January 2015 | Monthly Wrap Up

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

So I'm going to keep doing them, unless I feel like they getting too repetitive or I have nothing else to add.

• The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami (5/5)
• The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, Chris Rissell (5/5)
• Above the Dreamless Dead: World War 1 in Poetry and Comics edited by Chris Duffy (5/5)
• Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark (5/5)
• Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff (3/5)
• The Truth is the Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman (4/5)
• The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry (3/5)
• Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 1 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
• Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (4/5)
• Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 2 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
• Wayward #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 by Jim Zub (5/5)
• Baltimore: The Wolf and The Apostle #1, #2 by Mike Mignola (3/5)
• The Wicked and the Divine #6 by Kieron Gillen (5/5)
• East of West #16 by Jonathan Hickman (5/5)
• Lock In by John Scalzi (5/5)
• The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks (5/5)
• Dark Work Rising by Rhyannon Byrd (3/5)
• Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 3 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
• Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 4 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
• Ouran, Volume 5 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
• Ouran, Volume 6 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
• Ouran, Volume 7 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
• The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (5/5)
• Club Shadowlands (Masters of the Shadowlands #1) by Cherise Sinclair (4/5)
• Showa: A History of Japan, 1926-1939 by Shigeru Mizuki (5/5)
• Warning: Contains Language by Neil Gaiman (5/5)
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (3.5/5)
• Ouran, Volume 8 by Bisco Hatori (5/5)
• Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor, Jim Di Bartolo (5/5)
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (5/5)
• Saint City Sinners (Dante Valentine #4) by Lilith Saintcrow (3/5)
• Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1) by Melissa Marr (5/5)
• To Hell and Back (Dante Valentine #5) by Lilith Saintcrow (4/5)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 12th | Weekly Wrap Up #4

Bout of Books 12 | Day Seven Wrap-Up and The End

A year of manga/comics/graphic novels (2014)

2014 Blogging Year | 2015 Blogging Hopes

2015 Challenges | BookRiot Read Harder (1)

Anticipated 2015 Releases

2015 Challenges | Series & Banned Books (2)

January 19th | Weekly Wrap Up #5

Series Stuff (1) | All Finished Series (Through 2014)

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Can't Believe I've Never Read
Book Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest

2015 Challenges | The Books
January 26th | Weekly Wrap Up #6

* all Bout of Book 12, of course

January - March TBR | TBR Double Dog Dare

Oh yeah, that's right, it's not a challenge it's a dare. And not just any dare a double dog dare. Well, I can't turn down a challenge. Also it's related to something I've been thinking about going over compiling all my end of 2014 data. I did not read a lot of things I already owned, like serious did not (I read an okay amount, but not what I would of liked. Listen - I own a shit ton of books that are unread, I need to start working through them and stop buying so many more).

To explain what the hell I'm talking about with this TBR Double Dog Dare thing. It's an idea challenge from James Reads Books about taking January through March to read as many books that you physically owned (before 2015) as you can. (I'm assuming the before 2015 thing, even before that would be better).

He says you can make exceptions and I'm probably only going to make exceptions for new releases (a Sanderson book comes out first week of January, listen). Besides that, though, I've got stacks of books I want to read super soon and Bout of Books 12 is the secondish week of January.

I'm going to list some stuff/ideas at the bottom, but I'm obviously probably not going to stick to it (I'm just not, TBRs and me don't always mesh), but it's what I want to read soon or in arms reach. Series I want to marathon for a read-a-thon or just because I now own it and can (*cough* Ouran *cough*)

That's pretty much it, I think. Read as many physical books are you can, I'm going with they had to be bought before January 1st. (His post for this specifically). And onto tentative and wishful plans, as all TBRs tend to be with me.

• Ouran High School Host Club manga (christmas present to myself, all 18 volumes, let's do this shit).
• The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman (let's do this shirt
• The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
• Freak by Kristin Elizabeth Clark
• Elantris and The Allow of Law by Sanderson

I also have a ton of backlog comics (trades and single issues) and also manga (Death Note up to volume... 8? And then a handful of others). I don't want to guess too much, even though this is going to be for the next three months. I'd like to read more from Maggie Stiefvater (Blue Lily, Lily Blue but also her faerie books), I've also got a few duologies and series I'd like to marathon to knock them out early in the year.

I don't want to jinx myself, which sounds silly but I'd just be naming whatever my eye catches on anyway (which is also silly). Those all seem highly probably, though, especially for the next three months.

It's a new year! I hope yours started off well (and, if not, at least not too badly?). My 2015 reading resolutions post should be up soon along with my 2014 favorites, I've been working on a bunch of posts for this beginning of the year time and I hope you check them out.