Hello and welcome to a very spontaneous post from me. I finally have some free time this week and I decided that I want to tackle some reading with my free time to get back on track with my reading goals for this year. Hence, a 24 hour readathon where I dedicate my spare time to reading!
My plan is to start at 10:00 PM tonight and go until 10:00 PM tomorrow. Let’s see what happens!
Stack of TBR books
I don’t plan on reading all of the books here on my TBR, but I really wanted to give myself some options.
You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann
The Employees by Olga Ravn
All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami
The Baby is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
I am planning to write a little journal post to share at the end of this little readathon, I can’t wait to see how I end up doing and seeing how much I actually read.
Hello and welcome to the first book haul of 2022. Each year I have a list of books I really want to take the time to read throughout the year, most of which are from the International Booker Prize shortlist. Since my reading was so reduced in December I held off on picking any of them up. But, with my reading taking off in January with 9 books, I thought it was a good time to add these books to my tbr pile since I am activity reading a ton.
Stack of hauled physical books.
Physical Books
You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann, I read another book by Kelmann last year called Tyll and I loved how out there it was. Knowing this one of my friends off line picked this book for me to pick this year for my 12 in 12 challenge. This short story is a horror novel that follows a family that spends 7 days in a rented house. From the description I am getting Jack vibes from The Shining by Stephen King for the main character. Which, for me works because I love The Shining. I am curious how this short story is going to turn out because his other works were wild and out there, but also mesmerizing and I couldn’t put it down.
The Employees by Olga Ravn, this is a science fiction novel. This too was on the shortlist for the International Booker Prize, but I am intrigued due to the fact that in the description it mentions it follows those who were born and other who were created. That really piqued my interest.
Breast and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami, I have read about 2 other works by this author and this one has been on my list for a bit. I finally decided to pick up a physical copy. This book takes a look at being a modern day woman in Japan. The story itself is fiction, but it touches on the experience of the author and others. At least that is my current understanding.
When I was Ten by Fiona Cummins, this one I added to my TBR because it was picked by Little Miss Booklover 87 for my 12 in 12 challenge I placed on twitter where I asked people to pick a book for me to read this year. All I know about this book at this point is that it is a thriller that takes place many years after a double murder. Where someone finally decides to break their silence. I have not read a ton of thrillers over the past few months so I though this would be a good time to read it.
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut, this is a nonfiction novel, but seems to have some fiction as well, that takes a look at science, discovery and those who make these breakthroughs. It appears that this book touches on Albert Einstein, Alexander Grothendieck, Erwin Schrödinger and Werner Heisenberg.
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez, this is a collection of short horror stories that was also placed on the International Booker Prize shortlist. I love horror and it is refreshing to have some short stories on my shelf to grab when I don’t feel like reading an entire novel.
The War of the Poor by Éric Vuillard, is a horror novel that was placed in the shortlist for the International Booker Prize. It deals with inequality and takes place during 16th century in Europe. With the combination of horror and history I feel like this book will be a win for me personally.
Digital Books
Immune by Philipp Dettmer, I picked this up because I heard it mentioned on a twitch stream with Bob, Wade and Mark. I thought it would be a really interesting read and I do love myself a good nonfiction here and there.
Welcome to my very ambitious post about my February plans. I don’t know why, but I always end up making a ton of plans and lofty goals for the shortest month of the year. With that aside, I do have a few things I want to try and accomplish over the next 28 days.
Reading Plans
This month I would like to finish reading The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, which I am buddy reading with @jkimexploring. I am about 30% into it as of right now and I am really enjoying it. Outside of that I don’t want to have any set reading because mood reading and not setting to many specific reading goals for myself last month really paid off since I ended up reading 9 books.
Crochet and Knitting Plans
This month is all about starting a few projects that will take me some time. The first one is the Saraya Shawl by Saysha Greene. I love how beautiful and playful this shawl looks, I first saw it in my copy of Worsted and I loved it right away. I ended up ordering the same color as the sample. Since a lot of the techniques used in this pattern are new to me I know it is going to take quite a while, but I love a challenge!
The second project I plan to start and I know I will not finish for months if not years is the Scrappy Granny Stripe Blanket by Lucy of Attic24. I have quite a few scraps left over from projects and the like so I was looking all over for fun things to make with them. I came across this pattern and knew I wanted to start it ASAP. So, every time I finish a projects with fingering weight yarn I am going to add to this. I can’t wait to see how all the colors play together as time goes on. In February I am planning on getting all the stripes for the scraps I already have crocheted up. I am going to try to keep up with this by doing scrappy Sunday, which is a thing I found through Crazy Sock Lady on youtube.
Random Goals
I really want to try learning a new craft this month, I am learning towards cross stitch. I also really want to get back into language learning. I was doing really well for a bit, then life got a bit chaotic and I had to let some things go. But, I really want to jump into it again. Outside of those two things, I just want to have some quality time with my loved ones. January was good in quite a few ways, but sadly I was not able to see my significant other the entire month so I really would like to spend as much time as possible with him.
Hello and welcome to a bit of a throwback to 2021! I wanted to take a moment and share some of my favorite reads of the past year and give them a bit of a shoutout. Last year I did not do great with my reading numbers, I read about half as much as a usually do, but I am happy to say there were a few I really enjoyed. Here is a list of the ones that stuck out to me the most in no particular order.
Hello and welcome to a bit of a haul from the month of April. I went on my first day trip this past month after getting fully vaccinated. It was my first time doing so in over a year and it felt so great! On this trip I went to a really awesome bookstore that was new to me and found some gems to bring home with me and picked up a few books from my local bookstore and sent one by a friend. Anyway, here are the books!
The Books
Record of A Night Too Brief by Hiromi Kawakami and Ms. Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami I picked up on a day trip to a Japanese market. They have a really awesome bookstore there and I always find gems like this I would not have found otherwise. Record of A Night Too Brief caught my attention because it seemed to have so much packed into such a small package. Ms. Ice Sandwich caught my attention because of its talk of starting something new and possible love.
The Orphan of Cemetery Hill by Hester Fox, was a gift from the amazing Adrianna. I am really excited to get to this historical fiction novel with a possible paranormal twist to it.
Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu, I also picked up from the Japanese market. But, I have read this authors work quite a bit. He is a known horror manga writer. This book tells tales of his own life experiences as a dog person then owning two cats. It is quite funny and it was fun to read.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, this book has been on my radar for quite sometimes and I finally picked it up. I am really excited to get to it this month as well.
Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella, I will be honest the cover of this book really pulled me in. The cover alone has such a great atmosphere for a thriller and sets the tone so clearly. Then, when I read the description I added it to my pile before checking out from the store. This books talks about a girl going to Harvard to try and figure out what led her brother to suicide. There also seems to be ghosts possibly present in this story as well.
What book have you recently added to your shelves from the library or the store?
Bookish Luna 