Monthly Digest & Wrap Up

Monthly Digest | June 2021

Hello and welcome to a run down of my past month. If you follow me over on twitter you will have seen that I want to share a bit more than just reading books with everyone so my monthly wrap ups are going to be sharing, of course, books, but also a few more things as well. Each month what I share might be different, but I want to share something that sticks out as a propionate memory or just some random things that sparked my interest. I hope you enjoy!

Reading

Current TBR Count is at 33 books.

Crochet & Crafting

This past month has been fun for crafting and crocheting. I completed my first granny square sweater without a pattern! I never really made anything before without a pattern and I actually really loved how it came out. On top of that I made quite a few market bags and made a huge chunk of progress in my ally blanket. I am hoping to finish that in the near future, I have never done a graphgan before and it takes a lot more time than I thought it would, but I am really liking how it is coming out.

On top of that I figured out how to transfer images to wood using Mod Podge, I feel like I am going to be using that in quite a few things in the future. I tested it out by making myself my own rune plate on a piece of cut wood. It came out fabulous! If I bought the same thing it would have been easily $35, I made it myself for about $12. This is one of the reasons why I love DIY so much!

Life

This past month I have been doing a lot of deep cleaning. I don’t know if it is because I am doing Summer cleaning instead of Spring cleaning, but I have been feeling the itch to purge a bunch of stuff I have not used in a while and clothing that isn’t really my style anymore. I have really been trying to acquire clothing and things I like and are truly my style. I think being at home so much over the past year I have kind of figured out what I really enjoy and want in my space. I think this month was just the month where I really started to follow through on it.

Anyway, that has been a bit of an incite into my life over the past month. I didn’t really make notes throughout this month because I didn’t know the direction I wanted this blog to go in, but now that I have an idea I think in next months digest you will see the difference. I hope you had a wonderful June!

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Wrap Up

Wrap Up | November 2020

Hello and welcome to my monthly wrap up, can you believe that the 11th month of the year is already behind us? I sure can’t I feel like November went very quickly this time around and we are already getting reading for the last month of 2020. This past month I didn’t do as well reading wise as previous months, but still feel like I read some great books and found a few new favorites.


Decisions and Dissents of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A SelectionDecisions and Dissents of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Selection by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A wonderful collection of RBG’s ideas and thoughts on major topics such as equal rights and womens rights.

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Venus in the Blind SpotVenus in the Blind Spot by Junji Ito
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Once again Junji Ito has made a wonderful collection of short manga horror tales. As always the art is great, the tales eerie and horrific and I read them quickly. I will continue to pick up more from him.

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Cemetery BoysCemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was just a wonderful read. I laughed, I cried, and a bunch of emotions in-between. I really loved Yadriel, Maritza and Julian as individual characters, but also how they interacted with one another. It really focused on acceptance, love, and family, blood or otherwise. It really was such an emotional read in the perfect way.

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The Nickel BoysThe Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Colson Whitehead has done it again, he has written another amazing book. He is certainly turning into one of my auto buy authors. This story was dark, raw, and emotional, but it was also beautifully told. Sadly, this story is based off of real events and many have had these experiences. I certainly is thought provoking and will be a book I think about in the future.

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What was your favorite or least favorite read of October?

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Hauls & Unhauls

Read 5, Buy 1 | June 2020

Read 5, Buy 1

Hello and welcome to my Read 5, Buy 1 post, If I am being honest with myself I should be calling this a book haul because wow, did I totally ignore this in June. I am not sure why, but I really had the buying itch in June. I figured since I have done so well and my TBR was under 20 at the time, why not have some fun. So, here is my break down of the books I read since the last check in, but also the books I bought this past month.


The Breakdown

  • Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
  • The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman
  • Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
  • I’m Judging You by Luvvie Ajayi
  • The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
    • Bought Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
  • Quichotte by Salman Rushdie
  • A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
  • Untamed by Glennon Doyle
  • Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
  • Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz
    • Bought Jo & Laurie by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz
  • Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

Books Added To My TBR

I added, Home Before Dark by Riley Sager, The Incarnations by Susan Barker, Jo & Laurie by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz, The Changeling by Victor LaValle, Before the Coffee Gets Coldby Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, The Hungerby Alma Katsu, Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri, and LGBTQ Stats: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People by the Numbers by Bennett Singer and David Deschamps to my TBR.


