#tbrbusterchallenge 2021

[ma-tsi]

Si teme sempre di perdere la memoria. Ma è questa la fonte dei nostri mali. Si vive bene soltanto nell'oblio. La memoria è la peggior nemica della felicità. Le persone felici dimenticano.

Le Club des incorrigibles optimistes by Jean-Michel Guenassia

[bibliophilecats]

Currently reading: As She Ascends by Jodi Meadows

[bunnyreading]

The books I rated 5 star in 2021

Technically always and forever counts for the whole of the series, but it was the only book individually that I rated 5 stars.

I'm glad that I have a mix of genres here! One thing I was trying in 2021 was expanding and always reading different things, so I'm glad that showed in my top rated books.

[therefugeofbooks]

I loved the art and colors of Paper Girls, too bad I didn't get into the story. But this was in my physical tbr for a little while, so I'm planning to slowly pick up the older books of my physical tbr to @bookbandit's #tbrbusterchallenge.

[princessofbookaholics]

MID YEAR BOOK FREAK OUT TAG 2021

It’s the first day of July (where has the year gone?!) and it's time to check in on those reading goals! My reading has been amazing this year except for June because work was busy and I anticipate it to be busier so I'm gonna be reading even less now so I'm glad I've already reached my goal for the year. As always I have multiple answers for everything so here goes:

1. How many books have you read so far?

I’ve read 106 books so far woohoo (out of which 4 were rereads)

2. What genres have you read?

Here are the genres by stats:

28 mystery/thriller books

18 romance books

17 fantasy/sci-fi books

15 contemporary books

12 graphic novel/manga

6 non fiction

4 historical fiction

2 anthologies

2 poetry/in-verse books

2 classics

3. Best book you’ve read so far in 2020

I read The Midnight Library at the perfect time and it just made me feel, You Deserve Each Other was a perfect romance book more people should read, The Traveling Cat Chronicles was the sweetest story and I balled my eyes out, The Decagon House Murders was based on And Then There Were None which is one of my favorite books and it exceeded my expectations!

4. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2020

Obsidio was amazing and I finally finished this series, Rule of Wolves was a whole RIDE, Death Note was an amazing series as a whole and I enjoyed it, The Box in the Woods had all the summer camp murder vibes

5. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to

Ace of Spades just sounds amazing and the rest are by authors I've loved before so I want to get to their new releases ASAP

6. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

I love Riley Sager so im obviously excited about his new book, Quan is finally getting his story in The Heart Principle and I'm freaking out, we needed Here's to Us, like, yesterday, and You've Reached Sam just sounds like it's a hard hitting book that's going to make me cry and I'm here for it

7. Biggest disappointment

I hyped these up too much in my head which ended up with some average reads:

8. Biggest surprise

I didn't expect to love these as much as I did:

9. Favorite new author (debut or new to you)

I haven't read enough from these authors but I would surely like to read everything they write:

Sarah Hogle

Sophie Gonzales

Gillian Flynn

Ichigo Takano

10. Underrated gems

Not enough people have read these books:

11. Newest fictional crush

Alex from People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry was so sweet!

12. Newest favorite character

Kakeru from the Orange manga series!! I would like to give him all the happiness in the world 😭

13. Book that made you cry

These made me cry (in a sad as well as happy way):

14. Book that made you happy

You wanna smile then read these:

15. Most beautiful book cover of a book you’ve read so far this year

Going for some sparkly floral vibes here

16. How are you doing with your year's goals?

So my year's goals were:

Read a total of 100 books (done)

Read an Agatha Christie every month (on track)

Read an Indian author every month (on track)

Read the books from my TBR Buster Challenge (14/25 books done)

17. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

The only books I have planned to complete by the end of this year are in my TBR Buster Challenge!

[collegeburnoutsuperstar]

September 2021 Reading Wrap-Up | 2021 Reading Challenge

Wrap-Up:

Digest: Ten Short Stories by Convicted & Plausible People Eaters by Evan Witmer | 2/5 stars

It by Stephen King | 4/5 stars

[books for #tbrbusterchallenge below]

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King | 5/5 stars

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski | 4/5 stars

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch | 3/5 stars

2021 Reading Challenge: October Week 1

Prompt 1: Can you separate the book from the author?

