because I'm having apartment guests for New Years (I want it to just be then so much, I miss my friends, and there will be four of us in the same place!!).

Anyway - Bout of Books. You guys all know it's my favorite readathon, Amanda and Kelly are awesome, and if you're interested in participating here's the little quote (with the blog link to sign up)

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 2nd and runs through Sunday, January 8th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 18 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I don't think I'll end up posting a TBR or anything, though since I realized how close it was I've been mentally adding things to the list. Like: I need to finish Words of Radiance, I'm dying to, but also want to get a head start on 2017 by knocking out a good few books so we'll see which wins out.

If you're participating let me know, with a link to your blog/twitter. (the twitter chats for this readathon are the best) Hope you all had a good Holiday season, I'm personally kind of relieved it's over, and hopefully a fantastic New Year (2017, be better).

October & November 2016 | Monthly Wrap Up(s)

Well October and November were certainly... something, let me tell you. The end of October was possibly just the best part of my year, if not the last few years. So many friends together for LeakyCon, and LeakyCon itself just was fantastic this year, and I miss everyone so much - even with the texting and skype, of course (Well, google hangouts are easier).

And Brianna - who I saw for the first time in over two years at Leaky, see why it was so ahhhh? - and I accidentally started like a full Sanderson reread? There's a few each of us haven't read, but mostly we're focusing on the cosmere. I'm currently in the middle of Words of Radiance (currently kind of taking a break from it because everything is a little crazy, we'll get into that). Really mostly cosmere, but I do want to reread books 1 & 2 of Alcatraz and then read the rest since all the new pretty editions are out, too.

Books:

• Asking for it (Asking for It #1) by Lilah Pace (4/5)
• Slaugherhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (5/5)
• Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo (5/5)
• Flight by Sherman Alexie (I still don't know?? I would recommend checking it out, though)
• Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo (5/5)
• The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archives, #1) by Brandon Sanderson (5/5) (really 10/5)
• Dispatcher by John Scalzi (3/5)
• Her Halloween Treat (Men at Work #1) by Tiffany Reisz (4/5)
• Her Naughty Holiday (Men at Work #2) by Tiffany Reisz (4/5)
• Something Nice (Original Sinners #1.5) by Tiffany Reisz (5/5)
• Screwdrivered (Cocktail #3) by Alice Clayton
• The Siren (Original Sinners #1) by Tiffany Reisz (5/5)
• Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J Maas (3/5)
• Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J Maas (3/5)

Graphic Novels/Manga:

• Giant Days, Volume 3 by John Allison, Max Sarin (4/5)

I wouldn't say I had a bad two reading months - especially because I hit my goal of 100 books for the year (book books) at the very end of November, like the 30th, so that's fantastic. However, in november of books it doesn't feel like a lot. To be fair to myself, though, I've been working on Stormlight, as I mentioned. And, for some reason, I read those books super slow - I love every second of them, but they're just dense for me for some reason. (Which is why I'm still only halfway through WoR, as well). 

To off set that I read romance and YA Fantasy because I read those two the fastest and they're my light fluff reads - which is something I just noticed as I was going through this list. Also a few audiobooks because at the beginning of November a friend brought the Sims back into the forefront of my brain, new expansion pack released. and that was the end of that - so much audiobook time, though. 

Anyway - read quite a few Tiffany Reisz, accidentally started a reread of her Original Sinners series, which I love. Also loving her Men at Work series, but it's definitely not on the same level as Original Sinners - it's good, though, and the banter is pretty great. 

Six of Crows I already want to reread - I started it last year and stopped, but this time. Whoo, there was no stopping me, I tore through both books and loved them both so much. I love the characters and how we see how the world is after the events of the Grisha trilogy. And they're diverse, I love Jesper to my soul. And also Kaz has like chronic pain?? I just love this duology??

I don't normally go over everything I read but - Throne of Glass. I started the first book the year I came out because I got an ARC and then stopped halfway through about and never continued. And so I ended up picking it up again - audiobook, there's a theme here - and I finished it but I don't think I liked it? It's interesting and some of the scenes and enjoyed, but overall? I've very confused about how I feel about the first two books in this series, and I guess I'll keep reading it? I want to know what happens, and I've been spoiled a little for later books, but do I care? I honestly don't know.

But it's been a weird as fuck week, and also currently in the middle of WoR so anything else just isn't Sanderson, and also it's just been a weird as fuck year, to be honest. But, yeah, this week - I think I was casually diagnosed with scoliosis? But the chiropractor thinks he can fix it? But... scoliosis? it's been a weird few days, I need to see an actual doctor, I think? (I'm so confused, about life and books and really just everything).

Anyway, we'll figure it out eventually. I hope you had a good months in general and reading wise, we live in a post election world now which doesn't feel good but there's things we can still do to fight back. (Yeah, I'm bringing politics in at the last minute). And my back doesn't hurt that much at the moment, so everything will be okay? I don't know anymore, 2016 is almost over, though. Hopefully the craziness doesn't carry to 2017. (Though...)

September 2016 | Monthly Wrap Up

September was a month. I thought all of the stress would be gone as of the end of August - hahaHahahA - but it wasn't exactly a bad month, either. There were some readathons happening, which I alway something I enjoy. Three this month, unless I'm forgetting one: Tackle Your TBR, diverseathon, slowathon.

Diverseathon was a last minute one because of stuff that was happening over in the YT book community (booktube, if you will), and I think it was a great idea. And it sounded like one they're going to try and do again, with some more preparation. I didn't really take part in any of the chats, I kept forgetting because they weren't all at the same time, but I answered some of the questions after and read through everyone elses answers. It's definitely a really important thing to talk about, I'd check out the hashtag on twitter (#diverseathon).

Now to wrap up the books and such - I actually did one weekly wrap up, to wrap up mostly diverseathon (didn't finish my slowathon book)

Books:

• Be My Fantasy (Fantasy Series #1) by Alisha Rai (4.5/5)
• Stay My Fantasy (Fantasy Seires #2) by Alisha Rai (4.5/5)
• Wife by Wednesday (Weekday Brides #1) by Catherine Bybee (4/5)
• Married by Monday (Weekday Brides #2) by Catherine Bybee (4/5)
• Fiance by Friday (Weekday Brides #3) by Catherine Bybee (3.5/5)
• Single by Saturday (Weekday Brides #4) by Catherine Bybee (4/5)
• Taken by Tuesday (Weekday Brides #5) by Catherine Bybee (4/5)
• Seduced by Sunday (Weekday Brides #6) by Catherine Bybee (4/5)
• Treasured by Thursday (Weekday Brides #7) by Catherine Bybee (4/5)
• Not Quite Dating (Not Quite #1) by Catherine Bybee (3/5)
• Love Beyond Body, Mind, and Space: An Indigenous LGBT Anthology by various awesome people (5/5)
• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankin (5/5)
• Ash by Malinda Lo (5/5)
• The Dark Wife by S.E. Diemer (4/5)
• The Bane Chronicles by Cassie Clare (3/5)
• Duma Key by Stephen King (5/5)
• Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Ridget (4/5)

Graphic Novels/Comics/All that:
Edit: No, I did read a graphic novel, past self, and it was amazing and adorable

• Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O'Neill (5/5)

First off - I read eight books by Catherine Bybee this month, that happened, actually in ten days. The reason for this is because I wanted to finally finish the Weekday Brides series since the last two books were out. And so I ended up rereading the other five, because I remembered very little of what happened, and finishing out the series. They're fun, a little ridiculous, fluffy romances. Basically: they're cute (side note: the sex scenes aren't the best, but at least they weren't super cringe worthy. Some better then ohers).

I'll just link my weekly wrap up here if you want to see my thoughts about all the diverseathon reads, below to Bybee and ending with The Dark Wife - basically, though, all of them were incredible.

Besides that, I read Duma Key. Again. I've lost count at this point, I listened to it on audio because, for some reason, I just really love the audiobook for this one? I mean, I've read the physical book so many times, but the audio is also a lot of fun. If you've never read a King book - this is probably different then you expect but, in my opinion, the King I like the best. (Duma Key, IT, Bag of Bones, Dreamcatcher - those are among my favorite, though I know that list will expand when I finally get to some of the more popular ones. IT might be my favorite book ever, honestly).

Seven Ways We Lie was really well done but I was also confused for the first 20% - which is probably just my memories fault - and also it was slow to get to start to reveal things. I really enjoyed it, though, even loved it. And was super impressed about how well seven POV's worked, and it's not all tied up in a bow at the end but there aren't too many loose ends that it drives you crazy. And one of the POV characters is pansexual, which is freaking awesome (yes, more this) and it isn't said outright but it seems like Valentine, another POV character, is on the autism spectrum. And it was just really good, I will definitely be picking up whatever she writes next.

