January 2020 TBR

It's January TBR time!

Here's the thing about me, I love making lists and monthly TBRs but I am terrible at sticking to them. Right now, I'm reading at a rate where TBR don't really make sense; about two books per month tops recently and one of them is my book club book. BUT I'm still going to make a TBR! (I'm sure you didn't see that one coming.)

I've got a reasonable list, probably about one book per challenge I'm participating. I am giving myself grace to not finish books and change them based on my mood and if I feel like I'm falling into a slump. I want to increase my reading and I'm going to listen to myself and not force books that aren't interesting to me anymore.

Anyway, so I've got some guidelines for myself and I'm ready to share with you my picks for January!

The Disney-a-Thon Pick:
Pocahontas  - Read a book featuring Native/Indigenous people
Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse- While I was researching my retelling challenge for this year, I came across this book and it's coming out this month. It's a story inspired by Navajo lore, featuring a set of siblings with Navajo heritage. It sounds incredibly interesting and I'm also looking forward to rewatching Pocahontas! (Bonus it also counts toward the retelling challenge!)

Series Picks:
Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater- I read the first two books of this series at the end of 2019 and I really liked them. I'm definitely going to continue and finish it in the first quarter of 2020. And that starts with this book! I'm really intrigued as to where the story of Blue and the boys is going so here I am hoping to read this book this month!

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo -  This is another series that I started in 2019 and I'd really like to finish in 2020. I love Leigh Bardugo's writing and I'm excited to see where this story goes in the sequel!

Book Club Pick:
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott -  This is a reread for me; I've read it in the last couple years for the first time and really enjoyed it. We decided to read the book and then go see the new adaptation of it with Emma Watson and company.

Welcome to 2020

It's a brand new decade! And a brand new decade deserves a new set of challenges. So today I'm going to share with you the challenges I've chosen to participate in and some of the books I hope to read in 2020.

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2020 Finishing the Series Reading Challenge hosted by Celebrity Readers.

I've been doing this challenge for a couple years now and I really enjoy it. It gives me an excuse and a great reminder to continue those series I've started but haven't finished.

Last year, I attempted and did not come close to finishing the B-lister level, which is finishing 5-8 series. I'm going to take it a little bit easier this year, so I'm choosing the C-lister level which is finishing 1-4 series. And if I complete this level early on in the year, I may upgrade to the B-lister level. We shall see.

I've got a list of potential book series candidates for this challenge. Obviously, there's more than four here so I'll be playing it by ear which series I read in 2020.

C-List Finisher (1-4 series)

1. The Raven Cycle by Maggie Steifvater (4 books total) - 4/10/20
2. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (3 books total)
3. Renegades by Marissa Meyer (3 books total)
4. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (4 books total)
5. Illuminae Chronicles by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (3 books total)
6. Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin (2 books total)
7. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (8 books total)
8. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (2 books total)


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2020 Retellings Reading Challenge hosted by Cornerfolds.

I love a good retelling, I'm a sucker for them. So when I found this challenge, I knew I wanted to participate!

There are levels and a bingo board with prompts so it's a bit of a two fold challenge and I am up for it! There's a giveaway aspect to this challenge that I may or may not participate in but I'll play that by ear.

The goal is a bingo (or a black out) on the board with the level you have chosen.  I am attempting to the Silent Assassin level, which is reading 1-5 retellings. Hopefully, my five books will work with five prompts to get my bingo. And again, if I finish that goal early in the year, I may upgrade to another level.

Hades & Persephone - The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
Own Voices - Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Free Space - The Trails of Apollo: The Tryant's Tomb by Rick Riordan

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Disney Read-a-thon Challenge hosted by ME!

This is a reading challenge that I created for myself mid last year. I combined my love for reading with my love for Disney. Essentially, a created a reading prompt for every animated theatrical release since the beginning of Disney. Here's the original post that has all the prompts!

Every month I'll randomly select a movie and read a book that follows the prompt and then watch the accompanying movie. The original post with all the prompts and explanation is linked above. I'll keep this area updated with what I watch and read this year; I may have multiple picks per month but I'm playing that by ear. Please feel free to join me on this adventure!

January:

August 2019 TBR

It's the beginning of August which means it's time to choose books and movies!

I think this is the first time the movie prompts fit perfectly with books I already wanted to read this month. So I'm extremely excited to be reading everything these!

The Picks:
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - Read your favorite book growing up
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - I'll be reading the illustrated edition, which I haven't actually read before. I love this story so so much, and it definitely has it's place near the top of my favorite books growing up. There's a lot of emotion associated with this series for me, so I'm excited to take the time this year to reread this gem again.

A Goofy Movie - Read a book featuring a parent/child relationship
Bridge of Clay by Markus Zuzak - This book I believe is all about a family and their estranged relationship with their father. I don't know too much about it, but I think I can pretty safely guess that  a parent/child relationship will be featured at least a little bit. I'm really hoping this book is excellent.

 

Book Club:
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens -  This was almost unanimously picked for our book this month. I've been hearing lots of good things about this book and so I can't wait to read it. I'll probably end up listening to it and I'm hoping it'll have a good narrator.

The Reading Rush Wrap Up!

So it's been a couple weeks since The Reading Rush ended and so I thought I'd share with you how I did! I did pretty well, especially since I had a lot of things going on in my life that week. Let's get right to it:

I managed to read 4 books, just over 800 pages:

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Runaways Vol 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 2: Masks by Kelly Thompson

With these books, I was able to complete all the challenges!

Read a book with purple on the cover:
Runaways Vol. 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 2: Masks by Kelly Thompson
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Three of the four of my books have purple on the cover, and I didn't even try to plan that!

