This August, I had a bit of a slow reading month. I’m usually able to read a lot in the summer because as a teacher, I’m off work. However, my husband and I spent over half the month travelling, and I tend to read far less when I’m away on vacation. This month, I read 6 books. A Court of Mist and Fury was quite long, so just finishing that was an accomplishment I think!
Here it is, my August Wrap-Up!
I also read Precious Cargo, which I left in New Brunswick for my mom. I actually read Crazy Rich Asians in July, but I read it as an audiobook so I couldn’t picture it for my July Wrap-Up and ended up buying a physical copy this month!
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo – Amy Schumer ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Precious Cargo – Craig Davidson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Court of Mist and Fury – Sarah J. Maas ⭐⭐⭐⭐ P.S. I Still LoveYou – Jenny Han ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Princess Saves Herself in This One – Amanda Lovelace ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ China Rich Girlfriend – Kevin Kwan ⭐⭐⭐⭐
That comes in at a total of 6 books 🙂
Did I Meet My TBR Expectations?
I set a giant August TBR, which I planned to mood read from. Then, I ended up having to make an Indigo order for a textbook for one of my grad school courses. Naturally, once the order came, I was more interested in those new books than in the ones I had put on my TBR. I also didn’t read as many books as I’d hoped, but that was mostly due to travelling, not motivation, thankfully.
The Unread Shelf Project 2018 July Challenge
Over at theunreadshelf, the July challenge was to have your friends on Bookstagram choose your first read of the month. The votes were overwhelmingly for A Court of Mist and Fury. I decided to finish reading The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, which I started at the end of July, first. Then I dove straight into ACOMAF!
Notable Reads This Month
Overall, my favourite book of this month was The Princess Saves Herself in This One. I always have a soft spot in my heart for poetry books, especially ones as creative and unique as this one. Shoutout to Precious Cargo for being awesome and for being CanLit.
As for ratings, they were all pretty great!
What’s Next?
I started grad school this week and it was also back to work (school). Things are quite busy, so I’m not sure how much reading I’ll get done. We’ll see!
I’m having a hard time believing it’s already August. There’s less than a month until I’m back at work!! I saw an image on Instagram this morning by @letterfolk with a quote that said:
“How is it already August…
Tomorrow is basically September.
It’s already 2019.
Happy New Year.”
That pretty much sums up how I’m feeling. Time flies! I had a fantastic reading month in July, and I’m hoping to do the same this month, before work gets going again and I start my Master’s.
So, without further ado, here’s my August TBR.
A Court of Mist and Fury – Sarah J. Maas How They Met – David Levithan A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman The Sky is Everywhere – Jandy Nelson The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo – Amy Schumer Fierce Kingdom – Gin Phillips The Boat People – Sharon Bala Precious Cargo – Craig Davidson Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini Hollow City – Ransom Riggs (I accidentally put Library of Souls, book 3, in the photo, but I haven’t read book 2 yet) Lion – Saroo Brierley P.S. I Still Love You – Jenny Han The Fledgling – Jane Langton (The Hall Family Chronicles #4) The Fragile Flag – Jane Langton (The Hall Family Chronicles #5) The Time Bike – Jane Langton (The Hall Family Chronicles #6) A Dance with Dragons – George R. R. Martin
How I chose
I decided to go for a huge stack so that I could mood read from it this month. Mood reading worked really well for me last month, even though I didn’t officially choose a TBR. I also wanted to diversify my list a bit more and read some Canadian Literature (CanLit).
Where I’m at, and what I’m looking forward to!
I started reading The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo on the last day of July, and I’m almost done. Andrew and I are heading to Seattle to see the Jays-Mariners series today, so I don’t know how much reading I’ll get done, but we’ll see!
I think I’m most excited to read the CanLit (The Boat People, Precious Cargo) and the diverse reads (A Thousand Splendid Suns, Lion) on this list.
My classic choice for the month
Since March, I’ve attempted to read one classic per month. This month I’ve chosen Tarzan of the Apes! Should be fun!
Even though it’s a purposely big TBR for mood reading…
I still think I have a pretty good chance of finishing these because I’m still off work for summer!
Time to finish my packing and choose my weekend book list!
This July, I had my second best reading month of 2018 (and probably ever). In January, my best reading month, I read 23 books. This month, I read 21 hard copy books, and 1 audiobook!
Goodreads tells me that I’ve read 86 books so far this year. That’s 78% of my total target of 110 books for the year. Last year, my target was 100 books and I read 105, which is why I set my target at 110 this year. It’s looking like I’m going to smash everything out of the park! However, I am starting grad school in September so I have literally zero expectations for the last four months of this year.