I feel really freaking good about this reading month, even though everything is still on fire in life, at least the book thing is going good. (Currently I have a cold, my glasses are broken, and I'm ignoring the whole thing that is the refi. Oh, also, I haven't bought my plane tickets to LeakyCon yet which is in like two weeks). But I am twelve books ahead in my reading challenge of reading 100 book, books so we are all good. Totally fine.

How did your reading go, let me know, or link me to your own monthly wrap up. Any insane and awesome Harry Potter people heading to LeakyCon in October?

On the Blog:
August 2016 | Monthly Wrap Up
#Slowathon | Tackle Your TBR (#TackleTBR)

#DiverseAThon | September 12th - 19th 

#DiverseAThon | POC 

#DiverseAThon | LGBTQIA+

#DiverseAThon | MC's with physical disabilites + MC's with mental health issues

September 19th | #diveseathon & #slowathon wrap up

Hello, friends, to readathon heaven. I mean, I'd prefer back to back but all at once is also fine. (And while diverseathon and slowathon are over - Tackle Your TBR still has a week left, readathons are my jam).

I have a lot of feelings that this last week promoted - about reading diversely and my privilege as a white person, which I have been aware of before and tried my hardest to... be aware of it and use it correctly, I think that's the best wording I can get. I feel like I've always been aware of the privilege I have, and don't have, but only the last few years have I realized that I can use it.

Anyway - all of my thoughts just aren't coming together. The other thing I wanted to talk about was reading diversely, what this whole week was about. Only the last few years have I purposely tried to read diversely, realized I should - even then, I know I'm not doing as well as I could be. And I'm sure there's a ton of reasons, but one of the reasons is when I'm not in a normal reading schedule - aka: a reading slump, to me - then I just want to read fluffy things. Easy to read things.

And I say this with a lot of love, but normally (mainstream) diverse books are dealing with issues - which I understand, obviously. And it is something I love and look for in diverse books, but I have to be in the right headspace for it - and normally my reading slumps coincide with my 'down times' as I've been calling them, and I just can't. I can't do it.

I'm going to try and be more firm about it because there are books that aren't "issue books," and since I've gotten my kindle paperwhite, I can actually stand to read ebooks for long periods of time. And I know a lot of diverse books are self published because of various reasons - particularly diverse romance because romance is a giant and well selling thing in the industry - and try to be more conscious about not just buying diverse books, but actually reading them.

There's also the fact where I gravitate towards some diverse books more then other - LGBTQIA+ being the most usual for me - and so there are definitely weaknesses in my diverse reading, that I really want to try and fix.

Now - onto what I read this week, and what I'm still actively working on at the moment.

Reading: (finished this week and actively currently-reading)
Mostly Void, Partially Stars (Night Vale Scripts #1) by Joseph Fink, Jeffery Cranor  (5/5)
I've been listening to this podcast for years now - sometime towards the end of their first year of episodes - and I'm still listening. (Did you listen to the new episode this week? Someone got a binural microphone and it was awesome). Anyway - I loved this. There's a few of the older ones I relisten to but most I don't, so it was a lot of fun to relisten by reading. And catching on smaller things I didn't before or forgot. I highly recommend this podcast and everything related to it (also Alice Isn't Dead. I've only listened to a little of Within in the Wires so I can't say I'd recommend it, but what I have heard was awesome)

Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time: An Indigenous LGBT SciFi Anthology (5/5)
I found this kind of by accident, just looking through the "people also bought" thing on Amazon, and I saw this and was like - that, that's something I want to read. And, going in having heard nothing, I definitely don't regret it. Some of the stories I liked less the others, but there weren't any I didn't like, nothing below 3 stars (which is kind of - it was okay for me, but doesn't mean I didn't like it at all). I'd definitely recommend this - and if anyone has recs of books, fiction and nonfiction, about indigenous characters being two-spritied, I'd love to read them, I seriously want to learn/read more about this. Have found one that seems to be legends retold without those parts cut out, but I'm not sure how good it is so - if you know any.

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankin (5/5)
This wasn't a comfortable reading experience, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't suppose to be. It's very real and very just out there with all of it. I follow sports 0%, so all the stuff with Selena William's surprised me a little, I didn't know any of that. I kind of think everyone should read this, especially if it's going to make you uncomfortable, because it might make you think. It definitely made me think. Besides that - I'm still not sure how to put my thoughts together about this? There's a lot there.

Ash by Malinda Lo (5/5)
All I knew going into this was: f/f retelling of Cinderella. And I was just like: hell yes, take my fucking money. And then I didn't get around to it at first, as I do with a lot of books for some unknown reason with my brain. I'm a little angry at it, though, about this one - this book as incredible. I'd heard Malinda talk - at a LeakyCon lit panel, multiple ones - and so I knew I liked her then, and she definitely sold me on her books, but I just got around to one. I own Adaption, and am now hoping to get to that one soon because - this book. It had all these fairy tale elements and was just amazing - read this book immediately, and then follow me in reading all of Malinda's books. All of them.

Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O'Neill (5/5)
This was so cute - it was only about 50 pages, but I would of read like a whole series with them having adventures and such. They're both adorable and there's a unicorn, and teaching an ogre how to dance - so cute, I can't handle it.

The Dark Wife by S.E. Diemer (4/5)
Okay. This was way more adorable then I thought it'd be for a Persephone/Hades retelling, even one that's a f/f one. (Sidenote: if anyone knows of more queer myth retellings - please let me know). It was... not slow, but it also wasn't fast paced. That's just the way it was, though, I super enjoyed it. Loved the characters of Persephone and Hades, and also Pallas - all the ladies were awesome, pretty much, and Hermes. Definitely check this one out.

Currently-reading:
The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archives #1) by Brandon Sanderson
This is a reread and I just - it's so good? Like I remember I was completely in love with it, but... I guess I forgot what that meant, how much I was in love with it. I'm definitely not rushing this one. (Mostly because I don't want to but also because tiny print).

Duma Key by Stephen King
I accidentally started continuing my reread of this - it's September, I have to crochet and this was my current audiobook - and I didn't realize, at first, that it could count towards diverseathon considering Edgar's missing an arm and his hips fucked. And while King didn't get hurt that bad, this did stem from a bad as hell accident he was in. It's one of my favorites

(I said this on Litsy but there's a few King books I read when I was very young - 11 - and they're my favorites and I will reread them over and over until I do. For instance: Duma Key, Dreamcatcher, Bag of Bones. Most importantly: IT. I'll probably reread IT soon just because of the recent movie (remake) hype, cannot wait).

Stuff:
More thoughts on diverseathon here, I wanted to talk about the other stuff up top because it felt very important to my reading. I didn't end up really getting to any of the twitter chats, though I popped in a few times while cooking dinner because priorities (priorities being the food, sorry twitter). However, overall, I think it's just such a great and needed idea.

I think more people will participate if it's planned earlier, because while it felt like there was a good amount, I'm sure some people were put off by the last minute part (I also didn't do it because my heart was so set on slowathon, but I have been trying to focus part of my reading on The Way of Kings because I'd been planning that).

Mostly I think this was a good kick in the ass for me, to remind me I have all of these diverse books I want to read, I own them, they're right there, I've just got to read them. And I talked about this up above, of course, but I'm just saying it again, mostly to remind myself.

There's no shortage of diverse books - POC authors, characters, MC's with different backgrounds, religions, genders, sexualities - as long as you're looking for them, they are there. And after the last week, I have found so many that sound interesting and I'll definitely be looking into - if you've got any books you love by authors of color, and about POC, then please leave them in the comments or let me know somehow. I may have a ton of new recs, but you can never really have enough, can you?

Right now, the end of this week, I've been feeling that: I own so many books I want to read, and there are so many I don't own yet. I want to read like 100 books next week. Which, I guess, is a good feeling but also a stressful one because, obviously, I cannot read 100 books next week. I have enjoyed the slowathon, as well, and slowing down my reading this week - though, honestly, I was too tired to do anything else. Particularly with The Way of Kings, which I read a year ago and remembered the basic things but definitely forgot smaller things, and most of the medium sized things. Cannot wait to inch my way through it more.

