Mid Year Book Haul 2021!!

So on my BookTube channel I’ve been doing quarterly hauls, but after January I stopped hauling books on this blog and now I’m behind! Feel free to check them out in video or written format!!

Let’s start with the books I got in the first quarter of 2021.

As I mentioned in my January haul post I got 3 books in January. No Place to Hide by Glenn Greenwald and Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood were both books I picked up from the little free book selection in my office before I moved to working from home. I’m curious about the Edward Snowdon situation, and I’ve only read the Handmaid’s duology by Atwood so I thought it was worth adding more from her to my shelves! The third book was an ebook of A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliot that me and Caitlyn (from Mad Cheshire Rabbit) picked up for the Small Press Book Club and we both loved!

Moving on to February, my pre-order of The Mask Falling by Samantha Shannon came in and Oh. My. God was I excited!!! This is one of my absolute favourite series and as expected I absolutely adored the next instalment! The only other book that I bought in February was The Dawn Chorus by Samantha Shannon which is the 3.5 novella within the Bone Season series, as I wanted to pick that up before I got into the 4th book. This is only available as an ebook in English so this was a kindle purchase and I absolutely flew through it! Despite that being the last book I bought in February I did get 3 more books. Two were from Caitlyn, as she sent me Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and also Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte because they’re her favourite books and she knows that the fastest way to get me to read something is to put it on my tbr… the wee shite 🤣 and the final book was Apocalypse Kings by Derek Landy which my boyfriend gifted to me! I asked him to grab me it because the book was only £1 and I didn’t want to pay the shipping after I couldn’t find it in a nearby irl shop (and he has Amazon Prime) and he wouldn’t let me pay him back. So it was a gift!

And for the final month of the first quarter we have March! 5 books came into my home this month! The only one purchased by me was The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald: Diglot which is an “invention” by a new Irish company (Diglot) which sprinkles words of your target language through a classic work and gets more difficult as the book goes on. I read the German version of this and I enjoyed it! I’ll have a full review up in the future! And it is also the whole story of The Great Gatsby. Gifted to me by the wonderful Veronica from Veronica’s Shelf were All Systems Red by Martha Wells which is a fantastic sci-fi novella, and The Brother’s Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren which she gifted to me after I enjoyed a short story by the Swedish author (Veronica is Swedish too!). I’m really excited to read Lionheart! Lastly were the second two books in the A Darker Shade of Magic series by V.E. Schwab, A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light which were gifted to me by the lovely Eleanor from Eleanor Nicbahtair as she was unhauling the books and I joked about wishing I lived closer so I could take them. So she posted them to me! And I am so so grateful!!

And that’s the end of the first quarter! 13 books ain’t bad! Now onto the haul in the second quarter! Again, if you’d like to check out the video version, it’s below for your viewing pleasure 😂

Starting off with April, I got 4 books. The one bought by me was my pre-order of Dead or Alive by Derek Landy, the latest Skulduggery Pleasant novel. Of course I had this one pre-ordered! It’s the purple one you can see in the thumbnail above, and as you might be able to see by the tabs I’ve read the book already and loved it! I adore this series! Then the amazing Kari from Kari-ng for books sent me Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse and also A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown because not only does she know that I’m really leaning into fantasy books nowadays, but she also knows that I’m aiming to diversify my shelves so Roanhorse is Indigenous to North America, and Brown is a Black author. I’ve also heard fantastic things about both of these books, meaning that for some stupid reason I’m putting the books off cause I know that I’m going to love them! Stupid I know but shhhhh. And finally for April Olivia Savannah from Olivia’s Catastrophe gifted me Pet by Akwaeke Emezi. This came with the most wonderful and lovely note and it’s an amazing book. I’ve read this one already and I adored every second of it. I really recommend!

May was a nice small month. One book that I pre-ordered myself and that’s The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire by Derek Landy, which I wasn’t expecting so soon after Dead or Alive! I’ve finished this one too, and I do have some issues with it, but I can’t lie this was so much fun and I adored the story that ran throughout!

Now for June. June june june. I had thought that I wouldn’t be getting any books in June. I said it when I filmed the first half of that video. I JINXED MYSELF!!! I filmed that on the Saturday, and on the Tuesday a LITERAL BOX OF BOOKS ARRIVED AT MY HOUSE!!! My wonderful uncle decided to send me some books and I’m so so grateful! One that he sent me was a bright blue covered The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis which he said he thought would look good on my bookstagram, and guys? He’s totally right. I have an AMAZING bookstagram photo coming up with this book! He also gave me 4 books I had never heard of before. The Tenderloin by John Butler and Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin are both contemporary historical novels set in San Francisco, around 20 years apart. I don’t read much contemporary so those will be really interesting to dive into. And last from my uncle were Foundation by Mercedes Lackey, and Sourcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho which both sound right up my streets as fantasy reads! These two, I can’t lie, I’m more excited for and I can’t wait to give them a shot! They sound so interesing!!