As you can see, I bought quite a few extra books this month. I am thinking it might have to do with that fact that I was not really in the reading mood in May and maybe it was because I didn’t really want to read any of the books I owned. I am a total mood reader. Regardless of the reason, I added an extra 7 books. Oops! Good thing I have been in a reading mood!
Over all, my TBR is now sitting at a total of 26 books, so my owned TBRhe  stayed about the same, but thankfully it decided to not go up with all the buying I did.

What does your TBR look like?

What books did you recently haul from the library or bookstore?

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Bullet Journal & Planning

Bullet Journal | May 2020

Bullet Journal

Hello and welcome to my May bullet journal post! This is an exciting one, I started a brand new notebook this month so I have more to share than just my monthly spreads. This is going to bit of a long one, so I am going to just get into it!


Items Used

Archer & Olive A5 Garden Sliter Dot Grid notebook

SAKURA Pigma Micron Pen Set  01


So, here is my new bullet journal. This time around I went for basic black and this one has a snake on the cover. One thing I love about these notebooks is the fact they have simple decoration on the cover. To me it gives off a classic and elegant vibe.

The first page of my notebook s always a general dot grid spread. I have used this n my last three bullet journals, it is really helpful when setting up new and old spreads. I always forget how many spaces go across my page and the halfway mark so this is very helpful.

This time around I decided to add a movie tracker. This spread is inspired by cyrus.serendipity14. All I need to do now is to add all the movies I need to watch. On the second page I added a TV tracker.  This tracker is inspired by @birdybujo on Instagram. I like how simple it is, at this point Outlander is the only show added. Also, you will notice I doodled herbs and plants on each page, this will continue throughout. I thought it would be a good way to tie everything together. On these pages I have rosemary and basil.

This time around I am trying to be more away of my spending and ordering online. I have a few goals this year for myself so I want to get everything in order. This wishlist and waiting on is inspired by  bulletjournal.com. Just like the previous pages, I really want to keep everything simple with these spreads because a lot will be added later on. On these pages I added lavender and sage.

Now these two spreads are a little more involved. On the left I am adding a health centered spread to track measurements and weight. This is inspired by @bulletjournalnoob. I need to still add some gray to differentiate the lines, but I am still searching for my gray highlighter. On the right I decided I am going to draw a book for all the books on my owned tbr shelf, this is inspired by @bujoandbee. I added a few plants that are a zz plant, monstera, and thyme.

On the lefthand side I wanted a way to keep track of all of my crochet projects. I decided to make a tag for each one. On each will be the start and end date, pattern, who it is for, and yarn used. On the right I put a monthly spread layout  from emerald lotus divination. I am planning on doing this spread every month so I wanted to keep it on hand to make things a bit easier. On these pages I doodled a string of pearls and oregano. 

This is a bill tracker I used in my previous bullet journal. It is really helpful when you pay your bills you can just mark it and you don’t need to worry if you forgot. I also add what date it is due and what I pay it with. On this page I attempted to draw mint, not sure how I feel about it, but I am still glad I tried.

I have had a tracker for my followers for this blog and my twitter for the past two bullet journals, but I changed the layout this time around, I was inspired by @penspapersplanner. I just do it for every five new followers, nothing fancy. I am not much of a numbers person, but I like marking it. On these spreads I drew chives.

I will be completely honest, I took the easy way out on this spread. I just photo copied  from previous bujo because I loved how well it came out the first time I didn’t want to mess it up.

On the left I migrated by temperature blanket tracker, I have very much behind and I really need to get back to it. Maybe you will see it in my next crochet update, my latest update you can find here: Crochet Talk | April 2020. On the right I photocopied a moon doodle from the book Muse with the Moon by Jo Cauldrick. It is the perfect reference I needed to keep track of the moon and the phases in order. On this page I doodled cilantro.

I love buddy reads and I love keeping track of them. I decided to continue with a buddy reads tracker and I also just migrated my top reads of 2020 spread. I left it blank when I took this picture so you all can be surprised at the end of the year. On this page I added basil.