Tackle Your TBR still has a week left, so that's what my week wrap up next week will be about - stats and page counts for both week, but I also want to put this ones info here because I don't feel like I've wrapped up a readathon unless I have

Books Read: 4
Graphic Novels/such Read: 1
Pages Read: 1,178 (+ 4 hours, 36 minutes listening to Duma Key)
Time Spent Reading(+ some listening): 15 hours, 16 minutes

(Side note, wow this post is a long one: I also wasn't sure, after writing up my rec posts, about posting them - but I did. Mostly unsure because I didn't feel like there as anything new there, they were pretty well known books. But it is hard to know everything, so maybe someone say something knew. Or didn't realize something was diverse in whatever way. And, hopefully, next time I'll have most and different books to recommend, depending on how soon)

On the blog:

#DiverseAThon | September 12th - 19th 

#DiverseAThon | POC 

#DiverseAThon | LGBTQIA+

#DiverseAThon | MC's with physical disabilites + MC's with mental health issues

#DiverseAThon | MC's with physical disabilities + MC's with mental health issues (#diversereads)

This is the area here my reading is the worst, honestly. I own a lot of books about characters with mental health problems, and biographies. However - as someone who struggles with depression and anxiety myself - I rarely want to read about it. Which might seem weird to say, especially in a post talking about diverse books, but anxiety is different for everyone (at least that's my experience talking with people/reading things) and so it rarely meets up with mine. And there's enough anxiety contained within me without reading about more. I do, on occasion, crave reading about either, both, or mental health issues I don't have... but it's, honestly, exhausting.

Physical disabilities are different - I've had a lot of health problems in my meer 21 years of existence, am also a medical oddity (heyo joints that bend the wrong way, sometimes dislocate). Saying that, however, so far nothing has gone so far as to disable me from doing everyday things - besides the previously mentioned depression and anxiety.

However, my mom has fibromyalgia, which can be passed down genetically (ah, the things I have to look forward to) and so it is important to me to read books about people with disabilities. But, once again, they're hard to read, emotionally exhaustion. And, honestly, most of the time I read for escapism, to avoid my problems, or just for some plain fun. I say this with no offense, but quite a few books dealing with heavy issues are themselves heavy, and I'm just not in the mood for that a lot.

Saying that - I'm working on it. If you have any recommendations, please leave comments (don't feel like you're writing too much. Any and all I will research and look into and probably add to my TBR).

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick - if you've been around, and pay attention to middle grade, you've probably head of Selznick's books. With the art and the words - bottom line, they're gorgeous. This one might be my favorite but it's hard to pick. This one also, surprising, has a deaf MC - there are two MC's. And it's been a while, I really need to reread, but I remember how in love with this book I was - while I was reading it, and how after I was recommending it to everyone. He's an incredible artist and storyteller.

Monstress, Volume 1 by Marjorie M. Liu, Sana Takeda - physically disabled MC, POC author and characters. I just have a lot of feelings and I've only read the first three issues of this as of writing this but I'm recommending it anyway. First off: art deco/steampunk, my weakness, with this incredible world that I cannot wait to learn more about. The MC is strange, can't wait to learn more about her, and is missing most of one of her arms, I think it's her left? You just need to fucking read this.

Not Otherwise Specified  by Hannah Moskowitz - mental health, LGBTQIA+, and the MC is a POC. Also a dancer. The mental health aspect is an eating disorder, and she's bisexual (as my memory serves) and it's amazing. I definitely want to reread it, because it as hard to read but just so good. 

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness - bottom line: this book is fucking good. It deals with the kids that aren't the chosen ones, which made me immediately want to read it and I did. It deals with mental health issues and has queer character(s) - can't remember if it's just one or multiple. Either way - incredible book. It's got a tad bit of... whimsy? With snippets about what the chosen ones are doing, what's happened in the past. If you read YA, or have in the past, with chosen one narratives - this one is probably for you.

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh - This is one I'm sure people have heard of. I'm still mentioning it because the hype has died down, if you haven't gotten to it yet it's the perfect time. It's funny but resonated with me very deeply. It's just so damn good.

There's got to be some I've forgotten, missed while scrolling through my goodreads. I hope there is, this is pretty pitiful. Please recommend some, any, to me - your favorite books with main characters with disabilities or mental illnesses. (If it's a side character, just let me know, but I'm more interested in MC's at the moment).

#DiverseAThon | LGBTQIA+ (#diversereads)

So diverse book recommendations is a little vague - diverse covers a lot - but there also huge gaps in my knowledge. A lot of countries I haven't read books from - a lot of LGBTQIA+ and not as many POC as there should be, which I will be getting on. I try to be aware of it but I've also been in such a weird reading mood the last... well, the last year and a half that I haven't done a great job. Better then I was but not great.

I was originally going to stuff them all together - so I'd get it out early in the readathon, incase anyone was still looking for recs. (Though, how could you be, really, with this google doc of heaven). There were just too many of them, I had to split them up. The one place I was lacking the most, though, was physical disabilities and mental health.

There is, however, very little order into how this is going on. Not all of these books - or the ones I'll be recommending in the posts about POC and then about mental illnesses and physical disabilities - are #ownvoices books, but I tried to get as many as I had read that were #ownvoices. However, hat doesn't mean I don't think #ownvoices are incredible important, it is so damn important.

If you're looking for something to read right now - that is short and sweet. Kind of gay, kind of badass and brutal. If you haven't read anything by Catherynne M. Valente you are in for a treat. Her short story The Lily and the Horn is available online for free and is incredible. 

The Trees, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis, Jason Howard (mostly queer but also has POC, one of the main settings in China, and it's just incredible. I'm still not over how amazing this comic was, and am impatiently waiting for volume 2 to finally come out. To me, it was better because of it's diversity. I love when these kinds of things show how different parts of the world react/deal with things. Highly, highly recommended)

David Levithan - the author. You've probably heard of him. I haven't read all his books yet, not by a long shot, but: Love is a Higher Law is one I loved. It's also timely considering it revolves around where the characters were during 9/11, as they're all in New York. It's hard to read but it's amazing. (I can't remember specifics about it but I know there's at least one queer character, I think a gay teenager, but it's fuzzy since I read it in 2012).

Whistling in the Dark by Tamara Allen - queer characters in 1919, one of them was a soldier in World War One (pretty sure both men are gay but I don't remember if they're ever specific about it). Either way - it's gorgeous and New York in this is vivid and beautiful. I loved it and want to reread it soon.

Virgil by Steve Orlando, J.D. Faith - There's a lot going on in this one shot graphic novel. It's set in Jamaica - which is the only thing I've read set there - and follows two gay men in a very homophobic place and time. It's a tad bit very heartbreaking but so worth it. The story is incredible, the art is gorgeous.

Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark - I have a full review of this one. Basically it's written in prose about a transgender and genderfluid (never labeled but heavily hinted) characters. And I cried through most of it because I just felt so much for these characters, wanted to try and show them not everyone was like that. Just, man, I wanted to hug the fictional characters, basically. (The author herself isn't transgender or genderfluid but from what I read she worked closely with many people, teenagers I think, who were).

Ask the Passangers by A.S. King - I loved this book, it's just so damn incredible. The magical realism elements were my favorite, and continue to be in every A.S. King book I read. She's just an incredible writer and this is an incredible book that I really want to reread. The MC is LGBTQIA+ and it has a f/f romance. Also she talks out her problems to the planes that fly over her house and that's part of the magical realism and I loved it so damn much.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - this book destroyed me. If you haven't heard about it - it's an Achilles/Patroclus retelling but with none of the: no, no cousinnsss, totally just friends. Just dudes being dudes. Basically it's perfect?

Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson,  - an ongoing comic series that is the shit. It has LGBTQIA+ characters - two of the main girls - their identities aren't clear yet and they're young, but they're not straight. Also, just in general, you should read this comic. Girl power, magical realism, crazy shit going downnn. The art is awesome, I love these characters so damn much. Read it.

All for the Game series by Nora Sakavic - so this is a YA dark contemporary series with LGBTQIA+ characters (yes, multiple) and it has some problems. It's not perfect, but it's... so damn good? It's listed as a romance on goodreads, but that doesn't happen until the last book and isn't ever really romance-y, they've got too many problems. It's the first book I've ever read where the character can be - and I think is suppose to be - read as demisexual/demiromantic and it was kind of incredible? (If you've got any recs with other characters who are demi, please, please, leave pass them onto me in the comments, on twitter. Anything). Trigger warnings: torture, rape, child abuse, self harm, probably more things, just as if you're worried or want clarification. (Really, though, this is my current obsession, I just bought a sweatshirt related to and am actually wearing it as I type this. As one does).

The Original Sinners series by Tiffany Reisz (split into two subseries - The Red Years, The White Years). - dark BDSM erotica series. There are various characters who are gay, straight, bi, and I'm sure many other things, quite a few of them are POV characters. Michael is the most precious of them all. I would recommend reading the White years and then the Red years. Technically the red years are the "earlier" years but they're told through Nora telling them to people in the future, so you'll get super spoiled if your ead them first. Basically: Start with The Siren, then The Angel,  then Then Prince (feelings!!), and so on. Trigger warnings for a lot of things - if you're worried, just ask in the comments and I'll let you know, don't worry about being annoying or judgement. (I'd list them but I know I'd miss some)

#DiverseAThon | POC (#diversereads)

I'm not sure how I feel about the list I've collected here. Mostly because I feel like most of them are well known books - also a few that aren't by POC, only have POC characters. Which, of course, there's nothing wrong with, but I definitely have got to read more books with POC main characters. 

