Reviews

Revisiting | Reading a Shortlist 2019

May 26, 2019November 3, 2020 ClassicBhaer11 Comments

revisiting

Hello everyone today I wanted to share my progress with one of my 2019 goals/challenges. We are in the 5th month of the year, I can’t hardly believe it. I thought it was time to do more of a in-depth look at this goal because it is a bit more than a checklist type goal to me. I see it more as an experience or an experiment of sorts. I personally have never much been one to follow book awards and let them dictate my reading or sway my reading choices. This year I kinda wanted to see if I had been missing out because of this. If you want to see my reasoning for why I picked this reading award, you can see that in my original post; Reading Goals | Reading a Shortlist.

Without more of a delay here are my reviews and my reflection on this experience so far!

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-Reviews-

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is such an adventure, it starts with a young boy, age 11. Sadly, he is a slave on a sugar plantation in Barbados run by two brothers. The author wrote a beautiful book that shows the ugly that is slavery. It talks about awful psychological games played by owners and the bad treatment many had to endure unfairly. I also like how the author showed abolitionists and aspects of the underground railroad. The dangers of faced by those who escaped and freed those who did not belong to them. I also really enjoyed the science, art, and almost steampunk elements. I am honestly not doing this book justice, but I will say it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2018 and it is well deserved. I also have to agree with the quote on the front of my book calling it a masterpiece.

View all my reviews

Milkman by Anna Burns

I wont give this book a star rating because I could not finish it, it was not for me in the slightest. I picked it up and I was bored nearly right away. I can see how other might enjoy this book, but I did not.

View all my reviews

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

I can’t give this book a star review, because I did not finish reading the book.

I had such high hopes for this book for a few reasons. The first being the description sounded amazing and it seemed like something I would normally gravitate towards. The second reason being is that it was short listed for the man booker prize as well as other noted literary awards.

The main reason this fell short for me was that it didn’t really capture my attention. That is not to say it was not dramatic, because it very much was, but it just was not something I wanted to pick up again after putting it down.

Don’t get me wrong, this book had a lot going for it and I was rooting for it. It had a great concept of critiquing society and how economics have such an impact on individuals lives. I also felt horrible for the main character because no one should have to go through what she and some of the other women went through. I am glad light was shed on a lot of issues in this book. But, a main character that doesn’t really seem in the story, a plot that jumps around too much, and it all left me looking to do something else.

View all my reviews

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-Reflection-

So far my reading has been mixed with this experiment 1 book has been a win and one has not been a win. I am sitting at 1:2 or 33% success rate. Not the best of scores. I am hoping that it will rise higher the more I read. At this time I have 3 more books to go so there are a lot of chances for me to get a good reading experience.

I am expecting it to go up not just because I have more books to read, but also because I am fairy interested in 1 of them and I already picked it up. So I am hoping since I own that one I like it. I feel like if I do not like this next one I am going to abandon this goal for 2019. I seem to not really like the types of books that they picked for their winner or their shortlist at this point. Fingers crossed this next one is a winner!

-Remaining Books-

The Long Take by Robin Robertson

The Overstory by Richard Powers – Owned

Everything Under by Daisy Johnson

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Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? How do you think this experiment will go?

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Wrap Up

Year in Review | 2018

December 31, 2018December 26, 2018 ClassicBhaer7 Comments

Year in Review!

This year has been a really amazing reading year for me. I found a few new favorite authors, read some books I have been dreaming of reading for years, and I met most off my reading goals, you can learn more about that here: Reading Goals | 2018 Recap. Anyway, I have already posted a few blog posts talking about my favorite books, Lists | Best Books of 2018 , my least favorite, Lists | Worst Books of 2018, but I wanted to share more about my actual over all reading stats.

If you want to see all of these in detail, where all of my books are listed you can visit that here.

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How did your reading year go?

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Reading Challenges

Reading Goals | Reading a Shortlist 2019

December 25, 2018September 6, 2019 ClassicBhaer14 Comments

Reading Goals NEW

Throughout the year I hear about book award and short lists from time to time. One I hear about most often would have to be The Man Booker Prize. It is a literary award that has been around for nearly 5 decades. Over that time works that are published in English are eligible to win. Translated or originally published in that language, I cannot say for sure if that was always the case, but I know that now it is. Some of the notable authors that have been honored are Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Zadie Smith, and George Sanders to name a few.

