bookish – Abi of Pellinor

October TBR 🎃

It’s officially spooky season!!! It’s also Gothtober season (hosted by the amazing Hannah), and it’s my birthday month!! (13th October, just saying). So this is always a super busy and hectic month for me… at least I’m not moving, starting a new job, and doing a video every single day like last year!! 🤣

I also wanted to try and theme my tbr around Kari this month, with her birthday being on the 15th October and with us adoring the same books. It seemed appropriate and also like it would set me up for some fantastic reads! Matching up “Kari reads” along with the Gothtober prompts wasn’t exactly easy, but I think I’ve done an okay job 😂

I’m also not doing the tbr jar this month, instead I’ve got a huge stack of “Kari reads” that I’ll delve into if I finish up my main tbr.

To get my prompts for Gothtober I had to play a game 😈 no really, Hannah’s brother Ciaran made a game for us to generate different prompt lists for everyone! I just ran it one time and decided to make the the prompts work damn it!

The first prompt is a gothic mood read and of course that could just be a random book I pick up, but I’m going to match The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean to this prompt. Because I’m always in the mood for dark, book themed reads! This is also the September Illumicrate book, so I’ve gotta squeeze it in somewhere.

Next is a book that completes you and for this I’m going with Foundation by Mercedes Lackey. This was gifted to me by my uncle but it’s also an author that Kari absolutely adores, and given it’s a YA high fantasy (the type of book we match most on) it’s a pretty sure bet I’m gunna love this one!

A beautiful book could be so many that are on my shelves, but I’m putting my Goldsboro GSFF book in here and that’s Mindwalker by Kate Dylan with it’s stunning bright pink cover with hexagons and a woman holding a gun? Gimme. All I know about this one is it’s a sci-fi soooooo, I’m excited!

Then for the prompts that everyone gets, because of course. These are books by a BIPOC/BAME author, an LGBTQ+ book, and a book with disability representation. I love to try and combine these all into one, and I actually found out (through the Gothtober twitter account) that The Book Eaters would count for this. But instead I’m going to be reading Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon because I adore everything I’ve read by them and I need an excuse to pick this up!

For a book that I forgot I had I’m going with Dracula by Bram Stoker, because how the hell did I forget about this classic? And it’s SO gothic that it’s just the absolute perfect choice rn. Give me bats! 🦇

The next prompt is a murder mystery read and that fits in fantastically well with How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie which Hannah challenged me to read this October. All about a woman who’s jailed for murder, and she is a murderer, but she didn’t do this one and she’ll be damned if she goes down for someone elses crime!

A heavy book could have a few meanings, but I’m going with a big book and that’s The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I’m buddy reading this with Kari throughout October, and whilst I don’t think it actually is, it gives me dark academia vibes so I’m here for it being an October read.

My final prompt is a book that features a training montage and this is the perfect excuse to pick up The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna. This has been sat on my tbr for too damn long and I’m excited to pick it up!

Then I’ve only (not including the Kari books) got one book left on my tbr, which isn’t linked to Gothtober, and that’s The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen, an Earth Science non-fiction. Because it’s my birthday month and I wanna read it 😇.

I’m hoping that this TBR is pretty manageable, and even slightly too easy, cause I want to get to some more of the Kari stack! But October is also going to be a really busy month for me. Lots of live streams, catching up with family, and even a trip to London for my birthday! (my amazing partner got us tickets for the Eng vs USA football game ⚽). I’m also getting a new phone, finally. I’ve had mine since 2014…. 😶 and so I imagine I’m gunna be pretty glued to that. Let’s hope I can still squeeze the reading in!

What are you wanting to read in October? And are you joining in Gothtober? I hope so! Have a great month folks!

My April TBR Hopefuls, 2022!

It’s that time of the month again! I’m picking out all the books I wanna read in the next month and this time round I’m using Olivia-Savannah’s All The World’s A Page readathon for the prompts!

I’ve linked Olivia’s video here which tells you more about the prompts and the readathon, please do go check her out if you haven’t already because she’s a wonderful human.

Now I’m going to delve into the books! This time round? It’s just gunna be a list, I hope you don’t mind. I’ve got my tbr video going up in an hour on my YouTube channel if you do want more details on the books.

I want to listen to Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M Valente which I heard about from Kayla from BooksAndLala reading it a while back now. It’s supposed to have Stepford Wives vibes.

The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren was sent to me by the wonderful Veronica’s Shelf and I’m excited for this short Swedish classic.

One I was sent by Caitlyn from Mad Cheshire Rabbit for this Christmas past is Natives by Akala, I’ve been enjoying reading at least one non-fiction each month so far and I want to continue that.

The lovely Kari-ng for Books sent me The Book Jumper by Mechthild Gläser and I’m 100% here for diving into books in a setting mixed between Germany and Scotland (and it’s translated from German too).