So, here it is, my July Wrap-Up!
The 21 physical books I read. The audiobook was Crazy Rich Asians.
Crossroads and the Dominion of Four – C. Toni Graham ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Vile Village – Lemony Snicket ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Marrow Thieves – Cherie Dimaline ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Hostile Hospital – Lemony Snicket ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Carnivorous Carnival – Lemony Snicket ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Slippery Slope – Lemony Snicket ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Grim Grotto – Lemony Snicket ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Penultimate Peril – Lemony Snicket ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The End – Lemony Snicket ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The End of Oz – Danielle Paige ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Legendary – Stephanie Garber ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Stars Above – Marissa Meyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Traitor to the Throne – Alwyn Hamilton ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ten Thousand Skies Above You – Claudia Gray ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ All the Bright Places – Jennifer Niven ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Diamond in the Window – Jane Langton ⭐⭐⭐ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hero at the Fall – Alwyn Hamilton ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Crazy Rich Asians (audiobook) – Kevin Kwan ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Swing in the Summerhouse – Jane Langton ⭐⭐⭐ The Woman in Cabin 10 – Ruth Ware ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Astonishing Stereoscope – Jane Langton ⭐⭐⭐
Again, that’s a total of 22 books!
Did I Meet My TBR Expectations?
I actually didn’t set a TBR this month. From March – June this year I really slumped, so I decided just to mood read for July. I have to say, it went pretty well for me! But I’m definitely getting back on the TBR train for August. That will be my next post!
The Unread Shelf Project 2018 July Challenge
Over at theunreadshelf, the July challenge was called “Finish That Series.” I have a ton of unfinished series on my unread shelf, so I took that challenge to heart. The result was that only three books that I read this month were not a part of a series!
Notable Reads This Month
Overall, my favourite books of this month were Hero at the Fall, Legendary, and The Marrow Thieves. Shoutout to The MarrowThieves for being awesome CanLit. I met Cherie Dimaline because she did an author talk at my work, and she’s rad. Plus, shoutout to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Childrenfor being really unique and creative, because I loved reading about Riggs’ project with the found photos that inspired the story.
As for ratings, this month was quite high!
What’s Next?
I’m off work for August just like I was for July, so I’m setting myself an ambitious TBR. I’m also planning to continue catching up on reviews, so look out for those on here!
In June, I finally started coming out of the most epic slump I think I’ve ever had. I set myself a huge and hopeful TBR for June, and didn’t come close to reading everything on it. I ended up reading 5 books. However, it was much better than May, in which I read one adult novel, one children’s book, and three graphic novels. And I’ve now gotten myself past the halfway mark of my 2018 Goodreads Challenge of 110 books. As of June 30, I was at 62 books.
So, here it is, my June Wrap-Up!
I Am Malala – Malala Yousafzai ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Crossroads and the Dominion of Four – C. Toni Graham ⭐⭐⭐⭐
In Conclusion, Don’t Worry About It – Lauren Graham ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Ersatz Elevator – Lemony Snicket ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A total of five books, meaning I’m finally back on the upswing!
Did I Meet My TBR Expectations?
I once again didn’t read everything I had planned to. I didn’t get around to posting a June TBR here on the blog, but I did post a photo of it on Bookstagram, so here it is:
I put 12 books on my TBR and ended up reading 6 of them, so it was pretty good! Apparently I finished the first Crossroads book early in June and not in May as I previously thought. I’m still enjoying setting a huge TBR to see if I can meet a big goal, and to have lots of choices to mood read from.
Notable Reads This Month
Overall, my favourite book of this month was I Am Malala. It was so inspiring and taught me a lot about the culture, history, and geography of places I didn’t really know much about.
This month was pretty great in terms of ratings, too!
What’s Next?
Now that June is over, it’s now my teacher summer, so I plan to spend lots of time blogging and even more time reading! See you soon, and
I missed my March reading target, even though I was on vacation from work for two weeks.
No March Wrap-Up yet, on Bookstagram, or here.
I haven’t even chosen an April TBR, and it’s the 17th. Of April.
The only 2 books I’ve finished so far this month I started in March. I’ve read Furiously Happy, and The Wide Window.
I’ve also only posted 4 times on Bookstagram this month, and I normally post once daily.
What’s going on?
I’m slumping.
It’s here, the dreaded slump everyone on Bookstagram lives in fear of and talks about constantly.
A slump is different for everyone, but generally it means we’re reading and posting on Bookstagram far less often than usual. Generally, this makes the person experiencing the slump feel bad.
Unpopular Opinion: It’s fine.