My uncle runs an amazing instagram page, @onthisgayday which posts something from LGBTQ+ history each and every day. He’s put so much research into that page so I really do recommend checking it out to learn more about LGBTQ+ history!

And the final book was a gift from my lovely partner. I had looked for The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton when it was in Sainsbury’s and my local shop didn’t have it. But his did! So he grabbed it for me and isn’t he just a cutie! I really enjoyed The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle so I’m excited to read some more from this author.

And those are all of my books I’ve gotten in the first half of 2021! A whopping 24 books have came into my house so far this year, 6 of those I’ve spent money on, 11 I’ve read, and the rest I’m super excited for! This was a LONG post! I definitely need to make sure to keep up with these in the future 😂 maybe I’ll do them monthly here on my blog. I wonder if I’ll get any in July!!

Let me know the books that you’ve bought and you’ve hauled so far in 2021! Not that I need any more recommendations but give them to me anyways!

January Physical Book Haul 2021

Is it good or bad that I brought 2 books into my home this month? On the one hand, it’s only two books! On the other? I’m supposed to be getting through my tbr shelves, not adding to them!! I couldn’t resist these books though, I found them in the selection of free books at work and given that I moved to working from home in the middle of January (thank god) I needed to grab these and take them with me when I shifted home!

First up is Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. I’ve only ever read The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments by Atwood so I would like to branch out to some of her other works. This seems to be a fictionalised account of a real life tale, following a woman who is believed to have committed murder, but the reality may be more complicated than that. A historical fiction set in Canada, I’m really interested in seeing how Atwood takes this story and interweaves truth and fiction, as well as how this stacks up against the facts that we know about the case.

Secondly is No Place to Hide by Glenn Greenwald. This is a non-fiction work, written by the journalist who published Edward Snowden’s reports gleaned from classified documents. This book starts with Snowden and Greenwald first communicating, it talks about the NSA, and it examines the far reaches of the US government’s surveillance programme, far outside the boundaries of its borders. Whilst I’m not an American, Snowden’s reports were still widely reported in the UK and I didn’t follow them too closely at the time. A mixture of my change in interests and being busy with education. But I’m definitely interested in reading about this now and fingers crossed the book will be interesting!

And those are the two books I grabbed from the pile! There were many more books there but most weren’t the sort I would enjoy and I was trying to not be stupid with the books I was taking! Have you heard of or read either of these? Let me know what you think of them! And let me know which books you brought into your life in January!

Christmas Book Haul!!

I was treated by my friends to so many books this Christmas! I’m so so grateful for them! For those who have a bookish social media I’ll leave a link so you can find them online and give them some love! Now, onto the books!

First up is the amazing Kari, who went overboard as always and bought me three books!! Check out her channel here!!! Thank you so much Kari, I can’t wait to delve into more steampunk books and you know how excited I am for the Nevernight series!! (she gifted me the first book in the series too, see! Overboard!!)

Caitlyn knows my weakness for pretty covers, and she knew that was exactly why I added this book to my wishlist, so she bought me That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston! (also it came as a floppy US paperback which was unexpected, we don’t get those here in the UK!) Here’s her channel for you to check out!

The marvellous Abi (who spells her name so beautifully lol, same as me!) gifted me Warcross by Marie Lu! I’m so excited about this beautiful book and I’m so grateful too! Here’s Abi’s instagram for you to check out!

The lovely Dom, her channel is here for your perusal, gifted me An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon. I read The Deep by them earlier this year and fell in love (which reminds me, I need to grab a copy of that) which is why this was on my wishlist and I’m so excited to read more from them and I’m so grateful Dom!

The amazing Sam from Griff Reads, who’s BookTube is honestly what I wish mine was! She gifted me Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid which is one I am so grateful to have it on my shelves, thank you so much Sam!

And last but by no means least is my non-bookish friend Anny, who doesn’t have a social media presence but who saw English editions of Swedish classics (she’s Swedish) and knew not only that I would love them but that she’d be able to post them from Sweden! I’m so excited to delve into these mini books!!! Thanks Anny!!!

Thank you so much to everybody on this list! I’m so excited to get around to all these books and I hope that I love them all, and I hope for those who I sent gifts to that you guys enjoy them as well!! How was your Christmas? Did you get any bookish gifts? My family doesn’t buy me bookish gifts on strict orders of my mum, she’s not happy with how many books I own hahaha, so getting these was really lovely!!!

How’s Your 2020 So Far?

 

How has January been so far for you? Both in bookish and non-bookish ways!