Now that I’m up to date in the Skulduggery Pleasant series, I want to read the Grimoire by Derek Landy before I read the final novel!

And on that note, Until the End by Derek Landy, the last SP novel, is released on the 14th of April and you best believe I’ve got it pre-ordered! So of course I’ll be reading that!

The Illumicrate read for April is Gallant by V.E. Schwab and I’m looking forward to trying out some more from this author after reading a book from her in March.

Then a book that I’ve put on my tbr but I won’t be mad if I can’t get to it? Beowulf translated by Maria Dahvana Headley. It doesn’t fit any of the prompts for All The World’s A Page (that I’ve checked) but Kar-ing for Books gifted this to me recently and I’m just super excited for this feminist re-translation of the epic!

And then finally, I pulled a book out of my tbr jar in my YouTube video. So I need to read that too!

A fair few books, but at the same time they really aren’t that big. I think the biggest are the Skulduggery Pleasant books, and we all know I’ll fly through those. What are you wanting to read this month???

An author you want to read more from this year?

📚📚📚

Teri Terry!! I still have one book by her that is on my physical tbr, and more that I’ve not gotten my mitts on yet!

She’s a fantastic YA fantasy author and I’ve adored everything by her I’ve read so far. I can’t wait to delve more into her different books and hopefully I’ll love those just as much too!

We’re about to start out first full week of 2022, I hope that you’re doing well, that you have amazing books, and that we can make 2022 much better than 2020 and 2021 were!

Image ID: a white woman stood in front of white bookshelves. In her hands she holds four books vertically. From left to right these are: Shattered, Fractured, Slated, and Books of Lies. All by Teri Terry

#TeriTerry #YAFantasy #SlatedTrilogy #BookOfLies #Bibliophile #BookstagramUK #Bookstagram #Bookstagrammer#BookCommunity #BookGirl #BookGeek #Bookish#BookLife #Reading #Reader #Read #ReadersOfInstagram#ReadingIsLife #AmReading #AlwaysReading #BookLover #BookPost #InstaReads #ReadersOfIG #BookDragon #BookWorm#PellinorReport

The Last Book You Read in 2021?

Here’s my December Wrap Up!

Not the biggest number of books but still a fair amount! The books that are facing backwards (scroll to see the second photo) are to represent my audiobooks: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire and To Be Taught if Fortunate by Becky Chambers. I loved listening to these while I worked this month and I want to grab myself some physical copies!

I’ve FINALLY read Good Omens (now @cbooksanctum only needs to nag me about watching the show!) and loved it so flipping much. Like dear GOD was it good! And A Song of Wraiths and Ruin? @oliviascatastrophe knew I would love it and she was so right! I’ve already bought the sequel and I’m so excited to read it in 2022!

Of course we have to have some Skulduggery on there, this is an… interesting one (as most of the new season are) so I’m looking forward to hearing the thoughts of the rest of the Dead Famous crew. And I finally finished the amazing Major Labels, a non-fiction about music. So. So. Good.

My very last read of the year? 💙Midnight by Derek Landy💙 (nice and ironic)

Image 1 ID: Three books stood upright on a white shelf. To their left is a small christmas tree. From left to right the books are: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown, and Midnight by Derek Landy

Image 2 ID: Seven books stood upright on a white shelf. To their left is a small christmas tree. From left to right the books are: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, two small hardback books turned spine inwards, Major Labels by Kelefa Sanneh, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown, and Midnight by Derek Landy

What’s the first book you want to pick up in 2022?

🥂🥂🥂

This is my January tbr! And yes, it’s surprisingly small. I wasn’t expecting this but hey, we’re going for it!

We of course have my monthly Skulduggery Pleasant read, and also I’m going to be reading a chapter a day of another classic with @oliviascatastrophe this year! We’re going to be reading The Count of Monte Cristo together and I’m so excited to get back into this routine, it was one of my favourite parts of 2021!

Amari and the Night Brothers somehow manages to fit every single one of the prompts for @griff.reads Goodreads Choice Readathon, not sure how I winged that but I’m running with it (and if I manage to smash my tbr I have other books lined up for the various prompts)

Last but not least, a little sneak peak into the December @illumicrate book because A Marvellous Light is my last read! I’ve never really used Discord, nor been part of a large group reading, but I want to try it out with my first month of the book box and I’m hoping it’ll be a lot of fun!

I hope that whatever books you pick for your January 2022 tbr you’re super excited for and I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on them!!

Image ID: Four books laid flat on a white bookshelf with the spine facing outwards. From bottom to top the books are: A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske, Bedlam by Derek Landy, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston

Q: Do you collect mugs?

☕☕☕

I… have a bit of an afinity for mugs to the point where my partner dispairs every time I find a new cute one! So of course I wanted to try matching my books to one of my mugs!