I'm currently reading Lightspeed: People of Colo(u)r Destory Science Fiction (Issue #73) and I'm only like 125 pages in but I already highly, highly recommend it. (Last year they did Queers Destory SciFi, which I have read one thing from but plan to read more of). There are, of course, some POC author/characters sprinkled in the other two recommendation posts going up this week so be sure to check out those - I list all the diverse themes in the books, with vague plot ideas, most really nothing (I like going in that way and would rather give people the choice of finding out for themselves).

This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz - the MC is dominican, as the author himself is, and I am not sure why I loved it so much? Maybe because none of it was anything I think I'll ever experience? And it was beautifully written, just gorgeous, I am at a loss for words on what else to say I just loved it so much.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson - I mean, do I need to say anything? It's written in verse, I think it's won awards. It's beautiful and just - it's so good. (Apparently the audiobook is also amazing? She reads it herself, so when I reread, I'll probably go that route)

The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco - the author is from the Philippines, and the whole book is set around a Japanese ghost story. (One I love) I should add that this is a horror book, YA, and has some creepy moment. I really enjoyed it.

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older - the more I think about this book the more I appreciate/love the crap out of it? It was so different then anything else I'd read in a while, at the time, and it's still so different and original. And I'm a little in love with New York and books set there. Let alone art that is more then what it seems. Author and MC POC, with multiple other POC as I remember (I don't remember any white characters but that might be wrong? Or it might of not said). (Also, shallow note,  the cover is fucking gorgeous).

Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson - do I need to even say anything else? If you haven't at least read the first volume of this comic and you're a comic reader - what are you doing with your life?

The Wicked and the Divine  - an ongoing comic series. With various POC and queer characters, with an awesome story and gorgeous artwork. If you've been around, you've probably heard about this - if not, go forth and check it out.

Young Avengers - a comic series about this group of teenagers that become known as the Young Avengers. There are characters of color, queer characters. They're young and trying to keep some people safe - it's just so damn good. 

(Both The Wicked and the Divine and Young Avengers are by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie - who are obviously amazing are writing diverse casts of characters that people fall in love with)

March: Book One, Book Two, and Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell - if you haven't heard of this series of three graphic novels then I have a treat for you. John Lewis is a US Congressman, who also was a key figure in the civil rights movement. And these three books hold those stories. They made me angry, they made me proud (of their ability to be non-violent, that looks like the hardest thing in the world), and shed a lot of tears. A lot of tears. I haven't read book three yet, it just came out recently, but I have no doubt it'll make me feel all those things again, I'll have kleenex ready.

Showa: A History of Japan, 1926 - 1939 by Shigeru Mizuki - if you don't recognize the authors name, that's fine, but he apparently is known as the master of manga. These are illustrated and written by him - translated by Zack Davisson. There's four volumes and they cover a period of Japanese history I knew pretty much nothing about. They cover major events while still focusing on Mizuki's life, starting when he was a young child. I've only read this one so far, but it was incredible. Sadly, Mizuki passed away in 2015 but he's done something truly incredible. I can't wait to read more of this series and the rest of his work.

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol - so it's been a while. But the author is russian, as is the MC, and it has a heavy focus on immigration and then feeling/being different. And it was incredible. I don't want to say anything that isn't true, as it's been a while, but I did rate it 5/5, as with pretty much everything I recommend. 

Gene Luen Yang - I've read Boxers & Saints and American Born Chinese from him and both blew me away. I didn't know what to expect going into either, but they were incredible and gorgeous. There's more of his that I haven't read, which I want to, but I highly, highly recommend the ones I have.

Oh! I almost forget that manga is japanese. It's been a long, long week (month, year, life). Of course, I've talked about Fruits Basket multiple times. It's incredible, heartfelt, silly, adorable, and will make you cry - check it out. Also I've started Dimension W (the anime was so fucking good, the manga is looking to be just as good, I've only read volume 1 but 1-3 are out in the US). And also Deadman's Wonderland, which is not for the faint of heart - it's dark, gorey, strange, intense. But so damn good. And weird as fuck. If you read manga, let me know your favorites - especially if it's Fruits Basket. (You never forget your first)

I've got a good handful of books by POC authors I'd like to get to - also about, of course - so hopefully that'll happen sooner rather then later. If you've got any recommendations yourself that I shouldn't be missing out on - don't be shy to drop them in the comments. Or let me know your thoughts on these books. If you've read them already, if you're planning on picking one (or two, or three) up you haven't read yet. 

#DiverseAThon | September 12th - 19th

I'm not going to talk about the reason why this readathon came about, the point is that it did. And it's awesome. I've been wanting to post about diversity and how important it is, but I just wasn't sure how to do it.

I'm also not sure if I can put it into words or explain why diversity is important to me. It's important to me personally for a mess of reasons that I'm just not comfortable going into - personal and also health related.

However, saying that, all types of diversity and representation are important to me. And if you've got an diverse books - POC, LGBTQIA+, physical disabilities, mental health, or other - then feel free to drop them in the comics, I'm always looking.

I started by having some recommendations and then a list of books I wanted to read - not a TBR because there's too many, just a general list because why not, someone might be looking for a book that one of the ones on my endless TBR fits. However, I realized how long the post was getting. I was originally going to jam them all into one post but apparently theres's a lot of books I love so I guess I'm going to have to cut them into a few posts because whew, so man damn good books.

Those posts will be up through the week and I'll link them at the bottom of this post as they go up, hopefully I remember. I'll be updating my reading progress throughout the week on twitter, instagram, and goodreads - and doing a final wrap up here. This week is always the beginning of #slowathon (one week) and tackle your TBR (#tackletbr - two weeks). Basically: heaven (I am a readathon junkie).

I have a giant stack of diverse books in my apartment I'd like to get to this week - I'll probably only get to a few (I do have 3 that are pretty damn short, 2 of which I've heard amazing things about). So onto the books I will possibly be reading this week but don't hold me to any of them (and also please leave recommendations in the comment because, really, there's no such thing as too many books)

• Citizen by Claudia Rankin (I have the audio of this, I am... not prepared. Am predicting being a sobbing mess on the ground?)
• Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (I am also not prepared but more excited, mostly because I don't predict it was leave me a sobbing mess. Hopefully not...? I can only take so much emotionally)
• Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time: An Indigenous LGBT SciFi Anthology (oh yeah. you read that right. indigenous LGBT scifi anthology. I stumbled upon this on amazon, has great reviews, know nothing else.)
• Welcome to Night Vale scripts - Volumes 1 & 2 (I wouldn't normally be counting these, even though main relationship is m/m, and Carlos - a gay character of color - is voiced by a gay person of color. I just don't know, but these guys are incredible in trying to do the thing right. Mostly, I got these and am almost done with volume 1 but not quite so, really, they have to go on the list because I'm not going to put them aside)
• Lightspeed #73 - People of Colo(u)r Destory SciFi (I've been reading this forever. Well, I put it aside, but I want to get back into it. The stories I have read are amazing, but my attention span with short story collections isn't great. Still. Want to finish so badly, all of the ones so far are 4 or 5 stars).
• Crush by Richard Silken (I've been putting this on readathon TBR after readathon TBR, I have to read it at some point. Silken is gay and I've seen his poems pretty much all over tumblr, I might as well actually sit down and read them. Maybe I will this week, maybe I won't).
• Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (a reread, but I really want to reread this one. I remember loving it but remember like... maybe 25% of it? My memory isn't great about, well, anything so that isn't surprising but still).
• Ash by Malinda Lo (gay Cinderalla. What more could you want to know? Nothing. Well, I don't, I've heard amazing things, and I've heard Malinda talk and she's fantastic. So excited)
• Brooklyn Burning by Steve Brezenoff (no idea what to expect, it's queer in some way. And I love New York in books, and real life, which will be evident in my book rec posts later this week).
• We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson (I only know the vague synopsis of this, it's faded from memory. I'm pretty sure this came in a book riot quarterly box, though, and that's really all I need to know). (LGBTQIA+)

Those are just some that I have near me, there's a ton that I pulled off my shelves to consider (and this picture will show you some more), but there are even more then that in this apartment. It's honestly impressive how many books I have in my studio apartment, probably almost 2,000. You can imagine hat it looks like (just picture books everywhere and you've got it, that's what it looks like).

Anyway - if you're participating in this readathon, let me know. If you're just hearing about it - eh, jump in, anyway. Even if you only read one diverse book this week, there will be discussions happening over on twitter, I believe every day, using the #DiverseAThon hashtag. Take part, see what others are reading, tweet/instagram/blog out your favorite diverse reads. Let me know in the comments.