Well, like I said I have been hearing a lot about this award from fellow book bloggers and even on some literary interviews. So I looked more into it and I thought I would also challenge myself a little bit in the upcoming year. In 2019 I want to read the entire shortlist from 2018. Obviously, I would be a year behind, but I thought it would be interesting to see what I think about the books that this well known book award and their judges deem to amazing books.

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The Short List

Milkman by Anna Burns

The Long Take by Robin Robertson

The Overstory by Richard Powers

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

Everything Under by Daisy Johnson

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

Washington Black

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I guess, if you want to be technical, I am making this shortlist my 5 books I want to read in 2019. But, I think this will be a bit more interesting than picking books I already want to read. I think reading these 5 titles will get me out of my comfort zone in some aspects and maybe even expand me reading tastes. Who knows, I might even find a new favorite author. Wouldn’t that be a great outcome? I am really excited about this experience and I will update you all as soon as I read these 5 novels.

What book award do you wait to be announced each year?

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Lists & Recommendations

Lists | Best Books of 2018

December 20, 2018November 22, 2018 ClassicBhaer21 Comments

Lists

Early in the week I talked about the worst books I read in 2018, while that is not the most positive approach to talking about reading, I think it is important to share all aspects of the reading year and have some great discussions. But, I will admit I am must more happy to share the following books because these are ones that have stuck with me and I know will continue to do so. One I even finished on the first day of the year and I still recommend it all the time to everyone. I never thought that it would happen, but it did! Also, all of the books on this list I really do recommend you looking into, I loved every single one of them and if they are in a genre that you enjoy I don’t anticipate you being disappointed. Without anymore rambling and gushing, here are the books!

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Strange Weather by Joe Hill

Strange Weather

There has never been a short story collection where I have loved every single story, but somehow Joe Hill has managed to do that with Stange Weather. Each story was very unique and I can see myself rereading this again and again. I am actually kind of tempted to reread them as the weather conditions show themselves. I read this book in a single day, and when I first reviewed this on good reads I said “Have you ever liked something so much you couldn’t really express how why you like it so much all you can say is, “READ THIS, IT IS GREAT! JUST READ IT!”? Yeah well, that is me with this.” I am happy to say that this feeling has held up.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The Haunting of Hill House

I picked up this book mainly because Joe Hill and Stephen King both have raved about it. Well, because of them I found a new favorite author. Even though this is a short novel, it really is scary. I never had nightmares from watching to reading horror, but with this book I did. It was not really a full on nightmare, but I had a dream I was in Hill House. Even while I was in it I knew it was a dream and I started to laugh. The writing was magnificent, the characters were so distinct and interesting. and the style in which she writes is very effective.

Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent

Unraveling Oliver

Of the multiple Liz Nugent novels I read this year, I would say that Unraveling Oliver is my favorite for a few reasons. The first being it was the first book of hers I read and she has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Her writing is just enchanting. While I read this novel I was shocked, heart broken, irate, and heart warmed. It show cases how horrible and also how good people can truly be. This is really an amazing thriller even though you go into the book knowing what happens. In my eyes, only a really gifted author can pull that off.

The Outsider by Stephen King

The Outsider

I adored this novel. It had the perfect balance of the real world and monsters and paranormal features I look for in King’s novels. The monster he created was so interesting and I really liked how he pulled from myths and legends to do this. I also liked the fact that the characters felt real, also there was a nice bonus of seeing a character I never thought I would see again.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

I ended up liking this book so much more than I thought I would. I normally rarely read about celebrities or actors I like in real life, so I always thought, “Why would I care about one that didn’t even exist?”. Well, I have to say that this book proved that point wrong. Within the first chapter I was already hooked. They methods used by the author to tell Evelyn Hugo’s story were wonderful and made it feel so tangible. Not only did the author tell an addicting story of this woman, but she told a story of so much more than that. That is the part of the story I did not expect and loved. The author did some great things with this book and I highly recommend. *copied from my original review*

The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff

The Witches: Salem, 1692

When it comes to those who are just getting into nonfiction, this is the first book I recommend them. The first reason being it is a well researched and presented work. The second being it written in a manner that reads like a story instead of a textbook, which is always hard to do when it comes to properly researched nonfiction reads. You can easily tell the effort that went into collecting all the articles and penning this work. Additionally, this book talks about the Salem Witch Trials in a way that respects those who were affected by it, but does not interject feeling or emotion into it. This truly is the best nonfiction I have read all year and continues to be one of my top ones of all time.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Practical Magic

One thing I have to say about this book is the fact I did not expect for it to be rated so highly. I just thought I would enjoy it because I watched the movie adaptation long before I even knew there was a book. When I did read it, I learned that the book was very different, but I fell in love with it anyway. I loved how the sisters were more involved and the way the plot turned and twisted. It was beautifully written and really hypnotized me. When I picked up this book it was really hard to put down. I also saw some characters in new light. This look truly is a wonderful story of family, magic, curses, and secrets. In fact, I picked up and read the prequel The Rules of Magic, which I loved as well, but it made me treasure this story even more.