I’ve loved owls for most of my life so this felt like the perfect mug to start with and I also really don’t have many brown books so this was a fun challenge! There’s only one book on this stack that I’ve not read (Dune) and the rest I’ve read and I absolutely loved them all!! They are all 5 star reads for me. Maybe I should pick up more brown books? 😂🤎

Image ID: A stack of brown books on a white shelf. There is a brown owl mug sat on top of the books, and in front on the right is fake green ivy. The books from bottom to top are: The Crow by Alison Croggon, Miss Marple Stories by Agatha Christie, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and Dune by Frank Herbert

My October BuJo!!

I’ve went all out this month!! Usually I just do a colour theme, and then this year I’ve been trying out a few different things here and there. Today? I got a load of different bits and bobs printed and stuck them down and I’m so happy with how it turned out!!

My Gothtober page is fully magnificent and wonderous, with as many skulls as I could get on the page as possible!!

And my absolute favourite page of them all? My habit tracker!! I just adore how the border turned out!! (and it was completely accidental as well!!)

The little spoops are just so cute!!

If you want to see more about my bullet journal shenanigans then check out my video!!

Do you have a journal? Whether for your daily life or for your reading? Let me know!!

Do you read classics?

They can be pretty intimidating, and not that long ago I was someone who had read a few, mainly kids classics, and that was about it. But something huge came into my life that changed my mind.

Well that sounds like it was some big life event or something, it wasn’t! I literally mean something huge, War and Peace!! This chunker had sat on my tbr since 2015/16 and I finally decided I was going to be reading the damn thing! The wonderful Olivia from Olivia’s Catastrophe agreed to buddy read it with me and since January 1st 2021 we’ve been slowly making our way through this tomb of a book.

And we’re loving it! Now of course this is because we’re enjoying the book, but something which is really amping up my enjoyment factor is reading this with Olivia, not only because she is lovely (because she is) but because I’m adoring our discussions. We discuss how the book makes us feel, as well as literary merits and what we think of the portrayal of the time and the historical aspects. And that might sound boring to some, but we love it! And it came naturally too. At first we were just talking about the book in less academic terms, but as we went further through the book this just naturally became the discussion we would have and it is a genuine pleasure to message her every day!

It’s because of this specifically, the daily analysis of a well known classic with a friend who is educated in the field, that has changed my thoughts on classics as a whole. I enjoy them so much more now! I read a lot more into them and intrinsically find myself understanding so much more than I used to, as well as reading through them a lot easier. In the past the writing style used to often be a struggle for me.

I cannot recommend highly enough buddy reading a classic with a friend. Not only is it so much fun to read with a friend, and not only will you get so much more out of the book itself, but slowing it down to one chapter a day means that there is less material to read from and more insights to be gained from a smaller amount of text. And it has changed how I read! And I couldn’t be more glad.

Meet the book blogger!

Hey! My name’s Abi, and I like reading!

I mostly like reading fantasy books, although I’m trying to branch more into sci-fi as well. I do love a good non-fiction book and sometimes I’ll pick up mysteries, classics and a few historical fictions.

I’ve been reading all my life, yeah I know. I’m one of the annoying ones. My mum remembers me as an infant with the newspaper in my hands cause I was always wanting to read something. I used to read every single road sign we passed as we drove because I wanted to constantly read! (and I can’t read in cars or I’ll vomit. Trust me. I’ve tried. Repeatedly)

You can find me a few places online. Here, of course. But also on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. I publish a video once a week, on Sundays, on YouTube. And I post a picture every day on Instagram. So if you want something a little more consistent than my blog I recommend you check me out there!

I own probably 1000 books. I can’t actually count them at the moment. Currently I live with my parents again and they don’t have the space for me to have all of my books out, so they’re packed away in various boxes with just my tbr (well most of it) and a hundred or so of my read books out on display. I also try to unhaul my books, with kids books going straight to the primary school (4-12 years old) that my mum works at and the rest going to charity. Which essentially means I have no clue how many books are in this house anymore! I’ll count them one day once I move in with my partner and can have them all on display.

Out of all my books, I would estimate I have about 140 on my physical tbr. Books on my shelves that I’ve not read. One day I want to get this number to be around 40! But it’ll be a while before I hit that!

I mainly read physical books, and mainly in paperback (that’s cause of cost and cause paperbacks are more common in the UK than the US). I do have a kindle, gifted to me by my lovely partner, that I read arcs on and books that I want to grab quickly and cheaply. I do sometimes listen to audiobooks but I can struggle to focus on the plot through audio so it’s a rare format for me.

My favourite book until I was 18 was The Gift by Alison Croggon (which is the first book in the Pellinor series). I still adore the book but there are a few other contenders now for the top spot including Before the Coffee Gets Cold, The Bone Season, Priory, and more! One day I’ll need to reread them all together and pick a favourite!

So that’s me, my bookish aspects summarised. This doesn’t even include the mess that is my life! But tell me about you, what’s your favourite genre? And do you own physical books or ebooks? Let me know!!

Tag: bookish