Wrap-up: April 2022

Happy May Day bank holiday for all you lucky people who get the day off work! Anyone else, like me, who has to work today because your job doesn’t believe in bank holidays… commiserations… Hopefully, everyone had a good April, though, and that the rest of May proves better than today!

The key:
🐝 = favourite
🕊️ = reread/rewatch/relisten
☀️ = 4 or 5 stars, highly recommend
☁️ = 3 or 4 stars, enjoyed/had fun reading
🌧️ = 2 or 3 stars, was alright/not for me but someone else might enjoy
🌩️ = 1 or 2 stars, bored out of my mind/it was awful

Wrap-up: March 2022

Wrapping up March late because, would you believe it, 12 days of work in a 14 day period is NOT good for your productivity! Who’d have thought it? Anyways… March!

The key:
🐝 = favourite
🕊️ = reread/rewatch/relisten
☀️ = 4 or 5 stars, highly recommend
☁️ = 3 or 4 stars, enjoyed/had fun reading
🌧️ = 2 or 3 stars, was alright/not for me but someone else might enjoy
🌩️ = 1 or 2 stars, bored out of my mind/it was awful

Wrap-up: February 2022

[Insert the usual sort of intro here, because I have nothing new to say, so yeah. On with the wrap up instead!]

The key:
🐝 = favourite
🕊️ = reread/rewatch/relisten
☀️ = 4 or 5 stars, highly recommend
☁️ = 3 or 4 stars, enjoyed/had fun reading
🌧️ = 2 or 3 stars, was alright/not for me but someone else might enjoy
🌩️ = 1 or 2 stars, bored out of my mind/it was awful

Wrap-up: January 2022

After an eventful month (my computer finally gave up the ghost haha), we’re finally in February. January felt like three months packed into one and I feel like I’m entering February with three days of sleep deficit at least. But oh well. I read 50 books in that time too, I guess.

The key:
🐝 = favourite
🕊️ = reread/rewatch/relisten
☀️ = 4 or 5 stars, highly recommend
☁️ = 3 or 4 stars, enjoyed/had fun reading
🌧️ = 2 or 3 stars, was alright/not for me but someone else might enjoy
🌩️ = 1 or 2 stars, bored out of my mind/it was awful

50 Books I Wanted to Read in 2021: How Did It Go?

At the start of 2021, with my TBR spiralling out of control, I figured I would make a list of 50 books from it to get to in the year. Of course, this was way too optimistic and I left myself with about 7 to read in the last week of December, then 4 in 2 days, all while working. Unsurprising that I didn’t finish. I also removed a few along the way (sometimes replacing, sometimes not, but don’t ask me what I replaced with because I don’t remember), so really, I probably only read about two thirds of the original list.

But anyway. Here’s a little summary of it all.

The key:
🐝 = favourite
☀️ = 4 or 5 stars, highly recommend
☁️ = 3 or 4 stars, enjoyed/had fun reading
🌧️ = 2 or 3 stars, was alright/not for me but someone else might enjoy
🌩️ = 1 or 2 stars, bored out of my mind/it was awful

Wrap-up: December 2021

It’s finally 2022, which means this is my final wrap up for 2021 so. Time for some reading stats perhaps? I read 553 books in 2021, with an average rating of 3.3 (according to TheStorygraph and Goodreads, which is impressive, since Goodreads doesn’t allow half stars and I give a fair few of those). So, overall, a good reading year numbers wise: my TBR went down from 620 or so, to 370 (although a lot of this was simply deleting books I hadn’t interest in anymore). But less good in terms of enjoyment? I mean, on the whole, 3.3 means I liked a lot of what I read, just not much more.

But oh well. Maybe 2022 will bring better books!

The key:
🐝 = favourite
🕊️ = reread/rewatch/relisten
☀️ = 4 or 5 stars, highly recommend
☁️ = 3 or 4 stars, enjoyed/had fun reading
🌧️ = 2 or 3 stars, was alright/not for me but someone else might enjoy
🌩️ = 1 or 2 stars, bored out of my mind/it was awful

Wrap-up: November 2021

I don’t know about you, but I felt like November lasted for an age. It doesn’t feel like I got a whole lot done either, but I do have a job now (finally!) which I’ll be starting sometime next week, so I guess there’s that. At the same time, I set myself 28 books I want to read before the year’s out so. We’ll see how those two things get along I suppose…

The key:
🐝 = favourite
🕊️ = reread/rewatch/relisten
☀️ = 4 or 5 stars, highly recommend
☁️ = 3 or 4 stars, enjoyed/had fun reading
🌧️ = 2 or 3 stars, was alright/not for me but someone else might enjoy
🌩️ = 1 or 2 stars, bored out of my mind/it was awful

Wrap-up: October 2021

So, sorry about the accidental two week hiatus… I can’t even blame life on getting in the way, since I don’t actually have one. Instead, I can blame the fact that I haven’t been reading ARCs that release remotely soon enough to post reviews for. That’s reasonable, right? But anyway, for those interested, here’s how October went.

The key:
🐝 = favourite
🕊️ = reread/rewatch/relisten
☀️ = 4 or 5 stars, highly recommend
☁️ = 3 or 4 stars, enjoyed/had fun reading
🌧️ = 2 or 3 stars, was alright/not for me but someone else might enjoy
🌩️ = 1 or 2 stars, bored out of my mind/it was awful

Wrap-up: September 2021

Stop the press! I actually posted something that wasn’t a review this month! I know, I know, I’m as surprised as you are. On top of that, I watched a fair amount (for me), and read a lot too. I am, as you might guess, still ✨ unemployed ✨.

The key:
🐝 = favourite
🕊️ = reread/rewatch/relisten
☀️ = 4 or 5 stars, highly recommend
☁️ = 3 or 4 stars, enjoyed/had fun reading
🌧️ = 2 or 3 stars, was alright/not for me but someone else might enjoy
🌩️ = 1 or 2 stars, bored out of my mind/it was awful

An Adult Lit Primer, or What To Read If You Want a Break From YA

I started this list, mostly to beg you all to read Susan Abulhawa’s books. Things got a little out of hand and now I have a whole entire rec list of nearly 100 books to offer. That’s life, I guess. And, hey, who’s complaining when it’s the first non-review I’ve posted on this blog in I-don’t-want-to-know-how-long.

But anyways. This rec list is for those of you who are wanting to try read more adult lit, but the vast array of choices is somewhat daunting. The books here are 95 that I would wholeheartedly rec, in almost every genre I can think of. So I hope you’ll find something to enjoy!