It depends on the author/book, to be honest. For example, I still read HP Lovecraft, but I will never read Ayn Rand or Terry Goodkind. I can't really explain how I make these decisions.

Prompt 2: Think about the book you are currently reading. Would it make a good movie?

I am currently reading Stephen King's The Stand which already has a couple of adaptations. I don't know how successful these adaptations are since I probably won't watch them until I have finished the book. From where I am at so far in the story, I don't think it would make a good movie because of the large number of characters that are being introduced.

[readingrobin]

Finished my first book for @bookbandit ‘s#tbrbusterchallenge which was The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie. I don’t really have much to say about the book, even though I liked it just fine. The pacing was slow in several places, but the story really subverted my expectations and went a little buck wild at the end there. But really, what should I expect from a book that’s loosely inspired by Hamlet?

One thing I did really appreciate about this book is its trans representation. A trans man, Eolo, is the central character of the book and not once was his validity as a man ever questioned. No one even really brought up his transness; it was just widely accepted by every character. It was only ever stated for us the reader in order to know that part of himself. Hell, even the narrator, a nature god who inhabits a rock, is not really referred to any gender, so that’s possibly some agender/non-binary rep as well. I think, in an age where authors are trying to showcase representation beyond coming out narratives, this is exactly what we need, especially in fantasies. Show that being trans is a normal thing to be that doesn’t have to always be the most standout thing about you. Eolo’s loyalty and courage are more focused on and admired than his gender, which is exactly the representation 2021 and the years ahead need.

Also kudos to Leckie for withdrawing this book from the Hugo Award ballot because, since four of her books have already been finalists in the past, she wanted other authors to receive some attention that truly deserved it. That’s some class right there.

[backlogbooks]

tbrbusterchallenge 2021

Last year I did the tbrbusterchallenge and got my fiction (non-classics) shelf down from over 20 (maybe over 30? didnt write it down at the start lmao) to four books!! This year I’m expanding my goal to reading some of my non-fiction and classics that have been on my shelf, and adding all the books i bought in december & that have been given to me (mostly by my mom & one of her/our friends). This picture shows all those books! The first stack is normal fiction, including three of the four books left on my shelf before december (i forgot mists of avalon existed so it didnt make the picture lmao), and as you can see it’s grown a lot in the last month 😂. The second stack is classics (not pictured: oliver twist, which i just found), and the last stack is non-fiction. I’m really looking forward to reading those genres for fun now that I don’t have to do so many for college readings!! My goal: at least 1 book from the first category and 1 book from either of the other two stacks every month. Not sure if I’ll stick to this goal since I currently have no idea what kind of job I’ll have/what my work schedule will be like, so I may reevaluate in february/march. Looking forward to doing this challenge with y’all again! And shoutout to @bookbandit for hosting it!

[bunnyreading]

I was scared initially to read Wuthering Heights, despite being an English Lit student, I find that classics intimidate me. But I enjoyed reading it, I enjoyed the story, how it's just a big toxic mess of people and the cycle of abuse over the generations, and the end of it. I liked the contrast of the relationships and the characters.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[bibliophilecats]

#tbrbusterchallenge2021

Time to take a look at this year’s tbr buster challenge. Here’s the list of my tbr at the beginnging of 2021, crossed out are the books I read this past year:

Leigh Bardugo - King of Scars

Marion Zimmer Bradley - Heritage of Hastur

Marion Zimmer Bradley -  Sharra’s Exile

Marion Zimmer Bradley - A flame in Hali

Marion Zimmer Bradley - Zandru’s Forge

Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Fall of Neskaya

S. A. Chakraborty - The Empire of Gold

Charles Dickens - Great Expectations

Michale Ende - Der Spiegel im Spiegel

Jasper Fforde - The Constant Rabbit

Sara Holland - Evermore

Erich Kästner - Der Herr aus Glas

Jodi Meadows - As She Ascends

Jodi Meadows - When She Reigns

John Milton - Paradise lost & Paradise regained

Maggie Stiefvater - Call Down the Hawk

Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn

Julie Kagawa - The Soul of The Sword

Alice Oseman - Loveless

Torben Kuhlmann - Einstein

Mark Dunn - ella minnow pea

Hm, looking at it this way I does not seem to be very successful. But! Of the seven books I read, five were 4 stars or above and only one I did not keep. Of the rest, well, I will move the Marion Zimmer Bradley books off the tbr next year. I noticed that I did not want to read them at any point in the last year - but since the Darkover series is such a big part of my youth and early 20s, I do want to keep them. Maybe some day I will pick them up again. Regarding The Empire of Gold there was a catch all along: I never listed The Kingdom of Copper since I only had physical books on that tbr. But I also needed to read the ebook of Kingdom of Copper before I could start on the last book in the series. This I managed and therefore I am not too sad.

And in the end, what would I even do with myself if I did not have books for next year’s tbrbusterchallenge?

Thank you @bookbandit for this great and relaxed challenge!

[therefugeofbooks]

I liked Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis a little bit more than Prince Lestat. But it's mostly because of Lestat and Louis' reunion.

Also, I'm baffled by the new revelations and the direction of the story. And although there's more action in this book, it wasn't an easy read, and I thought about dfn'ing it multiple times. So, I think this is the end of the series for me.

[therefugeofbooks]

Hotel Iris is stranger than I expected. I still don't know what to think of this book..

[bunnyreading]

Finished this exactly one year after I finished my first Jennifer Worth book, so it's pretty cool I managed to read all of her work within a year.

Like most people I know Jennifer Worth from the show inspired by her memoirs, Call the Midwife. This was actually the first book of hers I bought, although I wanted to read the trilogy first.

In The Midst of Life is a book about death. Jennifer Worth has worked as a nurse for many years, and many people in her family continue to work in care, so she has a very expanded perspective on what it means to care for the dying. In this book she walks through how our societal reactions to death have changed, and what that means for the people dying.

It was a really impactful book to read - as a society we really shy away from death, and to see death written not as something devastating but as something sacred and natural was very beautiful. It was a challenging book as well - there is a lot that she writes about which is difficult to consider the ways in which dying people are abandoned, but it gave lots to think about.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[bunnyreading]

Somewhere in the last month I also finished this + PS I still love you, but that book isn't with me.

Honestly I had not a lot of expectations going into this series, I liked the movies so I decided to give the books a try as well. These are the only set of books I've read where I love the differences between movie and books. I really enjoyed reading these more than I thought I would. All of the characters had so much depth to them, the reasons characters do the things they do is so realistic and understandable. Even when Margot was being mean about Trina you could understand her feelings. I also love that the main couple aren't perfect, they have to work on communication with each other. Also, unrelated to the book but I started reading it while in hospital and it made what was a pretty awful admission otherwise bearable, so I will always be fond of it for those reasons.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[bunnyreading]

This book was way different to the movie and I loved that about it. The film is so visual and perfect for it's media form, just as this book is amazing in its written form. I love how the characters are more complex here, how Margot doesn't adapt so perfectly to Scotland and how both Lara Jean and Peter really have to work to communicate with each other properly, and how spite makes the characters act differently to each other, it made the Song sisters feel so real. It was a really fun read, and I'm looking forward to reading the second book soon.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

[bibliophilecats]

Read this month: May 2021

May was an exceedingly good reading month (but I also bought seven new books ...)

L. Bardugo: King of Scars

G. Chao: Rent a boyfriend (audiobook)

L. Jackson Braun: The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal (#12, ebook)

E. Dunmore: Bringing Down the Duke (eARC, German translation)

J. Kagawa: Soul of the Sword

A. Oseman: Loveless

M-U. Kling: Der Tag, an dem Papa ein heikles Gespräch führen wollte (audiobook ARC)

A. Chen: Ace, What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex (audiobook)

Not only did a read eight books, three were from my 2021 tbr! And I enjoyed all books, though some more than others.