And, most importantly, be kind to each other. If you don't want to read diversely this week because you've already got plans, or because you're in the mood for a certain kind of book/author and you don't own one in that feeling that's diverse - don't sweat it. Just know that it is important, diversity in literature, television, movies - pop culture in general. To kids, to teenagers, to adults, to people over sixty. It's important. 

Let me know what you're reading this week, though, if you are planning on getting some diverse reads in. Or your most recent diverse read, whatever it was or had to do ith, I'd love to hear about it.

Happy read(athon)ing!

(Note: obviously I am still taking part in #slowathon and #tackleTBR, as well, just for this week I'm going to try and be very deliberate in my books. And, in the future, remember to be as well. It shouldn't be too hard with how many diverse books I own. However, I am still going to start my reread of The Way of Kings because my heart was set on that for my #slowathon goal, though it's definitely going to take damn longer then just a week, that's for sure).

#Slowathon | Tackle Your TBR (#TackleTBR)

I think it's probably pretty obvious that those two are readathons. I've done Tackle Your TBR before and it's longer then most and just it's so great. And I've been in such a reading moon since the end of August into September? Like a - I don't really want to watch things or read too much fanfiction I want to read all the things, I'm hoping that'll continue into these readathons.

First, Slowathon! (Isn't that a great title?) It's a readathon created by marlinelina on YouTube - announcement video. There are optional challenges but you're not suppose to do them all because this readathon is all about quality not quantity - taking your time with a big book, or just reading a big book. And not trying to do the normal readathon thing of reading ALL THE BOOKS.

And I was considering, a few months ago, making September: Sanderson September. Mostly because of that alliteration but also because the last book in his Alcatraz series is coming out (I've read the first two but want to reread then continue). However, I also want to reread The Way of Kings, because I love it so damn much, and then finally read Words of Radiance. I also want to reread the Mistborn series. And I've never read Elantris. So. Much. Sanderson.

So for this readathon, I'm probably going to be reading other things around it when I need a break or whatever but I'd like to reread The Way of Kings this week, and also was planning on marking it up with favorite quotes/comments/such and that turns out to be one of the challenges.

I love normal readathon ways, obviously since I take part in all of them. I also really love the idea of taking my time with a book, and finally getting to some chunkier ones, even as a reread. I want to be able to re-immerse myself in that world. (I'm currently, accidentally, a bit ahead in my goal to read 100 books so I think it's completely doable).

Dates: September 12th - 18th. (Use #slowathon to talk to people on social media, it looks like)

Tackle Your TBR is more on the normal track for readathons, hosted by Wishful Endings, and these two overlap - though the slowathon is only a week while Tackle Your TBR is two. It goes from September 12th - 26th. I'll probably not push myself too much the first week, focusing more on The Way of Kings - but when I need a break and still want to read, I'll probably pick something else up.

As for a TBR, I have no idea. I've been super addicted to my Kindle Paperwhite but also I have hundreds of unread books in my apartment and I would like to also read those. I also really want to reread It, which is 1,200 pages, but also want to reread Sanderson. Also want to try and knock out some of the books that are new that I've been eyeing.

Who knows! I'm a mood reader, books, too many choices.

Let me know if you're taking part in either of these readathons. Also if you like the idea of slowathon as much as I did - everyones got at least one giant book on their shelves they want to read, right?

Announcement video for #slowathon
Announcement/sign up post for Tackle Your TBR

August 2016 | Monthly Wrap Up

August was kind of the high point of stress - when this stress ends, if it evers ends why, maybe I'll be able to blog regularly. The insanity. Anyway, I read a ton during this month even though I probably shouldn't of four two reasons: one, because I wanted to just finish the Sookie Stackhouse series once and for all, and, two, to avoid real life (heyyooo, reading is my favorite form of escapism).

And so as of today - having finish two things already in September, they were short - I'm four books ahead for my 100 books (book books) in 2016 challenge! We'll see how long that lasts but I'm hopeful since I've been suck in a reading book and completely addiction to my Kindle Paperwhite.

I want to talk about that for a few seconds before moving on to the books I read this months and such. I've had a Kindle Fire for years - not entirely sure on when I bought it because it's been at least 4 years (I think? My ability to track time passing is pretty bad but it's... 2 generations past what the current Fire is... i think?) Anyway - new kindle. And the Paperwhite because of the no glare/like paper screen. I don't know what it is about screens but I can't read on them for too long, especially if the print is too small (I make all of my font bigger, thank you kindles). I can read pretty much as long as I want on the Paperwhite, though, and I've also been using my library ebook service.

What was I reading through the library? The Sookie Stackhouse books, mostly. It was easier, and when I first started my reread I didn't know where a good handful of the books had gone (I did end up finding them all but I didn't get up the motivation to find them all until Bout of Books so I could add them to the stack). To wrap it up - I love reading with the Paperwhite and am currently going out of my way to read things on my paperwhite, to the point where it's been a while since I've read a physical book (still can't beat it, though, I love physical books. For instance: read a series digitally this month and loved it so, obviously, had to purchase the physical books).

To show the month in statistics: I read 12 books, 7 graphic novels/comics, no single issues (apparently I haven't read a single issue since March, though I do enjoy just waiting and then marathoning a few at a time which normally ends up it's easier to just count as the trade. Anyway, off topic). And for time spent reading: 51 hours, 29 minutes. I read quite a bit of things that I didn't finish, and the All for the Game books took longer then my normal speed because I kept pausing the highlight things.

Books:
Muted: A Love Story by (3.5/5)
Definitely Dead (Sookie Stackhouse #6) by Charlaine Harris (3.5.5)
All Together Dead (Sookie Stackhouse #7) by Charlaine Harris (3/5)
From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse #8) by Charlaine Harris (4/5)
Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse #9) by Charlaine Harris (3.5/5)
Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse #10) by Charlaine Harris (3/5)
Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris (3/5)
Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris  (3/5)
Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13) by Charlaine Harris (2.5/5)
The Foxhole Courts (All for the Game #1) by Nora Sakavic (5/5)
The Raven King (All for the Game #2) by Nora Sakavic (5/5)
The King's Men (All for the Game #3) by Nora Sakavic (5/5

Graphic Novels/Comics:
Soppy: A Love Story by Philippa Rice (5/5)
Lumberjanes, Volume 4: Out of Time by Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis (5/5)
Fruits Basket: Collectors Edition, Volume 2 by Natsuki Takaya (5/5)
Giant Days, Volume 1 by John Allison, Lissa Treiman (4/5)
Giant Days, Volume 2 by John Allison, Lissa Treiman (4/5)
Fruits Basket: Collectors Edition, Volume 3 by Natsuki Takaya (5/5)
Outcast, Volume 1 by Robert Kirkman, Paul Azaceta (3.5/5)

Have I mentioned how good it feels to have finished the Sookie Stackhouse series? Because so damn good. It's a fun series, sure, but I got a little fatigued reading them back to back by the end - mostly because they're just fun but that doesn't go far when there's editing errors or just shit I didn't care about. Either way, overall the series is alright, I'd say 3.5/5 overall. The last book let me down a little, the final person she ended up with felt so damn rushed, the whole book kind of did, and juggling so many characters went okay but not great.

On the other hand - the All for the Game series. It isn't perfect, not by a long shot, but they're definitely damn good, great even. They're a little silly dramatic at points for me, but there were a few points something would happen - mostly Neil would open his mouth and say something - and I'd have to put my Kindle down and just like pace because sometimes no survival instincts with the talking.

I loved it, though, I just did. It's got problems, and trigger warnings for pretty much all the big things, but none of it felt over the top? Like parts of it really weren't dealt with in a healthy way, but they're teenagers and half of them don't seem to really trust the team psychiatrist or just don't think about it. It felt very real and was just so good, I'm so attached to these characters now. Also it's marketed as a romance series, but - not really? I mean there is a romance but isn't part of the story until the last book, so I'd keep that in mind. Either way: highly recommended if you can stomach some fucked up shit. (Don't let anyone give you shit if you can't, don't worry about it, don't push yourself).

I mini review things, mostly, as I read them over on Instagram, but as soon as the stress calms down I would like to get back into actually reviewing stuff - even just doing mini reviews and lumping a few things into a post. I did do one review this month, though! (Which, I believe, was my first review of the year? Holy books).

On the Blog: 
July 2016 | Monthly Wrap Up
Bout of Books 17 | Announcement 
Bout of books 17 | Update Post
Book and Audiobook review: Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock #1)
Bout of Books 17 | Wrap Up

Bout of Books 17 | Wrap Up

This wasn't the best week of reading for me but considering how hectic it was, I'm okay with it, I guess. I ended up finished 5 books and starting 2 others. And 2 of them I read in the last two days of the readathon when I got my reading mojo back a little, which was nice.