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What books did you adore this year?

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Lists & Recommendations

Lists | Worst Books of 2018

December 18, 2018November 21, 2018 ClassicBhaer16 Comments

Lists

So, with all the reading I have done over the year, right around 100 books. I can say that I have read some good books and some not so great ones. It is bound to happen for one reason or another. It could have been the fact I took a chance on a genre I don’t normally read, it was a book club pick, or it just didn’t live up to my expectations. It happens from time to time and there is nothing wrong with that.

Now books are very personal experience, that is the beauty of them. I may get the saying wrong, but I think it goes that people can read the same book and get different stories. I think it is very true, that is why I love books some people hate and some people love the books I am not too fond of and that is okay. Everyones opinions are just that, opinions and everyone is allowed to have them. So, if your favorite book ends up on this list, I am so happy that you liked it, but it was just not for me. Also, some of these I read very early on in the year and I kinda forgot about what happened so I copied and pasted some of my reviews to highlight what I felt just as I finished reading the books. This was not the case with all of the books though. Without more rambling, here are the worst books I read in 2018.

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A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials by Frances Hill

A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials

I absolute hated this book and I am so upset by it. The writing had so much of the authors opinion in it and it could be very misleading if this is the only book you have read on the Salem Witch Trials. I also did not like how the end note were set up. In the back of the book it lists the chapters then what sources were used. That is not how end notes work. Which sources was used for which topic? This makes it very hard to go back and read the authors sources to compare and do your own research. There are so many better books on this topic that I recommend. I really wanted to like this book, I had such high hopes. I read a view by Jon, and I have to say I agree with him on a lot of his points and I wish I could have explained myself as clearly.

Tropic Of Cancer by Henry Miller

Tropic Of Cancer

So, this was a really weird book. While I did read the entire thing I can’t really tell you what happened if that makes sense. As the story progresses it does get a little more coherent, but it never becomes tame in any shape way or form. I would never have read this book on my own that is for sure, the description is not something I would normally be drawn to. I honestly can’t really suggest this book to anyone though.

Salem’s Witch House: A Touchstone to Antiquity by John Goff

So I was super excited to read this book, I ended up being disappointed. The book was more of a history of who lived in the house and what stores it had been and less about the role it had during the Salem witch trials. While it was interesting I found the name it be a tad bit misleading so it left be just feeling like I missed out on something. If you know nothing about the history of the house and such, this would be a good read for you.

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

This one I wanted to love, it was a historical fiction read, which I normally love and it sounded like such an interesting and magical story. It turned out not to be so magical to me. The authors writing is beautiful, but the story just didn’t really wow me. I am thinking about trying another one of her books, because like I said her writing is beautiful, I Just did not like the story all that much. While, I do think it highlight some things in the past that were just truly NOT OKAY, I was left feeling blah about the whole thing because it was not really addressed.

The Tommyknockers by Stephen King

I will openly admit that if I did not have the audiobook I would never have finished this novel. While I love a lot of King’s writing, this one is a bit of a bust for me. I did a bit of researching to see if I was the only one or not, but it seems I am not. I have to admit that this article explains my feelings as well as says my thoughts on this novel very clearly.

It is all over the place, longer than it needs to be by a lot, and just seems to loose the king flair that I enjoy.

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

I don’t really know what happened to me when I was reading this book. The first two books in the series I did enjoy very much. This one I felt was annoying and I wanted to skip around a lot. I wanted to just find out the main stuff and move on. I felt like there was just too much drama for the sake of drama and it just added pages and not really much to the overall plot. I did not get the novella that is set after this, I may get it from the library at some point because I know there are just some duds in a series, but I want to make sure before I spend more of my money.