Here’s an opinion that some people might not agree with: WE DO NOT NEED TO APOLOGIZE FOR SLUMPS. I see so many people posting in their stories about how they’re sorry they’re not posting as often as usual or how they’re sorry they haven’t posted in a while…
I literally don’t care. At all. In fact, you’re probably doing me a favor by not posting as often, because it’s less that I feel obligated to look at (that’s probably a story for an entirely other post).
But seriously. Don’t apologize for doing you. I certainly won’t be. This is definitely not an apology post. It’s an exploration of whim and of understanding what makes me tick and who I am as a person, reader, and Bookstagrammer. I wish I were reading more now because I love to read, not because I feel bad for not “providing a service to my followers.”
I still don’t feel that great about it.
But that’s because I have my own sets of expectations about how much I read and how much I engage with the Bookstagram world, and I’m not meeting them now.
My reading target for 2018 is 110 books. Thankfully, through participating in a few readathons in January and February, I was able to get ahead. I’m now at 47 books for the year, which means I’m almost halfway to my target while we’re only about a quarter and a bit through the year.
But if my slump were to continue for another couple of months, I’d start to worry. I need to work on my expectations of myself, I know, but at least I have some leeway at the moment.
Suspicions About What Started the Slump
As the title of this post suggests, I’ve got a lot of ideas about potential causes of this slump.
SAD
The first is SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder. I wrote a post about this over on my mental health blog. I get really down in the Winter and am less productive in general. Also, I sleep more, which cuts down on my reading time. We’ve had an even rainier and greyer Winter here in Vancouver than usual, and it’s not been good for my motivation and reading habits.
Vacation
The second reason is my vacation to Cuba. It was great for my reading, because we spent most of our days on the beach. However, when I got back I was a bit sick and super exhausted. I tend to get what I call “vacation hangovers” when I have to go back to my routines after being away, especially on trips that are really relaxing. My vacation hangover made me literally want to do nothing but sit on my armchair staring at my phone games.
Reading
I’m reading a book I’m not really enjoying, The Three-Body Problem.
A photo from our meeting.
It was the #thebreakfastbookclub pick for March, and I still haven’t finished it. I find that reading a book I’m not that into pretty much always puts me into a slump. However, I have serious reading FOMO and I’ve almost never DNFed a book in my life, so I have to keep going. Thankfully, I should finish it in the next couple of days, and then I’m going to pick my next book really carefully.
Social Media
This is also kind of to do with Cuba. It was also great for my Instagram addiction, because there was very little wi-fi and what we could get cost money and was incredibly slow. So it was nice to not have to worry about posting or interacting on Bookstagram, but when I got back I felt like I didn’t feel like doing it anymore.
How I’m Dealing With It
I find the best way to deal with a slump is to just ride it out. If I’m trying to force myself to read I’m not going to enjoy it. Likewise, if I’m uninspired about posting on Bookstagram, my posts aren’t going to be as successful as I want them to be.
When I notice that I’m not really enjoying a book, I do my best to choose my next read carefully, so that I know it’s something I’ll really love. I’ll choose a book by an author I already like, or one that’s super hyped and that I’m really excited to read.
I also find that making to-do lists and journaling helps me get my motivation back.
Finally, I think sometimes it’s just important to do what your body is asking for. On top of having a vacation hangover, I’m also during the heaviest training weeks for my half marathon. This is physically exhausting (and rewarding). It’s in less than three weeks! So if my body wants to sleep more and read less, that’s what I’m letting it do. For now, anyway!
Hope to see you (virtually at least) soon!
Let me know how you deal with slumps in the comments!
It’s the third month of the @theunreadshelf Project 2018, and my reading month has started out… slowly. Especially considering that I read 13 books in February and 23 books in January. So far in March I’ve finished two books. Two. I’m not kidding. It’s the 12th.
This is partly why I’ve decided to still post my March TBR even though we’re already a third of the way through the month. I’m hoping it will give me some motivation to get out of my reading slump.
However, there is some good reason for my drastic slowdown:
report cards
report cards
report cards
report cards
You get the gist.
Also, I’ve committed to a couple of different reading challenges this month which I think are actually slowing me down and not keeping me motivated. The first is part of the Unread Shelf Project 2018 – Whitney, the creator, sets a challenge each month. This month, she challenged project participants to read a book that’s been on their unread shelf for a really long time, and if you don’t finish it by March 31st, you have to give it away.
I chose Robinson Crusoe for the March challenge.
I got it from my Mom as part of my 18th birthday gift of tons of books she loved alongside a bunch of classics. I’ve meant to read it for ages, so I figured no was as good a time as ever. However, it’s taking me a really long time to get into it, and I’m now about 50 pages in, so I’m fifty pages behind (my edition is ~300 pages and March is 31 days long).