Part of it was all the busy but another part of it was I finished a series and just needed a little breather, I think. I mean, it was a series I was relieved to finally be done with, for more then one reason, but it as still the end of a series (goodbye, Sookie Stackhouse, but it fun. Most of the time).

Overall it was a good week and it was tons of fun to participate in the chats - I got to take part in both and I thought I was going to miss the second but ended up I didn't. And the chats are one of my favorite parts of the readathon, everyones just so damn awesome.

Anyway, let's do stats and books and then I'll give mini reviews on each (grouping the last few of the series I finished together).

Books Completed: 5
Total Pages Read: 1,472
Total Time Spent Reading: 19 hours, 21 minutes

Books Finished:
Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris
Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris
Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13) by Charlaine Harris
The Foxhole Courts (All for the Game #1) by Nora Sakavic
The Raven King (All for the Game #2) by Nora Sakavic

Those are the 5 books I ended up finished I also started 3 others, but only got a tiny bit into all of them so I'll talk about them at a later date. First I started the readathon off by finished the Sookie Stackhouse series. For some reason, around the end of July, I got the motivation to read over and then finish the series - rereading because I barely remembered what happened at all in the series besides random scenes (none of which were major plot points).

I'd always wanted to finish the series - I really loved reading them when I first did. And I knew I'd enjoy them less now, and I did, but they're still fun. Mostly what annoyed me the most was the glaring editing errors. For example: Sookie learning thing at the end of one book and then learning it again for the first time in the beginning of the next book. I was just like: ????. Overall, though, they're fun and I am so glad to have finally read the last two books and be done with this series. (Though the last book was kind of meh, it didn't wrap it up enough in my opinion).

The next thing I was finished was The Foxhole Court and the sequel, The Raven King, and I've got to tell you I loved them both. At the very beginning I thought of checkplease! (a webcomic you need to check out) but that is mostly light and happy. This is dark, very dark, and I just really love me some dark. There's Andrew who is a tiny psychotic puppy (okay, that might just be what I call him in my head, but I think it every time the author mentions how short he is). And our main character Neil - and the whole team in: Nicky, Aaron, Matt, Dan, Allison, Renee.

It's dark as hell - trigger warnings for violence, rape, torture, probably everything I've only read through the first two - but it's also really good? I really like all the characters and I have no idea where the series is going to go now that I'm 9% into the third, and final, book. And that's the way I like it.

Let me know how you did this Bout of Books - comment or leave me the link to your own wrap up - and also let me know if you've got thoughts on any of theses books.

Happy reading!

Book and Audiobook Review: Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock #1)

Title: Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock #1)
Author: Faith Hunter
Genre: urban fantasy
Rating: 5/5 stars
Page Count: 340
Publication Date: May 22nd, 2009

Plot (from goodreads):
Jane Yellowrock is the last of her kind-a skinwalker of Cherokee descent who can turn into any creature she desires and hunts vampires for a living. But now she's been hired by Katherine Fontaneau, one of the oldest vampires in New Orleans and the madam of Katie's Ladies, to hunt a powerful rogue vampire who's killing other vamps...





Review:
First we're going to talk about how I found this book and then the book and audiobook. I read probably 80-85% of this book through the audiobook, and I couldn't put it down (I ended up cleaning a shit ton purely because I wanted to keep listening to this but that's for later). It was recommended on audible and I was looking for something new to listen to - even though I should of been listening to the way too many audiobooks I own and haven't listened to.

And this had an interesting title - I knew what a skinwalker was, but not in this sense - and then I saw the main character was native american. And, this is a gap in my reading, I'm not sure I've ever read a book with a native american as the main character? I own a few but most of those heavily focus on that. With this book it's part of the story, and I suspect will with be a much bigger part in future books, but mostly it's just about her being kick ass and amazing. (Okay, there's more to it then that, but she is also kickass and amazing).

The main character, Jane Yellowrock, I'm not sure if I would love her so much if it wasn't for the audiobook narrator. Sometimes there are just audiobooks I click with and love, and I think this was one of them. She's got a great voice, and a great handle on the attitude in it that Jane has as a character. And she's definitely got attitude, and it's amazing.

I don't want to go too into the plot because it rolls slow at first - but it doesn't feel slow because new world and learning everything, and the characters are awesome - but when the plot hits, it hits. I'm trying really hard to make this a spew of love. I will say that towards the end I got a little confused with the fight scene, but that might be my normal trouble with concentrating on audiobooks. Which is why I don't do them as much as physical/ebooks, or maybe it was just a little confusing. Either way, only a little and am really damn excited to keep reading, or listening - I may of bought both physical and audio.

I've never heard a thing about this series but the first book has 22,000+ ratings on Goodreads, so I don't know if it's just me or not. (If you have/n't let me know). I highly recommend it, though - audio, if you're into that, but the words are still the same if you just read the old fashioned way.

If you've already read this book, let me know! (Especially if you've read on, I'd love to hear if you love the series). Or if you're thinking of picking it up.

Bout of Books 17 | Update Post

Day one and the post with all the things goes up - I'd forgotten I'd gotten into the one post thing, but it is kind of nice to have everything in one place. Is a little, very, long by the end of the week but I guess that's to be expected and fine.

In May, for the last Bout of Books, I had such bad eye strain that for like 85% of the week I could barely move, let alone read. I could barely function - but I was bored while laying still in the dark for hours, a person can only sleep so much, so I did audiobook it. This time - new glasses, which help, and also plain just not doing things that'll cause me eye strain so hopefully this week will be good............ *knocks on wood*

Below are my goals, loose TBR, and then where my updates at the end of every day will be (probably updated the next morning because sleep is nice). 

My Goals

• Read. Read. Read.
• Twitter chats! (possibly my favorite part of these readathons? I just love the chatting part - so much fun!)
• Comment on blogs - not just reading and lurking, leaving actually damn comments. (It isn't that hard but my anxiety makes it super hard - I don't know why! It should, at least, be easy to comment on peoples blogs I've talked to. Excuse the language, though I swear all the time in real life, but fuck anxiety).
• And, as always: have fun! Only flailing!

Books to Read (who knows what this will looks like by the end of the week - won't take any off that I put up but will definitely add some):

• Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris
• Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris
• Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13) by Charlaine Harris
• Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal
• Blood Cross (Jane Yellowstone #2) by Faith Hunter

• Injection, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey
• Injection, Volume 2 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey
• Paper Girls #6 by Brian K. Vaughn, Cliff Chiang

Updates

Monday
Number of books I've read today: 2
Pages read: 516
Time Spent Reading: 5 hours, 44 minutes
Books:
Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris (finished - 189 pages)
Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris (finished - 327 pages)

Notes:
I am going to finish the Sookie Stackhouse series tomorrow - probably. I mean I don't know what could stop me, even if I have more things to do then expected it's going to take me like max four hours. I'm so ready to be done - I'm enjoying it but it's grinding on my nerves a little, all of them are.

Tuesday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 338
Total # of pages: 854
Time Spent Reading: 3 hours, 58 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 9 hours, 42 minutes
Books:
Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13) by Charlaine Harris (started and finished - 338 pages)

Notes:
So. Finished that series. Let's just - move on now that that's all over.

I meant to read more but I was just kind of exhausted by about eight and just didn't have the brain power, so ended up doing a few things that require less brain power. Don't know how much time I'll have to read tomorrow, but probably going to read some of the comic things I've got I want to read soon and also, hopefully, start the next novel (might already be planning to go off my TBR because nothings catching my eye, but I am damn tired).

Wednesday
Nothing read. Nothing.

Notes:
Yup. I thought this week was free but it turns out it isn't - ah, the fun. But after today I should have more time to read and such, we shall see. I really want to get into Blood Cross by Faith Hunter and have both the physical and audiobook so that might be good for today and the cleaning and such I have to do.

Hopefully your Wednesday went better - let me know how your readathon is going! (Today, tomorrow, whenever you see this. Hey there). (I didn't get enough sleep last night and am slightly loopy, so that'll be fun).

Thursday

Notes:
General business but also my friend, and neighbor, came home from Italy and she had a hell of a trip and not in a good way. So there was much catching up, and I'm fine with not reading because of that. Hopefully I can read Friday but sleeping, for some reason, has become difficult.

Friday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 46
Total # of pages: 900
Time Spent Reading: 33 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 10 hours, 15 minutes
Books:
Blood Cross (Janes Yellowrick #2) by Faith Hunter (started - 46 pages)

Notes:
I had time to read today, but I couldn't concentrate? I love this series and it's so interesting and there's also stuff happening, though not always action, which is really kind of how I like my urban fantasy. Either way, it just wasn't holding my attention, I guess I needed more time to whatever.