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell

So when I picked up this book I was sure it would be more along the lines of Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores by Jennifer Campbell, which I loved! This on the other hand was dull and mundane. It was more of what the owned did and the daily workings of a bookshop and not really to much about the interactions with the customers. I also found that there was a lot a repeating of the same things happening over and over again. While I can see why some people would like this book, I was left a disappointed.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)

I can see why other people like this book so much, I am not saying this is a bad book by any stretch of the imagination. I really enjoyed the first part of this book, but the second part of the book totally lost me. I felt like the main character just got things or things just happened to the main character without there being any real time given to acquiring them or working for them. Just BAM, amazing thing happened/brilliant abilities! This book just is not for me, it is for you if you like… Individual fighting for a cause, Fantasy, YA transitioning to adult, rags to riches in a way, not exactly and an individual taking on the Empire.

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There you have it, the worst books I read in 2018. All of these are the only books I rated below average and I have to say there aren’t a lot of them. To read about 100 books and only 8 fall under an average rating is wonderful. Plus, like I said in the beginning, these are just my personal feelings. These books are great reads for many and I am truly happy about that.

What book fell flat for you this year?

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Reading Challenges

Reading Goals | 2018 Recap

December 11, 2018December 9, 2018 ClassicBhaer12 Comments

Reading Goals NEW

I cannot believe this year is coming to a close soon and it is time to reflect on the goals I set for myself back in December 2017. It feels like so long ago, but at the same time this year felt like it flew by. A few times this year I checked in with my goals, but I have not done so since the first half a the year. I honestly kinda lost track of my goals because one large one I realized was not going to happen. I will get more into that later in this post.

Earlier Posts

The Goals

Update my blog post headers
- I loved designing so I want to introduce a few new headers and give myself that time to be creative.
Read 50 books
- Every year I set my reading goal at 50. It is an average of a book in little over a week and I tend to not stress out about it.
Read 30,000 pages
- I though this page goal would be fun.
Try new things
- This year I want to experiment a little outside of what I normally post, spice things up a little bit.
Complete the 2018 POPSUGAR reading challenge

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My Reflection

I did this as soon as the year started and I am very happy with the graphics I created. I also like the fact that I made them in a way where I can change the background images if I ever feel like it and it would not be too much work.
I am happy to say that I read more than 50 books this year, in fact I read 105 as of 12/9.
Once again I can say that I read more than 30,000 page throughout the year. I ended up reading a grand total of 36,985 pages as of 12/9.
This year I felt like I tried some new things on my blog such as posting about My life, DIYs, and Cooking as well as doing a few fun series such as _____ Picks my books, Annotating my Bookshelf , and introducing discussion posts. All of which I had a ton of fun doing. I know in the new year I want to do another round of Annotating my Bookshelf.
This one is where the problem came in. While I love the idea of the pop sugar challenge, it really is not a good challenge for me. There are a 52 prompts and while I did do a majority of them. I am a book reader and I honestly have no interest in reading nordic noir currently. While my goal was to read 50 books, why would I pick a challenge that would assign me 52 books. On top of that a majority of the books on this challenge I did not own and this year I really wanted to read some of the books I had on my shelf the longest. Which I did and now the longest a book has been on myself has been 19 months, less than two years. So I was happy to give up on this goal because it did not line up with my other goals, which were a priority to me.

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Overall, I am very happy with how I did with my 2018 Reading and Blog goals. I achieve the ones that were the most important to me and I am proud of myself for putting aside one that really did not benefit me in reaching my other goals. Goals should be realistic and reachable. While I come up with my 2019 goals, this is going to be in my mind.

How did you do with your 2018 goals?

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Bullet Journal & Planning

Bullet Journal | December 2018

November 27, 2018November 26, 2018 ClassicBhaer24 Comments

Last month I sadly did not get around to sharing my bullet journal, but I am excited to get to share this months with you. I am using some of my tried and true spreads as well as trying a few new ones as well.

This month I wanted simple layouts, apart from the bonus one below, and limit my colors to pale relaxing colors. I am not sure why, but I was really craving cool tones.

Here is my main introduction page into December. I thought it would be fun to do a warm fire place because during the month of December that is the only place I want to sit, right in front of it. I also wanted to put a few simple decorations. I never go all out with decoration in real life so why would I in my bullet journal?

This is my calendar page. This is where I write all the appointments, meetings, and due dates for various things. When I took this picture it was blank, it is already totally filled. It is funny how things come flying at you all at once. I loved the little lights so I added them to the side of the page. I didn’t color them in because I wanted the purple to be the star of this page. It is such a relaxing color.

