Wrap Up | November

The end of the year is almost upon us and I am not ready for it in any shape or form. Things got super intense at uni this month as I had to submit my PhD research proposal to my department for early feedback before the funding deadline in January, so I’ve been working flat out on my proposal all month meaning that both my reading and blog got horribly neglected. I had been planning for November & December to be my catch up months, and the thought of having to squeeze all of the catch up into just December now is making me a bit nervous haha!

I beat my second reading challenge goal of the year! Round 1 saw me smash my goal of 50 books, and now I’ve beaten my stretch goal too!

Top 10 Tuesday | A Love Letter to All the Owned Books I Still Haven’t Read

Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly book tag that was run by The Broke and the Bookish but has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week she provides a different bookish theme those deep-seated desires to list! Anyone is welcome to join in on their blog, in the comments or any other way. 

– Top 10 Backlist Books I Own & Still Need to Read –

Now, this is a TTT prompt I can really get behind because, like most of you, my owned TBR list is RIDICULOUS. I try really hard to not let it get too out of control but even so my evergrowing book hoard is reaching a new level. As we’re showing some love to backlist books this week all of the books featured below are ones that were released prior to 2018, physical books that I own, and a combination of ones I’m most excited to read as well as those that have been here since the dawn of time.

Top 10 Tuesday | Books with my Favourite Colour on the Cover: Part 2!

Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly book tag that was run by The Broke and the Bookish but has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week she provides a different bookish theme those deep-seated desires to list! Anyone is welcome to join in on their blog, in the comments or any other way. 

– Top 10 Rainbow Recommendations – 

Yesterday I posted up part 1 of this week’s Top 10 Tuesday’s prompt, Beautiful Blue Books, but as I mentioned I had so many ideas for the prompt (none to do with my favourite colour…) that I had to split the posts into 2. Today’s post will focus on my Rainbow Recommendations as I have so many lovely book covers to share with you all that I just couldn’t help myself ❤

Book Tag | I Love Spring

The I Love Spring Book Tag was originally created by Helene Jeppesen & Amanda Elise Carina, and I was tagged in it by Melanie ❤ I am so happy that Spring is finally here and I can’t wait for the weather to start getting warmer. I am so done with these random snow showers and freezing weather!

1.) How is Spring where you live?

Unlike Melanie, we do not have super hot weather here even in the Summer. Most of Spring will be grey and drizzly with some days of glorious warm sunshine. The type that is just warm enough to wear a light jumper but not too warm that it’s sweltering.

2) Most anticipated book release this Spring?

I’m with Melanie on this one! It’s definitely Circe by Madeline Miller. I read The Song of Achilles when I was 19/20 years old and fell in love with Miller’s writing. I’ve been biting my nails over the release of Circe as I disappointingly wasn’t approved for an e-ARC of this, so I’m eagerly awaiting my birthday as it’s on my birthday list!

3) Show us a book cover that makes you think of Spring.

I actually don’t have an answer for this one! I have so many ideas for book covers for all of the other seasons but not a single one that makes me think of Spring.

 4) What are you going to read this Spring?

I actually did a post about this for a recent Top 10 Tuesday prompt where I compiled a list of my Spring TBR! As you can see, there are quite a lot of books on the list as I never got round to reading my Christmas books AND my birthday is on the 15th April (which, of course, I’ve asked for more books for).

My Top 5 reads to get through though are Sky in the Deep, Circe, Failure to Communicate, Legend, and Alien Ocean.

 

5) Find a cover with the sun on it!

This is the copy of I’ll Give you the Sun that I own and which shamefully still hasn’t been read even though I got it for my birthday last year *hides*

6) What are your favorite Spring reads?

I don’t really have any books that I re-read in Spring or associate with Spring. If I were to pick two though I would pick Starfish, as I’ve just finished reading it and it was a perfect Springtime read, and Pride & Prejudice because of all of the English countryside :’)

 

7) Find a book with many different colors on it.

How could I not choose the beautiful rainbow book cover of Warcross for this? It has ALL of the colours on it AND I’m hyped because Marie Lu announced the title of the sequel the other day so I’m thinking about Warcross a lot at the moment.

 8) Whom do you tag?

I’m not going to tag anyone in this one because I’m not sure who enjoys doing them but if you want to get in the Springtime mood then please do it and link me to your list ❤

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Top 10 Tuesday | TBR Longest Stays

Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly book tag that was run by The Broke and the Bookish but has now moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week she provides a different bookish theme those deep-seated desires to list! Anyone is welcome to join in on their blog, in the comments or any other way. 

– Top 10 Books That Have Been on Your TBR the Longest –

I joined Goodreads in 2012 so it’s not surprising that there are still some books on my TBR that have been there a very, very long time as I still haven’t gotten round to reading them. Even though I recently gave my TBR a good clean up just before the new year, there are still some that are sitting there from 2012 so here is a selection of some of my longest stays.

1. The Old Kingdom Collection by Garth Nix
Added: July 23rd 2012

I read Sabriel back in secondary school and really loved it, but never got the chance to read any of the other books in the series. I would still really like to revisit Sabriel and finish the series at some point!

2. The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
Added: July 23rd 2012

A series that I absolutely loved as a child and still love as an adult. I’ve only read the first 5 books in the series so I have a lot of books to catch up on. It’s one of the best series I think has ever been written though and have amazing illustrations.

3. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Added: July 28th 2012

I must be one of the only people left who has still not read this book and I’m kicking myself that I haven’t. Despite being added to my list 6 years ago, I still see people raving about how good The Night Circus is so I’ve kept it hanging around!

4. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Added: July 28th 2012

Accompanying The Night Circus is the Snow Child. Both were added at the same time and sadly both are still waiting to be read. I’ve heard such good things about the Snow Child as well that I’ve kept it around all these years.

5. The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson 
Added: December 23rd 2013

I added this after seeing a friend, who has excellent taste in books, rate it 4 stars on Goodreads. All I really know about it is that it’s an LGBTQ sci-fi book and that’s enough to sell me tbh.

6. The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke
Added: July 31st 2014

Another TBR acquired through the recommendation of my excellent book taste friend. This one focuses instead on YA/child mental illness through the eyes of 10-year-old Alex whose best friend is a 9000-year-old demon. I’ve read some raving reviews about this book so have kept a hold of it on my TBR!

7. I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Yet another book that everyone’s been raving about but that I haven’t gotten around to reading. I’ve even owned a copy of this for the past year but haven’t felt compelled to pick it up yet, even though I know it’s going to be great.

8. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick your Ass by Meg Medina 
Added: December 14th 2014

I added this to my TBR 4 years ago after I finished reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz, and really wanted to read more YA written by and about Latinx people.

9. The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
Added: December 14th 2014

I’ve been really hyped about this book for the past 4 years and have no idea why I haven’t gotten round to read it yet. A contemporary YA LGBTQ book, The Miseducation of Cameron Post looks to be a fantastic read that deals sensitively with a lot of difficult issues.

10. Rat Queens #3 by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch
Added: March 11th 2015

My partner bought me Rat Queens #1 for our first ever Valentine’s together and I loved the gory, trashiness of the Rat Queens. I haven’t read past the second volume due to some controversy surrounding Roc Upchurch so I won’t pick up any more volumes of this until I do further research!

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