Saturday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total # of books I've read: 3
Pages read: 222
Total # of pages: 1,122
Time Spent Reading: 3 hours, 23 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 13 hours, 39 minutes
Books:
A Trick of Light by Lois Metzger (started - 19 pages)
The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic (started - 203 pages)

Notes:
I also tried getting into another book on my kindle paperwhite - which I am still slightly obsessed with, have been since it arrived - but I didn't want to count all the beginnings of books I read. I want to eventually get to A Trick of Light, but I think I'll wait on that. (It seems to be a little experimental, also it's going to be a hard read and I thought maybe that's what I was in the mood for but maybe not that kind of hard).

The Foxhole Court is different then I expected? I've been hearing about it for a little while and I bought this first one fairly recently - purely based on the fact it was LGBTQ+ and people seemed to like it. At first, with the NCAA college sport thing - I was like: maybe it's like checkplease! hell yes (and the LGBTQ+ elements, as well). Well, it's not like my favorite webcomic in the world, not in any way but that, because it is dark as shit and I am loving it? If you've read this book, or finished the series, let me know your thoughts - planning on finishing the first one tomorrow and maybe going on to the second.

Sunday
Number of books I've read today: 2
Total # of books I've read: 5
Pages read: 350
Total # of pages: 1,472
Time Spent Reading: 5 hours, 43 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 19 hours, 21 minutes
Books:
The Foxhole Courts (All for the Game #1) by Nora Sakavic (finished - 34 pages)
The Raven King (All for the Game #2) by Nora Sakavic (started and finished - 286 pages)
The Kings Men (All for the Game #3) by Nora Sakavic (started - about 30 pages)

Notes:
Alright, the end of another bout of books. It's always sad for it to be over - and I may have read a good amount but no where near to what I had wanted to read - mostly to get a bit ahead in my reading challenge which was why I was focusing on novels and didn't get to any of the single issues/comics I'd laid out.

I'm probably going to post a full wrap up tomorrow after I get some sleep, because that's always fun, but quickly: loving the All for the Game series. It's fucked up and really freaking good. I'm enjoying the beginning of the third one a little less but I think because - well, spoilers, but I'm a sucker for like ALL THE SECRETS and then them slowly being doled out in surprising or shocking ways. That's probably normal but it's also fun.

Probably still going to read a good chunk of book three tomorrow, readathon or no, because I need to know how this all ends. Need to.

Bout of Books 17 | Announcement

Another readathon, and a Bout of Books at that! (Just pretend you can see my heart eyes, I love Bout of Books probably a weird amount). This round will be running from August 22nd to August 28th - so the perfect time if you've got some books you want to get through before the end of the month. Blurb here:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 22nd and runs through Sunday, August 28th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 17 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. 
- From the Bout of Books team

I'll post Sunday or Monday with a kick-off post with goals and a loose TBR - if you're participating let me know! I'll definitely be trying to make the rounds to see what everyones up to and hopefully actually commenting this time (commenting, the bane of my existence).

Happy reading!

BoB blog
Sign up post

(Small note, for myself and just because it's fun, this will be my 11th Bout of Books. I finally did an actual count instead of guessing. 7 - now).

July 2016 | Monthly Wrap Up

It's been a few months since I've done a monthly wrap up - I didn't do one for May or June - and I thought about doing a catch up one but decided against it. I finished a good few books in May, but only two in June, and July's been a pretty great reading month for me.

There was BookTubeAThon in July, which definitely helped with my reading - though, I didn't follow any of the challenges - and also rereading stuff. And mostly just getting myself back into the routine of it. Also - audiobooks.

I'm planning on making a whole post about why I've been so MIA, but I'm not sure if I will / if I have enough to say to make a whole post? Maybe I do, maybe it'll go up. Either way, the man thing is that my health isn't the best right now - mental and physical - and the fact that I've been exhausted for about two months now (actually, physically exhausted. Just getting waves of it) also isn't very good for, well, anything.

Books:
Shadow and Bone (Grisha Trilogy #1) by Leigh Bardugo (4/5)
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman (5/5)
Siege and Storm (Grisha Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo (3/5)
The Machine Stops by E.M Forester (4/5)
Grinder (Seattle Sharks #1) by Samantha Whiskey (4/5)
The Khmer Kill by Barry Eisler (3/5)
Ruin and Rising (Grisha Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo (3/5)
Fault Line by Barry Eisler (3.5/5)
Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse #2) by Charlaine Harris (3/5)
Club Dead (SS #3) by Charlaine Harris (3/5)
Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock #1) by Faith Hunter (5/5)
Dead to the World (SS #4) by Charlaine Harris (3/5)
Dead as a Doornail (SS #5) by Charlaine Harris (3.5/5)

Graphic Novels/Comics:
Fruits Basket: Collectors Edition, Volume 1 by Natsuki Takaya (5/5)

First of all, about what I read this month - 13 books, 1 other. And 8 of which were audiobooks, which surprises me, and 7 of which were reread (not completely overlapping). And I spent over fifty hours reading this month, which is awesome. I'm using a time logging app, which I believe I've mentioned that before, and mostly it started with wanting to keep track of my reading. And now I'm keeping track of everything, and it's kind of awesome? And terrifying.

Now, about what I actually read: I was a little disappointed rereading The Grisha Trilogy, which I wasn't that surprised by, but it definitely hit me more how annoying Mal is, how much the darkling sucks, and how Nikolai is someone I would of accepted a political marriage with in a heartbeat (listen, I know that isn't just me).

The Sookie Stackhouse reread started accidentally. I realized I could watch (rewatch) True Blood though Prime and started doing that and then missed the books - because the show take everything to eleven it's insane. And, sure, the books are crazy but way less so, and less complicated. They're definitely in need of some major editing, though, and also just in general are a little meh but I'm having fun (and I never read the last two, so I might as well continue and maybe finally finish this series).

Then I want to just really quickly talk about the two things I really loved this months, and then I promise to stop rambling. Skinwalker wasn't really anything i expected it to be. I listened to it and mostly because Audible randomly recommended it to me and I've never read just a book with a native america MC (which isn't acceptable) and I was kind of expecting whatever urban fantasy stuff. And did not expect to completely love it. I want to write a full review, because I want everyone to read it, highly recommended.

Fruits Basket is a manga (and anime) that I've talked about before, it's what got me into both, and I will love it forever. Period. And they're rereleasing it, in the US at least, in a new edition with a whole new translation, which I like more then the original translation. It has two of the original volumes in one and the first three - so the first six - are out already. If you're new to manga, or haven't read it yet: Fruits Basket, do it.

How was your reading month? Or month in general. Feel free to let me know!

#7in7Readathon | (Another one? Yes)

And another readathon - that seems booktube/twitter based - but I like putting things here, I feel like it makes it neater. Anyway, I feel like this read-a-thon is pretty self explanatory - trying to read 7 books in 7 days. Currently I think my plan is just to try and knock off the rest of my Sookie Stackhouse reread and finally read the last two books in the damn series (three? I don't remember where I stopped honestly I think I just haven't read the last two, but it's been so long I only remember bits and pieces).

This readathon is running from July 31st (happy birthday, harry) to August 6th! Different then a usual Monday to Sunday but I can start a day sooner so who really cares (avoiding everything with books, hello that is me right now) (stress, stress, stress).

The announcement video is here with any information you could need but that's the basics - 7 books, 7 days; July 31st to August 6th, youtube/twitter (probably also instagram?). Oh and the hashtag in the title of this post is the hashtag that's apparently being used, I'll probably also be using simply #7in7.

As for my TBR, I think I kind of already spoiled it? Sookie Stackhouse books and then probably the two Fruits Basket, Collectors Editions I have, maybe I'll throw in some graphic novels or single issues (I haven't been reading single issues because they're a mess, I need to organize them all).

If you're joining let me know - in the comments here or just on twitter - and either way I hope you have a great (reading) week!

Announcement video
Twitter

#24in48 Wrap Up

First of all - where have I been? Well, honestly, the answer is pretty damn simple and it comes in three parts: reading slump, which was from the stress and having to do a bunch of stuff related to family business-y stuff. And also that I've been kind of sick? I guess? I haven't been healthy, that's for sure, and if someone, anyway, could tell me why I'm having hot flashes I will give them my firstborn (joke will be on them but still).

Besides all of that, that isn't what this post is about. The 24in48 readathon happened over this weekend, and I didn't make a sign up/tbr post because I honestly though I'd get maybe six hours read, a book finished. And so I'm blown away at what I did get read.

The reason I didn't think I'd get much down is because most of Sunday was spent at a house party/wizard rock show seeing friends and melting (anything over like 75 at the moment is too hot for me and it's been in 90). It was well worth it, though, and a ton of fun.

I did get a surprising amount read Saturday, where I had the whole day to read, and spent 7 hours, 32 minutes of it reading. Sunday I basically just had the morning, not sure how late I'd be back and probably mentally exhausted by then, anyway.