So on the left hand side is my Monthly Overview, this is where I write down all my planned posts. I am happy to say that I have some fun posts coming up this month that I am excited to share with you. Mainly my favorite and least favorite books of 2018. I cannot believe it is already time to reflect on the year.

On the right side of the page is my December TBR. It may be a bit of a sneak peak, but oh well.

This is the layout I am going to be giving a try. I kinda got inspiration from BooksandLala on Youtube for this. On the right side I am going to assign a book a color and track the days I have read it on the left hand side. If all goes to plan there should be a fun cool toned rainbow on the left hand side to show when I started, read, and finished a book using the colors and code on the right side. I am curious to see if I keep up with this or not. Only time will tell.

This is my typical tracking pages I put in my bullet journal every month. The right page is where I write the titles of the books I read and then color them in. On the right I color in a block for each chapter I read. At this time I only added the books on my TBR, more will be added because I never stick to my TBR.

I am not sure if I have shared this before, but this is the weekly spread I use. While I give a majority of the room to my weekdays. I don’t combine Saturday and Sunday because then I end up waiting to do everything on Sunday. As you can see I also have a few stickers. I track the moon cycles in my bullet journal because I always love being aware of the moon and its cycles. I always have since I was a little girl. I also have assigned days to clean, write, and do laundry which are indicated by sticks. I also do a weekly weigh in that I keep track of in my bullet journal as well.

Bonus Layout

https://twitter.com/BookishLuna/status/1066789319573164032

I hoped you have enjoyed the sneak peak into my bullet journal this month. I really enjoyed how this month turned out. It is clean and calm, just what I need and wanted.

Do you use a bullet journal? What theme are you using this month?

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Bullet Journal & Planning

Bullet Journal & Migration | August 2018

August 9, 2018August 5, 2018 ClassicBhaerLeave a comment

Hello everyone, this month is exciting because I get to migrate over to a new bullet journal, my 5th one. I cannot believe I have been using bullet journals for that long, time sure does fly. So this month not only will you get to see my August spreads, I am also sharing my trackers and other things I am carrying over.

Once again I am experimenting with recording a video and then adding it to my blog post. This way I can explain all the aspect in more detail and you can move to the sections you are most interested in. The past two I have done I am enjoying, I always love learning how to do new things. Without more rambling, here is my migration into my new bullet journal and my August spreads.

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Bullet Journal & Planning

Bullet Journal Revisited| July 2018

August 2, 2018July 28, 2018 ClassicBhaer6 Comments

This month I decided to try something new when it comes to sharing my bullet journals outcomes and spreads. This month was the last month in my currently Bullet Journal so I decided to try some new things and see what worked and what didn’t before migrating into my new one. Let me know what you think!

What is your favorite spread to have in your Bullet Journal?

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Reading Challenges

Reading Goals | 2018 | 2nd Quarter Review

July 12, 2018December 2, 2018 ClassicBhaer15 Comments

Reading Goals

Well, in my last quarterly update, Reading Goals | 2018 | 1st Quarter Review, I was already able to check a few of my goals off of my list, but a few I still needed to work on. I just wanted to do a quick little check in to share my progress as well as keep myself accountable. Here is how I am doing on my 2018 goals for my reading and my blog.

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Update my blog post headers – Check!

Read 50 books- Check! As of right now I have read 54 books, I am so excited!

Read 30,000 pages

As of right now I have read a total of 18,412 pages, so I am more than halfway to my goal of reading 30,000 pages. This makes me very happy since I was a bit worried the last check in.

Try new things

As I stated in my 1st quarter update I have started a few new series on my blog, these include Operation Find a Hobby, ________ Picks my Books, and Discussion posts. I always shied from discussion posts due to fear of many people not being interested, but I am so glad I started to incorporate them into my blog. They are a ton of fun. Below I have linked the series for you if you are interested in reading.

Operation Find a Hobby

Operation Find A Hobby | Introduction

Operation Find A Hobby | Embroidery

Operation Find A Hobby | Puzzle

Operation Find A Hobby | Scrapbooking

Operation Find A Hobby | Jewelry Making

_____ Picks My Books

Haul | Bookseller Picks My Books

Haul | Boyfriend Picks My Books

Haul | Book Buddy Picks My Books

Revisiting| _____ Picks My Books

Haul | Book Buddy Picks My Books Vol. 2