Read a book in the same spot the entire time:
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 2: Masks by Kelly Thompson
Runaways Vol. 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell

I read both of these in the same spot, but I read Runaways first so I counted that one for this challenge.

Read a book you meant to read last year:
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 2: Masks by Kelly Thompson
Runaways Vol. 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell

I'm forever buying trades and then not reading them in a timely manner, so these worked perfectly for this challenge.

Read an author's first book:
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

I started but didn't finish Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, but luck for me Good Omens is technically Neil Gaiman's first book!

Read a book with a non-human main character:
Runaways: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell

There's a whole slew of non-human main characters in this series: a robot head, a dinosaur, and an alien just to name a few!

Pick a book that has five or more words in the title:
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 2: Masks by Kelly Thompson
Runaways Vol. 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell

The trades are coming in really handy this year, what with all the words in their titles and all.

Read and watch a book to movie adaptation:

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Technically I didn't complete this challenge because I didn't manage to watch the adaptation but I read the book and that was fun.

That's it! I collected 10 badges on The Reading Rush website and enjoyed putting more time and effort into my everyday reading! I think I should participate in more regularly in read-a-thons. So which one will it be next?!

June/July Wrap Up

Time for the Recap!

The Picks:
As a review, here are my pick for June and July
Home on the Range - Read a book that takes place on a ranch or features a cowboy
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure - Read a book featuring a nature word in the title
Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet - Read a book that features the Internet/technology
Finding Nemo - Read a book nominated for an award

I was able to complete three of the four prompts these last two months. I'll put Finding Nemo back in the pool for another time. Here are my short reviews for the books I read and their corresponding movies.

The Books:
When the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry - I really enjoyed this book. It definitely has a Stranger Things vibe to the story, and I really liked that aspect. This group of friends thrown together after an accident that affected most of the families in the small town. I loved the dynamic between characters, especially between Franny and her brother, Arthur.

Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy - I wanted to like this book so much.  It had all the makings of something that I'd love and unfortunately I just couldn't get into the book.  I counted this book as my Home on the Range because they ride horses at some point during this story (I know it's a stretch but it's my challenge, so.) I ended up putting this book down, but maybe I'll come back to it later.

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman - This book was so much fun! I really enjoyed the book scavenger game aspect of this story. It was a story of friendship and puzzles, family and adventure. There's a little bit of mystery and suspense which glued me to the book. I wanted to know what would come next, which clues our main characters would solve and where it would take them. Middle School is rough, but it's always nice to have a friend to share the experience with and these two main characters do just that.

The Movies:
Tinker Bell - Even though I pulled Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, I watched Tinker Bell so I could watch them in release order. This was a very cute movie about embracing who you are and what you're made to do. I really enjoyed watching Tink's origin story and I can't wait to pull other Tinker Bell movies.

Home on the Range - This is one of the few movies on the list that I haven't seen before. It's not your typical Disney musical; there were no singing animals, which did disappoint me a little.  Three cows go on an adventure to help save their Little Patch of Heaven, fighting against all odds. It's not my favorite movie, and I'm not surprised this isn't one of the more popular Disney movies, but it was fun.

Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet - This movie is a gem. I love the musical number that Vanellope sings while she's in Slaughter Race. My favorite part of this whole movie is the princesses. I would absolutely watch a feature length film with all of them interacting like they do in this movie!

August's picks are coming shortly. So until next time, happy reading!

The Reading Rush 2019

I'm a sucker for a good read-a-thon and I've always participated in The Booktube-A-Thon to some varying degree. This year is no different, except they've changed the name. It's now called The Reading Rush (and the title is growing on me.) This year there's a website and badges that you can unlock. I'm loving these updates!

It's a week long, running July 22nd - 28th. There are seven challenges which I have below and a bonus challenge to read seven books. I know I'm not going to get through seven books, but I will enjoy trying! Because I can never make a decision on books, I've got several options for each challenge.

This is my Reading Rush for 2019!

Read a book with purple on the cover:
The Disasters by M.K. England
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop: Masks by Kelly Thompson
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Read a book in the same spot the entire time:
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop: Family Reunion by Kelly Thompson
Runaways: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell

Read a book you meant to read last year:
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Read an author's first book:
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
The Disasters by M.K. England

Read a book with a non-human main character:
Soul and Stars by Ashley Poston - This comes out this week!
Runaways: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling

Pick a book that has five or more words in the title:
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop: Family Reunion by Kelly Thompson

Read and watch a book to movie adaptation:
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Atonement by Ian McEwan 

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells

There are so many possibilities and it's likely that I'll only get through one book of these, but I'm hoping to get through at least the graphic novels. Who knows if any of these books will actually stick. We shall find out what I actually read. Happy reading all!

July TBR

July is upon us, well we're actually quite into July now and so it is time for my July book and movie picks!

The Picks:
Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet - Read a book that features the Internet/technology
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman - This book features an Internet book scavenger hunt of sorts and I'm all for it! My friend, Maggie, recommended it to me and I trust her recommendations completely. I'm pretty sure I will love this book.

Finding Nemo - Read a book nominated for an award
The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton - This book was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award the year it was written. It didn't win, but that's okay, I've heard many good things about the author. It's set in present time and the past, and I'm a sucker for stories that are told that way.

Book Club:
The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton - Surprise! This is my book club pick too. I'm reading one book for two prompts this month and I love it!


I'm also participating in The Reading Rush read-a-thon, so I'll be posting that TBR later this month. Let me know what books you plan on reading this month. Happy reading!