I also decided to take part in my first readalong.
@theperksofbeingnoura is doing a March readalong for City of Bones, the first book in Cassandra Clare’s “The Mortal Instruments” series. I have meant to try this series for a while now, and I serendipitously picked it up at a used book store early in March and then saw the announcement about the readalong. It was perfect! The pace of the readathon is about 1 chapter per day, and as it’s YA, I can easily keep up with that.
However, between reading City of Bones and trying to keep up with Robinson Crusoe, I haven’t been reading anything else, except briefly reading The Bad Beginning, which didn’t take very long as it’s children’s lit. I find that I read a lot slower if I have to divide my attention between more than one book at once. Anyone else feel like that?
Hopefully, now that report cards are complete (good riddance!), I think I can get back on track. Plus, I’m going to Cuba with my mom for the last week of March and that’s pretty much going to be sand, sun, ocean, and reading!
So, without further ado, here’s my March TBR.
Where I’m at, and what I’m looking forward to!
The one book I’ve finished so far this month is The Sisters Brothers. It was the Breakfast Book Club pick for February, and we met on the first weekend of this month to talk about it. I really loved it!
I think I’m most excited to read Furiously Happy and The Female of the Species this month. Also, my most anticipated 2018 release, Obsidio, comes out this month. It’s the last installment in the Illuminae trilogy. Oh, and by this month, I mean the 13th, TOMORROW! It’s so close I can taste it!
I highly doubt I’ll finish all these books, but…
I’ve really been enjoying setting huge TBRs and picking from them based on my mood. We’ll see how it goes moving forward!
Time to get cracking on some more reading and blogging!
My January Wrap-Up was probably my most amazing ever, and February had a lot to live up to. I ended up reading 13 3/4 books, which doesn’t come close to January’s 23. However, the month did have 3 fewer days and no weeks off work like I had in January. Either way, I’m still proud of reading more than my target of 10 books per month, because it means that I’m still on pace to achieve my 2018 reading goal of 110 books!
I once again didn’t read everything I had planned to. I didn’t get around to posting a February TBR here on the blog, but I did post a photo of it on Bookstagram, so here it is:
I put 17 books on my TBR and ended up reading 8 of them, so it was pretty good I think! I’ve started really enjoying setting a huge TBR not only to see if I can meet a big goal, but also because I like to have a lot of choices so that I can pick my next read by mood. It’s worked well for me so far.
The Unread Shelf Project 2018 February Challenge
Over at theunreadshelf, the February challenge was to look into the diversity of your unread shelf. I discovered, unsurprisingly, that most of the books I own, and the books on my unread shelf, are by white people. I hope to make it a focus to read more diversely in the future!
Notable Reads This Month
Overall, my favourite books of this month were Winter and I’ll Give You the Sun. Shoutout to The Invention of Wings for also being awesome and for being the second book by Monk Kidd that I’ve absolutely loved (I’m looking at you, The Secret Life of Bees). Shoutout also to The Child Finder for being absolutely haunting.
As for ratings, this month was a pretty mixed bag as well!
What’s Next?
I’m hoping to be back on the blogging train pretty solidly for the next couple of weeks, so expect some reviews ASAP! Plus, I’m headed to Cuba for the last week of March with my mom and I’ll have little to no internet access, so I’ve got to be ultra productive before I go! Hopefully, on April 1st when I get home, I’ll be posting an even more impressive wrap-up than I did in January, thanks to my two-week Spring Break away from work!
I got a lot of books during Black Friday sales that I’m really excited about, so I had a pretty ambitious To Be Read (TBR) stack for December, and I’m doing the same for January.
Without further ado, here’s it is, pictured with the beautiful book lamp my husband got me for christmas! It opens like a book and is insanely satisfying.
As it’s already January 6, I’ve finished three of these! I read Harry Potter: A History of Magic first, Caraval second, and Rebel of the Sands third. Reviews upcoming for all of them! Out of the three, I enjoyed Rebel of the Sands the most! I think my next read will be #GIRLBOSS! I’m feeling some non-fiction. I think my most highly anticipated reads of this month are The Hate U Give and Station Eleven, which both come highly recommended from friends and Bookstagram alike.
It’s highly possible that you think there’s no way I’ll finish all of these…
You might be right, but I’ve already read three and I read 15 books in December! I’d bet on myself for this one.
Now that I’ve shared this with you, I’m off to keep working on all the reviews I need to post thanks to my warp-speed holiday break reading spree!