Now onto the monthly spreads. This spread was taken by @littleolivebujo. I really loved how simple and organized this monthly introduction was. I loved the idea of monthly goals and a place for bigger events and the such. On this page I doodled some thyme.

Now, you mostly likely know I am studying Korean if you have been reading my blog regularly. I ended up taking this study spread from @jeannestudies. On the right I am keeping track to random expenses that come up. I kept these simple because they are going to be very full of information soon enough. I added rosemary and chamomile to these spreads.

My TBR and pages read spread is the one I used last month, just migrated over. I figure if it works, why change it up? On the right is where I am going to take notes and record my monthly spread that I noted earlier. I left a lot of open room so I have a lot of room to reflect and revisit as the month goes on.

This month my weekly spreads are a bit different. I added a few trackers on the sides that include habit, weekly, hours sleep and weather. Unfortunately I pinned this a while ago on Pinterest, but the link is now broken. I don’t remember where it came from so if you know who did this please let me know! I want to give them credit. On this spread I added thyme and dill.


What theme are you using this month?

What do you have planned for May?

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Reading Challenges

Year in Review | 2019 Final Check-In

Year in Review!

Hello and welcome to my little review of 2019. I love these types of posts, being able to reflect and look back on what you have accomplished. This post will be broken down into two parts, the first being reviewing my goals and the second will be my yearly stats, which will be taken from the data given on December 29th. So, with all of that information being packed into this post, lets jump right into it.


Goals

  1. ✔️Read all of the short listed books for the 2018 Man Booker Prize
  2. ✔️Read a book set in each of the 7 continents
  3. ✔️Read 50 books
  4. ✔️Read 30,000 pages
  5. ✔️Read at least one book per month from the library
  6. ✔️Read 12 non-fiction books
  7. ✔️Read a book recommended by someone I look up to
  8. ✔️Read my classic of 2019, War and Peace
  9. ✔️Take part in 2019 Beat the Backlist

Yearly Reading Stats

Books Read: 106

Pages Read: 38, 421

Nonfiction: 17

Fiction: 89

Money Saved Using Library:

Average Rating: 4.0

Shortest Book: Quidditch Through the Ages

Longest Book: Death Note All-in-One

Most Popular:Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Least Popular: Independence Haul and the Liberty Bell

Highest Rated on Goodreads: Good Omens

If you would like to see all of the books I read in 2019, you can find all that information over on goodreads here: Bookish Luna’s Year in Review.


Yearly Blog Stats

Views: 13,872

Comments:1,226

Followers: 783

Likes: 3,724

Posts: 148

 


How did you do with your 2019 goals?

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Let's Talk

Let’s Talk | Things I Want to Track in 2020

LetsTalk12:17

Hello and welcome to this little self talk and discussion. Over the year I have been become a bit more interesting in data revolving around my reading habits. I don’t what the reason behind it, but I feel like it would really show an interesting picture.


I know that goodreads keeps track of a lot of information such as how many books I’v read, book ratings by year, pages read etc. But, this is a mainly an end of the year event. I would really like to see if there are patterns for particular months. So, this is where this post comes in.

While I do really appreciate all the data goodreads keeps for me, I am interested in data that is not collected in a manner easily accessed. While you pick the editions you read of particular books, there is no way to look back at the year and see I have read this many ebooks, this many hard covers and so on. You also don’t have easy access to seeing the books you DNF, unless you count a book as read and put it on a shelf, which messes up my other stats. So, here comes my handy dandy notebook. Yes, I did just make a Blues Clues reference. I regret it already. lol.

Next year I would really like to track the following things on a monthly basis. If a book is fiction/nonfiction, while I know I read a wide array of genres, I would like to make this to be general so I am not overwhelming myself. While I know I read each of these each month, I don’t really track it too much and I would like more insight. Following that I would also like to track general stats like how many books of each rating, pages per month, library or owned. On top of keeping track of the format and how many I DNF over a year as I noted earlier.

I know a few blogs I follow do this, this is not all, but the ones I saw the most recently, are Read With Allison and Jordyn Roesler and I really love how they do this, but I really want to make this more conducive to my reading and my blogging style. So, I have another month to figure this out, but if you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it!

What stats do you keep track of?

Do you track outside of goodreads or only goodreads?

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