Staying bookish to start with, I read 5 books in quick succession at the beginning of the month! Woohoo! I’ve not really read much since then, but considering that was my whole tbr I’m content with that for now and I’ll keep pushing to see what else I can read.

I also haven’t bought any books so far, I’ve avoided second-hand shops and bookshops entirely to avoid the temptation!! And I am also happier with the editing I’ve been doing on videos, they aren’t out yet (depending on when you read this) but I’m happy with the little changes I’ve been making and plan to keep it that way and keep changing. A similar thing has happened with my insta, I already know roughly the quality I want and I’m mostly keeping to it. I didn’t post for a little while but it just wasn’t my priority for some reason and I made the decision to not post sub-quality content just to post something.

In my non-bookish life I’m still currently jobless (if you saw yesterdays post you’ll know that isn’t fun for me) but I have been chatting with old friends via PS4 chat more and playing a game I’ve been meaning to get to with them. So it’s 6 and half a dozen, I’ll take what I can get! I’ve also booked my train tickets to go and see my partner, as he doesn’t live in my city, at the end of the month so I’m excited for that!!

What are your accomplishments or happy moments so far for 2020? If we can keep up this positive momentum we’re more likely to hit our various 2020 goals!!!

Birthday Books!!

It was my 23rd birthday on the 13th of October, and of course some of my loved ones gave me books as presents! I didn’t get too many as a lot of my family think I have too many books (they are obviously wrong) but a few great friends and my bf got me a book or two!

Starting off with my lovely boyfriend, although he didn’t get me a book as a pre-planned present he did buy my BlackKKlansman when we were out in town together on the day itself. We saw the film together and he knew I was interested in reading the memoir and so he grabbed it for me!

Then my bestest friends, who are essentially my family. The two of them together got me The Testaments by Margret Atwood and The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. I hadn’t actually seen Moyes’ book before and I’m really intrigued to read it, and of course I want to read Testaments at some point!

Last but by no means least is Kari! (Find her @Kari_ng4books on Twitter) who sent me three books which was absolutely lovely of her! The first was the tiny book of the complete Jane Austen, as I’m collecting all these tiny books, Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas (which I’ve been trying to find secondhand for forever) and War Storm by Victoria Aveyard so now I have that complete series! I am so so grateful for those!

Thank you to everyone who wished me well on my birthday and especially to Kari and my loved ones for my gifts, I appreciate it all so much.

I’ve Opened an Etsy!!

I’ve been looking at doing this for a while now, and I’m so happy I’ve finally done it! I have opened up an Etsy shop! My store has downloadable pdf’s also known as printables (although you can use them digitally) which are there to help you track your reading, your purchases and inspire you!

Before we get started, I should say that I have cropped down all of these photos to highlight the parts I’m mentioning.

I know that I find it all too easy to lose track of how much I’m spending on books. One here, three there, and all of a sudden I’ve spent more money than I can afford to! To help myself with this, I write down each book I purchase and how much it cost me. Just simply making myself aware of this can really help me to stop mindlessly spending (no matter how much I want that book!!)

I have the sheets available in Pounds (GBP), Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), and Yen (YEN) and if you require a different currency you can message me and I’ll do my best to accommodate you.

 

I can also find myself putting reading to the wayside when I get busy, or simply distracted, which is why I make myself monthly reading trackers. They allow me to note down how many pages I read each day and personally, I find it encourages me to keep going each day and reading more.

I have a variety of different page numbers available, from 50 to 1000, so that readers of all speeds and those who have more or less time can track how much they get to more effectively. Further up the page these printables also have a place to track your tbr and what you get around to reading within the month.

I also like to write up a bit of a review after I read a book, it helps for if there are sequels in the future (which I can take a bit of a while to get around to!) so that I remember key events and also just allows me to more accurately reflect on a book.

As I also fill in a pdf for the year of my reads this also helps me keep a track of the data that I need to fill this in. There is currently only one file format for this, but again if you’d like some alterations then please do message me and I’ll do what I can for you.

 

 

Finally, I will also have some reading challenges up there sometime soon! I’m thinking of hosting them on the blog and also my youtube channel at some point in the future, so the challenges themselves will be freely available to anyone. The sheets are just there if you’d like to do the challenges on your own time before I post them or if you’d like a place to write them down. There are four different challenges, ranging from a basic one to ones which are more difficult and specific to fulfill.

Each challenge sheet has 10 challenges, an area to write the book you used to fulfill it (if needed) and a box to mark it off!

I do hope that you’ll have a look at my store (link here), any money that I do make will be helping me along in getting my Masters. As I’m sure you all know, higher education doesn’t come cheap in many countries and sadly the UK is one of them so every penny counts! I hope you enjoy my products and I’ll see you tomorrow, 1800 GMT for my next book review!