Read over the weekend:

• Fruits Basket: Collectors Edition, Volume 1 by Natsuki Takaya (started and finished - 400 pages)
• Club Dead by Charlaine Harris (finished - 137 pages)
• Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock #1) by Faith Hunter (finished - 340) (had listened to a little on Friday but not much)
• Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris (started - 115 pages)

Overall it was pretty much a win in my opinion, especially because I was also low key taking part in the booktubeathon. With my recent book slumpy feelings (being too stressed to read) it really helped to just try and set time aside this time to read. I'm going to try and do the same next week, I'm technically still about two books behind on my read 100 books (as in book books) challenge I set for myself. 

I can't promise I'll be back more this month or next - maybe in September, which should be after a few of the personal/family business stress things calm down (just thinking about it makes my chest tighten). Hopefully. Either way, I'll definitely be around for the nest bout of books at the end of August! 

Total Time Spent Reading: 11:04

Total things finished: 3 (1 other started)

Pages read: 992

Bout of Book 16 | Update Post

Bout of Books is one of my favorite readathons, if not just plain my favorite. It's a ton of fun, and I'm always excited when it's time for another one (so glad this one isn't only once of year, I'd go insane waiting).

And so it's time for the May bout of Bout of Books (see what I did there?), and I've got stacks of books I want to read, we'll see how far I can get through them. If you're confused, you can check out the website, and definitely join in - there will be mini challenges, and twitter chats (I heart the twitter chats, everyones awesome).

Now onto the important stuff! I'm using the same set up as last time, the suggested template, and I enjoyed using it last time so here we go again. (I won't be finish my full TBR this time, though, or ever again).

Feel free to leave me comments letting me know if you're participating - how you feel about anything I'm planning on reading, or really just anything book related. And I hope, if you're participating, you have a fantastic week!

My Goals

• Read. Read. Read.
• Twitter chats! (should be able to make both of them)
• Visit blogs, comment, interact with people in the hashtag on the medias. (Basically: talk to the awesome people)
• Have fun! (Flailing, not failing)

Books to Read (I have so many books that I want to read that I'm going to just list a handful and then add in what I end up reading, crossed out is finished):

• Deadman Wonderland, Vol 3 ++
• Crush by Richard Silken
• Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal
• The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
• World War Z by Max Brooks
• Lumberjanes, Volume 1 by Noelle Stevenson, +
• Lumberjanes, Vol 2 by Noelle Stevenson, +
• Lumberjanes, Vol 3 by Noelle Stevenson, +
• Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

Updates

Monday
Number of books I've read today: 2
Pages read: 328
Time Spent Reading: 2 hours, 7 minutes
Books:
Lumberjanes, Volume One: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Brooke Allen (started and finished - 128 pages)
Lumberjanes, Volume Two: Friendship to the Max by Noelle Stevenson, + (started and finished - 112 pages)
The Hidden Oracle (Trials of Apollo #1) by Rick Riordan (continued - 88 pages)

Notes:
Lumberjanes is so damn good, and they're all adorable characters (And I kind of want to dress up as April?) It's amazing, highly recommended, I ordered volume three so I'll be reading that this week, too.

Had started The Hidden Oracle - just couldn't wait - and feeling a little eh about it. Would of probably just set it aside if not for favorite characters being back or mentioned. I've missed Camp.


Tuesday
Number of books I've read today: 2
Total # of books I've read: 4
Pages read: 480
Total # of pages: 808
Time Spent Reading: 2 hours, 17 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 4 hours, 24 minutes
Books:
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (started and finished - 272 pages)
Deadman Wonderland, Volume 3 by Jinsei Kataoka, Kazuma Kondou (started and finished - 208 pages)

Notes:
I totally forgot to add yesterday, and am not really sure where to add it besides in time spent reading - but have also been listening to the World War Z audio. One of my favorite audiobooks and it's been a while since I've listened to it, so damn good.

Nimona was amazing, so damn good, and Deadman Wonderland is so fucked up and weird but I'm going to keep reading it because of that.

Also I've been struggling reading because hello my old friend eye strain - it feels like whenever a readathon happens, I've got eye strain. I think it's because I spend the few days before doing a lot of reading over stuff and writing on my computer and my eyes want to implode. Bleh.

Wednesday & Thursday
Number of books I've read today: 2
Total # of books I've read: 6
Pages read: 333
Total # of pages: 1,141
Time Spent Reading: 7 hours, 27 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 11 hours, 51 minutes
Books:
World War Z by Max Brooks (finished - 221 pages)
Lumberjanes, Volume 3: A Terrible Plan by Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Carolyn Nowak (started and finished - 112 pages)

Notes:
I could finally stand a few minutes on the computer to update here! Yayyy! It's been the only thing I've been tweeting about, but if you didn't know - eye strain sucks. It's the worst. And I've mostly been listening to audiobooks.

Wednesday was over six hours of listening to World War Z, I just couldn't do anything else. It was hurting to even have my eyes open. And still is at points yesterday and still today, it's been a long week, honestly.

Friday
Number of books I've read today: 1 (and a single issue)
Total # of books I've read: 7
Pages read: 374
Total # of pages: 1,515
Time Spent Reading: 5 hours, 22 minutes
Total Time Spent Reading: 17 hours, 13 minutes
Books:
The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan (Finished - 235 pages)
Black Panther #1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brian Stelfreeze (started and finished - 32 pages)
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (started - 107 pages)

Notes:
I'm really enjoying my reread of The Name of the Wind - the audiobook is incredible - but I had been hoping to reread in physical. I guess it doesn't matter, it's gorgeous either way.

Mostly just eh about The Hidden Oracle - it was fun at parts, mostly the parts where we were seeign characters we already knew - but I was relieved that Apollo was less annoying by the end of the book. Maybe he'll actually learn something at some point.


Saturday
Number of books I've read today:
Total # of books I've read:
Pages read:
Total # of pages:
Time Spent Reading:
Total Time Spent Reading:
Books:


Notes:

Sunday
Number of books I've read today:
Total # of books I've read:
Pages read:
Total # of pages:
Time Spent Reading:
Total Time Spent Reading:
Books:


Notes:

May 9th | Weekly Wrap Up #33

The first week of May started off with a kick in my reading that honestly surprised me, but I was just in the mood for reading. (And then the real caffeine withdrawal set in, which I've never experienced before but I do not recommend).

I also keep forgetting to include this, but I've been tracking my time (which I mentioned recently in my April wrap up). And so I know how much time I've been spending reading. Since I haven't done a weekly wrap up since the beginning of the month, and it's one day off, I'm going to just include all eight days of May so far. 13 hours, 4 minutes. Which I think is the most I've read in a week since starting to track my time, and I might of figured out a routine that works, as soon as I'm feeling better I can try and get back to it.

Besides that - onto the books, I guess!

Reading: (finished this week and actively currently-reading)
The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4) by Maggie Stiefvater (5/5)
And that's all there is.
I think I might be in shock, which is why I read so much after. Is that really the end?

Prince's Gambit (Captive Prince #2) by C.S Pacat (5/5)
Way different then the first book, for sure. I'm working on writing a full review for the whole series, speaking of....

Kings Rising (Captive Prince #3) by C.S. Pacat (5/5)
This series. I read it shockingly fast, though I was told to expect that, and damn that was good. (It's a dark series, though, I'd suggest looking into it before diving in). I really enjoyed it, though, it was interesting and fun.

Stuff:
I've been either reading or almost too damn tired to see straight, so I haven't been collecting anything for here. And I guess I don't have to, I've just chatted here before, but I'm still in the tired/muddled face of the caffeine withdrawal. I'm really hoping I feel better tomorrow for Bout of Books.

I guess I could mention that? Talk about it? If you didn't know - Bout of Books 16 starts tomorrow, week long readathon, my favorite honestly (I need sleep, guys, right now like all the sleep). Besides that, I'm not really sure what I'll end up reading during the week. I've got some things I'm currently reading and a stack to choose from - but there's also a back up stack, and also just generally my apartment is full of books.

And that's a little stressful in itself - I totally understand why people stick to TBRs, I wish I could just do that - but I'm still hopeful of getting a lot of reading done if I just don't think about it too hard. (my secret to everything I ever get done - not thinking about it too hard).

Besides that, it's been pretty run of the mill around here since the spur of the moment New York trip. And I want like one day without having to interact with people, generally - people are seriously exhausting.

Oh - well I saw Civil War, but I'm not going to say anything about it? Because I know people probably haven't had the time yet and most people don't like spoilers. It's Steve and Bucky focused, obviously I enjoyed it.

What have you been up to, read this week? Let me know!

On the blog:

April 2016 | Monthly Wrap Up

Bout of Books 16 | May 9th - 15th (sign up)